All Ready-to-use articles – Page 8
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BlogReady-to-use Games and Icebreakers: Christmas Games
Christmas games are always a mixed bag. On the one hand, everyone is so excited by the birth of our saviour / imminent school holiday that you could pretty much put an empty Santa hat in front of them, label it a game, and that would be enough. On the other hand, the need to connect to *cliché klaxon* ‘the reason for the season’ means that more effort is actually required at Christmas than at any other time.
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IssuesReady-to-use Parable: The ten cheerleaders
The kingdom is like ten cheerleaders, who took their pom poms and went to support their marathon runner. They took up their position and started cheering. Five of the cheerleaders were disorganised and brought nothing to drink for the event, and the other five took some bottles of water. When the runner was delayed the cheerleaders started to get thirsty so stopped cheering so loudly.
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IssuesReady-to-use Mentoring: The Character Pyramid
This character pyramid is a resource that could easily structure a whole term of mentoring sessions. This session just covers the basic idea.
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IssuesReady-to-use Mentoring: YouTube Channels
YouTube channels are big business these days – teenagers are earning millions of pounds, getting millions of views each month and often making careers out of it. Of course, the majority of teenagers are consumers, spending hours watching this content. Yes, this can be unhealthy, but it can also be educational and it can actually raise aspirations in young people who might otherwise not have aspirations.
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BlogReady-to-use Mentoring: Invitation and Challenge
A couple of years ago I was drafted in to help a rural youth work trust with a couple of youth groups and drop-ins – the leader had stepped down from the groups because it was clearly not working for him or the young people…
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BlogReady-to-use Movie - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games was a surprising film when it was released back in 2012. Not only was it a really good adaptation of a (really good) novel, but it managed to appeal to teenagers and adults alike. Catching Fire is a rare sequel; in many ways it is better than its predecessor. It has a bit of everything when it comes to ethical discussion: the class system, the right to kill, celebrity culture, disagreeing with authority and a good old fashioned discussion about love.
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IssuesReady-to-use Movie: The Muppet Christmas Carol
No Christmas list of the best Christmas films is complete without The Muppet Christmas Carol.
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IssuesReady-to-use Discussion: The Budget
This month’s discussion starter is a bit different. It’s not a story, but a straightforward discussion on the way that we use our resources in this
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Ready-to-use Discussion : Breaking the Habit
I don’t know about you but I watch some rubbish on TV. I get addicted to the latest series of Masterchef, watch average quiz shows that I’m barely enjoying and I don’t even want to think about how many times I’ve watched each episode of Friends. This kind of lazy approach to our viewing habits is as terrifying as it is dull and perhaps tells us something about life in the 21st century…
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Ready-to-use Games + Icebreakers: Breakfast Games
Each month I attempt to suggest a theme for the games, or - at the very least - some kind of nominal link between them. This month’s is almost certainly more tenuous than ever. The connecting theme between them is: things you use at breakfast time. (I can only apologise.)
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IssuesReady-To-Use Games + Ice Breakers:TV Games
In 2002, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers sang, ‘Throw away your television’. Well, it’s 2016 and it looks like this campaign wasn’t very successful. Newsflash – TV is here to stay! With that in mind, here are some games inspired by shows from the best / most damaging (delete according to your mood) form of communication. (And as TV is a format that demands quick, punchy ideas, rather than writing out these games in great length, we’ve explained them as quickly as possible, with some illustrations.)
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Ready-to-use Games: Ice Breakers - Food Games
As Jane Austen (might) have said: ‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a youth worker in possession of a plate of food must be in want of a youth group’. Food is, and has always been, a real crowd pleaser (see the feeding of 5000 and manna and quail in the desert for proof) and the combination of food and games is, quite simply, a one-way-ticket to success-ville.
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BlogReady-To-Use Games + Ice Breakers: Water Games
On our wonderful British Isles we are not often short of water in the summer months. Here are some ways to utilise the blessing of water with youth games! You will need water balloons, gym balls, dog bowls, bed sheets… the list goes on. What could possibly go wrong?
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Ready-to-use Games + Ice Breakers: Christmas Games
Hark! Christmas approaches: the wonderfully quiet and easy-going period of the calendar, with plenty of space and time to organise elaborate and complicated events. Possibly. Either way, there’s very little chance that your group will be ignoring it – so why not jump on the Christmas bandwagon with this collection of Christmas games.
