Name Game Toss
Name Game Toss
Form a circle and find a fun squishy ball to toss around the circle. Have a each child state their name and 1 special thing about themselves and then toss the ball to someone else in the circle who has not played yet.
Form a circle and find a fun squishy ball to toss around the circle. Have a each child state their name and 1 special thing about themselves and then toss the ball to someone else in the circle who has not played yet.
Category Hopscotch is a challenging after-school activity that will teach your child to think (and hop) fast.
Humans categorize pretty much everything we see in order to make sense of the world around us. We separate healthful things to eat, like vegetables and fish, from junk foods like candy bars and chips. And there are so many animals in the world, we categorize them into their species (i.e., reptile, mammal) in order to communicate with each other about these animals more easily.
Help your child explore this variation on the classic hopscotch game and encourage him or her to explore the ways humans categorize our world.
Mark off a court in the style of a hopscotch court. In each square, write the name of a category — for example, cars, fruits, and birds.
Players place their markers in the first square. Each player in turn walks or hops through the squares, bouncing the ball and naming something from the first category for each step in each square. Ball, foot, and word must arrive at the same time. No word can be used twice in any one run of the court.
Players who finish the court place their markers in the next square and must name things from that category. The first player to finish all categories wins and chooses the categories for the next game.
An alphabet variation: Each time a player steps in a square, he or she must name something from the category in that square, all items named starting with the same letter. A player faced with the categories of cars, fruits, and birds might say, “Buick, blackberry, blue jay.”
Kids have to learn to cooperate if they want to play Loop the Hoop — this after-school activity requires a lot of group coordination but produces a lot of goofy fun.
For this game to really take off, round up as many of your child’s friends as you can. The loopy-ness increases when there are more kids playing.
Instruct the children to stand in a circle and hold hands. The object is to pass the hula hoop around the circle. It’s not as easy as it sounds: Tell the kids they can’t let go of each others’ hands. When the group begins, the hoop should dangle from one player’s arm. To move the hoop around the circle, that player will have to step through it and slide it along his or her other arm to the next player’s arm. Continue until the hoop has gone around the whole circle. Tell players to watch out for those feet, arms, shoulders, and heads!
Players stand in a circle and hold hands. A trash can is in the middle of the circle. The leader says 3-2-1-go at which point players, while holding tightly to the hands of the players next to them, try to pull the circle back so that other plays are pulled into the trashcan.
If a player touches the trash can, they are out. If two players let go of each others hands, both of those players are out. The last one remaining wins.
Materials: Balloons (one for each person) and string/dental floss. Each player gets a balloon and a piece of string. Before starting players must blow up their balloon and tie one end of the string (string is no longer than 1 ft) to their ankle and the other end to the balloon.
The facilitator makes sure that players know the confined area they have to stay in. When the facilitator says go, players must try to pop other player’s balloons by only using their feet.
When a player has his or her balloon popped, he or she must exit the playing field. The last one remaining their their balloon is the winner.
Something that can be helpful is to decrease the playing field size as more players are eliminated.
This after-school activity is a great outlet for any kid tired of boring sidewalks. Kids don’t have to be artistic to take the community chalk challenge and brighten their world, but artistically inclined children will especially love this after school activity.
What You’ll Need:
Give each child colored chalk and tell them they are to build (color) a community. Assign them each a specific building to draw (library, school, bank, church, stadium, etc.), then after construction is complete, have a discussion about why each particular element is important to community. Take pictures of the kids next to their beautiful art!
The Chattanooga Youth Network is an organization created in response to something everybody knows. Giving life to the next generation is a non-negotiable. So we asked ourselves, “If this is the case then where can we make the biggest investment?” We’ve chosen to give life to youth leaders because they are strategic in bringing life to teens, families, churches and communities. More…
NBA standout Dwight Howard was the #1 overall pick in the 2004 NBA draft, becoming only the third prep player in history to be the top pick. Also the winner of the 2004 Naismith Award, signifying the nation’s top high school player, Howard talks about the role his faith plays on and off the court and challenges young people to be bold with theirs.
Teaser video below:
Howard led the NBA in rebounding from 2007 to 2010, and again from 2012 to 2013. Howard’s rebounding is in part facilitated by his extraordinary athleticism; his running vertical leap was tested at 39.5 inches in 2011, rare for a player of his size (6’11”). He demonstrated this skill in the 2007 Slam Dunk Contest, where he completed an alley oop dunk from teammate Jameer Nelson while slapping a sticker onto the backboard at 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) high. The sticker showed an image of his own smiling face with a handwritten “All things through Christ Phil: 4:13,” a paraphrase of Philippians 4:13. Howard’s leaping reach of 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) is the highest documented in NBA history, 1 inch (2.5 cm) higher than Shaquille O’Neal’s previous record of 12 ft 5 in (3.78 m). As of April 2013, Howard’s career average of 12.9 rebounds per game (in the regular season) ranked 12th in NBA history.
Howard’s abilities and powerful physique have drawn attention from fellow NBA All-Stars. Tim Duncan once remarked in 2007: “[Howard] is so developed… He has so much promise and I am glad that I will be out of the league when he is peaking.” Kevin Garnett echoed those sentiments: “[Howard] is a freak of nature, man… I was nowhere near that physically talented. I wasn’t that gifted, as far as body and physical presence.” Subsequent to a game in the 2009 NBA Playoffs, Philadelphia 76ers swingman Andre Iguodala said: “It’s like he can guard two guys at once. He can guard his guy and the guy coming off the pick-and-roll, which is almost impossible to do… If he gets any more athletic or jumps any higher, they’re going to have to change the rules.” As early as December 2007, ESPN writer David Thorpe declared Howard to be the most dominant center in the NBA.
My Troubled Teen Online resource for parents looking for help with their troubled youth. We have a large directory of boarding schools, boot camps, military schools, private schools, residential treatment centers, Christian programs and wilderness programs, each varying in the level of therapy and services they provide to teens. We also have other resources for parents of troubled teens including articles on parenting and youth warning signs. www.mytroubledteen.com
Help For Troubled Teens – As you begin to research what avenues of help are available, you will discover that there are many options. There are literally thousands of organizations designed to help troubled teens. Boot camps, specialty boarding schools, therapists, military schools, group homes are all established to help troubled teens. And that list is just a scratch of the surface. www.helpfortroubledteens.net
Aspiro – A specialized, short-term, Wilderness Adventure Therapy (WAT) program. Aspiro works with main stream students ages 13 to 17. Students often present with a history of soft to moderate emotional and behavioral challenges and some combination of: low self-esteem, academic underachievement, ADD/ADHD, adoption issues, impulsivity, passive aggressiveness, substance abuse, family conflict and so on. Acceptance is based on a review of the student’s current and past history of behavior, consultation with parents and professionals, and psycho-educational testing when appropriate. www.aspiroprograms.com
Shelterwood School – is committed to honoring Jesus, pursuing educational excellence, and strengthening families. We strive to help students reach their highest potential in academic, physical, emotional, and spiritual growth. Teen counseling and residential treatment for teenagers. www.shelterwood.org
Troubled Teens Directory (TTD) is the most honest and integral Internet-based educational consulting service available. TTD is designed to serve parents who are in need of help for their troubled teen and are looking for trouble teen programs or camps engineered to restore troubled teens. www.troubledteensdirectory.com
Focus on the Family provides relevant Christian advice on marriage, parenting and other topics. Find practical resources for every age and lifestage. www.focusonthefamily.com
Joe got involved with drugs, gangs, and delinquency, at a very early age. His life was on a reckless and self-destructive pace but he encountered something life-changing through a juvenile detention center outreach.