OPERATION PURPLE® SUMMER CHALLENGE

WHAT IS OPERATION PURPLE SUMMER CHALLENGE? 

Operation Purple Summer Challenge is a free, eight-week experience with weekly, self-paced challenges and live virtual gatherings for military kids ages 5 to 15 and their families.

WHAT’S THE ADVENTURER KIT? WHAT’S THE FAMILY FUN PACK?

This summer, with the generous support of some amazing organizations, NMFA is going back to the roots of our virtual program and sending eligible kids an Adventurer Kit with everything they need to engage with all the challenges and even come up with challenges of their own. The first 1,500 military kids ages 5-15 who register will receive a kit with some per-kid items and some gifts for the whole house!

The Family Fun Pack is the envelope or box each family will receive, which includes an Adventurer Kit for each eligible kid in the family, Participant information, Challenge Series cards, Challenge Trackers, and some gifts for the family to share.

WHAT ARE THE LIVE SESSIONS? 

There are two types of live sessions that will happen in 2025:

• Adventure Clubs are weekly virtual sessions for small groups of military kids led by one of our Good Guides. These sessions involve games, sharing, Summer Challenge motivation, and all the classic activities we love from 5 years of virtual programming.

• Global Gatherings on Facebook Live is an amazing lineup of virtual events with special guests open to every family in our Operation Purple Family Connection Facebook Group. Join the group when you register to get updates all summer long.

HOW DO CHALLENGES WORK?

We’re providing families with over 40 hours of challenges and the opportunity to try out as few or as many as you like.

• Each of our 5 themes will have 8 challenges:

• 4 challenges are for kids to do independently

• 4 challenges are for families to try together

• Families can try our challenges, repeat favorites, and make up new challenges as they go.

• Every kid gets a “Challenge Tracker” to log every activity they complete all summer long – the more challenges they complete, the more opportunities to win prizes!
• This year, we have special partners who offering additional challenges and prizes!

HOW DO WE EARN PRIZES? 

Parents sign off on the challenges completed over the summer. Every kid whose grown-up submits their “Challenge Tracker” will be eligible for a small gift and our raffle for big prizes!

• NMFA will stamp “Adventurer Around the World” passports for every kid who attends at least one live session and/or submits their tracker by July 31!

• These passports will be mailed to kids with some small gift items in the month of August.

• Kids will also earn one entry to the prize raffle for every 8 challenges they complete!

• Kids who complete partner challenges get raffle entries to win additional special prizes.

• Some examples of prizes we had for the 2024 raffle winners include: Mini iPad, a projector for family movie nights, Magna-Tiles collection, STEM kits, and more.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE? 

Children of active-duty service members and veterans from all uniformed services, including the National Guard, Reserve, Space Force, the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, may participate.

Challenges, live sessions, and prizes are designed for kids ages 5 to 15. Children outside of the age range and adult family members can join for family challenges and are eligible for family prizes. 

DOES MY CHILD HAVE A GUARANTEED SPOT AT OPERATION PURPLE SUMMER CHALLENGE? 

YES! All eligible military kids who complete registration can participate at no cost.

WHEN DOES REGISTRATION OPEN?

Registration for Operation Purple Summer Challenge is scheduled to open on April 10, 2024. Families must register before May 8 to receive Adventurer Kits. Registration will stay open throughout the summer—families can join any time before July 15, 2025!

HOW DO I REGISTER?

When registration opens, you will find a link on the Operation Purple Summer Challenge webpage. You will complete the registration application with information about your family’s military connection, selected age group, and any additional requested information. You will complete one registration for the entire family and can add the information of up to five children ages 5-15 per application. If you have more than 5 children you would like to register, please reach out to SummerChallenge@MilitaryFamily.org

HOW WILL I KNOW THAT MY REGISTRATION HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY PROCESSED?

Upon completion of the online registration, you will see a message that says, “Thank you for registering! Please look out for more information in your inbox soon.” In addition to this confirmation screen, you will receive a follow-up message to your chosen email address within one week of your registration submission. If you do not receive this message within a week, please contact us at summerchallenge@militaryfamily.org to confirm registration

CAN MY CHILD REGISTER FOR THE SUMMER CHALLENGE IF THEY HAVE APPLIED TO ANOTHER OPERATION PURPLE PROGRAM?

YES! All military kids can participate, even if they have applied to or attended another Operation Purple program.

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY QUESTIONS ON THE APPLICATION ABOUT MY MILITARY SERVICE AND MY FAMILY?

Each year, our team aggregates the information we gather across our many programs to better understand military families. NMFA uses this data to advocate for, support, and enhance the quality of life for the families who serve. Your responses are critical to NMFA and help us create, sustain, and grow great programs that positively impact military families like yours.

WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT AFTER I REGISTER?

Within a week of completing your child’s registration, you will receive an email from the National Military Family Association welcoming you to Operation Purple Summer Challenge. Please make sure to also join our Operation Purple Family Connection Facebook group for regular updates and parent support.

WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT ONCE THE OPERATION PURPLE SUMMER CHALLENGE BEGINS?

Adventurer Kits will be mailed between May 12 and May 20 to families that registered by May 8.

The Operation Purple Summer Challenge kicks off on May 21 with a Global Gathering on Facebook Live! We’ll walk through the themes and challenges, discuss prizes, introduce our Good Guides and Adventure Clubs, and get ready for an amazing summer.

Kids ages 5-15 can join an Adventure Club that works best with their schedule once a week from June 9 to August 1. Adventure Clubs are small group Zoom sessions where kids can play games, complete challenges together, and celebrate their summer wins. Times are determined based on registration responses to meet the needs of most families.

Families who are part of the Operation Purple Family Connection Facebook Group will have a chance to join Global Gatherings on Facebook Live throughout the summer, with guest stars, updates, kid shoutouts, and more.

Kids have from May 21 until July 31 to complete as many challenges as they can, and parents must submit a photo, scan, or screenshot of their challenge sheet to the Good Guides by July 31 to be eligible for prizes.

On August 7, we’ll have our final Global Gathering of the summer on Facebook Live. At this event, raffle winners will be announced, highlights from the summer will be shared, and families will have one last chance to connect and celebrate.

WHAT’S IN THE ADVENTURER KIT? DOES EVERYONE GET A KIT?

Thanks to our amazing partners, we will be able to provide Adventurer Kits to the first 1,500 kids ages 5-15 who are registered for the program. The Adventurer Kits for each child will be shipped in a larger Family Fun Pack with some gifts for the whole family from our generous sponsors and in-kind donors.

Every Adventurer Kit includes Graph paper composition books, pencils, popsicle sticks, sticky notes, sidewalk chalk, washable markers, magnifying glasses, rubber bands, and mini pompoms.

The Family Fun Packs will also include Challenge Trackers for every kid, a set of cards with each Challenge Series listed, and an instructions sheet with dates, important URLs, and contact information.

To ensure they receive Family Fun Packs before June Adventure Clubs begin, families must complete their registration by May 10 at the latest. Families that complete their registration after May 10 will receive a kit as supplies and support are available.

WHAT SUPPLIES ARE NEEDED TO PARTICIPATE?

• Participants need a computer, tablet, or phone with internet and Zoom access to participate in activities and join weekly virtual sessions.

• Parent(s) need access to email to receive updates and communicate with program staff. They will also need access to a web browser to access our password-protected Participant Webpage.
• Participants need writing instruments and paper to engage in live virtual activities.

WHAT TECHNOLOGY IS REQUIRED?

• Computer, tablet, or phone to join weekly Global Gatherings on Google Meet (you do not need a Gmail account to use Google Meet).

• Weekly challenges may offer the opportunity to download other applications, travel to local destinations, or use supplies beyond writing instruments and paper. All of these are optional and not required for participation. If a challenge cannot be completed using items your family has on hand, please reach out to SummerChallenge@MilitaryFamily.org, and we will help you come up with an alternative activity.

• Adventure Clubs: Small groups of military kids that meet virtually on Zoom once a week with a Good Guide to do one challenge together, play games, celebrate challenge wins, and more.
• Adventurer: All registered military kids ages 5-15 are adventurers

• Adventurer Kit: Formerly known as the Summer Challenge or Summer Fun Kit, the Adventurer Kit is the resealable bag with basic supplies each registered kid aged 5-15 (up to 1,500) gets to help them participate in challenges and live sessions. It includes: Graph paper composition books, pencils, popsicle sticks, sticky notes, sidewalk chalk, washable markers, magnifying glasses, rubber bands, and mini pompoms.

• Challenges: Activities that match one of five themes (outdoors, service, STEM, stories, wellbeing) that kids ages 5-15 can do alone or with their family in 30 minutes to 2 hours.

• Challenge Series: This is a group of 8 challenges that match a theme (outdoors service, STEM, stories, wellbeing) including 4 independent adventurer challenges and 4 family-focused challenges.

• Challenge Tracker: The document each Adventurer gets where they write down the name of each Challenge they complete and get a grown up’s initials to verify. Photos, scans, or digital copies of these Trackers are submitted to Good Guides by July 31 to be eligible for prizes.

• Family Fun Pack: This is the package we send to each family (box or envelope) that includes Adventurer Kits for each kid, challenge instructions, and any items intended for the family to use together (ex: UTR book).

• Global Gatherings: Facebook Live sessions in the Operation Purple Family Connection Facebook Group with guest stars, Q&As and shoutouts – recorded and shared for those that can’t join live

NMFA supports all military families and welcomes military family members regardless of race, age, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation and identity, mental or physical ability, economic status, differences of thought and expression, or any other characteristic that divides us.