Zoo We did this lock-in on what it means to have a "monkey made out of you." When the new gorilla exhibit opened we were able to arrange with the Sedgwick County Zoo to let us spend the night in the exhibit. We had a talk with the group about how they imitate others and how someone can make a monkey out of them. We also compared this with being an imitator of Christ (Philippians 2:1-18). This one had a non-typical timetable. We started at 4:00pm Friday, right after school at the church and then back to the church by 7:00am Saturday for parents to pick them up. Before going to the zoo we played Banana games in our gym. BANANA GAMES For these games you'll need a big bucket of bananas.  Rob the banana  This activity is played to the rules of 'Rob the Next' Divide your group into equal teams (say 4 - 5 teams). Within each team youth number off. On a signal, the leader calls out a number. All youth who have been assigned that number, run to the center, collect a banana and bring it back to their team. That same player repeats this procedure until the quickest team collects 3 bananas. If the basket in the middle becomes empty, teams can 'steal' from another team. Race the Banana  Youth sit in a large circle. A banana is given to a youth at random. On the signal the banana is passed from hand to hand around the circle. The youth who held the banana has to call out 3 words that start with the same letter as banana before the banana gets back to them. Examples of categories for each turn: animals; food; cities; countries; TV shows or films. Choose a different leader after each turn. Banana Buildings  Divide your group into teams. Each team sits in a circle with 6-8 bananas. Each member of the team takes turns at trying to build a banana tower using all his or her bananas. Allow each person to have a couple of turns before announcing which team was able to use the most number of bananas in their building. Banana Necking  Youth line up in teams, in one line. Without using hands, youth must pass the banana down the line by trapping the banana under the chin. Banana Split Bonanza  To finish this part of the lock-in we bought a piece of roof guttering and made a super long giant banana split. The rest of the set up&ldots; A few days before the lock-in I went to the Zoo to meet with our overnight host. We talked about expectations and limitations. Since I was there to see her I didn't have to pay to get in and the whole group got a discount when we arrived days later. Then I spent a few hours walking around the zoo making notes about landmarks and the exhibits. When I got back to work later that day I made a scavenger hunt that had the youth go to a certain place then write down what they saw as directed in their clues on the night of the lock-in. The night of the lock-in I had 10 clues and formed the youth into 10 groups after we got to the Zoo. We instructed each of them to start at a different place and made a list of at least one cell phone # in each group (just in case). We got to the zoo 2 hours before closing so we could actually have full access to the zoo. We were restricted to inside the gorilla exhibit after hours. We brought lots of snacks and drinks and borrowed wagons to move it all to our over night area. After hours I also arranged a behind the scenes tour as well. The youth got to see places and things that the general public didn't get to.  Banana Games in the gorilla exhibit Required: Bananas Divide the group into teams of 8-10 players and give each team a banana. Each team completed in the different relays using their banana. Here are some of the relays we did. ·The banana under your armpit and hopping on one leg down a hall and back. ·Place the banana between the knees and hop down a hall and back. ·Two teammates tossing the banana back and forth down the hall and back. ·Teammates line up in leapfrog formation and first player hops over players while holding banana and then tosses banana to next player in line to do the same. Once a team completed all these relays someone on the team got to eat the banana and the team that was done first was the winner. The Finish Most of the fun and excitement happened before 10pm. We had or devotion @ 9pm. Then it was really lights out and everyone had to sleep so we didn't disturb the gorillas. The keepers came and checked on the gorillas every 2 hours and invited us along. It was like checking on giant sleeping babies. Cool!