We have a local pottery store where you can get 4″ x 4″ tiles ready to paint. I plan to have the Sr. High Youth each “paint” a tile and then have them fired (the store will charge us $5 per tile for this). Then we will put the tiles together to make a cross on one of the walls in our youth room (and do so in a way that we may add more tiles each year). Another less expensive way to do this is to make tiles out of colorful paper with smaller white squares on them. The youth can then decorate their “square”. Use all of the decorated squares to make a cross.
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Early and Mid Adolescents
Hug The Potholder
You make a circle with your youth group and place a POT in one of the kid’s laps… (don’t let any one see you do that). Then place a POT HOLDER in the middle of the group. Ask people to try to hug the pot holder with out the use of their arms. No matter what they do, tell them that they didn’t hug the pot holder. They have to hug the person with the pot in their lap before the game is won.
*** Hint: Make the pot as small as possible so that the game goes on for awhile.
Clothespin Opinion Poll
A unique way to get your kids to share their opinion s. Hang a clothesline across the meeting room. On one end have a sign that says, “Strongly Agree” and the other end says “Strongly Disagree.” Mark the centre of the clothesline for reference. Get wooden clothespins and allow the youth to decorate them as they wish so they’ll know which are theirs. Each week at the close of your youth meeting, read a strong statement to the group. Ask your youth members to think about, talk about and research the statement during the week. At the beginning of the next meeting, have each member clip a clothespin on the line where it best reflects his or her opinion. Spend the first few minutes of the meeting discussing the results. The topic can be independent of the meeting’s main lesson or it may be used as a great intro to a relaxed subject.
Read moreTrees of Good and Evil
We have used this fun activity to fill Wednesday evening Bible studies. Go to a craft store and buy green and brown paper like the kind used on bulletin boards. Green is two 3’X4’sections and brown is two 2’X4’sections. Also pick up a package of pre-cut apple shapes or you could just cut them from construction paper.
You draw basically a cloud shape on each of the green sections and your best rendition of a tree trunk on the brown sections and cut them out.
You split your amount of apples in half (my package had 36) and write down sins and good things (ex. praying, going to church, worshipping God for good and lying, stealing, drugs, for bad).
Hang the two trees up in the classroom to represent a good tree and an evil tree. Add tape or glue to the back of each apple and give them out to the children. They have to choose which tree their apple would grow on. We asked them questions about each apple and had them give us examples for some of the words. The kids really seemed to like this project and it cost us less than $10 total for creating it.
If you have any questions, please feel free contact me by clicking on my email address above.
Reflections On Christ
Have the youth bring a small compact mirror to a bible study. Have them read scriptures that remind them of how Christ loves each of us. When they are finished reading, have them place the mirror in front of them and ask if they see the love of Christ coming through their faces. This can lead to a wonderful time of exploring how we can develop a personality that reflects Christ to others through our dress, actions, and comments.
Read moreScripture Golf Hunt
Get 12-24 golf balls and label 24 pieces of tape with scripture references. Attach the references to the balls and hide the golf balls. The youth must search for the golf balls and each time they find one they must bring it back to you search for and read from the Bible the scripture on the ball.
Read moreMy Father is a Pastor and…
During the summer my church doesn’t have a youth group, so a lot of us teens have been getting together and putting our own lessons together. I wanted to grab everyone’s attention so I decided to play a game. In Girl Scouts we used to play “My father owns a grocery tore and in this grocery store there are..”
The first person says something that starts with an A. The next person repeats everything the first person said, and then they add something that starts with a B…and so on.
I decided to do it a little different. I changed “My father owns a grocery store” to “My father is a pastor and in his lessons he teaches us about…” Every letter has to deal with God somehow. A could be ark. B-bible.
Have everyone sit in a circle for this. That way you can add a twist to the game. If someone has the letter S for example, and they say Second Samuel (2 words beginning with that same letter) then switch directions of whose turn it is to go next. In other words, if you were going clockwise before, go counter clockwise. If someone forgets a letter, forgets what someone said, or can’t figure out what to say for their letter within like 10 seconds, count them out. Whoever is left gets a prize. I went to a Christian gift store and bought little prizes and candy with scripture on it. I think it’s going to be a hit!
The Holy War
This will be one complicated game so be prepared…
Aim: To test team spirit, honesty, leadership and understanding between each other
Characters:
First of all, divide all participants into 2 groups. After that, each group will be given 15 to 30 minutes to talk about their strategy. In each group, each member will have to role-play one character. It’s up to the leader of the group to decide the distribution of each character. The identity of each character should be kept secret.
Group Heaven Hell
Relic Holy grail Black Bible
Characters: Keeper of the light(1) Keeper of the dark (1)
Saint (1) Satan (1)
Elite angel (2) Elite dark angel(2)
Angel(3) Dark angel (3)
Priest (4) Dark priest (4)
Christians (7>) Satanists (7>)
How to win: Take your enemy’s relic to the judge。
*the number in the column represents the number available for that character
Roles of each character:
= Keeper of the dark/light They are the key player of the game. Protect this character at all costs. They will be given the relic. Although they are able to move around, they are not allowed to hide in hard-to-find places. If the relic is being stolen, they have the responsibility to tell other members to take it back before it is given to the judge. They are basically invulnerable and cannot be killed .But once their identity is revealed, Christians/ Satanists will do anything to take the relic from him. ( once he is tagged by someone , he have to reveal his identity)
* Those who reveal his identity will be killed by the relic except for Christians/ satanists
= Satan/Saint: The strongest character in the game. They are allowed to kill (tag) anyone except for the priest/dark priest with weapon ( this will be explained later) or the keepers .
= Elite angel/ Elite dark angle: They are not allowed to kill anyone. He holds the key to the dungeon and looks over to whoever came to the dungeon. This player should be versatile in all sorts of game and is able to accept the challenge of the prisoners. (we’ll talk about the dungeon later)
= Angel / Dark angel : They are like the cops in this game, they are basically like Satan/Saint but not as strong. They can kill anybody except for Satan/Saint or keepers.
= Priest/ Dark priest : They hold the key on killing Satan/Saint. However, they have to first go through a mission to get the weapon. They can be killed when they are at their mission, so be careful. They also have to ability to save prisoners ( explain this later) , but they could also get killed easily ( they reveal their identity when trying to save the prisoners). * they can still kill Christians/ Satanists
= Christians/ Satanists : Although they are the weakest character in the game . They are the only ones who can take the relic off from the keepers.( coz they are humans!)
How to play :
– Of course you don’t know who your opponent is, but if anyone is tagged, they have to show their cards, the one with lower rank have go to your enemy’s dungeon. If they meet the person with the same rank , they have to settle it out by playing papers, scissors, rock, the one that lost have to go to the dungeon. ( remember that u can run if u don’t want to reveal your identity)
– Any two members with different ranks are not allowed to be together (they have to be at least 10ft away), which also means the keepers will remain isolated all the time.
– Staying in one place for too long is not allowed .
Dungeon:
The dungeons of the two teams are located in 2 separated places. The location of the dungeon will be fixed by the judge and told to everyone before the game starts. Those who have been killed have to be honest and go to the dungeon by themselves ( test your honesty).
The Elite angel / Elite dark angel will look after the prisoners. After the prisoners have waited for 10 minutes in the dungeon they will be given the chance to escape . They have to challenge the guard or win mini-games in able to escape .(they can choose) If they failed escaping, they can try again 10 minutes later.
Here are some examples of the mini-games:
-Arm-wrestle the guard
-try predicting how much time has passed ( 1 min and 23 sec)
-30sec make him laugh
-flip your coins and have the same result 3 times
-do 15 push ups in 10 sec
( there maybe some other games to be added – the elite angle/ elite dark angel can decide)
The priests/dark priests are allowed to save prisoners in an easier way . They have to challenge the guard with papers scissors, rock .(*can have variation) They can only save one prisoner at a time. But if they lose they have to wait 10 minutes till they can come back again. If priests are spotted at this time , they can get killed.
Once the prisoner is being saved/ have escaped , they are invulnerable until they are not seen by the guard ( maybe around 10ft away from the dungeon )
Priest/ Dark priest mission
In search of the holy weapon they’ll be given clues at the start of the game… It’s like the amazing race, except for that the clues are very obvious and are easily find. They have to find a piece of paper in every checkpoint for the next clue. Of course , the priest and the dark priest will have a different route. If they found the holy weapon ( which will most likely be replaced by a card) the priests/ dark priests will have to decide who will be the owner. Once the owner is being decided the weapon will have to stay with the priest / dark priest until the game ends. Which means the priest can still kill saint / satan even after he got out of dungeon.
Remember that it only requires one priest/ dark priest to complete this mission, but having 4 will make it easier ( better chance to escape ) but might also make it easier to be spotted
Anything goes in this game as long as they don’t violate the rules …. So be creative…..
Read moreThe Hunter and the Hound
This game is best played in a large, open room. Before the children arrive, mark a starting line near the door across the width of the room. Place Hershey’s kisses throughout the room, being sure not to put any behind the starting line. The candies should be in plain sight, within reach of the children. When the children arrive, they should pair off, with one child in each team being the “hunter” and one the “hound.” Place a chair near the starting line for each team, with a bowl to put their candy in. At “go,” each “hunter” sends his “hound” across the line to search for candy. The hounds must keep their hands behind their backs at all times. When they find a candy, the hound barks/howls and stands by the candy to signal his hunter. The hunter may then cross the start line and retrieve the candy his hound has found, then bring it back across the line to put into the team’s bowl. When all candy has been found, the team with the most Kisses in their bowl wins. Rules: (1) Hounds cannot use their hands and can only communicate by barking/howling. (2) Hunters can only cross the line if their hound has found a candy and is barking. (3) Hunters can retrieve only ONE piece of candy per trip across the start line. They must return that piece of candy to the team bowl before crossing the line again. (Hunters will be exhausted at the end of the game.)
This game is the most requested by our Youth. It is LOUD with all the barking, and as much fun to watch as it is to play.
Read moreAngels Unaware
Ask each of your young people to identify someone at school who doesn’t attend any church. For the 12 weeks have kids each commit to becoming that person’s “undercover angel.” Weekly, have kids each slip a card into their person’s locker at school, leave a gift for him or her in the office, write a note of encouragement after a poor grade, or offer some other kind of secret encouragement. Each week in the youth group meeting, have kids each report on what they did and what their person’s reaction has been. Weekly reports will help keep the motivation and interest high. After 12 weeks, kids can choose a new person to reach out to. Encourage kids not to reveal themselves to their secret person, even after they’ve moved on to a new person.
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