Confirmation Retreat Ideas

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Originally Posted by KathyArch
Hi. I’m the coordinator of religious education at my parish and will be organizing our Confirmation retreat for the first time this fall. We have 33 Confirmation candidates who will be entering the 12th grade in September. I am looking for ice-breakers, games, etc. This group is more “hands on” and active than “sharing feelings” and getting into a lot of discussions. I’d appreciate any retreat ideas you could share with me. Thanks. KathyArch
 
KathyArch said:
Originally Posted by KathyArch
Hi. I’m the coordinator of religious education at my parish and will be organizing our Confirmation retreat for the first time this fall. We have 33 Confirmation candidates who will be entering the 12th grade in September. I am looking for ice-breakers, games, etc. This group is more “hands on” and active than “sharing feelings” and getting into a lot of discussions. I’d appreciate any retreat ideas you could share with me. Thanks. KathyArch
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Perhaps a speaker on the Theology of the Body.

They are at the age where they need to know the true Catholic teaching about marriage and sexuality.

God Bless
 
KathyArch said:
Originally Posted by KathyArch
Hi. I’m the coordinator of religious education at my parish and will be organizing our Confirmation retreat for the first time this fall. We have 33 Confirmation candidates who will be entering the 12th grade in September. I am looking for ice-breakers, games, etc. This group is more “hands on” and active than “sharing feelings” and getting into a lot of discussions. I’d appreciate any retreat ideas you could share with me. Thanks. KathyArch
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Hi Kathy!!!

I did a quick Google search and found this site:

any-occasion-free-christian-game.com/christian-ice-breakers.html

It might be of value.

Bruce
(From Meet and Greet forum)
 
saw this at a youth retreat in neighboring parish, not exactly an ice breaker, but idea was intriguing and put kids off balance, so they did not know what to expect, and hence seemed more open-minded.

the day was broken up as was the space, meal, snack and some art type activities were in one room, and the actual talks or presentations (brief, 20 minutes or less) were in a larger space.

for each of the talks or sessions which took place in the larger space, the organizer re-arranged the seating.

once chairs were in rows,
once in a large circle
once in small circles
once there were carpet squares on the floor
and once a mix of chairs and floor.

each participant had a color coded nametag, and there were colored posties on each seat, which were moved around each time, so nobody got the same seat, nobody sat together with a buddy, and the group was forced to move out of cliques.

the reason for the seating arrangment was explained in the talk, and they were keyed to the theme of the talks. and each talk gave directions for the next “hands-on” actvity, which was done with the people in the new seating groups working together.

the overall theme was service and discipleship, title was “Show up for Your own Life.”
can’t remember all the activities but one was making a headband with a symbol related to how you see yourself as a member of the Body of Christ. Another was a pennant for your car antenna with an evangelization slogan. a third was writing a rap, TV commercial or other advertising jingle for the theme “Show up”.
 
From what I have seen, the ice-breakers gamey stuff works better with young tweens/teens (11-14).

Seniors, these are more mature and sophistocated and most will be turned off if you start with something like Barbie Doll Barbie Doll GI Joe GI Joe Transformers Transformers GI Joe.

Food. Start with a breakfast, where they can eat and have coffee and mingle.

Then, an informal discussion - something led on a topic with a very open round table.

That will break the ice and let them know you see this as a serious, mature event.

Save some kind of team building game (trust walk, etc.) for afternoon.

Keep the food flowing, have a parent of a teen help you plan amounts - teens put away LOTS of food!
 
We hold two confirmation retreats. The Fall retreat is at a YMCA camp and we have used their staff and their challenge course to help drive home a community theme. It was team building and stuff like that. We use reflection services and follow those up with letters of affirmation from home.
 
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