For the past six years in Winnipeg, Canada, young people from diverse Aboriginal backgrounds have been volunteering their time, energy, and talents to develop and deliver after-school physical activity, nutrition, and education programs for children in their school's neighbourhood. Known as "Rec and Read," the after-school activities are organized as a relationship-based, communal approach to mentoring. In this paper, the authors present the circle teachings that guide the Rec and Read mentoring activities in order to explain how the programs are organized, developed, and delivered. They also add the voices of their youth mentors as a complement to the teachings, to illustrate how the traditional values they espouse are experienced by the youth mentors in the program. By combining traditional wisdom with the embodied knowledge that Aboriginal youth bring to their life and school experiences, Rec and Read has become a sustainable, community-based approach to healthy living, inviting young people to reclaim their playfulness as they lead games and activities for children at their neighbouring elementary school.