Mentor and Mentee Activity Ideas

It is crucial to spend the time getting to know your mentee and allowing him or her to get to know you. Building a rapport is essential to the success of the relationship.

When planning activities remember to think about how you can infuse the Five Essential Elements for Success into the activity. An example may include going to dinner at a nice restaurant. Before going to the restaurant, talk with your mentee about some of the possible scenarios that may occur. Be prepared to talk with your mentee about: how you use alternative techniques to locate the entrance of the restaurant (blindness skills); how to maneuver through the restaurant (blindness skills, blending in); previous times when you have taken the opportunity to provide education to an employee of a restaurant (coping with public attitudes); ways in which you worked to maintain a positive attitude when faced with a situation that tests your ability to remain calm (it is OK to be blind); and etiquette (blindness skills).

Mentors and youth should decide together what they are going to do each time they meet. Some ideas of things to do:

  • Read a book together.
  • Go to a community sporting event and discuss the latest sports scene.
  • Do a workout together or play a sports activity such as goal ball or beep ball.
  • Work on an arts and crafts project.
  • Work on the computer.
  • Write a resume.
  • Teach your mentee how to use JAWS or other kind of technology (or have your mentee teach you).
  • Read the want ads and talk about job opportunities.
  • Learn a musical instrument.
  • Study a foreign language.
  • Teach your mentee Braille (if you don’t know Braille, learn it together).
  • Discuss career options or plans for after high school.
  • Decide on a volunteer project you can both do together and do it.
  • Attend an activity that your mentee is participating in.
  • Invite the mentee to join you in an activity that you enjoy.
  • Go out to eat at a formal restaurant.
  • Go to a restaurant that has a buffet line.
  • Cook a steak on the grill.
  • Attend a festival.
  • Go shopping for a Christmas tree and cut it down.
  • Decorate a Christmas tree.
  • Travel in unfamiliar areas at night.
  • Attend a professional or college sporting event.
  • Make cookies.
  • Make and decorate a birthday cake for your child.
  • Light the candles for the cake.
  • Attend NFB chapter meetings.
  • Encourage participation in the NABS listerv with your mentee to find out what other young adults are doing.
  • Discuss how to go out with friends.
  • Discuss dating.
  • Discuss hiring and firing driver and readers.
  • Discuss going to college.
  • Discuss how to take notes in class.
  • Discuss whether to use or not use disabled student services.
  • Go on a hike.
  • Job shadow with mentor or arrange with another person in a job that is of interest with mentee.
  • Discuss reasons for attending an NFB training center.
  • Attend state or national convention of the National Federation of the Blind.
  • Play cards and board games.
  • Discuss recognizing when people are lowering their standards for you because you are blind.
  • Teach your mentee how to clean house.
  • Mow the yard.
  • Do child care for your chapter or a friend.
  • Wrap gifts together.
  • Go on a picnic.
  • Go shopping.
  • Teach your mentee how to decorate a home.
  • Go to a museum.