ROCK PARTY
Activities
Games
Refreshments
Devotional

ROCK PARTY

Do Ahead: Choose a theme for a party during club time: rock crafts, rock hounds, or Christian rock music (see ideas under “Activities” below). Have club members invite friends. Suggest that everyone dress according to the theme. Decorate that way, as well.

ACTIVITIES

Craft theme. Set up stations where kids can make things like painted rock animals, picture frames decorated with rocks, paperweights, and so on. Rock-hound theme. Go hunting for different kinds of rocks. (Or simply provide them.) Help kids examine and identify them. Let kids test their different hardnesses. Set up rain gutters filled with sand and pebbles (some painted gold), and let kids pan for gold. Music theme. Play Christian rock music. Provide a karaoke machine or let kids play air guitar. Let kids make up and perform their own Christian rock songs.

Voyagers at Glenside Bible Church, Glenside, Pennsylvania, panned for gold in a homemade “sluice.”

GAMES

Round Game. Players sit in a tight circle and pass a small stone from hand to hand. The person who’s IT gives a signal for all movement to stop and then tries to guess who is holding the stone. Steal the Bacon. Use a rock as the “bacon.” Stepping Stone Relay. Give each pair three sheets of construction-paper “stepping stones.” One partner places the stepping stones for the other, bringing the third stone from behind each time and setting it ahead of the runner.

REFRESHMENTS

Set up a “Solid Rock Café.” Food ideas: --trail mix --dehydrated backpack food (let small groups rehydrate it and then share) --rock candy (consider letting kids make this) --Pop Rocks candy

DEVOTIONAL
Rock craft or rock-hound theme:
Set out a variety of rocks, and let club members decide how to put them in order according to hardness. Ask club members which kind of rock they would trust the most to give them the best foothold if they got into a difficult situation when hiking or climbing. Ask who is stronger and more powerful than the strongest type of rock and why. Discuss what kinds of difficult situations kids their age might face in everyday life–at school, at home, with friends. Ask who kids might trust and turn to in these situations. Discuss who is the strongest, most powerful person to turn to and why. (If you want a salvation emphasis, talk about how each of us can get to know Jesus our Solid Rock and have him for the very best guide in life that there could be.) Allow time for kids to bring a concern of their own to the “Solid Rock.”

Music theme:
Play or talk about songs that mention difficult situations kids might face. Ask who kids their age tend to trust and turn to in these situations. Sing or play a song about trusting Jesus as our Rock. Talk about why Jesus is called our Rock and how he can help us. Allow time for kids to bring a concern of their own to the “Solid Rock.”