Middle School Youth Group
I will never forget sitting in a youth ministry business meeting listening to a guest speaker when he made the comment "running a Jr. High youth group is like being pecked to death by baby chickens." I laughed so hard because I felt every bit of that!
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One rule of thumb I use when planning out youth group for the middle school kids is to think about the kid who would have the hardest time with the project, game, or activity you are wanting to do. Whether it be a disability, an issue with focus, or a lack of interest, think about what extra help or resources he/she would need to accomplish the task. I also like to have several projects of different skill levels going at the same time so students can pick and chose one that fits their interest and skill. For instance, if you are working on a service project to make Christmas gifts for residents of a nursing home, you could have one group working on making cards, another group making an easy ornament, a group working on a more difficult ornament, and another group in quality control to make sure the ornaments and cards look nice. If you have a large group, you can even have a group bagging up the ornaments and adding the card.
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Some years I have kids who are quiet and really enjoy sitting down and working on things, and other years I have kids who cannot sit still and need more active play. That is the beauty of this program (besides the fact that it's free!). You can pick and choose the meetings that best suit your group. No need to go in order, either! All Youth Night Agendas are roughly 1.5 hours. You can adjust these by adding additional games or leaving out suggested games. Always have 2-3 easy impromptu games in case you are finished earlier than expected. You can find game ideas here.
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Don't have time to print and prepare your supplies? Check out these kits here.
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