Choose from a host of fantastic activities

1. $-$$$ Go see a play, movie, dance performance, chorus concert, or spoken word event, especially if the performers are children or youth. Then talk about it afterwards — maybe over ice cream, pizza, or something else your mentee enjoys. It doesn't have to have queer or trans content; it only has to be age- and developmentally appropriate. But if it has LGBTQA+/SGL characters or themes, all the better.
2. Listen to music together.
3. $-$$ See local art exhibits.
4. $-$$ Watch a magic show!
5. $-$$ Go to local high school and college theater and music performances.
6. $-$$ Go hear live music at a local coffeeshop.
7. $-$$ Build model planes, boats, or cars.
8. $-$$ Go to a museum (art or otherwise), especially a kid- or youth-focused one. Museums where you just walk around and look at things hung on walls aren't necessarily the most interesting for tweens or teens (or, let's be honest, many adults).
9. Find out what your mentee likes about art or music in school. Pursue that further.
10. $-$$ If there are places you can go to watch artists work, do!

1. $ Read a book together, whether it's a picture book or a chapter book.
   • In the latter case, you can alternate reading chapters out loud when you're together or can read separately and then discuss it together.
   • If your mentee is a reluctant reader, see if a local animal shelter has a program for kids to read books to the animals awaiting adoption.
2. See the resources section for great queer and trans book ideas, especially for teens but with some for tweens as well.
3. $ Use The Kids' Book of Questions or the Book of Questions for Teens to talk about ethics and values — and to noodle over some fascinating hypothetical scenarios.
4. Utilize this conversation-starter list for talking with LGBTQ+ youth (PDF).
5. Look up Little Free Libraries in your area and find out if any have a lot of books for children and youth. Locations outside schools could be a great place to start.
6. If your mentee doesn't have a library card and you can get them one without a parent's signature, do so!

1. Play card games or board games. See if your local library loans these out.
2. $ Get game books with things like word finds, crossword puzzles, acrostics, sudoku…. Do them together.
3. $-$$ Build domino or marble runs (beware cats, dogs, and young siblings).
4. Have your mentee teach you a video game (ideally a 2-person one that you can play together).
5. $$ Do an escape room.

1. $ A jigsaw puzzle (if you have the room to keep it in between meetings — and no cats or small children to mess up your progress)
2. $-$$ An art project that you can't finish in one sitting.
3. See the books section above about reading together.
4. Volunteer at a local animal shelter together, although you're likely to need parental consent for this.
5. $ Teach your mentee to needle-point, knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, etc.
   1. If you're not sure how to do these yourself, YouTube is a bottomless source of how-to videos. And you can then learn together.
6. Teach them chess or other intellectually challenging games.
7. Pick a podcast your mentee is interested in. If they don't have one they like or are interested in other possibilities, introduce them to one of yours. Listen to it periodically during your meetings and talk about it.

1. Take a walk, a climb, or a hike.
2. Do a climbing wall.
3. Go to local playgrounds and parks.
4. Fly a kite (free unless you need to acquire a kite)
5. See a game by a local sports team. And don't forget to check out minor league and other super local teams — think your local high schools or colleges. They're often way cheaper than professional teams. And the minor leagues, especially, can have some amazing players.
6. $$-$$$ Check out an amusement or water park.
7. $-$$ Play mini-golf.
8. $-$$ Enjoy go-carts.
9. $-$$ Go to a local carnival.
10. Create a scavenger hunt and walk around with your mentee while they figure things out.
11. $$ Go roller skating.
12. $-$$ If you're in a rural area or an exurb (or are willing to make a drive), see if any local farms offer tours.
13. If you live near a public beach, spend time there.
14. Ditto for mountains.
15. $ Swim!
16. Watch the sunset — or the sunrise if you're both serious morning people.
17. Find a place to watch one of the many annual meteor showers.
18. Go see autumn leaves.
19. Find out if there's an established place near an airport where you can safely watch planes take off and land.
20. If one of you has a dog, go to your neighborhood dog park — with parental permission.
21. $ Do sidewalk chalk.
    1. I've also heard of car/glass markers, although i've never used them to find out how removable they actually are.
22. $$ Go canoeing, paddle-boating, or paddle-boarding.
23. See fireworks on the 4th of July.
24. $-$$ Have a picnic.

If you have mass transit in your area and your mentee hasn't used that form of transportation before, take them on the bus or subway to see what it's like. Ride around for a while.

If they aren't totally new to mass transit, practice using it with them to get to and from your activities.

Remember that, if your mentee is old enough, giving them the ability to ride mass transit alone gives them some freedom from relying on parents or older siblings for rides.

1. $-$$ Go check out a local coffee shop.
2. $-$$ Cook or bake together.
3. $$-$$$ Go to the zoo or an aquarium. (Yes, these can be problematic institutions. But kids often really like them — and so do adults.)
4. $ If you have an astronomy observatory nearby, either independent or at a local university, find out if they have nights where community members can come look at the stars. If possible, plan your visit during a meteor shower.
5. $-$$$ Do something special for your mentee's birthday, the start and/or end of the academic year, graduation, accomplishing something large/challenging (including coming out to others, either as celebration if the outcome was mostly positive or as a potential pick-me-up if it wasn't), and any other reason you may have to celebrate or mark an important milestone in their life.
6. If they're new to driving, go practice with them. This will absolutely require parental permission so won't work for situations where the parents are unaware of your informally mentoring their child.