5 Back Pocket Camp Games

No matter how prepared you are for camp, you always need extra camp games to get you through rainy days or spare time. We've put together 5 quick and easy activities that require no supplies.

Name 5
The object of this game is for campers to name 5 of something in a particular category. Split the campers into teams. Each team writes down 5 answers in each category. After all the teams are finished, they read the answers out loud. Teams earn 1 point for each answer, and 2 points for an answer no other team came up with. Here's 10 categories to get you started. Name 5:
    -Movies with a princess    -States that start with an "M"    -States that start with an "N"
    -Fruits                             -Baseball Teams                       -Candy Bars
    -Colors of the rainbow     -(of) Santa's reindeer                -Types of soda
    -Vegetables that aren't green

Linked Up Four Corners
Play a normal version of four corners, but with a twist. Campers pair up in groups of two, standing back to back and linking elbows. Pairs stay together, working as one unit, moving to the corners. The game gets played in the same way, with the leader turning his/her back, counting to 20, then calling out one of the corners. All the pairs in that corner are out. Play until one pair remains. That pair wins! Split up into new pairs and play again.

Anywhere In The World
In this game, campers sit in a circle. Every other person is on either team A or team B. The first person in the game says the name of a place in the world. The person sitting next to them clockwise must then say a name of a place in the world that starts with the last letter of the previous players answer. Campers can use a city, state, country, continent, river, or geographical formation, even the name of a famous building. As long as it is a place, it counts! Continue until a player misses or can’t answer. For younger campers, the counselor should tell the last letter of the previous answer to help out the next player. 

Team Tag
Play a regular version of tag, but split the campers into 3 teams. Team one is the tops: they place a hand on their head. Team two is the middles: they put a hand on their stomach. Team three is the shoulders: they put a hand on their shoulder. Play with regular tag rules. When a team tags someone, they become a part of the other team (if a "top" tags a "middle", that person becomes part of the "tops" and starts doing their motion). If two people tag each other at the same time, it's a draw and nothing happens.

Would You Ever?
Ask campers to discuss these questions. Each camper should give an answer and explain their answer to the group. 
        -Would you ever go skydiving?
-Would you ever move to a foreign country?
-Would you ever shave all your hair off?
-Would you ever eat a cricket?
-Would you ever toss a pie in someone’s face?

Make Your Summer Outreach Effective!

1) Be Unique.

It seems like every church, daycare, and family goes to the nearest theme park in the summer. How can you change your outreach event or strategy to set you apart from the pack? Start with this question: What can you do on your campus that’s more exciting than standing in theme park lines for hours on end? Here’s three ideas:

-Have a wet-and-wild Saturday where every parent brings water balloons (filled up) 

         for the world’s-most-epic water ballon fight

-Are your kids talented? Host a “(Your City)’s Got Talent” and invite local amateur 

         musicians, dancers, and people with all kinds of talents to compete.

-Hold a Game Night where families bring in board and video games for a full night of 

         gaming goodness.

By having kids come to your campus, you offer something unique that gets you noticed when you advertise it to your community. During these events, you can show videos, have a short talk, or promote your church.

2) Communicate with participants beyond summer.

Summer outreach should be about more than just a spectacular moment. Even though we can create fun, exciting times during the summer, outreach is about having influence and making a lasting difference. Start by getting simple contact information from all your participants. If you have sign-ups for VBS, make every family give an email address so that you can keep in contact after the event is over. Encourage participants to interact with your social media so you can keep in touch with them.

3) Create value beyond the moment.

Families don’t want momentary value, they want connections that last. Find a way to create value for the families that come to your outreach. Here’s three ideas:

-Email a take-home portion that accompanies your event

-Show a video with a cliffhanger during your outreach that families can only see the 

         end to online at your social media site

-Create a four-week email course where you give parents quick tips once a week 

         (these could be about parenting in general or relating directly to the theme of your 

         event)

Why not use those connections to advertise your church or ministry? When you add value for people, they will be more receptive to your message. The impact of your outreach grows as your connection with parents and families grows.

3 Transitions Between Activities

Getting from point A to point B in a service or camp day can sometimes be tricky. How do you transition between two high energy activities? Or how do you go from something exciting and active to a prayer? Try out these three transitions below to make your day or service move a little bit smoother.

1) The Quick Question

When transitioning between two segments that are similar, sometimes you need a mental break to get your students refocused. Try asking everyone in the audience a quick question. These can relate to your topic, or they can just be something fun, like: What’s your favorite ice cream? What’s the best kids movie ever? What is your favorite color? How many marshmallows is too many marshmallows to eat in one day?

Have your students get up, go across the room, and ask someone else for the answer to that question. Give everyone 15 seconds to get (and give) the answer and get back to their seats. Then, have all the students say on the count of three what the other person’s answer was.

This is a great way to help your kids get to know each other better. If you’re transitioning out of something active, switch it up so that the kids can only talk to someone next to them or in the row in front or behind them (no getting out of their seats). If your students are younger, you may need to give a few extra seconds to get the answer to the question.

2) Praying Pose

A quick way to get your students ready to pray, especially when there is a lot of loud energy in the room, is to teach your students this process: Put both hands in the air, bring them together (clap), bring them down in front of you, bow your head, close your eyes. Call out each step as you go. If you do the motions in the same way every time, your students will recognize when you start the process that it’s time to pray.

3) Do What I Do

If you’re coming from an active game or segment and need to get the attention of your kids, play a game where the kids have to follow the motions you do. Talk to just one person (preferably on the front row) and tell that student to do exactly what you do. Then, start doing motions. Put one hand up, two hands up, lean to the side, clap once, touch your head, etc. The person on the front row will do the motions along with you. Clapping works well as the sound makes your other students look to see what’s happening. Keep changing the motions, once every few seconds, as the rest of the group joins in to mimic what you’re doing. If you have some kids that still aren’t paying attention, make one of the motions poking your neighbor or making a “shh” sound. This will help your students pay attention better. Play the game for about a minute, or until everyone is ready for the next segment.

5 Apps That Will Make Your Life Better

So much of our lives and ministries happen using technology. We've compiled a list of 5 apps that can help make your life easier. We'll give you the list below as well as how each one can be an asset to you!

#1 - Pinterest

This app might seem obvious since many people use this app personally. But when you want to find creative ideas for crafts, activities, and more, there's not a better place on the internet right now than Pinterest. Explore it for an amazing supply of ideas for your visual and kinesthetic learners. Best of all, it's free, even if you only use it to look and not post anything!

#2 - Plickers

Winning the "most interesting name" for this list, Plickers helps you collect answer data from a large group of children all at once, using your phone. So if you wanted to play our "Can You Believe It?" gameshow (found here), you can use this app to gather every group's answer at the same time, and it even keeps score for you! The app is designed for teachers who want to measure student results on the spot, so it's also useful for classroom teachers from preschool to high school!

#3 - Adobe Voice

Have you ever wanted to create a quick video giving a great tip to your volunteers to make them more effective? How about a video of you telling them thanks for all the hard work or Merry Christmas? Or how would you like to create a video of someone reading a Bible story that's illustrated, that you can show during service or let parents download to watch with their kids? If you know nothing about video, this can be a daunting task. Adobe Voice is a free app that makes story telling easy. Simply record your voice on each slide, and pick the visuals you want to see on the screen from a wide array of choices. Though it's designed for story telling, you can use the app to create quick training videos for staff, e-cards, or whatever you'd like to send! Definitely give this one a try on your tablet!

#4 - Bible For Kids

Every one of your kids needs a Bible. For the ones that have smart phones or tablets (a quickly growing percentage of your students), why not have them download a free Bible app that's designed for younger students (ages 5-9). All your children can follow along with the story in a beautifully illustrated, easy to read version. Stop translating "thee's", "thou's," and "begat's", and dive deeper into the text with your children!

#5 - Dropbox

We all live busy lives. And you're not always in front of a computer screen when you get the inspiration for a perfect idea to do this Sunday. Dropbox helps you keep all your files at your fingertips, so you can import your lesson videos for the week, schedules, volunteer lists--every document you need. Best of all, you can create folders inside of Dropbox to share with others. So create your midweek service folder, and share all those lessons with just your midweek volunteers. Stop emailing files with attachments that are too large--just send a reminder that the Dropbox files have been updated for the entire month! Once a volunteer accesses the shared folder on Dropbox, they can easily get to the lessons every month. Make your file-sharing simple, and bring all your volunteers on the same page!

5 Easter Games For Under $5

Need some Easter game ideas, but don't have a huge budget?

We went shopping at our local dollar store, and came up with these 5 games that you can do for Easter for $5 or less! Download the PDF over at our website for free and use the games for an Easter service or an Easter-themed camp day!

Download the PDF at http://www.thespot4kids.com/#!idea-factory-downloads/cf7p

If you'd like to get a new idea every week, make sure you like our Facebook page using the link above to get weekly updates!