Last night at youth group we hosted our second annual messy olympics. This is an evening dedicated to getting messy with the craziest games I can imagine and then pulling it all together with the message of grace.
A few lessons... first, Thank God for Megaphones! It's difficult to host this event outside in September, you never know what the weather will be like and it gets dark about an hour into youth group time, but we tried this year to have the messiest events outside at the very beginning of the evening, which worked well. Outside also creates other problems like sound, containment, weather and lighting, but staying outside for 45 minutes was a great decision. Second, I was trying really hard to be messy without being wasteful. it's a challenge from my senior pastor, and I was trying to respect food. so in 3 games we wasted food, 2 games we didn't use food (alphabet soup was supposed to be food free), and 2 games we ate food. This was just okay, it's much easier to be wasteful, but I think we can even do with less food next time.
Egg Head (aka Egg Roulette) kids whack an egg over each others head, raw egg and you're out, hard boiled egg and you stay in. we played three rounds and on the third round everyone was given a raw egg except one person, so that there was one winner. First thing we did was get kids in a circle and have them pair up, then we passed out eggs and had them smash each other around the circle. this worked okay, but we had 4 eggs in the bowl for two people to increase the randomness (it meant that if you knew you had a hard boiled egg you weren't necessarily going to get a raw egg on your head), but it was also confusing for some of the kids... you mean we're both out... I also planned to sort kids into teams at this point, but the game was WAY too exciting and team sorting happened later.
once we formed teams things settled down in a nice pace. we had good games and it was under control for the most part. teams were definitely a good idea because it allowed some kids to watch, some kids to get really messy and everyone to have someone to cheer for.
Cracker Stacker - one team member balanced crackers on their head that were stacked by teammates using honey as glue. 2 minutes was plenty. next time a few more rules (like the crackers have to stay by themselves) would be helpful ahead of time.
Pudding Legs - two kids on the team were given panty hose to put over their heads, one team mate was then blindfolded and had to feed pudding cups to their team through the panty hose. Not a super messy game, but I had the contestants go inside to get ready as I explained the game to the teams, it created lots of excitement and energy, plus the kids got carried away with the pudding cups and a little food fighting ensued.
Jello Blow - two kids from each team came to the middle and took an end of a plastic tube filled with jello, on the whistle they both blew and the loser ended up with jello on their face. this game was mostly a fail. jello was too hard and difficult to blow, and it was too easy to cheat. plus it wasn't very messy. I tried this before hand with a coworker and thought it would go over better.
Then we headed inside to play Alphabet Soup. Teams relay raced to a pool filled with water, plastic fruit, ping pong balls, and rubber ducks, to find golf balls on the bottom with letters written on them. great game because it's reusable, exciting, and messy but not in a way that ruins clothes. of course I wish I hadn't put in the donuts in the water... donut water is gross, and it slowed down the game to a crawl. I also used two of each letter because we had so many teams but that was a little confusing too.
Cotton Nose - one team mate was chosen and then smeared with vasoline on their face. cotton balls were spread on the table and students were given one minute to transfer as many cotton balls into a bowl as possible. it worked okay. vasoline is really messy. I think some teams cheated, but it was fun to watch.
Cheeto face - one team mate was chosen and then smeared with whip cream on their face. cheese balls were spread on the table and students were given one minute to toss cheese balls and get them to stick on the face. hilarious! I wish it was a little more controlled, but it was very funny. whip cream does sting the eyes, and cheese balls are difficult to stick, plus the whip cream slides off fast. next time maybe we'll use shaving cream.
we tied everything together at the end with closing ceremonies. I handed out awards to winners of each competition. purchased from oriental trading the medals are "make your own" so we pre printed them to be game specific... awesome! then I gave a little youth talk about why we do messy olympics. Using Romans 3:23 and Romans 5:6-8 I made the case that we're all messy all the time and God loves us while we are messy. It was beautiful, relevant and a very sticky message.
During our closing worship, we really focused the group into some beautiful silence and then had one of our seniors share her faith story. it was great, all about faith mountain top experiences and why camp and the youth group means so much to her.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Servce Project Rain out
Last night at youth group we were rained out of our initial plan of doing service projects and forced inside to have fun all evening with games and Bible study. Fortunately I was able to plan a little ahead on Sunday morning and things worked out well. Here's what we did and what worked:
We began the evening by having kids decorate a wooden cross with their name as they entered the youth room. This worked out great! it gave kids something to do as they entered the room and the leaders an excuse to talk with kids. A basket of sharpies and some leftover crosses from an event earlier this year were great supplies and easy to pull out. We used these crosses later, which were actually key rings, when we decorated a wall-sized map of our town by placing the crosses wherever we lived.
After a few minutes to gather, I called everyone's attention to a few announcements concerning the next coming weeks and then laid out the plan for the evening. I've always found this helpful for students to know what they'll be doing, what to expect. Then we moved into the fellowship hall and immediately into groups of 10 for an icebreaker called hula head. This wasn't a great transition, I should have waited until everyone got into the room before I told them to get into groups and I could have mingled them up a little more, instead the kids were mostly with their closest friends in big groups of 10 or so. Leaders did a great job of jumping into groups and making sure that there was at least one leader in each group. We played four rounds of hula head, which basically uses hula hoops to pass around the circle without using hands, while all holding hands. Hula hoops over the head, two hoops going in opposite directions, everyone going through the hoops... just silly physical activity with lots of laughter and excitement!
Next we moved to tables and played a game called speed friending. kids were seated at tables in a circle and were paired up with someone across from them. The group got one minute to find as many things in common with their partner, and the most unique things that they had in common, then as the leader at the end of a minute I asked for volunteers to share their most unique items. Everything from favorite episode of their favorite tv show to both playing in a tribute band. The creativity was excellent! after each round I asked the inside circle to move a random number of chairs to their right insuring new partners, names, and new things in common. The chairs and tables were critical for this game. I've done it before with confirmation kids, but without chairs the kids get confused easily about who belongs to who. It also worked well because kids sat down at tables next to their friends, so they were meeting people across the table who they didn't really know.
Next we headed back to the youth room for one of the most dangerous and awesome games in youth ministry: what would you do if... in this game each participant writes a 'what would you do if' statement on a note card, then we pass cards and everyone answers the statement on the back of the card. Finally, after a good shuffling of cards, leaders redistribute cards and answers are read aloud in a special way. the first person reads their 'what would you do if' question, and their neighbor to their right reads the answer on their card. Since the answers are mixed, they end up with some ridiculous statements and answers. my favorite from last night: Q - What would you do if you lived with Ian. A - I would trade it for a cat. The game does have lots of craziness and it's difficult to get kids to stay quiet long enough to hear answers, but the kids eventually pick up on the game and want to hear. It's dangerous because there can be some risky answers or insinuations. But kids are pretty good at recognizing sketchy answers and amending statements so that nothing comes out wrong.
Then we broke into small groups by age group. With a group our size, age groups are important to get into every once in a while, even though we broke the largest age group into two groups. There is a good sense of camaraderie in the ages and I think kids need to see their peers in order to have some conversations. In this small group we began with another ice breaker game which asked kids to pull out a random object from a bag and tell a story about themselves that the object made them think of. I sat with seniors and the game was hilarious. Great stories. That led the group into a conversation about seeing God in everyday life situations which was an awesome conversation to have with our small groups referencing the message translation of Romans 12:1-2). Even with 30 minutes in small group, some of the groups didn't get to the Bible study portion (too long in the stories) which is a little frustrating, but a reality, especially with so many students all still figuring out the rhythm of youth group.
We closed the group with some great singing, prayer and then a short closing about how we see God in our everyday lives. I referenced the map during closing, which was now decorated with crosses for everywhere the kids lived. The visual of the crosses all around the city is a powerful reminder of how we do see God in everyday life. Not bad for a rainout plan that I made a few hours before youth group :)
We began the evening by having kids decorate a wooden cross with their name as they entered the youth room. This worked out great! it gave kids something to do as they entered the room and the leaders an excuse to talk with kids. A basket of sharpies and some leftover crosses from an event earlier this year were great supplies and easy to pull out. We used these crosses later, which were actually key rings, when we decorated a wall-sized map of our town by placing the crosses wherever we lived.
After a few minutes to gather, I called everyone's attention to a few announcements concerning the next coming weeks and then laid out the plan for the evening. I've always found this helpful for students to know what they'll be doing, what to expect. Then we moved into the fellowship hall and immediately into groups of 10 for an icebreaker called hula head. This wasn't a great transition, I should have waited until everyone got into the room before I told them to get into groups and I could have mingled them up a little more, instead the kids were mostly with their closest friends in big groups of 10 or so. Leaders did a great job of jumping into groups and making sure that there was at least one leader in each group. We played four rounds of hula head, which basically uses hula hoops to pass around the circle without using hands, while all holding hands. Hula hoops over the head, two hoops going in opposite directions, everyone going through the hoops... just silly physical activity with lots of laughter and excitement!
Next we moved to tables and played a game called speed friending. kids were seated at tables in a circle and were paired up with someone across from them. The group got one minute to find as many things in common with their partner, and the most unique things that they had in common, then as the leader at the end of a minute I asked for volunteers to share their most unique items. Everything from favorite episode of their favorite tv show to both playing in a tribute band. The creativity was excellent! after each round I asked the inside circle to move a random number of chairs to their right insuring new partners, names, and new things in common. The chairs and tables were critical for this game. I've done it before with confirmation kids, but without chairs the kids get confused easily about who belongs to who. It also worked well because kids sat down at tables next to their friends, so they were meeting people across the table who they didn't really know.
Next we headed back to the youth room for one of the most dangerous and awesome games in youth ministry: what would you do if... in this game each participant writes a 'what would you do if' statement on a note card, then we pass cards and everyone answers the statement on the back of the card. Finally, after a good shuffling of cards, leaders redistribute cards and answers are read aloud in a special way. the first person reads their 'what would you do if' question, and their neighbor to their right reads the answer on their card. Since the answers are mixed, they end up with some ridiculous statements and answers. my favorite from last night: Q - What would you do if you lived with Ian. A - I would trade it for a cat. The game does have lots of craziness and it's difficult to get kids to stay quiet long enough to hear answers, but the kids eventually pick up on the game and want to hear. It's dangerous because there can be some risky answers or insinuations. But kids are pretty good at recognizing sketchy answers and amending statements so that nothing comes out wrong.
Then we broke into small groups by age group. With a group our size, age groups are important to get into every once in a while, even though we broke the largest age group into two groups. There is a good sense of camaraderie in the ages and I think kids need to see their peers in order to have some conversations. In this small group we began with another ice breaker game which asked kids to pull out a random object from a bag and tell a story about themselves that the object made them think of. I sat with seniors and the game was hilarious. Great stories. That led the group into a conversation about seeing God in everyday life situations which was an awesome conversation to have with our small groups referencing the message translation of Romans 12:1-2). Even with 30 minutes in small group, some of the groups didn't get to the Bible study portion (too long in the stories) which is a little frustrating, but a reality, especially with so many students all still figuring out the rhythm of youth group.
We closed the group with some great singing, prayer and then a short closing about how we see God in our everyday lives. I referenced the map during closing, which was now decorated with crosses for everywhere the kids lived. The visual of the crosses all around the city is a powerful reminder of how we do see God in everyday life. Not bad for a rainout plan that I made a few hours before youth group :)
Monday, September 12, 2011
In the beginning...
Last night at youth group we began the season with a huge change: we dropped the evening meal at the beginning, which dramatically changed the gathering atmosphere. There is still going to be some major adjustment in our group to this big change, but after the first night, I can tell that it's going to be a nice change. In my opinion there were lots of positives: we didn't have to collect $, we gathered in our youth space which is intimate and inviting rather than the large and ugly fellowship hall, we were able to setup games in the fellowship hall before hand, kids ate with their families, and we began earlier giving us more time. There were some negatives: we didn't open the evening with a camp-style prayer, the snack was awesome but few ate because they had just eaten dinner with families, and the beginning was a little strange while we gathered kids for 5-10 minutes in the youth room. We'll work out those things in the upcoming weeks though and I think the change will do us well!
We began the evening with quick introductions about SNL, an overview of the evening and then we introduced leaders (since sometimes our leaders look a little like our students - young adults as they are). There were definitely some giggles when one leader said they wanted to ride the 'weiner mobile', otherwise, it was just a good chance for kids to hear and see the adult presence and give a chance for Liz (lacey's helper) to be introduced. Then we proceeded into the fellowship hall for a few ice breaker games: clump it up, jelly bean swap, and can-can-bump.
Clump it up: a simple game that asked kids to mingle, then I would shout a number and a few questions. Kids found that number of people to form a group and then sat down and answered questions like - your hardest class, farthest away from home, school, grade... when I had kids get into groups of three I asked them to form pyramids and then they had to race across the floor. That was excellent, no one got hurt, and there was a lot of fun in the challenge. we concluded the game by making lines of people, and then without talking having to sort themselves according to birthdays and then alphabetically by middle name. All of these games were great, as they encouraged kids to include one another, meet others, and have some small experiences to remember and draw on throughout the rest of the year. I imagine conversations between kids later in the year: "I think I know you, yeah we were in the same pyramid when we raced." "That's right, I thought we were going to die!"
Jelly Bean Swap: we distributed cups filled with skittles and m&ms instructing kids to trade candy until they had collected all the same color and candy. Simple rules included candy always had to be traded one-to-one and each trade had to accompany a new piece of information about the other person. The great part of the game was that kids were so excited to be trading candy, and it forced kids into new relationships as they overcame their fears about getting to know each other in pursuit of collecting the right candy. This game worked well for our group because at the end of the game everyone can eat candy and watch the next game, which was played in rounds so that everyone got a turn.
Can-can-bump: I thought going into the night that this game might flop, and I was surprised that it was so incredible. It might have been the sugar-high, but our kids loved trying to push eachother into the trash can. Again, first night, so we had a game with very simple rules. Called to the middle in groups according to gender and age (or whatever I felt like) kids held hands around the trash can, then tried to pull their friends into the middle and try to touch the trash can or pull friends over the can so that their hands passed over the can and they were called out. They were also called out if they broke hands at any point. Tons of silliness. The kids really enjoyed the strength and strategy of the game. They cheered each other on, and my favorite part of the game: when the freshman girls couldn't seem to get anyone out, mostly just moving in a circle, the rest of the room spontaneously started singing ring-around-the-rosy. The game was good natured, fun to watch, and great for a group as big as ours.
After our ice breakers we went back to the youth room for a short talk. I explained that this was our space to take care of and then launched into a more serious discussion about what makes church community different than other communities: that we are built on forgiveness because we are all outsiders. We talked about John 3:16-17, our own sinfulness, and used an illustration about all of us being included because no one is perfect. Then we broke into small groups. spread out and had great conversations. We definitely need a better way to break into small groups, mostly because I don't want it to be based on where you sit every night, but for the first night it was okay.
Small groups were interesting. There was quite a bit of variety in the depth, seriousness, and silliness that was in each group. I forgot to suggest that kids go around the circle as the group began and introduce themselves. Some groups did this anyway, some not and that was probably a determining factor in the attitudes.
We concluded with ukulele worship. Myself, another leader and a student led the group with our ukes, but we also had a student guitar player and someone else on hand drums. I was nervous about the mixture, but we sounded good and with so many people in the room, I was grateful for the extra sound from the guitar. As students reentered the youth room they were invited to the center table. Candles and markers sat on the paper covered-table and all were invited to write down places that they've been excluded. It was a great gathering tool that we'll have to use again, and great place to point our eyes to as we worshiped.
My favorite moment in the evening was at the conclusion. Following one song, my ukulele playing student leaned over to me and asked if he could say something. This young man is still a little on the fringe, he's a freshman, and I'm pretty sure the only reason that he showed up was because I asked him to come play uke with me... so the request was surprising to say the least, but I granted it, got everyone's attention and this young man spoke great God words. He encouraged us to think about 9-11 and be mindful of those families in our prayers. To which I asked him to lead us in prayer, and he did. He prayed a beautiful, eloquent prayer that wove together the theme of our inclusive night, 9-11, and what it means to love God. It was a beautiful moment of spirit in our community where God spoke to and through him into our group. A great illustration about what it means to be included!
We began the evening with quick introductions about SNL, an overview of the evening and then we introduced leaders (since sometimes our leaders look a little like our students - young adults as they are). There were definitely some giggles when one leader said they wanted to ride the 'weiner mobile', otherwise, it was just a good chance for kids to hear and see the adult presence and give a chance for Liz (lacey's helper) to be introduced. Then we proceeded into the fellowship hall for a few ice breaker games: clump it up, jelly bean swap, and can-can-bump.
Clump it up: a simple game that asked kids to mingle, then I would shout a number and a few questions. Kids found that number of people to form a group and then sat down and answered questions like - your hardest class, farthest away from home, school, grade... when I had kids get into groups of three I asked them to form pyramids and then they had to race across the floor. That was excellent, no one got hurt, and there was a lot of fun in the challenge. we concluded the game by making lines of people, and then without talking having to sort themselves according to birthdays and then alphabetically by middle name. All of these games were great, as they encouraged kids to include one another, meet others, and have some small experiences to remember and draw on throughout the rest of the year. I imagine conversations between kids later in the year: "I think I know you, yeah we were in the same pyramid when we raced." "That's right, I thought we were going to die!"
Jelly Bean Swap: we distributed cups filled with skittles and m&ms instructing kids to trade candy until they had collected all the same color and candy. Simple rules included candy always had to be traded one-to-one and each trade had to accompany a new piece of information about the other person. The great part of the game was that kids were so excited to be trading candy, and it forced kids into new relationships as they overcame their fears about getting to know each other in pursuit of collecting the right candy. This game worked well for our group because at the end of the game everyone can eat candy and watch the next game, which was played in rounds so that everyone got a turn.
Can-can-bump: I thought going into the night that this game might flop, and I was surprised that it was so incredible. It might have been the sugar-high, but our kids loved trying to push eachother into the trash can. Again, first night, so we had a game with very simple rules. Called to the middle in groups according to gender and age (or whatever I felt like) kids held hands around the trash can, then tried to pull their friends into the middle and try to touch the trash can or pull friends over the can so that their hands passed over the can and they were called out. They were also called out if they broke hands at any point. Tons of silliness. The kids really enjoyed the strength and strategy of the game. They cheered each other on, and my favorite part of the game: when the freshman girls couldn't seem to get anyone out, mostly just moving in a circle, the rest of the room spontaneously started singing ring-around-the-rosy. The game was good natured, fun to watch, and great for a group as big as ours.
After our ice breakers we went back to the youth room for a short talk. I explained that this was our space to take care of and then launched into a more serious discussion about what makes church community different than other communities: that we are built on forgiveness because we are all outsiders. We talked about John 3:16-17, our own sinfulness, and used an illustration about all of us being included because no one is perfect. Then we broke into small groups. spread out and had great conversations. We definitely need a better way to break into small groups, mostly because I don't want it to be based on where you sit every night, but for the first night it was okay.
Small groups were interesting. There was quite a bit of variety in the depth, seriousness, and silliness that was in each group. I forgot to suggest that kids go around the circle as the group began and introduce themselves. Some groups did this anyway, some not and that was probably a determining factor in the attitudes.
We concluded with ukulele worship. Myself, another leader and a student led the group with our ukes, but we also had a student guitar player and someone else on hand drums. I was nervous about the mixture, but we sounded good and with so many people in the room, I was grateful for the extra sound from the guitar. As students reentered the youth room they were invited to the center table. Candles and markers sat on the paper covered-table and all were invited to write down places that they've been excluded. It was a great gathering tool that we'll have to use again, and great place to point our eyes to as we worshiped.
My favorite moment in the evening was at the conclusion. Following one song, my ukulele playing student leaned over to me and asked if he could say something. This young man is still a little on the fringe, he's a freshman, and I'm pretty sure the only reason that he showed up was because I asked him to come play uke with me... so the request was surprising to say the least, but I granted it, got everyone's attention and this young man spoke great God words. He encouraged us to think about 9-11 and be mindful of those families in our prayers. To which I asked him to lead us in prayer, and he did. He prayed a beautiful, eloquent prayer that wove together the theme of our inclusive night, 9-11, and what it means to love God. It was a beautiful moment of spirit in our community where God spoke to and through him into our group. A great illustration about what it means to be included!
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