One thing I am doing this year is to make each Wednesday night of club a special night that features a particular theme. For some things, not much work is required at all; for others a little more creativity and investment of time will pay dividends towards making good memories. I have been using a digital camera to capture some of the fun we are having and at my end of the year awards program, I plan to show a short Powerpoint presentation of "Our Year in Review." It will give parents some of the highlights of this current year and serve as a promotional for the next year.

Here are the ideas I am using for this current year. Adjust them for your own use as you desire.

(“G” = Gym night; “C” = Choir night)

September

6 – First night of Club (C)

13- Red Night (G)

20 – Crazy Hat Night – Wear the biggest or brightest or ugliest hat - (C)

                                    (Our school has the Falcons as its mascot so I have access to a rather large

                                      and colorful headpiece.)

27 – Crazy Hair Night – Wear the craziest hairdo or the wildest wig - (G)

                                  Tease those kids who are too cool to participate by complimenting them/

                                  praising them on how much work they did to get such a nasty or ugly or wierd hairdo!

October

4 – Friend Night (C)

11 – Club Challenge Night (Use Ed Dunlop's Powerpoint Bible games)

18 – Royal Blue Night (G)

25 – “Back to the Bible” Night – Dress as your favorite Bible character –  This is an alternative to Halloween;

                                                 give directions to kids for what should and should not be worn. (C)

November

1 – Polka-Dot Night – Get one sticker for each “Memorize It!” and Truth

             Quest sections completed and put it on your group leader or club

             worker of your choice—We just might have some workers

             looking like they have a bad case of the measles!!  (C)

5 – K4T choirs sing in Sunday night service; Parents invited to attend

8 – Club Challenge Night

15 – Thanksgiving themed party

22 - No Club meetings – Thanksgiving break

29 – Khaki Night – (G)

December 2006

6 – K4T Family Night – Guest speaker: Dr. Jerry Sivnksty

13 – Club Challenge Night

20 – Christmas themed party

27 – No club meetings – Christmas break

January 2007

3 - No club meetings - New Year’s break

10 - “Standard Night” - (G)

17 – Friend Night – (C)

24 – Inside Out Night – Wear your clothes inside out!! (G)

31 – Animal Kingdom Night – Bring your favorite stuffed animal (C)

February

7 – Club Challenge Night

14 – Valentine themed party

21 – Backwards Night – Walk backwards; Schedule will be run

                                        backwards (C); if they get caught not walking

                                       then make them pop a balloon

                                      and do whatever the slip of paper says or some other

                                      "price to pay."

28 – Shoe Fly Night (G) - games in the gym using shoes; wear ugly or cool shoes 

March

7 - “Battle of the Levels” – Green Night (C)

14 – “Battle of the Levels” – Club Challenge Night

21 – “Battle of the Levels” – (C)

25 - K4T choirs sing in Sunday night service; Parents invited to attend

28 – “Battle of the Levels” – (G)

April

4 – No Club meetings – Easter break

11- Blue Night – (C)

18 – Pocket Scavenger Hunt Night – (G)

            (Ice Cream Party for winners of “Battle of the Levels”)

25 – Red Night – (C)

May

2 – Club Challenge Night

9 – Khaki Night – (C)

12 – End of the Year Awards Trip to Riverbanks Zoo for those completing a prescribed amount of work

16 – “Standard Night” – Last club meeting for the year – (C)

23 – K4T Awards Night/Reception – Auditorium, 7:00 pm;

        K4T choirs sing; Parents invited to attend

What a neat idea!  It sounds like you have some neat clubs night ahead. 

Special nights in your program can help build excitement and attendance in your club...especially if you are outreaching to the community around you.

We would love to hear some ideas from other clubs.

 Marrena

These ideas sound really good.  Can you give some extra details on what the following special nights are or how they are run?

      Club Challenge Nights

      Color (Blue, Red, Khaki, Green) Nights

      Standard Night

      Battle of the Levels

Thanks,
Mark

Hi Mark,

I'm sorry it has taken so long for me to get back with you. I wasn't trying to avoid you. Things have been rather hectic lately; life is crazy--just like for everyone else.

 Here's a quick run down on the nights for which you asked an explanation--

1. Club Challenge Night - I divided my clubs up into two teams  -- Developers vs Detectives (or you can do Detectives vs. Defenders or put all the girls on one team and the guys on the other or if you have a large club, all the guy defenders vs. girl defenders, etc)-- and then based upon that night's Bible Lesson I quiz them to see how much they learned/remembered.  Right now I'm on Theme 7 - God's law and I finished teaching the first 4 of the ten commandments. I have also shown some archaelogical photos of the real Mt. Sinai which was discovered a few years ago. This is a powerful addition to the lesson that rivets the kids' attention as they physically see what literally happened years ago when Moses received the decalogue. This material forms the basis of my quizzing. The review game I used was a fun way to engage the kids. I used Evangelist Ed Dunlop's PPT game "Loch Ness Monster." Our kids loved it although they were a little shy about "taking too many photos" for fear of sinking their leaky canoe. The winning team members are then given a prize for winning the review game. Make a big deal out of the girls winning or the boys winning or (as in my case) the Developers beating the Detectives, etc. The next time I have a Club Challenge Night I will probably used a different PPT game.

2. Color night - This Wednesday I have asked my kids to compete to see who can wear the most blue--quantity wise (as in layers or in the looking the "most blue" --i.e. shoes, socks, pants, shirt, etc.) I told the girls if they wanted to wear blue lip stick or blue makeup or wear blue ribbons in their hair--that's fine just wear as much blue as possible. The only rule was that they were not allowed to come to club "feeling blue." Judges will determine the girl and boy who look the most blue and prizes will be given to them. The colors are taken from the official colors of the K4T clubs. It helps to build unity as each of the clubs takes turns wearing the official color of the other club. So for one night, everyone looks green on Green night, red on red night, Khaki on Khaki night or Blue for Blue night.

3. Standard Night - We run a "standard schedule" and try to get as many kids to wear their standards as possible--which means they have already passed their entrance exams and have already earned at least their first patch. This also makes them look good as they "show off" their uniforms. The club that has the most standards worn that night gets a prize. The calculations are done on a percentage basis.

4. The Battle of the Levels -- For a month, a running tally is kept of the progress each of the clubs (Level 1 = Discoverers, Level 2=Developers, Level 3 = Detectives, Level 4 = Defenders) makes and the club with the most patches earned wins a big prize like an ice cream party. Again calculations are made on a percentage basis since not all clubs will have the same number of kids in them. I will probably throw in another type of competition in there such as the most Bonus Q & A's recited or something like that.

 Hope these explanations made sense. If not, question me further and hopefully I won't be as tired next time I write. The Lord bless.

Excellent!  Thanks for the ideas.

Mark