Q: The youth group that I work with is small, so I have to keep all their ages together. How do I work with younger and older youth at the same time?
A: It’s actually a lot easier than you might think.
Keep the large group together for any music, games, icebreakers, introductory discussions, break times and session evaluations you might have. Use those times to foster group cohesion by encouraging older and younger youth to mix and team up.
Next, split them into 2 or more groups (with an adult or student leader volunteer with each group) by age (no more than 6-8 youth per group) depending on how many youth you have.
Help foster age-appropriate discussions for the topic. Remember that your younger youth will need more activities and shorter discussions during this time, so you’ll need to do more planning for their sessions.
Question: How do you work with two different age groups at the same time? Let us know in the comments below.
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