Looking for Youth Group Activities?

activities for youth group

Every youth pastor wants to have fun, memorable activities for their students, like:

Games
Team building activities
Teaching
Local outreach and mission trips

You’re probably thinking, “Well yeah, every youth worker needs good activity ideas! So what can I do to break the ice with this group?”

The Real Purpose for Youth Group Activities

Fun youth activities and team building are great things. The real purpose behind these youth activities is to segue way into your teaching or devotional time. It may not always be possible to tie the activities for youth into the lesson, but the game or activity for the youth will serve to break down barriers the kids have established and give you an open opportunity to teach. Sometimes it’s good to just have some fun. The fun had by the group will help them bond together and build trusting relationships.

You may feel that kids only come to youth group to enjoy youth activities, for free food, and to hang out with friends. According to youth, the top 5 reasons they are involved with a group are:

Acceptance
Fun
Real teaching
Friends
Truth

They want to listen to someone who understands what they’re going through, including the process of figuring out who they are and where they belong. And like all human beings, they want their lives to have purpose, to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Jesus can use you to impact these kids, and while fun activities for youth are good, they can really be the avenue to gain the trust of your group and point them toward the purpose for their lives.

Check out these resources for ideas on youth activities for some fun and to get your foot in the door:

Best Youth Group Activity EVER

youth ministry resources, games, ideas and articles

I’ve been spending time lately meeting with a youth pastor that works not to far from where I live. We’ve been talking about purpose and aligning all the “stuff” of youth ministry around a guiding purpose.

Last week she told me about a youth group activity she came up with to help reinforce the lesson from their Bible study. It was a simple idea, but I thought it was the best activity ever!

Discovering the Character of God through Proverbs

Pose the group the question of what they think it means to be 'wise'. Let it generate discussion as we share our answers...

Letter to Yourself

You’re a student, you’re facing the pressures of school, home, friends and dating. Some of you are struggling, wrestling with parents fighting, divorce, temptation from friends, feelings of failure, self-image issues, and the list goes on. And the midst of all this you’re even stressing about where to go to college or what to do with you life. You’re not sure about your future and what it would look like in terms of success as the world sees it. Some days you don’t even want to think about what’s ahead.