Cinderella

Game Description
Like the classic Cinderella story, in this icebreaker / crowdbreaker, guys must identify the girls by a shoe and could be used as an object lesson to discuss how we often judge people by appearances.

Game Materials

• large sheet or curtain
• twine or rope

Game Preparation
Suspend the sheet or curtain across the room using the twine or rope. The bottom of the sheet should be a couple of inches above the floor so that only a person's feet are visible.

Game Play

• As each girl arrives, ask her to remove her right shoe.
• Send all the girls behind the curtain and randomly distribute the shoes among the guys.
• Line up the girls behind the sheet or curtain that has been suspended across the room. Only the girls' feet should be visible at the bottom.
• Bring the guys in and appoint them to the task of locating the girl which matches with the shoe they have been given. Award the guys that choose correctly.
• The guy and his cinderella are then partners for the next activity.

Variations

1. Do the same thing with all the guys, but leave them in their socks for a smelly variation. "I recognize that odor."
2. Mix girls and guys behind the curtain. You might call it "Cinderellas and Princes" so the guys don't feel like they are being grouped with the girls as a "Cinderella."

Optional Discussion

• How did you feel being identified by your feet?
• What are some ways that we typically identify others? (Job, school, hobbies, nationality or race, size, personality, clique, etc)
• Do we treat others differently based on their characteristics?
• Is it ok to treat different people differently?
• Do we exclude people from our youth group by our actions or attitudes?
• Is favoritism acceptable?

Closing Application
In Leviticus 19:15 it says "Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly." This doesn't mean that we won't have people we get along with better than others. It means that we do not judge others differently based upon certain characteristics. The New Testament makes it even clearer by saying that we should not judge or we will be judged (Matthew 7:1-5). In John 7:21-24, Jesus tells the people to "Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment." In 1 Samuel 16:7 we are told that God does not look at appearances, but the heart. We are free to choose our friends as we see fit, yet at the same time we know that Jesus, when he was upon this earth did not exclude those from his social circle because of their social status or circumstances. He welcomed sinners and tax collectors, the great as well as the lowly and everyone in between. Yet he also had the inner circle of disciples and among those a closer bond with three of them.