Valentine's Day Activities for Junior High Youth Groups
Valentine's Day is a day about love. Typically, the love is for a lover, husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend. However, in the case of a junior high student, Valentine's Day should represent love of family and friends, and the occasional crush. There are activities that can make Valentine's Day a fun time for junior high youth groups and young teens in general.
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Valentine's Day Dance
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Valentine's Day is a holiday that gives youth group organizers a perfect excuse for an afternoon, adult-supervised dance for young teen group members. While the holiday may make some teens worry because of not being in a relationship, a dance gives each teen the opportunity to interact with other teens of the opposite sex in a friendly, casual manner. Friends can dance with friends and the day becomes more about love in a fun way without the pressure of romance.
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Making Valentines
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Making Valentine cards isn't just for young kids. In fact, many adults make cards for loved ones to celebrate the holiday and teens can join in the fun, as well. The activity can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours, making it a perfect afternoon activity for a junior high youth group for the holiday. The students should be aware that Valentine's Day can also represent the love we have for our family members and friends, and that a nice card can be made for anyone. Provide heart candies, stickers and other items that can be used for decorating the cards to help the kids to give them a personal touch.
Valentine's Movies
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There are hundreds of movies about love and hundreds more about how love stinks. Any movie that is rated appropriately for young teens and pre-teens about love or the problems with it would make for a fun movie-afternoon or evening with a youth group. Popcorn, heart-shaped candies and Valentine's Day decorations in the viewing room l add to the theme. The youth group organizer may want to give a short speech before the movie about love and how bonding over everyday things like movies, television shows, music and other things can add to the love we feel for another person, whether family, friends or crushes. This is an appropriate way to incorporate the movie theme to the theme of the holiday and the entire atmosphere of the activity.
Performance
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Just as with movies, there are also many songs about love that are age appropriate for junior high students. There are also a lot of jokes about love and skits about love. An activity that is not only fun for one afternoon, but also can be fun for many afternoons in preparation for the holiday, is a youth group talent show, play or concert. If students can't decide, a talent show is the best way to go so that each student can perform. Encourage the students to invite their families and friends to the performances.
Give Love
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While Valentine's Day can be a happy day to those who can share with a loved one, there are many elderly people who are alone. Contact local retirement homes and make arrangements for your youth group to visit the residents on Valentine's Day. Provide the junior group with flowers, candy and cards to give to the senior citizens during the visit.
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- Photo Credit "eatyourheartout" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: Aunt Owwee (Shirl) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
