2026 Youth Theme Kick-off
- monicackennedy
- Nov 13, 2025
- 9 min read
It's time for a new year and a new youth theme. So many great reminders for our youth that they are not alone in this journey of life, and that it takes effort on their part, to accept Jesus's invitation to Walk With Me.
I have so enjoyed putting together a theme kick-off night each year. I love the youth themes, and want my girls to keep it in the forefront of their thoughts and actions. Here's some ideas for a kick-off night. You will not have time to do all these activities in one night. Pick and choose which will work best for your group. Some ideas below can also be done as an activity on it's own or even at Young Women's camp. To make it easy, I have put all the free templates and prints into one quick download.
Quick Links to each section:
Alrighty, let's begin...
Opening Exercises
*Either have your YW leaders or your older young women presidency lead this brief opening exercises.
Begin the night with a prayer, the young women theme, followed by the NEW THEME SONG (linked to youtube, but you can find it in your gospel library app).
Tell the group what the new theme is. "Walk With Me." And follow with the words of General YW President, Emily Freeman. Feel free to paraphrase and say it in your own words.
“Every time we open the scriptures, we have an opportunity to walk with Christ. Every time we stand as a witness of Him, we walk with Him. When we mourn with others, or comfort a friend, or help to shoulder a burden, these are the moments we walk with Christ. Jesus Christ went about doing good. I am looking forward to a year where we will discover that Jesus Christ is in our midst, just as He promised He would be. I am looking forward to spending one whole year walking with Him."
Next, display the new theme scripture and have the girls recite it together.
PRESENTATION
Choose a leader, or a special guest, to briefly talk about a time when they went on a difficult walk in life and how they knew they were walking with Jesus. You could choose to display shoes as a visual during this time. (Last year's kick-off presentation used shoes, so if you didn't do that last year, than I think it will be awesome to display them this year.)
DISCUSSION
There's a couple approaches to the theme "Walk With Me." Do you interpret it to mean Jesus is on our journey with us? Or do we see it as an invitation to walk the path Jesus has chosen? I believe it is both. To drive discussion among your group, ask the girls these questions: What do I need to do to ensure I'm walking the path Jesus is on? What do I need to do to invite Jesus to join me on my path? Use these questions, or others, to prompt a brief discussion among the youth.
You could also choose to share this popular poem with the girls. It resonates well with our youth.
FOOTPRINTS
One night I dreamed a dream.
As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and one to my Lord.
After the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,
especially at the very lowest and saddest times,
there was only one set of footprints.
This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You’d walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest
and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don’t understand why, when I needed You the most,
You would leave me.
He whispered, “My precious child,
I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you.
~ Author Unknow
ACTIVITY: Shoe Bead Flags
We're going to take things back to the 1980's, when life was totally rad. What better craft for Walk With Me, then these shoe bead flags - they can literally walk with them. (or put it backpack if they are too cool!)
What you will need:
8/0 seed beads (you can do smaller or larger beads based on the size of your safety pins).
1.3" safety pins
Pliers
Extra small flathead screwdriver
Design guide (included in download)
There are some tips and tricks to making this easier. Check out the Bead Flag post for detailed instructions.
Guides are the critical part of this activity. I first designed the WWM and then decided to make a more simplified design with the soundwave for "walk." Both designs are included in the free download below. Technically they are equal in difficulty, with 9 beads on each of the 9 pins, but for your visually distracted girls, the soundwave is easier to see as it comes together.
GAME: Slappy Happy to Walk With Jesus
This activity will be fun with groups both big and small. It's a musical chair sort of game, with sticky feet and Walk With Me game pieces.
What you will need:
Walk With Me game pieces (included in download)
Paper or Cardstock/heavy weight paper *see note below
Phone and/or speaker for music
*find someone with a laminator or a public-use machine. I linked the brand I have and have used for more than 10 years. But no need to buy one for this activity alone. I do like having one on hand, though.
Download the Walk With Me game pieces below. Print on regular paper (if you're using thick laminator sheets) or cardstock (if you use something like a school laminator). Laminate the entire sheet of paper and then cut out the circles. One page is a set for 6 players. Print enough pages to accommodate your group size. If you have an overly large group, you might choose to split up and do rotations. This would mean fewer game pieces needed.
Setup and Rules:
The object of the game is to collect all three game pieces to make the theme Walk With Me, by using a sticky foot to slap and stick to the circles.
Lay out laminated WWM pieces on a clean solid surface. A table or gym floor would work, but make sure it is super clean or the sticky feet will get nasty fast and they won't stick to the game pieces.
Designate a perimeter that the youth cannot physically enter while slapping their sticky feet.
Play the new theme song on a phone speaker (any song works). When the music stops (at random intervals) everyone has one chance to slap their sticky feet. They can only slap it once and if the foot (not the line to their hand) hits AND sticks to a game piece, they get to grab it and keep it.
Play the music and repeat until someone has collected all 3 pieces and yells out - Walk With Me!
Variations that make this more competitive:
put out fewer pieces of the "ME" circles, or fewer sets than participants.
players must collect the pieces in order - 1. "WALK", 2. "WITH" 3. "ME"
players can keep pieces even if they already have that word (this means less for the other players)
if you slap on someone else's foot, you can not slap the next round.
ACTIVITY: Walk With Jesus Card
As a filler activity, the girls can color and design a "Walk With Me" card, listing 6+ specific ways they can invite Jesus on their journey with them. I suggest providing colored pencils to make it more interesting and easier to read than markers.
I'm happy to share my Walk With Me print. There are 2 on a page. Best printed on cardstock.
CRAFT: #HearHim Stitching
This craft is a visual reminder that Jesus is inviting us to, "Walk With Me." This soundwave reminds us that He speaks to us. He extended this invitation. These are His words - #HearHim.
What you'll need:
Soundwave Print (included in download)
Cardstock/print as a picture *see note below
needles *see note below
thread - 2 strand crochet thread
push pin
tape
This is a pretty easy craft - but that's not to say the girls can't make it difficult. Here's a few tips to help this go well. First, choose needles that do not have a super big eye. Even though they are easier to thread, they will make the holes too big. You want a needle like the one on the right, not the left. And with a smaller needle eye - needle threaders (linked above) will be so handy, and they are really inexpensive.
With the paper on a carpeted floor, use a push pin to poke holes at the ends of each line.
Cut your thread no more than a yard (if you are doing all one color) and a half yard if you are doing multiple colors. The longer the thread is, the more it will tangle. I always tell young sewers to never pull on a knot. They need to keep it loose to try and undo it. That being said, this project easily allows for cutting, taping and adding a new thread - so don't stress about getting knots.
I would have loved to try an ombré thread, but I went with some I already had from another project. With 3 colors, I stitched each "word" in a slightly different color. The photo of the back shows all my thread ends neatly taped down.
*TIP: you could print this pattern as 4x6 photos. Proceed with stitching and then put them in a frame (with or without the glass). 4x6 photos are so cheap and the thickness of a photo will work perfectly for this project. PNG for a photo print is included in the download.
CRAFT: Flipping For Jesus
Walk with Jesus in these fuzzy flipflops. If it's not the right weather for flipflops where you live, this could be a fun activity in the summer or at camp.
What you'll need:
flip flops
fabric scraps or ribbon
scissors
Light (only to burn the ends of the ribbon, if you go that route)
Each flipflop will take anywhere from 26-40 pieces of fabric, depending on the size of the flip flop and the thickness of the fabric. Cut the fabric into 1" strips that are 6-8" long. You can always trim them after. I prefer ripping the fabric instead of cutting it, so it already has the frayed sides.
Once you have all your strips, you can start to tie them onto the flip flop. Begin at the center of the foot strap. You can square knot it or you can do a slip knot. We always did the slop knot by folding the fabric in half, taking both ends under the strap and pulling them up through the loop made by folding the fabric in half. Push your knotted fabric together so no strap shows. Trim as desired!
The instructions are the same for ribbon and fabric. But you would need to burn the ends of the ribbons before tying them on, to keep them from fraying.
STICKERS
Young and old are taking water bottles with them everywhere these days. Stickers are the perfect reminder and a fun way to display our faith in Christ. These stickers are in my store, along with other items for this theme. They are amazing quality, waterproof and will last for years. Some people choose to put the stickers on a journal to give to the girls.
REFRESHMENTS
I don't always think we need treats at the end of every activity. But if you want some cute flip flop treats that are easy, I saw this idea with nutter-butter cookies. Yum.
And a little something for the crazy ambitious leader out there - these hi-heel cupcakes are awesome.
INVITES
To remind youth and parents, I like to send out a quick invitation. Personally, I think invitations show extra effort has been put into an activity AND it's a visual reminder that we have something on the calendar. I typically share it in the youth chat, the parent chat and then text it to those whom I know don't engage in group chats. You could also print it and hand them out.
This invitation is a free canva template. You do need a canva.com account, but it's free. Click below to use this template. The date and time can be edited. You can send this digitally or print as a 4x6 photo to distribute. (I love printing invitations as a picture. So easy and cheap.)
*The links above are affiliated links. I could earn a small referral commission if you choose to purchase with these links. I hope we like the same things :)
Other products in my shop to help keep your organized this year.
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