Water War Wednesdays

In the summer, in order to help avoid the summer slumps when kids go on vacation and forget about church, the girls and boys ministries put on a summer competition.

For the past few years we have done Water War Wednesdays; a water themed points competition between the groups of kids/youth on Wednesday nights. We divide the students into groups, either by their normal club groupings or combining some in order to make the groupings equal (for example: Prims & Daisies). In years past, we have combined the RR & GM groups for the whole meeting time to complete the games and devotion. In recent years, our set up runs with the Girls Ministry and the Royal Rangers competing in the games together, then dismissing into their groups to do devotions and work on badges or merits.

Games aren't the only way the teams earn points. They also earn points by attending Wednesday nights, going to Sunday service, bringing their Bible, wearing club colors, and bringing friends. This gives incentive to keep doing the things we already encourage them to do, while adding the fun to keep them intrigued over the summer. The team concept also encourages them to hold each other accountable to come every week, especially after being on vacation or at camp.



Rules:
Here are the rules and guidelines we use:

Water War Wednesdays

Earning Marks

Each Team:

•   Each team member on original sheet present – 100 marks
•    Each team member wearing their team colors – 100 marks 
•  If entire team is present – 2,000 bonus marks 
•   Each team member/visitor who has a Bible with them – 100 marks
• Team with greatest offering – 1,000 bonus marks
• Every Team member present for Sunday 10:30am service – 500 marks

*Team members do not receive any points on Sunday if they are more than 15 minutes late to the service.

Team Visitors:

•  First Time visitor are worth 1,000 marks
• Second Time visitors are worth 2,000 marks 
•  Third Time visitors are worth 3,000 marks 
• Fourth Time visitors are worth 4,000 marks

*Visitors must have completed Kindergarten and do not have to come consecutively in order to receive marks.

Team Challenges:

•  Teams who participate receive 2,000 marks 
•  The Team that wins the challenge receives a total of 7,000 marks

Team Banners: RAINY DAY ALTERNATIVE ONLY

•   Banners are judged on five categories:

Creativity, Professionalism, Originality, Team Colors, and Team Name

•  Points will be distributed as follows:

§  First place receives 10,000 marks

§  Second place receives 6,000 marks

§  Third place receives 3,000 marks

Deduction of Points:

•   If a Team member is found to be participating in un-orderly conduct. (including but not limited to cursing or threats.) 
•   If a Team member is found to be disrespectful to any leader or property in the church.

* The amount of points to be deducted will be decided upon by the Rangers and Girls Ministry Leaders depending on the severity of the offense.  All offenses will be no lower than a 15,000 mark deduction from the Team involved.

Games:
All of the leaders take turns heading up the games. A quick Google or Pinterest search will score you some ideas for games. Here is a list of ideas that we have tried.

Water Balloon Toss
Water Balloon Hot Potato
Water Balloon Dodgeball
Bob for Water Toys
Put the Candles Out (with straws and water).

I'll try to post the games we use this year, and let you know how much fun we had!

Point Tracking:
We have one person in charge of tracking points. Each night the kids sign in at our sign in table, and the leader of that table fills in all of the information for us. If you don't have that luxury, each leader gets a folder with their team sheet in it and fills it out. In either case, the points tracker gets the sheets at the end of the night.
Here is an example of our sign in sheet:

Using this format, we have experienced growth and excitement over our summers.