Ideas and Tips for Single's Wards Activities Leaders

Here are links (most will send you to posts on this website) that contain ideas that might work for a group of young adults. Not all of these activities will work for every group, but you might find some useful tips and ideas.

Following the links are some general tips for activity leaders. Remember that new items will be be added to these pages, so be sure to check back.

1. Fort Building Contest
2. Night Games
3. Geocaching
4. Improv Night
5. The Drive-In
6. Highland Games
7. Cheap and Creative Sumo Wrestling
8. Celebrate your decade
9. Real-life Pac-man
10. Life-size game board

Here are some general guidelines for planning activities: 

• Play to more than one group's interests. While it's true that you can never please everyone, you probably shouldn't just please the same group of people at every activity.
• We usually start planning things with an idea that's fairly general. That's always a great place to start, but be sure to personalize your activities. What do you know about the people in your ward? Are you sure people in your ward will enjoy this activity? How can you change this activity to better fit the interests of your ward members?
• Don't be afraid to teach people something. If we only do the things we know, we'll never grow. I'm not necessarily suggesting crocheting nights (that's just not my thing at all), but see if there's someone in your ward with a unique talent or hobby and see if they'd be willing to do a workshop on it. This could be fencing, a form of martial arts, something to do with theatre, cooking... anything you know that people in your ward will find interesting.
• Be creative. Step outside of what you normally see in churchy events. There's so much more to be done than knitting in the foyer and playing basketball in the gym (those activities are fine, but you really CAN do more, I promise). Continuity is great until it becomes boring.
• Embrace kiddish stuff! I do not mean that you should do something that will embarrass everyone...the activity should still feel comfortable. Just try activities that you used to do as a kid that you know will still be fun. Be sure to "super size" the activities so the big kids can play too!
• Explore your area. There's always, always something local and cool to do that not many people know about. You just have to find the hidden treasures in your neighborhood.
• Use things that are popular to your advantage. If superheroes are trendy, plan an activity involving superheroes. If Star Wars is a big thing, plan an epic light-saber battle. More people will come to your activities and enjoy them if they know they're already interested in it.
• Without fail, food will always bring people to your activity. Food isn't required for everything, but it sure helps.