You might like to remind your students to save their family’s Christmas cards. The cards can be recycled to support St. Jude’s Ranch for Children. Check this Web site for details: https://stjudesranch.org/about-us/recycled-card-program/. Unfortunately, St. Jude’s Ranch cannot accept Hallmark, Disney, or American Greeting cards. It will help if you send … Read more...

Overview: The O Antiphons can be a visual and educational focal point for Advent. These wreaths can be made by each individual student, to use at home, or eight wreaths (one for each O Antiphon) can be made and added to the classroom space each day. Or, make one and … Read more...

Overview This activity involves the young people in a Latino custom of reenacting Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem. Suggested Time 40 to 60 minutes, depending on the size of the group and the number of homes the group stops at Group Size This activity can be done with any … Read more...

OVERVIEW This communication activity invites the young people to complete a sentence-starter as a quick and nonthreatening way to thank special people in their life. It is an ideal activity for Thanksgiving time because the participants are already focused on giving thanks. Suggested Time About 10 minutes Group Size This … Read more...

The autumn is a good time to look over the past year and be thankful for its blessings. We have institutionalized this tendency with the establishment of Thanksgiving Day in November. But October is harvest time, too, and there is no reason to wait for Thanksgiving Day to give thanks! … Read more...

Overview: This celebration and renewal of baptismal promises would be appropriate for a monthly baptismal anniversary celebration, the opening of a Confirmation class, or a celebration at the beginning of Lent, when the entire Church unites in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving in order to prepare for the annual renewal of … Read more...

OVERVIEW from Hands-On Ideas for Ministry with Young Teens, pages 15-18. In this reflection exercise, the young people build a unique star that represents five elements of who they are. This is a good exercise to use in conjunction with a lesson on personal giftedness or service. Materials Needed paper … Read more...

Overview: Amid the challenges of everyday life, some teens lose sight of their own value. This activity reminds teens of their inherent worth while helping them to uproot false and negative thinking from their minds and hearts. Materials needed: a Bible, a large wastebasket, decorated around the top with paper … Read more...

Disappearing Nametags Overview: If the members of your group are new to one another, you may want to use nametags in the first few meetings. Try this nametag exercise, using disposable stick-on nametags. Materials needed: stick-on nametags, markers In the first meeting, ask the young people to write their first … Read more...

Materials needed: Paper, stamps, and envelopes We no longer live in a letter-writing culture. Even those of us who remember life in the ‘60s may recall writing letters to friends while on vacation or at camp, and to parents when we were the campers. When long-distance phone calls were expensive … Read more...

Note: Optional teacher remarks are given in brackets. At the end of the meditation, a report of the outside temperature reading is given. Please have that accurate information ready ahead of time. For the next few minutes, we will be given the opportunity to listen to and meditate on the … Read more...

Overview This strategy invites the young people to pray with their feet. That is, they walk the path of a simulated journey through life and look at the sacraments as sources of strength along the way. It is an ideal activity to complement a course on sacraments or to make … Read more...

Overview: Honoring Mary, the Mother of God and Mother of the Church, goes hand in hand with honoring our own mothers. This project will involve teens in honoring their own mothers with words of love and prayer. Materials needed: One large glass jar with lid for each teen One 12-inch … Read more...

This easy-to-do art project can involve teens in a creative celebration of Christ’s Resurrection. First review the meaning of the Easter egg (a plain-looking exterior teeming with life inside, a symbol of the tomb and the risen life of Christ) and then let the teens go to town with this … Read more...

OverviewThe point of this relay race is to quickly find passages on Easter themes in the four Gospels. The activity is intended to increase the young teens’ skill in using the Bible and to help them become familiar with Gospel passages that recount the Resurrection of Jesus. Suggested TimeAbout 15 … Read more...

Overview The powerful reality that Jesus died for our sins is only part of the story. Christians are a Resurrection people. The death of Jesus makes no sense outside the context of his rising. Salvation through Jesus Christ enables Christians to live in hope that new life will follow death. … Read more...

OverviewIn this session, the young people will be asked to gather in committees to consider what important qualities the next pope might have or should have. After pooling and narrowing down their ideas, they will be asked to participate in a short prayer service, asking the Holy Spirit to come … Read more...

Two of the things we might say no to in Lent are worry and anxiety. The following exercise may help your teens to say no to worry and anxiety by handing their problems over to God. Whatever our difficulties, let us say yes to trust in God this Lent. Overview … Read more...