Resource books for you

Check out these free & downloadable YBBBS resource books:

The BIG Book of Big & Little Activities & Discounts for Matches here.

Online Resource Guide here.

I'm BORED! Online Activity Guide for Kids here.

Let's Write a Story! here.

Social Media Safety Tips to Know for parents, guardians, and Bigs - click titles to read:

• SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDE
• CHILDREN’S SAFETY WORKBOOK by Allconnect
• GAMING GUIDE by Legacy Health Endowment
• SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION GUIDE by Lanier Law Firm

Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters suggests that our matches choose low-cost/no-cost activities that you both enjoy doing. After all, the most important thing is your time together. We suggest that you sit down together and mark the ones that you’d like to do, and come up with some ideas of your own. Have fun!! (Thanks to the Delaware BBBS for the great ideas!)

Indoor Activities

• Play chess, Chinese checkers, or card games. If you do not know how, learn together.
• Put together a jigsaw puzzle. You might even want to frame it together.
• Do a crossword puzzle or a word search.
• Build with Lego blocks or an erector set.
• Frame a picture.
• Make your own cards or gifts for people that you care about.
• Start a scrapbook or journal of your time together.
• Learn to draw, paint or sculpt.
• Decorate a room.
• Write a story or a poem together.
• Call the library about story hours or have your own.
• Build a model, hook a rug, or make puppets.
• Carve soap sculptures.
• Learn how to make your own clothes.
• Visit a classroom, have lunch at school with your Little, confer with teachers (Be certain to obtain parent permission).
• Read the paper. Learn about current events, the economy, candidates, etc.
• Work on a resume.
• Do a pretend job interview.
• Talk about where to find a job, or how to plan a career.
• Set up a work internship.
• Tackle some homework together.
• Talk about college.
• Talk about the future.
• Talk about relationships.
• Learn about pop music.
• Sing or dance to music.
• Bake bread or make your own pizza.
• Cook a fancy turkey dinner.
• Pop popcorn, make ice cream floats, and watch a movie at home.
• Make your own ice cream.
• Learn to cook ethnic food.
• Arrange for your Little to meet professionals you know in fields of interest to talk about what they do and how they got there.
• Bake a pie, cookies, cake, etc.
• Design an exercise program and work out together.
• Go to your local library and research a topic you are both interested in.
• Make your own movie. Have a pre-production meeting and then borrow a home video camera or use your phone.
• Walk through the shopping malls.
• Make a scrapbook of your experiences together.
• Enter a contest together.
• Choose an organization and volunteer together.
• Write an essay or a poem and send it to your social worker at BBBS.
• Go to a family function or relative’s birthday party together.
• Invite your Little to visit your office.
• Take tours of friends’ jobs.
• Visit your local YMCA or Community Center.
• Visit the site of your first job or a similar place. Discuss your experience.
• Go to a movie.
• Go to a museum.
• Visit antique, costume, or second-hand stores and brainstorm ideas for Halloween costumes.
• Teach courtesy, respect for others, values. Talk about ways to handle different issues. Use "What if" Scenarios.
• Teach personal hygiene-personal cleanliness, eye, teeth, hair, and body care.
• Learn to iron and wash clothes.
• Learn to shop for groceries.
• Talk about dream vacations.
• Learn telephone use, long-distance calls.
• Take a personal motivation course together.
• Learn a foreign language together or study another culture.
• Attend a City Council meeting, a Commissioners meeting, or Legislative sessions.
• Learn about where community resources are and how to obtain them.
• Take a life-saving course together.

Outdoor Activities

• Try all kinds of sports: football, basketball, boxing, jogging, karate, etc.
• Go for a hike.
• Go fishing.
• Blow bubbles.
• Ride bikes in a local park.
• Toss a Frisbee or fly a kite.
• Jog or sprint around a local track, field, or park. Learn to use a stopwatch.
• Go roller-skating, rollerblading, or ice-skating. If you don’t know how, learn together.
• Rent a canoe (Make sure everyone wears life preservers and is able to swim).
• Take dancing, music, swimming or tennis lessons.
• Go to an amusement park.
• Go horseback riding.
• Play tag.
• Play Hide-And-Go-Seek.
• Go rock hunting. Glue your rocks together and paint them to make sculptures.
• Make and fly paper airplanes.
• Just hang out.
• Play catch.
• Play cards or a board game outside.
• Teach yourselves to juggle.
• Take pictures.
• Climb a tree (be careful!).
• Have a water-balloon fight.
• Go to a garage sale or browse through a flea market.
• Build a treehouse.
• Wash your car.
• Mow the lawn.
• Go to a game, car show, dog show, or stunt car races.
• Cut your own Christmas tree.
• Visit the Humane Society/ SPCA and learn how to care for pets.
• Read outside.
• Have a picnic.
• Look at cloud shapes.
• Clean up litter.
• Talk.
• People-watch.
• Trace a family tree.
• Write your own play.
• Talk about how to look for a job.
• Find a summer job.
• Talk about dressing for success.
• Sit in on some evening classes.
• Talk about life.
• Fill out a work application.
• Build a fort.
• Catch frogs or bugs.
• Make lemonade. Set up a lemonade stand and talk about running a business.
• Fix-up a bicycle.
• Feed some ducks.
• Pick wildflowers.
• Walk a dog you know.
• Visit a college and walk around.
• Go bargain hunting.
• Learn about and celebrate a religious holiday.
• Go out for dinner together.
• Get together with friends from work.
• Go holiday shopping.
• Go to a house of worship.
• Check your local parks and recreation department for fall foliage walks or activities.
• Check local college and high school sports schedules and choose an event to attend.
• Check out lesser-known sports such as field hockey, rugby or rowing. Some colleges may have youth days or special activities through their athletic departments for community members.
• Pretend you are tourists in your city. Visit the typical sites and write a letter to the editor of the local paper or city magazine about the experience.
• Go to a baseball game. If your workplace has a softball team, invite your mentee to a game.
• Visit your state or county fair.
• Volunteer together to mow an elderly or disabled person’s yard.
• Visit a "You Pick it Farm", to pick the latest vegetables and fruits.
• Learn beginner’s auto mechanics. Fix a flat tire or change the oil in your car.
• Learn to read a road map, use an atlas, a globe, or a compass to find someplace you have never been.
• Start a stamp, rock, or arrowhead collection.
• Start a garden. Learn about soil and plants, vegetables, and fruits.
• Attend school activities with your Little (sports, games, plays).
• Field trips: historical places, police and fire departments
• Cultural Events: attend a play, program, ballet, symphony, or concert.
• Go to the airport and watch planes take off.
• Learn how to use jumper cables.
• Use a slide rule, telescope, camera, microscope.
• Study the stars.
• Adopt a Grandparent at a local nursing home.
• Join a bowling league. Some leagues are for adults and children to join together.
• Get involved in special events together, like Bowl For Kids’ Sake
• Enter a "fun-run", fishing tournament, or bike race.
• Talk to other Bigs and Littles about their favorite activities.
• Make a Time Capsule and bury it in your yard so that the people who find it will know a little about you and the current events at this time.