I'm surrounded by teenage boys who won't go to sleep.

[AFK]

Heh, that's kind of the fun thing about that episode.  I had absolutely no authority over them.  There was a teacher from one of the schools because he was the only male out of the 4 schools.  But I didn't want the poor guy to be in charge of 18 teenage boys all by himself.  They weren't too hip on mingling though.  Each of the schools wanted to stay in their own particular room so I had to fetch extra mattresses so kids could sleep on the floor.  But I have to say, they were very well behaved.  They just weren't as drowsy as early as I would've liked. 

[Richter]

How is the level of physical activity at these retreats?
After dark football, capture the flag (especially in an area with lots of cover), or night hikes (no flashlights allowed) are all tried and true ways to get them good and tired. 

[LMNO]

Chasing them around with an axe screaming, "I'M ON PCP!" not only tires out the kids, it also teaches them a valuable lesson about drugs.

[AFK]

How is the level of physical activity at these retreats?
After dark football, capture the flag (especially in an area with lots of cover), or night hikes (no flashlights allowed) are all tried and true ways to get them good and tired. 

We sprinkle in some activities to get kids moving.

We play this one game called "Have you ever..."  All of the kids except one get in a circle and mark their spot with one of their shoes.  So if we have 25 kids at the retreat there are 24 shoes, so spots for all but one of the kids.  The kid in the middle asks something like "Have you ever....climbed a mountain?"  Every kid who has done that has to race to another spot in the circle with a shoe.  Whoever doesn't find a spot asks the next question.  It's a good activity to get them moving and also allows them to learn more about each other. 

Actually after the programming on Tuesday, a bunch of the kids decided to play flashlight tag in the main hall.  Luckily for me, and my agency, nobody got hurt, though I did have to close off the kitchen after awhile because I really didn't want anyone cutting themself or getting hurt in there. 

[LMNO]

We play this one game called "Have you ever..."  All of the kids except one get in a circle and mark their spot with one of their shoes.  So if we have 25 kids at the retreat there are 24 shoes, so spots for all but one of the kids.  The kid in the middle asks something like "Have you ever....climbed a mountain?"  Every kid who has done that has to race to another spot in the circle with a shoe.  Whoever doesn't find a spot asks the next question.  It's a good activity to get them moving and also allows them to learn more about each other. 

Inappropriately enough, I first heard about this as a drinking game, but it was called "I Never"

[AFK]

We do another one called comfort zones.  Again everyone is in a circle and we have 3 zones delineated by ropes.  The outer ring is very uncomfortable, somewhat comfortable, very comfortable.  So someone posits: "How comfortable are you with snakes?"  And people move inward or outward depending on how they feel about the scenario.  We get into deeper stuff to like "How comfortable are you confronting a teacher who is being rude or mean to another student?"  It's a good way to sort of "graph" the group. 

[LMNO]

Inappropriately enough, that's a sex game that I learned in 1994.

[AFK]

I can only imagine what your variation on the tarp game might be.   

[LMNO]

Is that the game where you give billions of dollars to companies that don't need it?

[AFK]

 

We divide the group up into two smaller groups.  The 2 groups sit on the floor opposite from each other.  We bring a tarp (though really just a blanket) between the two groups.  One person from each group moves to the front on either side of the tarp.  We drop the tarp and the goal is to say the name of the other person first.  The loser has to join the group who won that round.  It continues until everyone is on one side or we run out of time and need to move on to the next part of the program. 

[Richter]

People you should NEVER play truth or dare with, ITT

[LMNO]

"I dare you to subvert the dominant paradigm!"

[AFK]

I've got a couple of nickels.  Will that work? 

[Iason Ouabache]

We play this one game called "Have you ever..."  All of the kids except one get in a circle and mark their spot with one of their shoes.  So if we have 25 kids at the retreat there are 24 shoes, so spots for all but one of the kids.  The kid in the middle asks something like "Have you ever....climbed a mountain?"  Every kid who has done that has to race to another spot in the circle with a shoe.  Whoever doesn't find a spot asks the next question.  It's a good activity to get them moving and also allows them to learn more about each other. 

Inappropriately enough, I first heard about this as a drinking game, but it was called "I Never"

Ditto: http://www.hulu.com/watch/50022/family-guy-the-i-never-game#s-p21-sr-i1

[Richter]

How is the level of physical activity at these retreats?
After dark football, capture the flag (especially in an area with lots of cover), or night hikes (no flashlights allowed) are all tried and true ways to get them good and tired. 

We sprinkle in some activities to get kids moving.

We play this one game called "Have you ever..."  All of the kids except one get in a circle and mark their spot with one of their shoes.  So if we have 25 kids at the retreat there are 24 shoes, so spots for all but one of the kids.  The kid in the middle asks something like "Have you ever....climbed a mountain?"  Every kid who has done that has to race to another spot in the circle with a shoe.  Whoever doesn't find a spot asks the next question.  It's a good activity to get them moving and also allows them to learn more about each other. 

Actually after the programming on Tuesday, a bunch of the kids decided to play flashlight tag in the main hall.  Luckily for me, and my agency, nobody got hurt, though I did have to close off the kitchen after awhile because I really didn't want anyone cutting themself or getting hurt in there. 

Ah, bound by insurance and liabilty to keep things "safe".
Even if you can't condone it, can you kick them outside?