Learning Labs - Youthfront

YOUTHFRONT NEIGHBORHOOD LEARNING LABS

Experience interactive games to help better love our neighbors facing economic and social challenges.

Youthfront Neighborhood’s Learning Lab program offers youth a chance to confront the world’s challenges in a creative environment.

Experience societal challenges through fun team games and come up with ideas that could make a positive impact in the lives of families and children in our communities.

Designed for churches and youth groups, Learning Labs help youth and young adults engage with challenges through fun team games and creative outlets. Our staff can come to your location or host your group’s Learning Lab at a Youthfront facility.

Our Learning Labs are a requested, custom experience for your group and there is no cost to participate.

Here are some of the experiences options.

FOUR DOORS IMMIGRATION: Explore what Scripture teaches about welcoming the foreigner.

Age range: High School+ - Level: Intermediate - Time:1 hour

Participants step into the roles of people from diverse backgrounds and attempt to navigate the U.S. immigration system through an interactive simulation. Along the way, they encounter real-world barriers and discover how limited and demanding legal pathways can be. Real-life stories provide personal insight into these challenges.

BRAIN ARCHITECTURE: Can you handle the pressure? Discover how community and faith make us resilient.

Age range: Middle School+ - Level: Beginner - Time: 1.5 hours

The Brain Architecture Game is a hands-on activity that shows how early experiences shape brain development. Teams build a model brain while adding “stress” and “support” cards that reflect real-life challenges and strengths in our community. The game highlights the importance of caring relationships and strong foundations, reminding us that nurturing children helps build resilient individuals and compassionate communities.

INTERGROUP MONOPOLY: Play Monopoly with a twist, then dive into what faith teaches about wealth, fairness, and loving your neighbor.

Age range: High School+ - Level: Advanced - Time: 1-1.5 hours

Intergroup Monopoly is an interactive activity that uses the classic board game to reveal how social and economic systems create unequal outcomes. Players begin with different rules—some with advantages and others with restrictions—highlighting how privilege and barriers shape success. Afterward, participants reflect on real patterns of inequality and, through a Christian lens, consider how faith calls us to challenge injustice, live generously, and seek a world where everyone has enough.

CITY AS A LUNCHROOM: Take a seat and experience what inequality feels like and how faith calls us to justice.

Age range: Middle School - Level: Beginner - Time: 1-1.5 hours

City as a Lunchroom is an interactive activity that shows how resources and opportunities are distributed across a city. In a school lunchroom role-play, participants experience how systems can create inequality. The activity encourages reflection on our community and how faith calls us to build a more just and compassionate city where everyone has a seat at the table.

TAKE A STEP: Step into the shoes of others and reflect how faith calls us to action, mercy, and care for our neighbors.

Age range: Middle School+ - Level: Beginner - Time: 1 hour

Take a Step is a movement-based activity that helps participants see how life circumstances shape opportunity. As they respond to real-life scenarios—some moving forward, others facing obstacles or setbacks—they experience how privilege and systemic barriers create uneven starting points. A final race highlights the differences in outcomes, inviting reflection on how following Jesus calls us to act with mercy, support those facing barriers, and participate in God’s work of justice and care.

SPENT: Feel the pressure of living paycheck to paycheck—and explore what it means to be a faithful steward of God’s gifts.

Age range: Middle School - Level: Beginner - Time: 45 minutes

SPENT is an interactive digital simulation that challenges participants to survive a month on a limited income, making difficult decisions about housing, food, health, and other basic needs while facing unexpected setbacks. The experience highlights the stress and trade-offs many people in poverty navigate every day. Through reflection, participants connect the simulation to realities in our community and consider how faith calls us to practice wise, generous, and just stewardship rooted in empathy and care for others..