All NexGen Pro articles – Page 125
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BlogReady-To-Use Games + Ice Breakers: Kids Games
Sometimes, we forget that young people are just glorified, slightly grown-up, children. In an attempt to make our groups cool and culturally relevant, there’s a danger we only play the most sensible, modern games (as unlikely as this sounds). This month’s games are the kind you’d play with kids: a bit simpler, a bit sillier, but just as fun…
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IssuesReady-to-use Games + Ice Breakers: Outside Games
Let’s take a step of faith. It’s July. The sun WILL be out. Let’s repeat that: the sun WILL be out. As such, we’ll take our youth groups outside and have all kinds of outdoor fun. For all of these games you’ll need a heap of space, like a field, or multiple fields, ideally with trees and scrubland. Basically, you need the set from The animals of Farthing Wood. So, here are some ideas:
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IssuesReady-to-use games + Ice breakers: Uno games
STANDARD UNO Play UNO according to the rules in the box. You have read the rules in the box, right? We’re not going to bother to explain this one.MULTI-CARD UNO The author of this piece once got into an argument at a Christian youth work conference when he insisted that ...
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Issues
Ready-to-use games + ice breakers: NERF Games
After wrestling back control of the games column, the Premier Youthwork team continues its journey into the weird and wonderful. This month, we examine games using one of the most vital tools in the youth work toolbox: the NERF gun.
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Issues
Ready-to-use Games + Ice Breakers: Newspaper Games
As wise and astute readers will no doubt be aware, the digital world is increasingly ‘where it’s at’. The era of the printed press is under attack; more and more books are published as ebooks, anything that’s not on an iPad is old hat, and newspapers are increasingly all about digital subscriptions. But fear not printing press owners, your wares are not completely obsolete - as long as there are fish and chip shops, and (crucially for this month’s column) youth workers, your printed material will continue to find a use. This month’s games all involve newspaper.
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Issues
Ready-to-use Games - Ice Breakers: 'Things to Hand' Games
No matter how carefully you prepare in advance, no matter what resources you gather, no matter what best-laid plans you construct, there will always be the odd occasion when you need some games and you haven’t got anything ready and available. So these are some ideas based around what might be immediately to hand.
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Issues
Ready-to-use Games + Ice breakers : Technology games
In the 21st Century we have the ability to play games with technology that even ten years ago we couldn’t have dreamt of. While these games are all well and good, they can be a divisive issue: ‘I don’t have that model’, ‘My mum couldn’t afford to get me one of them…’, ‘Mine is broken and I’m not allowed a new one until I tidy my room / finish my exams / memorise the complete works of Shakespeare / invent a new clean and renewable source of energy’. So in order to both scratch that techno-itch and avoid any problems of haves and have-nots, here are a collection of technology-based games that don’t require any actual technology at all.
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Issues
Ready-to-use Games: Ice Breakers - Christmas Games
You may be experiencing a nagging feeling that something is coming up soon. Some sort of event that may just dominate everything and cause the coming few weeks to be lived at an increasingly frenetic pace, packed with ever-increasing levels of activity, and at ever decreasing amounts of energy. You may of course choose to ignore Christmas, but just in case your group might enjoy some Christmas-themed games - here’s a selection.
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Issues
Ready-to-use Games + Ice Breakers : Pointless Games
The role of games in youth work can be a matter of debate. What’s the point of them? What do they achieve? Some games can have learning sneakily inserted into them, teaching important skills and principles, but others literally have no point at all, and just involve doing something random for its own sake. Like this month’s games – there’s no point to them at all, except for fun. Oh, I get it – that’s kind of the point. So, after much waffling, this month’s theme: pointless fun.
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IssuesReady-To-Use Games + Ice Breakers: Football Games
Football games might sound like a tautology: obviously football is already a game. But football contains some glorious minutiae that are ripe for being explored and played with, and so, in honour of the European Championships this month, here are some football games.
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Blog
Three things bravely learnt
A word from Premier Childrenswork journalist Lucinda van der HartNovember 2012
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IssuesYouth Work Lab: Branding
A young person I work with recently pointed at my shoes and exclaimed, ‘What are those?’ Unaware of the current meme (look it up) I was about to reply, when I realised the question wasn’t looking for an answer, but rather was to publicly call me out the fact that my choice of footwear was not relevant to this young person, and as it appears, many young people in the youth club. Not having the right brand, in the eyes of the young people, made me a target of ridicule. Branding can play an enormously important part in the lives of young people.
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IssuesRussell Brand
No one seems sure of how it’s happened, but Russell Brand has become the UK’s articulate voice of youthful concerns.
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BlogRussell Brand vs Jeremy Paxman
Russell Brand divides opinion like no one else on the telly. But what kind of example does he set to young people?
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Issues
'Porn on the Brain'
‘I’ve heard about ten or eleven year-old children who are traumatised by porn; they’re not talking to their parents until they’re going through
real issues of withdrawal or eating disorders. -
IssuesXY Boys: How to keep boys in Church
The gender gap in the UK Church continues to grow, with more women than men filling our pews. How can we redress this gender imbalance in our youth groups and ultimately the Church of the future ? Christian Vision for Men ’s Carl Beech believes we need a fundamental shift in the values underpinning our youth ministry
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IssuesResource on Trial: The Treasure Box People
Children’s workers put resources through their paces
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IssuesResource on Trial: Carousel in a Box
By the Bible Curriculum £160 - A year’s worth of weekly Bible teaching for 4 to 11 year olds thebiblecurriculum.com - Worth your time - a solid resource.
