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BBBS 7 Rivers Region

Activity Ideas

BBBS 7 Rivers Region

The quality of the time you invest with your Little is more important than the amount of money you spend.  That’s why we don’t encourage spending a lot of money on your outings.

 

The goal of the relationship is to help your Little see the world through a different lens so you can inspire your Little to become something they never thought possible.  If you are going to spend money, we encourage you to seek out low-cost activities, especially in the beginning.

BBBS 7 Rivers Region

Activities That Are NOT Allowed

  • Bungee Jumping, Parachuting, Skydiving, Parasailing, or Hang-Gliding

  • Flying in an Airplane, Hot Air Balloon, or any other Flying Object

  • Off-Road Motorized vehicles like Dirt Bikes, ATVs, UTVs, Snow Mobiles, or 4-Wheelers (Golf Carts are allowed)

  • Riding in a boat over 60 feet long

Children Lining for Treats

Fall Activities

  • Visit an Apple Orchard and pick apples together

  • Corn Maze

  • Pumpkin Patch

  • Carve or paint pumpkins

  • Haunted House

  • Trick or Treating events

  • Popcorn and Scary Movie night

  • Make caramel apples

  • Make Halloween costumes together

  • Rake leaves for neighbors

  • Collect fall leaves and identify the trees they fell from

Egg Hunting

Spring Activities

  • Create greeting cards, happy “May Day” or “Easter” for loved ones

  • Plant a garden, or visit a community garden and offer to help

  • Chalk inspirational messages on public sidewalks

  • Color spring coloring pages together

  • Pick up litter for Earth Day at a local park or area

Kids in the Museum

Anytime Activities

  • Go on a walk and collect interesting rocks, leaves, etc

  • Card games: Uno, Crazy 8, Old Maid

  • Play badminton or croquet

  • Go for a walk, scavenger hunt

  • Visit a pet store

  • Scrapbook together

  • Read books

  • Go Bowling (All Star Lanes coupon)

  • Go to a roller rink

  • Play board games: monopoly, Life, Sorry, Hangman, charades, checkers, chess, etc.

  • Go to a Museum: Dahl Auto Museum, Children’s Museum, La Crosse Area Heritage Center, Minnesota Marine Arts Museum, Watkins Museum, Police Museum, etc.) 

  • Ask to visit a local fire or police station

  • Visit the humane society and offer to walk the dogs

  • Play computer/video games together

  • Shop for a cook a meal together

  • Bake a treat

  • Try mastering something difficult: juggling, watercolor painting, etc

  • Paint portraits of one another

  • Start a hobby together: astronomy, sewing, music, singing, drama, dance, stained glass, painting, poetry, woodworking

  • Start a collection: stamps, rocks, coins, comics, bugs, dolls, figures, sports cards

  • Walk, train, and play with your dog

  • Build a model car, plane, or rocket

  • Create a book club for you and other matches

  • Visit the public library

  • Work with clay, or paper mache

  • Research your family tree

  • Attend your Little’s school play or sporting event to cheer them on!

  • Watch the same TV show each week, then call to talk about it

  • Do a science project together using household products

  • Make a volcano

  • Go to a Trampoline Park

  • Watch a local sports team! (UWL Athletics, Viterbo Athletics, Loggers Game, etc)

  • Help your Little with a school project

  • Take your Little to your place of employment

  • Pretend to go camping in your backyard and create a fire, set up a tent, and roast smores

  • Create or paint pottery at All Glazed up

  • Try an escape room (The Great Escape La Crosse) with other matches

  • Go stargazing (on the bluffs!)

  • Make a Log Cabin or other creations out of popsicle sticks

  • Try a new restaurant together

  • Try a new food together

  • Go to the La Crosse movie theater

  • Do a puzzle together

  • Play arcade games together

  • Make your own T shirts with fabric markers and colored glue

  • Go to the YMCA and play basketball, swim, etc.

  • Teach your Little valuable life skills, including maintaining a bike (replace chain, repair brakes), changing oil in a car, jump starting a car, changing a tire, tying a tie, etc.

  • Eat lunch with your Little at school

  • If comfortable, visit your littles church or your church. 

  • Have your Little teach you something

  • Volunteer together! Ideas: Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, deliver food for Meals on Wheels, help out at a homeless shelter or food pantry, nursing home, or volunteer at a BBBS event

  • Visit the UW-La Crosse Planetarium

  • Go to a coffee shop and read together

  • Go shopping at the mall

  • Do a get to know you game/competition

  • Do Buzzfeed quizzes together

  • Go to Goodwill and thrift an outfit for one another

  • Attend a Big Brothers Big Sisters Agency Sponsored Activity (link)

  • Make a calendar to schedule outings together and plan ahead!

  • Keep a journal of all your outings together and what you liked/disliked about each

  • Make friendship bracelets

  • Visit a local courthouse and observe a court hearing

  • Make paper airplanes

  • Go rock climbing or try out a ropes course

  • Go to a gem and mineral show

  • Create a puppet show and show your friends/family

  • Create a movie or trailer on iMovie

  • Play chef/restaurant

  • Run errands with your Little and teach them about grocery shopping, budgeting etc

  • Write a letter to your Little on your match anniversary telling what you have noticed about him/her in the last year. (ex positive change, growth)

  • Learn a new language together. 

  • Look up new words in the dictionary

  • Plan for a money-earning project and save money for a special event

  • If your Little is a teenager, practice completing job and college applications

  • Play a musical instrument or learn one together

  • Spend time on a college campus

  • Teach your Little good phone etiquette, how to leave messages, how to use emergency phone numbers

  • Take a first aid class together

  • Build and bury a time capsule

  • Paint a fence or room

  • Go to a dance performance, concert, or art show

Winter Sports

Winter Activities

  • Bake/frost Christmas cookies

  • Make a Christmas/Birthday present for Parent or Guardian or someone else special

  • Rotary Lights

  • Watch a Hallmark Christmas movie

  • Try Ice Skating (rotary lights have this!)

  • Go Christmas Caroling

  • Build a snowman or snow fort

  • Go sledding

  • Go skiing or snowboarding at Mount La Crosse

Playing in Sand

Summer Activities

  • Fly a kite

  • Feed the ducks at a park

  • Geocaching (free app: “Geocaching” on app store)

  • Picnic: PB&J, juice, etc at the park

  • Make a bug cage and catch lightning bugs

  • Visit the zoo/petting zoo

  • Mini Golfing

  • Build and decorate a birdhouse for your little house.

  • Learn how to rollerblade/skate

  • At home car wash!

  • Take a bike ride together (both wear helmets!)

  • Go to a circus, county fair, or carnival

  • Go to the Farmers Market

  • Watch a Parade

  • Go horseback riding

  • Take a hike in Hixon Forest

  • Explore the Bluffs

  • Watch a fireworks show

  • Go swimming at a local pool

  • Play in the Sprinkler

  • Do a slip-and-slide

  • Go to a Splash Pad

  • Explore a new park. Ideas: Beaver Creek Reserve, Hoffman Kills, Dunn Co. Lion’s Club animal park, Irvine Park Zoo, Big Falls, Lake Wissota, Coon Forks, etc.)Play Frisbee Golf

  • Play Basketball, Volleyball, or Soccer outside

  • Go Go-karting at Riverside Amusement Park

  • Blow Bubbles

  • Make a lemonade stand and sell lemonade

  • Have a water balloon fight

  • Create and compete in an obstacle course

  • Visit a farm

  • Go to a beach and build a sandcastle

  • Mow lawn, rake leaves, yard work

  • Go fishing

  • Help tag our young Lake Sturgeon at the Genoa National Fish Hatchery

  • Go tubing, canoeing, or rafting

  • Go bird watching

  • Go pick strawberries or raspberries

  • Plant a tree

  • Go to a horse, dog, cat show

Don't Get Discouraged

- Big Brother Logan

“It’s tough at first. It’s a tough adjustment to be able to work into your Match.  It’s difficult to get started because you don’t necessarily know where to start.

 

Just be confident in yourself and know that whatever you’re doing is making an impact. Taking small steps is the first thing that you can do.   Eventually, those will grow into bigger things.   Small changes and small moments can really make big differences later.   Don’t get discouraged”.

Show Up

- Big Sister Jazlynne

“Don’t get discouraged. It’s likely that your Little has had someone betray their trust or just doesn’t feel comfortable opening up to a stranger. That’s okay!

 

Make sure to let them know you’re always around when they’re ready to talk.   I like to share stories with my Little about things I struggled with at her age, such as making friends or focusing on schoolwork, as a reminder that I was once eleven too.   It’s okay if you don’t have all the right answers.

 

You just have to show up”.   Being persistent in your relationship with your Little will show that you’re not just around when they’re at their best.

 

Sometimes all they need is someone that will stay connected no matter the season of life they’re in."

Be Patient

- Big Sister Lexi

“My biggest advice to a new big is to be patient and go in with an open mind, I truly can’t emphasize it enough.   I wish I went into my match with more of an open mind.

 

I thought it was going to be easy from the first time I met her, and to be honest it wasn’t.   I had to show her that I was someone she could trust.

 

Having a Little is not always easy and it’s a very big responsibility.   But, through patience and an open mind it will be one of the best experiences you will have.   BBBS is an amazing opportunity, one that not everyone gets to participate in.

 

Always remember to be patient, kind, and have fun.   You are going to make such a difference in a child’s life”.

Darien-and-Mike
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