Archives by: Stacy Sawyer

Sour Challenge

Items needed: Various very sour candies.)

Make students go head to head against each other. Have them stick out their tongues and put various candies that are very sour on the end. The trick is first to make a face is out. You can then have a championship round!!

If candies aren’t strong enough… go for limes and lemons!

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Balloon Bible Quiz Bust

Place various bible questions and answers in balloons. Teams must race across the room to their pile of balloons and bust them and match the questions to the right answers. First team to get all right wins.

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Crazy Fellowship Potluck

Set a night and have the kids bring their favorite craziest dish. Anything goes!! Tell them that their dish must represent their personality. Have them explain what the dish is and why its like them or why its their favorite. I’m sure everyone will enjoy surprising each other with their cooking skills and its a fun way to get the kids to fellowship. Make sure to tell them not to let anyone know what they are making because the surprise is half the fun! (younger youth may need to ask a parent to help)

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Elders’ Ball

Plan a night just for the elders of your church (You can even send invitations made by the youth to the elders). You can have the youth serve them a nice meal dressed in nice clothing (banquet attire). You have the youth share with the elders about how they appreciate them. They can read poems, perform a song for them and read scriptures showing the worth and importance of the role of an elder. The youth can hand out letters of appreciation to each elder. You can also do it as a total surprise. Just announce in church that there will be a dinner and give date. Everyone else in the church will have already been in formed of the real event. Then when the elders arrive seat them first and then start the dinner! There can be lots of ways to do this one!

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Our Instruction Booklet

Go and buy a model car kit from Wal-Mart. Next fold Pieces of blank copy paper in half and write instructions on the front. Leave the insides of the “booklet” blank and give each youth member one. Tell them not to open them until you tell them they can. Take out the instructions to the kit and put in your pocket. Now take it to the youth and sit it on the table in front of them. Ask them to put all the pieces to their car kit together with the instructions they are given. Of course when they open their “booklets they are blank. They will look at you with confusion and some giggles. Then start the conversation with asking who could put the car together. Not many will say they could without real instructions. One will may say they probably could. That’s when you show them the real instructions. Begin to show just how many instructions come with such a small car. Then explain that going through life without reading the Bible is like trying to build that car without the right instructions. You may get the car together but will it last. You need God’s instructions on how to live a good christian life and how to make it to heaven. How can we be good Christians… if we don’t read the instructions on what God wanted us to do for us to make it into His Kingdom. You can just go from here and really get the kids thinking and talking. (another good analogy to use… You may be able to put a lawnmower together without instuctions but will it cut the grass?)

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Caned!

A friendly gesture for some you care about!

You go and buy lots of candy canes. Buy all different sizes and colors or go traditional red-white stripes. Put some on toothpicks that you taped on them. These will be canes that you stick in that special person’s yard. You can do as many of these as you like.(If ground is hard , use bobby pins or other harder material) Make a sign for the yard that you are trying to cane. It’s a great uplift for the pastor or youth minister. Since the canes are shaped like a shepherd’s hook ,your sign could say something like… Thanks for being the Best Shepherd …signed Your Sheep.(or any other witty thing you can come up with.) After placing all the things that get stuck in the ground ,next toss out alot of small candy canes all over the lawn. When you are done the yard should look like a red-white striped sea! Have fun planning and doing this one with your youth group. Oh and one more thing since you will be doing this at night. Let the local law enforcement know what you are going to do so that if someone calls the police, the police have already been let in on the harmless fun. Now go cane someone!

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Lifesavers for a Lifesaver

We did this for our pastor. We got lots of lifesavers (vests, rings, etc.) and spread them all over our pastors yard. We then placed signs in the yard with uplifting messages. We made a big sign that said… thanks for being our lifesaver.

You can spread the lifesavers in a big circle formation like a lifesaver or just fling them everywhere. Our kids loved doing it and the uplift it gave our pastor was well worth it. It can be done to uplift anyone. Have fun doing this with your youth. Just let the local police know so no one gets arrested while you’re decorating!

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