|
TheSource4YM.com
|
| |
 |
Jonathan's Resource Ezine |
Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
|
If you aren't a subscriber of this EZINE and would like to subscribe - it's free -
just pop on www.TheSource4YM.com and sign
up in the upper right hand corner.
|
|
Something You Can Use: Top 10 Swimming Pool Ideas
|
Over here in the U.S., the weather is turning warm, school is out and summer is here.
What better time to head to the pool! (New Zealanders... file this idea away for a few
months!)
Here's our top 10 Swimming Pool Ideas: some entire events, some games and activities.
Some of these require bigger pools like those at camps or community centers. Others could
be done in the pools in people's backyards.
- Dive In Movie Night: This is one of my favorite summer activity ideas. In
high school ministry I try to rotate this one in at least every four years so kids get
to experience it once. Basically, watch a "water" themed movie while floating in the
pool (personally, I always select "Jaws"). Have everyone bring something to float on
(we never charged admission, a tube or a raft was their ticket in).
Click here for more
aabout this event idea.
- Water Joust: This activity is always a hit (no pun intended). Two people
stand on a large raft and battle each other with noodles or blow up toys like the
traditional joust game. (This requires a pretty large inflatable raft that at least
two students can stand on and battle each other- I've done this on the traditional
"queen size" inflatable mattress made for the water. This can ONLY be done in a large
pool where kids can stand on a raft with no danger of falling and hitting their heads
on the pool edge.) Rotate different kids through battling each other. Have a
championship at the end for those with the most wins. For large groups only a few can
participate; but it's a great spectator sport.
- Change Dive: Simple but loved by all. Get anywhere from $10 to $100 in change:
quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies. Throw it all in and spread throughout the pool.
Gather everyone around the edge of the pool. Offer a prize for the person who collects
the most money and yell "Go!"
- Watermelon Polo: Get a small to medium sized watermelon and smear it in some
sort of petroleum jelly like Vaseline. Float a hula hoop on each end of the pool and
divide into teams. Play water polo with the greased melon and the floating hoops as
goals. Great fun!
- Summer Luau: Don't underestimate the popularity of the age ol' Hawaiian
themed pool party with grass skirts, coconuts and tiki torches. Play Hawaiian music,
serve tropical fruit drinks and cook Pumba! (Hakuna Matata!)
- Raft Creation: This competition takes a little more time. Give each group or
team a certain number of the largest trash can bags you can find and some tape/rope etc.
You can inflate them, cut them, tape them... anything. See who can build the strongest
raft and then, at a specified time, race across the width of the pool.
- Belly Flop Contest: Yes, the ol' belly flop contest is always a hit. Give
each person an opportunity to get themselves ready, get into a quick costume (cape,
mask, draw a target on their belly with a sharpie...), then announce them one at a time.
Have a panel of judges hold up numbers, rating them 1-10.
- Pool Waterskiing: Yes, you can water ski in a pool! (Only do at a camp or
some place with an Olympic sized pool!) The trick is in the pulling. I use to see it
done at a camp where they had a pickup truck ready to pull just outside the pool fence.
The key is that you DON'T tie the rope to the truck... you have a strong staff guy
bracing himself and holding a water ski rope in the back of a truck just outside the
pool area. When the skier yells, "Hit it!" the truck takes off and skis the person 3/4
the way across the pool before the person in the truck lets go of the pull rope (for
safety). (Try it several times in advance with some staff people to get the timing down
and to know when to let go of the rope. Also have spotters with flotation devices at the
edge of the pool for an extra safety stop).
- Poolside Steal the Bacon: Just like Steal the Bacon with its many variations,
but in the pool. Two teams can either be in the water or standing on the opposite sides
of the pool (if you have a deep enough deep end that allows for safe diving in). The
"Bacon" can be anything (ball, rag, raft, a penny, be creative here) and can be floating
on the water, sunk to the bottom, or even in the process of sinking.
- Water Ballet: Give each team (works best with teams of less than 10 people)
a certain amount of time to perform a synchronized swimming/water ballet routine that
involves EVERY team member. Play classical music through a sound system or boom box, if
possible.
For even more pool game ideas, jump on our
GAMES & ICEBREAKERS page and click on
SWIMMING POOL GAMES
|
Podcast Summer Giveaway: Episode #2 is here! Listen and get a chance to win a ton of great prizes including a Video iPod, a Gospel Journey DVD collection from Dare 2 Share, and Jonathan's new book and DVD.
|
WE MADE A MISTAKE: Sorry, we're "newbies" at this whole podcast thing.
If by chance you opened your iTunes in the last day or so before 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night
(California time), then Episode #2 didn't download correctly on your iTunes. Instead, Episode #1
crept in as an imposter. We have remedied the mistake and had the perpetrator shot. HOW TO REMEDY:
go into your iTunes and delete our Episode #2 from your podcast library... then do a search for
JONATHAN MCKEE, bringing up our podcast page, and click to GET EPISODE #2. Enjoy!
Episode #2 of our podcast is up on iTunes... and some of the prizes from our Podcast
Summer Giveaway were just announced in that episode. If you haven't subscribed to our free
podcast, now is the time. If you don't have an iPod, don't worry... you can win one! (and you
don't need an iPod to listen to iTunes)
Episode #2 of our free
The Source for Youth Ministry Podcast, features:
-
INFORMATION ABOUT THE PODCAST SUMMER GIVEAWAY PRIZES: We are giving away some
fantastic prizes this summer exclusively to podcast listeners. You can register to win
each time you listen to an episode. Prizes include:
A brand new Apple 30GB Black VIDEO iPod ($249 Value)
|
|
|
|
GETTING STUDENTS TO SHOW UP
Event Resource DVD
(Click Here for More Info
About this new book & DVD)
- YOUTH CULTURE WINDOW- The Porn Effect: In this episode we talk about "The Porn
Effect" on young girls, looking at how young girls are getting a little too comfortable
with the influence of porn. We see it everywhere from reality shows where young contestants
perform softcore porn routines in hopes of becoming the next Pussycat Doll, to the pictures
on girls' Myspace pages. Porn has changed sexiness from subtle to raunchy.
- THE SEVEN SINS- Church Outreach Events: This time we talk about the Seven Sins
of Church Outreach Events
- RESOURCE HIGHLIGHT- Logistical Help: Here we take a peek at some great resources
on our Logistical Crud page that help you look at your youth ministry as a whole, evaluating
key elements like outreach, spiritual growth and leadership development.
- HELP ME! This is the part of the podcast where we address some of the questions
that people send to us at ASK THE SOURCE
on TheSource4YM.com. This time we answer a question about students that only show up for
"the fun stuff" as well as questions about students that need to grow in their faith.
CLICK HERE FOR OUR PODCAST PAGE
Or, if you don't have iTunes already... it's free.
So jump on Apple's web page
and download it now, then
click on our podcast page.
Jonathan's Resource Ezine from The Source
Delivered free via e-mail to subscribers each week. We encourage you to distribute this
newsletter freely and ask only that you not change its contents.
HAVE YOU MISSED PAST "EZINE" ARTICLES?
CLICK HERE FOR JONATHAN'S "EZINE" ARCHIVES
And for more FREE resources and ideas ... go to THE SOURCE
www.TheSource4YM.com
Copyright ©2007 The Source for Youth Ministry
All rights reserved.
|
 |
PRE-ORDER NOW & GET FREE PPT TRAINING TODAY
CLICK HERE FOR MORE
|
