In the Bag

Purpose: To teach teens about their Christ-worth (as opposed to self-worth)
Materials: Old and new magazines and newspapers
Tape or glue stick
Scissors
Lunch size paper bags

Instruct each of the young people to think about how others view them, and how they see themselves.
On the outside of the bag, have them cut out words and pictures that show how others see them. Let them affix them to the bag for all to see.

Have the teens in your group create their own T-shirt designs with simple paints, tie-die, or home-made iron on designs. T-shirts paints and tie-die material are easily purchased at your local craft story, but home-made iron on designs will take a little bit more preparation. To create home made T-shirts, you will need either a scanner, or digital camera, a computer with the appropriate software, an inkjet printer, and special T-shirt printing papers purchased from your local computer store. First, the teens design their own t-shirt design... A drawing, or multi-media design.

Plaster of Paris, watercolor paints, and plaster molds can be purchased rather inexpensively at craft stores for this unique activity. Encourage your youth group to get creative, by hosting a Plaster Party at your youth club, church, or weekend camp. You can advertise the event with posters that say "Get Plastered!" and possibly charge a small admission to help cover the costs.

For this icebreaker, you will need to break your teens into groups of no more than seven, but no less than four.
BEFORE the teen meeting, and IN SECRET, recruit one teen for each group that will be the one who will disagree. That teen is instructed that NO MATTER WHAT, he is to do his best to make sure that the group does not reach a unified conclusion.

On slips of paper, or 3x5 cards write the name of some famous person, or character.
Tape the name on each group member's back (make sure they don't see the name).
When everyone has a name taped on their back, instruct them to discover what name is written on their back by asking others yes or no questions about the person.
For example: Am I a real person? Am I an adult? Am I male? Was I born in the United Kingdom? By narrowing the answers down, they may discover "who they are" and if they are correct, you may choose to give them a token prize.

Game Summary: Teams will race to create lists of things that all the team members have in common.

Game Supplies: You'll need paper and pencils.

Have each participant write down their name and an obscure fact about themselves that few people know about. These are then typed up on a sheet of paper, but with the names left blank. Hand out the sheets to all the participants and tell them that they are to match the obscure facts with everyone's name. This could be done in two ways, one way is to have everyone just guess and see how many they get right. Afterwards they could discuss first impressions and stereo typing.