Take your Sunday school lessons and children’s ministry to the next level with these exciting games! They're fun, educational, and designed to captivate imaginations while teaching kids about God's word. Get ready for a classroom filled with joy and learning.
Here's a sneak peek of what’s in store:
- Would You Rather: Break the ice with thought-provoking dilemmas.
- Captain’s Coming: Set sail on a listening and reflex adventure.
- Barnyard Match: Transform Hide and Seek into a lively barnyard quest.
- Charades and Reverse Charades: Act out biblical themes in a fun guessing game.
- Rock, Paper, Scissors: Engage in friendly competition.
- 20 Questions: Test knowledge and recall with a biblical twist on this classic game.
- Musical Statues: Dance, freeze, and groove to the rhythm.
- Using Pictures: Piece together biblical narratives through visual storytelling and discussion.
- Bible Quiz: Challenge young minds with trivia exploring the depths of scripture.
- Speech Bubble Skits: Unleash creativity in biblical storytelling.
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1. Would You Rather?
Getting to know one another may seem challenging for children. A question game like 'Would You Rather?' acts as the perfect ice breaker.
Here are a few to get you started:
- Would you rather slide down a rainbow or jump on a cloud?
- Would you rather be a wizard or a superhero?
- Would you rather fly to space or visit every country?
- Would you rather walk like a cat or sideways like a crab?
Playing this game does not require much planning. Children will think about what matters most to them, whether it’s serious or silly.
2. Captain’s Coming
Ahoy, mateys! Captain’s Coming teaches children how to listen, act quickly, and follow instructions. Choose one child as the captain and the others as the crew members.
How to play:
- The captain commands all crew members.
- The crew must obey all orders given by the captain.
- The last crew member to complete the order has to sit out.
- Keep playing the game until one crew member wins.
During this game, children can let their imaginations run wild. The captain’s order can include “scrub the deck,” which means all the crew members drop down and scrub the floor. This simple game does not require much preparation.
3. Barnyard Match
Barnyard Match offers a new twist on old favorites like Hide and Seek. Rather than hiding, this game involves finding your group the quickest.
How to play:
- Start by dividing the players into groups of four.
- Assign a barnyard animal to each group (cow, pig, chicken, or dog).
- Children belonging to the same barnyard group must find each other.
The game starts with children walking around the room making animal sounds. You’ll say “moo” if you belong to the cow group, “oink-oink” if you belong to the pig group, etc. The barnyard animal group that finds all members and sits down together first wins the game.
4. Charades and Reverse Charades
If you want to play a fun game, act out your words with a game of Charades. To play Charades, you must select topics such as animals, movies, sports, or kings in the Old Testament.
Announce the topic to the class and give the child a word to act out silently. The other children need to guess the word to win.
Alternatively, you can play a game of Reverse Charades. Start by dividing the children into a team of four to five members. In this game, one member from each team tries to guess the word while the others act out the clue.
5. Rock, Paper, Scissors
The simplicity of Rock, Paper, Scissors makes it a timeless game, especially when you turn it into a full-on class tournament.
Game basics:
- Rock: Throw a rock by keeping your hand in a fist.
- Paper: Show paper by opening your palm completely.
- Scissors: Extend your pointer and middle fingers in a scissor shape.
Let small children know that rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, and scissors beats paper. Teach the children to count one, two, and three before playing their hands. The winner of each hand continues to play until the last child is standing.
6. 20 Questions
A game of 20 Questions can help children remember stories about people like Moses or David. Tell the children to guess the name of an individual, object, or place. The children must ask questions requiring simple “yes” or “no” answers.
As the game’s name suggests, you cannot ask more than 20 questions. The team that guesses the individual or word with the fewest questions wins.
7. Musical Statues
Musical Statues will make everyone in your class dance together. Playing this game requires music, speakers, open space, and willing children. Start the music and ask the children to move around and dance.
Once the music stops, the children should freeze until the music starts again. Anyone who moves or continues to dance has to sit out. This game can help children learn a song, enhance their mood and energy levels, and provide exposure to new forms of music.
8. Using Pictures
This game requires the preparation of laminated pictures that tell a story. Choose stories like Adam and Eve in the Garden or Noah and the Ark. Mix the pictures randomly and hand them to the children.
Tell the children to sort the cards in the right order. Encourage the children to narrate the story and share their views on each picture. Ask them which picture they like best in the series and why.
If you have two sets of cards, two teams can play against each other.
9. Bible Quiz
Bible quizzes can help children test their knowledge of the Bible. Hand each child a Bible or split the children into groups. Ask the children questions about the Bible, verses, or people.
Possible questions:
- How many commandments are there?
- What’s the last book of the Old Testament?
- Who were the first people God created?
You can even come up with questions from lessons you taught the previous couple of lessons.
Tell the children to find the answers in their Bibles and raise their hands when they do. Try to encourage friendly competition between the children.
10. Speech Bubble Skits
Speech bubble skits require advanced planning. Start by writing a skit on a Bible lesson but leave the ending blank. Go over the basics of the skit and details with the children.
Tell the children to come up with an ending for the skit. Each team or group will reenact the skit while putting their creative spin on it. For groups of smaller children, you can ask them simple questions about what they would do in certain scenarios.
Thank you for reading. We hope your class enjoys playing these games.
