A couple of weeks ago the staff here at ProjectYM thought it would be helpful to develop a list of the top 7 things to do with your youth this summer with a little help from all of our bloggers, VIPs, and readers. We also thought a $20 iTunes Card might be a good incentive to get your help. People were invited to post their ideas until the 14th and The only requirements are these:
- It has to be something that takes less than 24 hours. (but can be overnight, take multiple meetings, or be nongathered)
- It should cost around $30 a kid or less. (Base cost)
- It should be summer specific. (or at least better to do in the summer)
Starting tomorrow (the 19th) through the 27th we will be inviting you to vote on the ideas that got posted plus a few of our own.
The 1st week of June we will be running a series of posts on the top 7 ideas, and the person who submitted the top idea will also win a $20 iTunes gift card to setup that summer playlist (or something else awesome if you don’t like iTunes).
If you have an idea that you did not get to submit please email [email protected] to get your great idea added in, or just post it in the comments below to share with everyone.
Top 12 Field trip ideas from the Boys & Girls Club:
-Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium
-Woodland Park Zoo
-Fort Casey on Whidbey Island
-Ferry boat walk on to Kingston and then play on beach
-Jetty Island in Everett (good for swimming and nice sandy beach)
-Train to Seattle Downtown/Waterfront
-Ferry boat walk on to Friday Harbor (check schedule to avoid international sailing on way back)
-Lynnwood Aquatic Center
-Snohomish Aquatic Center
-Bike riding on Centennial Trail
-Padilla Bay interpretive center (Mt. Vernon, WA)
-Kids day at Everett Aquasox or Seattle Storm
Trip to the local waterpark!
This doesn’t fit with the ‘under 24 hours’ requirement, but thought I’d share the idea anyway. I created it a few years ago and have used it each summer since. I tweak and revamp the list each year as necssary adding new things. I call it the ‘101 Things To Do This Summer Challenge’. Our youth ministry takes a break in July since so many kidz are away on vacation. Also, it gives them a chance to miss eachother and the group, and it gives me a chance to take a break and regroup before starting a brand new year. I’m sure you have heard the same comments…. All year long teens are counting down until Summer Break. Complaining all the way through the school year, “When is summer? Hurry Up Summer!” etc. Then, approximately 5-7 days after Summer Break has started, here come the facebook and twitter posts….”I’M SOO BORED!!!” “THERE’S NOTHING TO DO!” “THERE’S NOTHING ON TV!” “NONE OF MY FRIENDS ARE ONLINE!” etc. So, I put together the 101 Things To Do This Summer Challenge. I challenge the kidz to do all (or as many as they can) and at the end of the summer / at our first youth group meeting back in August, whoever has completed the entire list (or who has completed the most items on the list) wins a prize. Most of the things on the list are free, and many are things they would never have thought of. Many encourage creativity, many are just fun, many are focused on learning something new, etc. A few examples are Making dinner for his/her family, building a huge sandcastle/sculpture at the beach, reading a whole book of the bible from beginning to end, watching a movie trilogy which they have never seen before (Back to the Future for example) or building a backyard slip-n-slide from scratch (garbage bags, a hose, dishwashing soap) to name a few. They document/prove to me that they have completed each item on the list by taking a picture and either posting on our youth group’s facebook page, or on twitter, or emailing it to me. I keep track of who has completed which items on the list this way and can correctly award the winner at the end of the summer. ( ie. Make a dinner for my family = picture of them cooking Or, One of their friends/siblings sliding down their homemade slip-n-slide, etc.)
It always goes over well and there are always fun stories at our first youth group back over what they did. (epic fail…..trying to invent their own flavor smoothie…..ended up being gross!)
I will post the full list and ideas on my blog page closer to summer. Right now, I’m swamped with lock-in! Ha!
I always like service projects / apostolates. Several specific to the summer would be:
* Landscaping a crisis pregnancy center / home for unwed mothers / church / poor old people’s houses
* Helping with a Habitat for Humanity home
* Planting a garden that will go to the food bank
* Walk-a-thon / Bike-a-thon
And one thing beyond a service project:
* A challenging hike in the mountains
Kayaking on Lake Union in Seattle! It’s $20-25 a kid, and we usually head over through the Montlake Cut, past the UW stadium over to the Arboretum. Kids pack a sack lunch and we circle up and eat lunch together in a corner of the arboretum.. there’s usually a turtle or heron to keep us company! It’s a fun day in the sun!
Sloppy Messy Game Night! Activities can include “hot pie-tato” where you take a paper plate full of whipped cream and pass it around till the music stops. Once it stops, someone gets pied! Muddy scrabble – hiding letters in a kiddie pool of mud! & slip and slide bowling. Ideas belong to my buddy Sean Malloy so I’d have to split to gift card with him 😉
I love the 80’s (movies). . . .every week a different 80’s movie with food, and a few discussion questions at the end. Kick off is a “Grease” singalong (technically 1978, but close enough). . Dressing in our best 50’s style!! Only cost is food (donated by parents) and movie rental if we need to rent…)
My favorite summer event is the “It’s Too HOT!” Movie Night. We’d go to someone’s house in the mid-afternoon (about 2-3pm) where we’d watch “HOT Rod”, eat HOT Wings, HOT Dogs, HOT Tamales, and HOT Fudge Sundaes, then make our way over to the local pool (at about 6pm) for a swim to cool off. Parents would pick their teens up from the pool. The only cost per person was the pool entry (about $7). Was a great way for the teens to invite their friends to a “Church event”. We’d open with a prayer, we’d say grace before eating, each driver to the pool would say a van/car prayer on the way, and we’d invite them to come to Mass that Sunday when we would have our music group leading worship.
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