Use Online Tools and Social Media to Make Old Games New

We live in a tech world. Technology is all around us…we all know this.

So what better way to use technology in Student Ministry than to use it to refresh “old” games? We did that earlier this month when we took our annual “Find the Leaders” event and spruced it up with some good old social media.

For anyone who doesn’t know how to play “Find the Leaders”, it is simple. The Leaders disguise themselves and walk around a mall or an confined area. Then, the students get a piece of paper with what the leaders look like in real life (not their disguises) and have to look for them. The first team that finds all the leaders win!

With that background, here is what we did to talk it online and “socialize” it. First, we collected pictures of all the Leaders playing the game. I did this through Facebook pictures. However, instead of putting the pictures on a piece of paper, we put all the pictures in the Pic Stitch app (or any other photo collage app). Then, I posted the collage of Leaders on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter so the kids could see it. At the time I sent kids out to find the leaders, I told them to go to our Youth Program’s social media platforms and start searching. We even created a hashtag for students to use to post.

In addition to that, we told both leaders hiding and students to post pictures on social media throughout the event.  For leaders, they could take pictures to gives students hints if needed.  For students, we told them to post pictures of themselves looking for or finding the leaders.

So how did it go?

It went great! Students and leaders were posting pictures all over social media as they hunted and found most of the leaders.

What was great about it is that as other students and friends of our students playing saw all the pictures we were posting, the possibility arose for them to ask the question, “What are you doing”? With that simple question, a conversation could get started about us having fun, this game being associated with our church and maybe you should come to church with me sometime.  This would never have happened had we played it the “old” way.  But, through social media, this could have been a real possibility for many of our students participating.

Overall, it was a great night. Not only did our students have fun but they got to share it with all their friends, even if they weren’t around.

So what about you?  Have you taken an old game and made it more current with social media or online tools?  How did it go?  Share your thoughts or experiences below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.

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