Monthly column for youth leaders

You may be a volunteer youth leader. You may be a youth leader's wife. You may be a member of a youth group or a church leader. Whoever you are there is probably one question already on your mind at this stage of the year.

What can I get our church's youth leader for Christmas this year? Help is at hand with this month's 'grab-bag' of ideas - a variety of stocking fillers for use in youth groups, assemblies, lessons or at home for personal amusement. None of them are too expensive, but all are frequently valuable items.

1. Handcuffs - can illustrate slavery, freedom and forgiveness. They may also be used for escapology and chaining members of the youth group to the radiator if they give too much trouble. Remember to buy the deluxe version with a key.

2. Blindfold - useful for playing games and trust exercises. They can illustrate blindness and sight and are good for sleeping on long minibus journeys. Do not attempt to use a blindfold and drive simultaneously. Comfortable blindfolds can be made from off-cuts of fleece material and elastic.

3. Balloons (variety of) - great for any number of games, learning memory verses (with a word on each balloon), water fights, frightening people and making rude noises. They can be used to power small vehicles in a 'great egg' type challenge.

4. Dice (a giant one if possible) - essentially for the 'chocolate game', but useful for other games and playing giant 'snakes and ladders' at holiday clubs. Please note: this column does not advocate gambling.

5. Old rope (available from outdoor centres). An old rope is excellent for demarking areas in outdoor games (such as wide games), tug-of-war, making rope swings and tying up youth group members if the handcuffs did not work (see #1).

6. Dressing up things - a variety is helpful for telling stories, junior school assemblies, church drama, and posing in front of the mirror. The selection is down to personal taste, but a crown is good (kings, royalty, etc.), a number of other hats (denoting different professions) and coats. The complete sequinned Elvis rig is probably a matter of taste.

7. 'Groucho Marx' false nose and glasses. This makes even the poorest jokes incredibly funny. Remember, the youth group is laughing with you not at you. (Probably.)

8. A whistle - useful for discipline, Morse code, refereeing and for initiative problems such as 'Shepherd and Sheep'. The sheep (young people) are blindfolded (see #2) and have to be guided by the shepherd using the whistle only.

9. A magic trick - a youth leader should always have something up his or her sleeve.... like a bunch of flowers. Illusions such as the disappearing handkerchief or special packs of cards can be good illustrations or discussion starters. They may also stop small children crying at youth club parties.

10. Highlighter pens - these are great fun and you can buy so many colours. They are especially useful for learning Bible verses, putting dates in the diary and writing out drama scripts. But really, they are such nice colours and you can buy some that smell of chocolate or bananas.

11. A gun - see #1 and #5 about youth group members. Not really! A toy gun is useful for drama and assemblies and pretending to be a cowboy (see #6). Try to buy one of those cool ones with a little flag that unrolls reading 'BANG'.

12. Stimulant drinks - these are important for staying awake in late night sessions. Also for use when there is too much blood in your caffeine stream - a common complaint among youth leaders.

13. Adhesive dots - one excellent use is as a non-threatening warm up activity for a controversial issue you are discussing. Think up lots of statements about the subject, covering different people's points of view. Print these questions out leaving space on the sheet for sticking dots. The group move around the room putting dots where they agree or disagree appropriately. The resulting information is more or less anonymous, but gives an idea of how people think. Good for starting discussion.

14. A ball - some kind of ball is essential. Multi-coloured, large, small, tennis or rugby, it doesn't matter. Some greedy youth leaders have several. They may be used for games, passing around in a discussion, throwing at miscreants (see #1, #5, #11). A ball may also act as flotation in deep water and may be cuddled for comfort. Warning: some youth leaders do make the mistake of trying to show off their 'football skills'. This should never be attempted as most eight-year-olds have far better eye to foot co-ordination.

YL's stocking fillers

15. A rubber chicken - do you really need a reason?

Roger Fawcett

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