7 ideas for keeping in touch with club members
Connecting with club members this summer will spice up kids’ summertime and keep Pioneer Clubs on their radar until club starts in the fall. If you include prospective club members in your plans, you’ll have a jump on getting to know each other, which makes it more likely that they will feel comfortable joining you in the fall. Why not try one or two of these ideas?
Email Photos. A few times during the summer, email a photo or two that you took of club during the club year. If club members don’t have email addresses, send the photos to parents and ask them to pass them along. Write a comment or two about the fun you had. Have club members add their comments and “reply to all.”
Life Skill Fun. Summer is a great time to do life skill training that you may not have had the time or weather for earlier in the year. Get kids together to spend an afternoon doing an a fun life skill guide from BOLT! BOLT has 26 different Life Skill Leader Guides to choose from and each can be bought separately. You could also get the Life Skill Kid’s Guides that come with certificates to award kids with when they complete the unit.
“Tee” Party. Plan a Frisbee golf game at church. Set up “holes” indoors and outdoors around the property. Holes can be wastebaskets and boxes set on their sides, or even trees. Make holes go down hallways, around corners and through obstacles. Mark a tee for each hole with the number of the hole by it.
Individuals or teams can start at different tees and see how many throws it takes to get a Frisbee in each hole. Provide pencils and score cards with pars on them. Make sure the club leaders play, too, to interact with the kids.
Photo Scavenger Hunt. Make a list of 20 activities kids can do in and around your church: shoot a basket in the gym, stir a pot in the kitchen, sing in the sanctuary, act out Daniel in the lions’ den and so on. Include activities they will be doing in club this year.
Give each small group a digital camera and send them off with the list. Their task is to get pictures of all of their group (minus the photographer) doing each activity. Award prizes for the fastest group, the funniest picture, most creative pose and so on. Have kids scroll through the pictures and guess which ones show activities they will do in club this year. If possible, bring printers, print some of the photos and let children make posters of the fun they had.
Surprise Them with A Postcard. Make a list of all your club members and their addresses and send each of them one fun postcard through the summer. Let them know you love and miss them and hope they are having a great time. You could even make your own postcards using a fun picture you took of kids during club!
Chalk Drawings. Distribute four to five pieces of chalk to each club member. Encourage kids to create a chalk drawing in their driveway or on a sidewalk that shows what they love about club or something they learned at club. Have families send you an email with the photo or post it on social media. Use it as a way for club members to invite their friends and neighbors to club in the fall!
Summer Service Project. Look for a service project that your club kids can get involved in during the summer, either as a one-time event or a recurring activity. Consider activities that you may only be able to do in warmer weather, such as a car wash, playground clean-up, caring for a community garden, etc.
