Video: Parker School Fall Festival
Motivating Middle School students to volunteer can sometimes feel like pulling teeth - painful and difficult.
When I first asked my daughter, and her 7th Grade classmates, what kind of booth they would like to organize for the annual Parker School Fall Festival, their response was that this was not their job. They expected the parents to take on this job.
I quickly corrected this misunderstanding, and again asked what kind of booth they wanted. The unanimous response: Shave The Balloon.
What’s the appeal you ask? Danger from razor blades, and a high mess factor, of course.
Having never seen a Shave The Balloon Event, I was afraid. Very afraid.
However, I wanted to let them lead this event, and that meant letting them choose the booth and giving them room to organize this for themselves.
Not surprisingly, they rose to the occasion.
A couple of them got together the week before the festival to make a poster and practice shaving the balloon. Then, on the day of the festival, several arrived early to set up the booth, and blow up the balloons.
They still had a few details to work out, but they figured things out fairly quickly, and ended up running a popular booth.
Even the mess and potential danger weren’t too bad. The mess factor was controlled with a roll of paper towels, and a sponge in a bowl of water. The danger was reduced by keeping the caps on the razors for the little kids. Also, it turns out that it’s almost impossible to pop a balloon with a disposable razor. Every kid earned a Peso (redeemable for prizes) at this event.
A little push, and lots of room for independence, were the magic recipe for involving these Middle School students. Who knows? Perhaps next time, it’ll be easier to make the request if they remember how much fun it was to volunteer.
Comments Please!
How do you motivate middle school students to volunteer at home, school, or elsewhere? I’d really like to know.
More on Fall Festivals
Looking for ideas for your a booth at a festival or carnival? View the video or look at our photos from the Parker Fall Festival in 2007.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Julie 10.21.08 at 4:02 pm
Okay, THAT was hilarious. I spend a lot of time with animal rescue, so it’s fairly easy to get kids to volunteer with that. Lots of shelters need attention paid to the cats and dogs on hand to keep them kid friendly. Ups their chances for adoption. Great post!
Linda 10.21.08 at 4:21 pm
I agree that middle school is a hard age. I’m looking forward to other ideas!
Barbara 10.21.08 at 4:38 pm
It is a hard age. They can be so unfocused at times.
Dani 10.21.08 at 4:47 pm
Oh… a subject that is near and dear to my heart.
I have found that inviting them to a fun event that wasn’t run by them and hitting them up to volunteer while they’re still there (happy & smiling!) works. I ask them, “Would you like to do fun stuff like this more often?” and then I break it to them that THEY have to make it happen.
Sandra Foyt 10.21.08 at 4:59 pm
You’d think that all kids would love to volunteer at an animal shelter, but I’ve even found them unwilling to do that recently. But, you’re right that that is a better draw than other volunteer work.
I love the subtle, ask them while they’re happy approach. I’ll definitely keep that in mind.
Thank you all! Let’s see if we can brainstorm some more ideas.
Anne 10.21.08 at 7:15 pm
My kids are younger and I am having trouble encouraging my 4th grader to volunteer. If you have any suggestions for younger kids, I would be very grateful.
jyl @ mommygossip 10.22.08 at 10:08 am
So fun to chat with you at #gno last night and glad you left a link on http://mommygossip-gno.blogspot.com so I could come and check out your blog. Love this post.
I don’t have teenagers, but as a volunteer in a K-8 school, we loved having the MS students help us with our activities. We would get them to do the art to advertise for it, which always turned out better than what we could do. We also really involved them in the yearbook, making their section special. We tried to tap in to the leaders and get them to think certain activities were cool. If we could convince them to come along, it wasn’t long before we had a bigger following, which resulted in more help, more ideas, and better attendance.
Love this idea and video. I’ll have to share it!
“See” you next week at #gno. I’m going to tweet about this post.
Convert to 10.22.08 at 10:03 pm
At the school my daughter attends to the management misses volunteers’ work more and more. It used to be much better, now the school buffet is being closed and no more lunches will be sold to kids all due to the lack of parents’ and school friends’ help in the peak hours. The school bigger shows are still active and be helped as we know it.
Sandra Foyt 10.23.08 at 10:19 am
Anne,
The easy answer is to get younger children involved in a group that does service work, such as Scouting or 4-H. However, you can also think about what is important to them. Do they like pets? Perhaps they can collect or make items for an animal shelter. Are they budding musicians? Maybe you could arrange for them to play an instrument at a Senior Center.
I have a younger child, in 3rd Grade and also in Cub Scouts, and I’ll be sharing how they become (hopefully!) more involved in volunteer work. For now, it’s a gradual process.
Stay tuned!
Missives From Suburbia 10.26.08 at 1:21 pm
A helpful tip for my future!