Fun

Happy Thanksgiving 2016!

November 24, 2016 By tiffanyfrancis

I love Thanksgiving. I love getting together with family and eating more mashed potatoes than I should. We have a tradition of going around the table after eating dinner and saying one thing that we have been thankful for in the past year. Some years it is so easy to talk about how the Lord has blessed us, but other years it is a little more difficult to be thankful. Yet, there has never been a time when someone was silent when the topic of giving thanks was discussed. Even in the challenging days there is always, always something to be thankful for.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever. Psalm 107:1

Even when it is difficult to see the Lord’s work in our lives, we can be confident of His presence. The Lord is teaching me a lot about perseverance in this season in my life. This holiday season take some time and look for the glimpses of God’s presence, even in the hustle and bustle. Know that the Lord has you in the exact place that you are needed and be thankful that He guides every step that you make.

Here at CentriKid we are so very thankful for the churches, leaders, and kids that we are able to serve year after year. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and that God blesses this sacred time of faith, family, and friends. If we were all at my family’s dinner table, what would you be thankful for this year?

Recreation Game: Captain’s Orders

June 23, 2016 By vincentthomas

“Captain’s Orders” is a game we have been playing at CentriKid this summer. Kids have been loving this airplane-themed game that ties in with our 2016 theme: Unseen!

HOW TO PLAY
“Captain’s Orders” is similar to “Red Light, Green Light.” Ask players to line up shoulder to shoulder on the starting line. The goal of the game is to move down the field and reach the finish line. Players may only move by listening for commands and completing the corresponding actions. Use the following commands:

Takeoff – Run quickly
Reverse – Move backward (toward start line)
Delay – Freeze
Soar – Walk briskly and pretend to fly like a plane
Turbulence – Jump forward continuously or shake violently whilst moving forward
Optional: Tail spin – Spin like a helicopter

After each game at CentriKid Recreation, we take a couple minutes to debrief it and talk about how that game can actually relate to our relationships with God. This year, with Captain’s Orders, we are using John 8:31-32 and talking about how God’s Word is the ultimate Truth, and we can know it by reading the Bible and listening to the Holy Spirit every day.

This game is a great one to play with kids at church because you can give the kids a turn being “Captain,” and it requires very little equipment and minimal setup time. And the best part about it is that you can relate it back to God’s Truth, and how we can know Him more.

Getting Kids Excited for Camp with OMC

May 20, 2016 By vincentthomas

OMC. Organized Mass Chaos.: the best game ever invented! Over the years, you might have used this a large group game just for fun or to build up the excitement for the upcoming summer at CentriKid. It’s great for outreach or for just having fun with kids and students. I hope that it has served you well in both these areas, or if you haven’t tried it yet, that you would consider picking up the OMC game this summer at our CentriKid Camp Stores at our CentriKid locations.

This year, we have sent out a promotional kit that we hope you can use to get kids even more excited for camp on the way to camp: the official CentriKid Van Kit! In your van kit you received a few fun things, including a special edition OMC game. In this edition of OMC, kids will do various tasks that can be done while sitting in a bus, van, or car safely.

The instructions are on the card, but you can be creative as well. Feel free to have all kids do it at the same time, or just one at a time. The kids will have a blast with this game because it is still OMC and who doesn’t love OMC?! Those who have never been to camp will get to understand OMC, and those who have been will get even more excited as camp is but minutes away!

We hope you have fun with this new special edition OMC game! Check out our other editions on the OMC Page at CentriKid.com!

CentriKid Game: Big Frizz

November 9, 2015 By vincentthomas

Here is a great game that is simple, tons of fun, and you can scale up or down depending on how many will be playing the game. If you came to camp in 2015, your kids played this game, so they might still remember it.

Equipment needed:
–Large area space (depending on number of kids, the area of half a basketball court can work…a larger space just works better, especially with larger groups).
–Lots and lots of frisbees.. the more the merrier
–Buckets or hula hoops
–Boundary markers

Setting up the playing field:
–The field should be a large, flat area. Ideally outside, but inside a gym is plenty of space and tons of fun too!
–You should mark off a launch zone in the center of the field (this is where a few volunteers will be launching frisbees the entire time).

–Depending on the number of teams, you’ll need that same number of buckets or collecting zones where each team will bring their frisbees back to.
–At the beginning of the game the frisbees start in the center launch zone.

Game play and rules:
Once the game begins, the volunteers in the center circle will start throwing out the frisbees every which way, and this should continue happening essentially the whole time. The goal of the game is to get the frisbees into your team’s bucket/collecting zone. The winner in the end is the team who gets the most frisbees to its bucket.

Once a player has a frisbee in hand he cannot move his feet. Instead he must throw the frisbee to someone else on his team. A member of another team cannot steal a frisbee from the hands of another player, but can intercept or knock down a pass in the air.

Helpful tips:
–Have a goalie who catches all the frisbees to put them in the bucket.
–Make a rule that players cannot steal from the buckets.
–Assign runners (either volunteers or players) whose job it is to bring frisbees from the buckets to the center circle..bringing them back in groups of ten helps keep track of points.

We all love this game, and we hope this game helps you in your ministry. Have fun!

Flashback Friday: CentriKid History

October 16, 2015 By jeremyechols

Here is a fun look at CentriKid Camps history. I realized that while the logos and the themes have changed, there have always been summer staff committed to sharing the Gospel with kids.

When CentriKid began, there was an huge need to connect the name of the camp to Centrifuge Camps, which was the camp we got our name from. In the original logo there was even a dash and a bunch of colors to demonstrate the kid-friendliness of this new camp. (By the way, we now format our name as “CentriKid.” NOT “Centri-Kid” or “Centrikid.”)

This is the inaugural team that piloted CentriKid at Linden Valley in 2000. I only know a few of people in this picture. I remember that my friend Tim directed this first pilot week of CentriKid, but these guys are not celebrities, in fact CentriKid culture has never been one that is a “green room” culture, nor have we tried to create celebrities.

We’ve had some pretty awesome people through the years, but basically our staff are a bunch of ordinary college kids and young professionals who choose to give their summer to serve in kingdom work and promoting the Gospel.

This picture is the very first stack of OMC cards that weren’t printed on computer paper and hand-cut during the summer at camp. OMC began as a grab bag adventure… And has evolved and improved every year to become the phenomenally fun game that you know at camp now!

CentriKid has used a lot of themes through the years, we’ve played a lot of games through the years, and we’ve offered a lot of track times through the years. All of these are tools to help make the message of Christ clear in the lives of kids.

How many themes did you attend as a camper, staffer, or church leader?