Zoo Scavenger Hunt

Over spring break we went to the Nashville Zoo. We figured we would make the trip a little more interesting and have a picture scavenger hunt while there. It turned out great. Here is our list of 25 things:

1. 3 animals together
2. Someone with a crying kid
3. White Bengal tiger
4. Chicken
5. Close up of a snake
6. You in the photo cut out spot
7. Kid doing something crazy in the jungle gym
8. Looking like one of the dinosaurs ate one of your body parts
9. Looking like a dinosaur is chasing you
10. Teammate imitating a gibbon
11. Picture with a volunteer
12. Bird setting on you in lorikeet landing
13. Picture of teammate trying to like the inside of their nose with a giraffe in the background
14. Giraffe licking the inside of its nose
15. Teammate doing something creative by a tooth, bone, or skull
16. Teammates playing on the jungle gym with little kids staring at you
17. Teammate running through the sprinklers at the jungle gym
18. Picture with animal hats or puppets in the gift shop
19. Teammate on the train
20. Picture with alligator swimming behind you
21. Red Panda
22. Making fishy faces by the fish tank
23. 2 or more teammates hugging an animal in the petting zoo
24. Teammate puckering up inches away to kiss a animal in the petting zoo
25. Teammates in glass tubes at Merkat Manor

We did this using the scavenger hunt with friends app and it was cool seeing all the pictures come in from each team as we walked through the zoo.

Cumberland Caverns McMinnville, TN

Our youth group went to Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville, TN for a caving adventure and we got one. This is an amazing place! We did the Higgenbotham’s Revenge tour that takes about 4 hours to complete. You begin by taking a 1.5 mile walk to the entrance and then right from the start we began crawling, climbing, sliding, walking, and more. This is a great trip for a youth group. We had 13 go and it was awesome. I was proud of our students as they kept moving and doing things they were scared of. We even had one of our girls twist her knee pretty bad but she soldiered on for another 45 minutes of difficult terrain.

Couple of things to know if you decide to go here for the adventure tours:

1. It is physical. Most of your students will make it fine but if someone has knee or other joint issues it could be difficult.
2. There are tight spaces. If you wear over a 52 jacket for a suit you may not make it. I am 6’2 230 and made it fine but it was tight in spots.
3. You will get very dirty. The cave floor is red clay and it will not come out of your clothes. Soft on your knees bad on our clothes. We were crazy dirty afterwards. Bring pants, shirts, socks, and shoes to change into.
4. You will have fun! We loved this. My students kept talking about going back.
5. You may not be able to walk the next day. I am out of shape. How do I know, because my body was sore that night after all the twisting and contorting. But I would do it again.

 

 

 

Three Reasons Men Don’t Go to Church

 

Geocaching

This week a couple of my guys and me went geocaching. Geocaching is a GPS game of finding things people have hid all over your city. Some of the caches are tiny like a 1 inch by 1/4inch magnetic tube while others may be a Tupperware type bowl.

Here is what I love about this: it is free and can be a great thing to do with kids. You have to look for these things but if you are a member ($20 a year) you can get clues that will help you find the hidden item. I wouldn’t do this as a big group (done that – fail). But three of us went this week and it was great. We found all the caches and the guys had a blast.

If you have never done this or heard of it go to http://www.geocaching.com/ and check it out. Quick tips for you:

1. Some caches are just finding the location. One time we spent 30 minutes trying to find something when a huge rock was the find. We climb all over the rock, looked in ever crease and hole around it.
2. You will want the clues or a good handheld GPS. If you don’t have this then you may spend eternity looking.
3. Print out the places you want to find. You can do it on your phone but it is hard.
4. Some caches are larger and they have prizes. Take one give one is the policy. These may be simple things like pencils, happy meal toys, etc.   All caches have a place to sign your name.
5. Micro magnetic finds are cool but you can easily overlook them. Don’t start with these as you may overlook it.

Podcast – Study Leadership .com

This week on the podcast we had Dave Frederick from www.StudyLeadership.com. Dave has been in ministry for over 30 years and has a passion for helping leaders grow and develop. A few years back he wanted to share his love of reading leadership books with other ministers and created Study Leadership. He tells us about the site. Plus as a bonus he is offering our listeners a free one month subscription by putting “studentminister” in the coupon code. I am a subscriber and big fan of what Dave is doing.

One thing great about his website is for $300 a year you can subscribe to this site and have the summaries sent to as many leaders in your church. This means all your elders, ministers, deacons, youth leadership team, etc. This is one of the greatest bargain you will find to help your entire staff.