Jump Bags Plan


General Information

  • Activity objective: Campers will have a chance to think about the difficulties of living out of a backpack as a homeless person.

  • Guiding questions: (1) What are the items that are necessities vs. wants? (2) What considerations need to go into making those decisions?

  • Activity will be 30 minutes with a 5 minute transition time.


Support & Technology Needs

  • No particular support or technology is needed.


Activity Set up &Take Down

  • Sunday afternoon setup:

    • Review training plan and talking points;

    • Ensure all necessary supplies are available;

    • Prepare the room or space if activity will occur on Monday;

    • Take photographs of the areas that you will use, to ensure we return it to the same setup when we leave.


  • Daily (Monday through Thursday):

    • Be sure area is left as required daily. (This is for spaces that are going to be used for other church activities during the week.)

    • Make sure area is left clean and neat daily; reset thermostat (if applicable); turn off lights; make sure garbage is taken out daily if it contains any food waste.

    • At the end of every camp, be sure location is left clean and neat (garbage taken out if needed, area swept, painter’s tape, signs, and labels removed and thrown away, etc.). If thermostat was reset, turn it back to original setting. Turn off lights, put away tables that were set up, etc.  Please take particular care to return any items that may have been moved to their original location.

    • At the end of the week, file a supply request form to replace any necessary supplies. Please submit this form even if no supplies are needed, for documentation purposes.


Activity Supplies (for the week)

  • Have 2-3 tables set up with the backpacks and possible supplies. You can either set up one table for each team or group like items together in a long row. There are no disposable supplies for this activity, just all the choices for the campers to make their selections. Items may include the following:

  • Backpacks

  • Sleeping bags

  • Gaming equipment

  • Teddy bear

  • Family photos

  • Books

  • Deck of cards

  • Clothes – different types, summer & winter

  • Wallets including ID, Monopoly money

  • Medicine

  • Food – good choices and bad

  • Water bottles of various sizes

  • First aid kits

  • Tent

  • Toiletries – large and small

  • Towels

  • Straight iron or blow dryer for hair

  • Shampoo/conditioner

  • Phone

  • Phone charger

  • iPad or tablet

  • flashlight

  • batteries

  • poncho

  • makeup

  • jewelry

  • blanket

  • pillow

  • toys

  • can opener

  • dog food

  • dog leash

  • toilet paper

  • extra socks


Lesson Plan

  • Have the campers enter and sit around the tables. Ask them “How many of you have seen a homeless person on the street? What do they have with them?” Answers will range from signs to backpacks to grocery carts. “Do you see them alone, or with a friend? What does their skin look like? Their hair? Their clothes? Do they have pets?”

  • Start a discussion about what does a house or a home mean to you? Go around the table and get everyone to contribute one thing they think of when they think about home. Answers will vary from roof and walls (security, safety, weather protection, coziness) to a place of love and acceptance, family members, bed. Try to draw out things that they might take for granted: pantry and fridge with food, running water, flushing toilet, bathroom door, bedroom door, lights at the flip of a switch, convenience and entertainment things. There is much to talk about here!

  • Divide the campers into 2 or 3 groups. Have one volunteer from each group fill a backpack with the things they think would help them survive and call some spot ‘home.’ 

  • Once the packs have been filled, have them explain why they chose the items they did. Talk as a group about the choices. Some choices aren’t necessarily “bad” choices, but if you have one backpack to carry all you own, they probably aren’t the most important.

    • Choose size of water bottle – how often do you think you can refill it?

    • how many snacks – will they meet up with the MLF truck or not?

    • bedding, won’t usually fit inside a pack so you have to tie to it, how do you keep it clean

    • electronics that need batteries and charging (hard to do outside), or a connection to a TV, etc. 

    • toilet paper, has many uses, but of course, if you have to use a tree for your bathroom, it’s even more important. 

    • toiletries - shelters require you to bring your own 

    • Talk about how things get dirty and they don’t have washing machines, so extra clothing is needed. 

    • Homeless can buy prepaid cell phones and charge at shelters because they do have friends and family. Also, jobs usually want a phone number for applications. 

    • Medication

  • Talk about how many homeless people use a buddy system to help them look out for each other and their stuff because there is nowhere to lock things away. Homeless camps are guarded and not open to just anyone. Trust is a big issue. Is there someone in your life who you would trust to be your buddy if you needed one?

  • Go into hallway and have camper carry the pack back and forth down the hallway; you can even have older kids try the stairs if they are available at the site. You can vary it with someone playing “dog” and someone playing friend that is ill, weak, cannot see. Person with pack has to manage dog, bedding, pack, and friend. You can call reminders that they are on a busy street, that their bedding is getting dirty, that the ill friend needs frequent breaks and water, that they just missed the MLF truck or the bus to the shelter. (You don’t have to do all of this, these are just options to help fill more time if the activity is going too fast.)

  • Come back into the room, ask them what they thought about having to carry everything they own on their backs. If you have extra time, have the kids sit with their original groups and decide what 5 things they think are most important in their backpacks. You can have them go physically choose them or just talk about it.

  • Close with a reminder that whenever they see someone on the street, remember this exercise and the challenges it posed and have compassion for that person.