Summer outreach ideas are always a hit. But you don’t need to limit them to the summer months. Keep your kidmin outreach fires burning this summer and beyond. That way, you’ll continue to reach children for Jesus in your church and community.
Keep reading for 7 summer outreach ideas to keep reaching children all year long.
After a summer of fantastic programs, don’t let the embers of your outreach die down. Keep the fires burning with Wacky Wednesdays. (Or Marvelous Mondays or Terrific Tuesdays or Fabulous Fridays or Slamming Saturdays. You get the point.)
Try any of these themes to excite children. The ideas will bring kids back to your church and children’s ministry for more each week!
7 Summer Outreach Ideas for Yearlong Use
1. Patriotic Craft Night
This theme works well for Independence Day, Labor Day, and Veterans Day. Set up tables for different crafts. Then have children rotate. Staff each table with an adult or teen volunteer. Try these crafts:
Sparkly Shakers
Children pour red, white, and blue small aquarium-type rocks and glitter pieces into washed 8- or 10-ounce water bottles. Fill bottles less than half full. Remove the labels on the bottles.
Flag Magnets
Children trace the flag pattern on thin, 2×4-inch pieces of craft wood. Kids then paint the red and white stripes and the blue corner of the flag. They also paint one small white wooden craft star and glue it in the blue square. When dry, they glue a magnet to the back.
Bead Jewelry
Children string red, white, and blue beads (round- and star-shaped) on elastic cord and tie the ends of the cord together. Lengths can vary from wristband to necklace length.
Snack Attack
Each child helps make red, white, and blue cupcakes. Mix a white cake mix according to package instructions and divide the batter equally into three separate bowls. Add several drops of red food coloring to one bowl and blue to another bowl. The third bowl will remain white. Fill cupcake papers in tins, bake, and allow cupcakes to cool completely. Finish with chocolate or white frosting for snack time. Add red, white, and blue sprinkles on top.
Children can also help make Fruit Flags for a snack option!
2. Movie Night
Here’s a cool idea for a hot night! Children line up outside your “theater” — a room arranged for the movie. Give each child a designated amount of play money. Some is for admission, and the rest is for candy at the snack bar. Popcorn and drinks are free and all-you-can-eat.
3. Wacky Water Games Night
Before this event, tell kids to wear clothes that can get wet. Children rotate through water game stations set up outside. Give each child a chilled bottle of drinking water to have during the games. Of course, end the evening with watermelon.
Water Balloon Toss
Form two teams, and have teams stand 10 feet apart. Have team members toss a water balloon back and forth to the person standing across from them. When balloons are dropped or otherwise break, pairs can get another. Keep tossing until you run out of water balloons.
Sponge Relay
Two teams each have a bucket of water and a big sponge. Players on each team soak their team’s sponge and run to the other end to squeeze water into an empty bucket until the bucket is filled to a level you designate.
Hot Sponge
Have children sit in a circle. Play music and start passing around a soaked sponge, Hot Potato-style. When the music stops, the person left holding the sponge gets the sponge squeezed on him or her by the person who just handed off the sponge.
Cup of Water Relay
Two teams line up with the first person holding a full cup of water overhead. On “go,” the first person races to the other end around an orange cone and back. The next person refills the cup and repeats.
Hoops Game
Each child gets a chance to throw three water balloons, aiming to land inside a hula hoop that’s lying on the ground.
Through the Sprinkler
The first person on each team runs through a sprinkler to a bucket on the other side of a play area, dips three cups of water from one bucket into another, runs back, and tags the next person.
4. Park Night
Invite kids to a field trip to a nearby park with good play equipment. Grill hot dogs and make s’mores. Require signed permission slips before taking kids off church property. Also have a proper kid-to-adult volunteer ratio to safely keep track of everyone.
