Oct29

Elephant Wars and other “hose” games

by Erik w/a "k" on October 29, 2013 at 11:31 AM
Posted In: Games

In youth ministry there is always a need for knee highs…am I right?!  Usually you need quite a few and have a small budget, making games that involve knee highs too pricy.  Thankfully, there is such thing as “Waste Hose.”  Props can go to Les Christie and Erik w/a K’s long term memory of a seminar Les gave several years ago.  I pass this on because it was a success, even though a little sketchy at the time.

I was told that one box had approximately 250 single white tubes or waste hose…so naturally I ordered 2 boxes.  When it arrived a week later I counted out 250 for an event we were putting on and still had nearly half a box to go.  So, if my estimations are correct we have nearly 1000 knee highs.  (I am not sure if they overpacked my box on accident or if that is how they are every time.)

The price per box is $20.00.  That price covers shipping and handling.  The knee highs themselves are clearly “waste hose” in that they are all different lengths (some being over 10 feet long).

To order “Waste Hose” call 479-979-3492.  They are very helpful and will give you instructions on how to pay.  I mailed a check made out to Hanes Brands Inc. and marked on the memo line “Waste Hose.”  They do not take credit cards.

 

Address:

Hanes Brands Inc.
Attn: Nancy Terry
1904 Clark Road
Clarksville, ARK. 92830

Fax: 479-754-5597

Email: nancy.terry@hanes.com

The game you are about to see is called Elephant Wars. The idea is to take 4 hose and tie them together. 4 people place the hose over their heads and, without using hands, they pull and try to be the last one standing with the hose on their heads. You will quickly discover that the game did not work as intended when you watch the video. We were planning on having students sit down if they lost and those who won were to go fin 3 other winners for another round. Then we would play until there were only 4 people left. Well, we should have tied the knots wayyyyyyy closer in so they didn’t stretch so far. BUT, it made for fun video. This is what happens when you have 270 people playing a game that did not quite work out, but was still fun.

Enjoy.

–Hannah

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Oct22

What Does the Fox Say Parody (Rock)

by Erik w/a "k" on October 22, 2013 at 10:30 AM
Posted In: Video

It has been a little crazy for the month of October with several retreats happening, but I wanted to get a post up for you. This is purely a video to show your students for fun. I love doing parodies and got permission to use the music for this and made it for our middle school retreat (Quest).

If you want to make your own parody, this is how I did it. I found the song I wanted to parody. I searched youtube for an instrumental version. Asked permission to use it for a parody. Then downloaded it using keepvid.com. We layed the tracks into garageband and recorded our own voices on top of the music. Then we went and shot the clips we needed for it. As for what we used when we were writing the lyrics: we decided to have as many things as we could incorporate that were part of the camp we were at.

So here you go.

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Oct01

Rock Opera (creative/easy drama) to Promote Youth Group – Freebie

by Erik w/a "k" on October 1, 2013 at 10:06 AM
Posted In: Announcements, Volunteers

Most of the time I like to put something on here that you could replicate that day and use in your youth ministry. Today I am posting something that will take some time. It’s called a “rock opera.” Essentially you act out what a recorded narrator is saying and then when you have a line to “speak” you are lip-syncing to a song lyric. The lyric is typically pretty short.

Every story is as different as you want to make it. Writing and recording this does take quite a bit of time. You will need to have time to rehearse as well. Depending on how many characters you have in your story it could take longer. You typically want to have your most enthusiastic “actors” involved in this. They will make it the most fun to watch, as an audience member.

If you only have 2 or 3 characters, you can sometimes get away with practicing just a few times. I do recommend a good amount of practice though. In today’s post I am going to give you a freebie. This is an already recorded rock opera that we used with our middle school ministry. I have adjusted parts of it to be more generic so anyone can use it. When we had it there were some specific names for our leaders in particular. I am also going to include a PDF file with the script written out for you.

A couple of suggestions:

  • Enunciate: open your mouth wide when you are lip-syncing so that it is clear what you are singing.
  • Don’t turn toward the other characters in the rock opera. Face the audience. Turn your body slightly toward the character you are interacting with, but if you face them and not your audience they will miss what you are saying.
  • Be as expressive with your face and your body as possible. Over act.
  • Have fun!

The story you are getting today is about a new kid in school that tries desperately to fit in with the different groups at school, but finds no one until he meets the youth group students. They invite him to youth group and he gets connected.

We used this for our kick-off to small groups. It was a ton of fun for both the leaders and the students. We used all of our volunteers as actors for this one, as it was an “ad” for our small group ministry. Hope you enjoy it.

I would love to hear if you use it and how it goes.

Download the audio track here then download the PDF script here.

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Sep25

Fun/Easy Announcement Video (MadPad review)

by Erik w/a "k" on September 25, 2013 at 3:26 PM
Posted In: Announcements, Apps, Video

Looking to do a quick and easy announcement video? Want to involve a bunch of students/leaders? MadPad is for you.  You get 12 boxes to work with. Each box lets you record any sound you want. Remember, the length of the sound/word you make is how log that clip will be. If you want to say something and keep a beat you will need to make sure your words are fitting to a beat.

HOW TO:

When you open it up, you click create. This gives you your 12 windows. The first window says “Tap to Record” and you do just that. The camera is facing you, but you can easily turn it towards someone else. Then you make a sound. Usually the shorter the better. When you are done with the first one, go to the next box and do the same for all 12. There is also an import option to import from older files you have made.

Once you have finished all your recordings you click save and play. Then you are ready to make a track. You can click on the loop button and it will record a loop of whatever boxes you tap. That is great for laying down a rhythm. Then you click record and the loop starts to play and you can click on any of the other boxes. Go as long or short as you want. In the example below you will see that I had students say words about our camp “Quest.” Simple way to make a fun little promo for camp.

You can also change the volume of each box as well as the pitch. AND, you can click on hide and only the boxes you tap (including the ones in your loop) will show up at the time and then they disappear. It is super fun and has a browse button where you can see other videos people have made with MadPad and use their ideas to be even more creative.

 

COST:

This is $2.99 on the iPad and $.99 on the iPhone.

PROS:

Super simple to do
Great for making a quick announcement/promo video

Can easily involve a bunch of your students or leaders

Each time you play it, you can make it different

Looping makes it easy to use multiple sounds in one recording

You can load from other files

CONS:

Needs to be fairly loud sound to record. Hard to record computer keyboard

You have to record in all 12 boxes

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Sep10

I am New! Making people feel welcomed.

by Erik w/a "k" on September 10, 2013 at 8:30 AM
Posted In: Uncategorized

I absolutely love going to the Starbucks by my house.  Every time I walk in someone super friendly is ready to take my order.  They always say hello and sincerely ask me about my day. One time I ordered something and they quietly hinted that if I ordered a similar drink it would be free!  I am sure you have been to places where you felt very welcomed and made up your mind right then and there that you would come back.  Its a brilliant sales pitch that works.

I moved recently and started going to a church where I knew absolutely no one.  I had to prepare myself before walking up to the door because I was nervous going to a place where I was a stranger.  Who would I talk to?  Who would I sit with?  I literally prayed and asked God to send someone to talk to me and ask me to sit with them.

Can you imagine how a teenager must feel going to a church youth group for the first time, not knowing what to expect, and not being a follower of Jesus?  I was terrified and I am outgoing and I knew what to expect.  Now imagine that same teenager walking into your youth group and not having one person say one word to them.  Do you think they will come back?  If it was me – I wouldn’t even last through the first song.

There is a problem when the local coffee shop or grocery store is more welcoming then youth group.

You value these students and you desire for them to feel loved and welcomed but that is often not happening.  Why?  I am sure there are several reasons.  One being that the beginning of youth group can be crazy as you finish the final touches on everything that needs to happen in order to start.  Also, students flock to those they comfortable with – leaving out new people.

So what can you do (or encourage others to do) to make new students feel welcome and valued when they come to youth group?

1) Plan ahead.  Build in time so that you are able to be available and notice the students as they come in the door.  Don’t spend those last moments before you start doing last minute preparations for your talk.  Get that done well before that.

2) Ask student leaders and volunteers to be proactive.  Encourage your leaders to notice new people and say hello to them.

3) Station someone outside.  When I was leading youth group I started greeting students as they got out of their cars.  Not only did students feel welcomed but I often was able to meet parents.

4) Introduce them.  When you meet a new student introduce them to another student – now they know at least 2 people in the building.

5) Remember names.  People feel valued when you remember their name – do not use the excuse that you are bad with names – get good at it.

6) Un-greet.  I came up with this term when I became a greeter at my own church.  Basically what it means is that people should feel welcome the whole time – not just at the beginning of an event.  As students leave, walk them out. Say “goodbye,” “I am glad you came” and “see you next week” to every person who leaves.

I was very impressed at how welcomed I felt and that people remembered me every time I came back to church.  This was what made me keep coming back, not what the pastor preached.  In the end its the relationships that are built that keep students around, so value them.

–Hannah

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