Tips, Links, and Games
Links:
Tips:
Games:(games that work for a wide age range can be hard to come up with!)
- I have uploaded most of 20 years of my sermon background art to 2 websites: https://ntbiblebackgroundsbyjenny.weebly.com/ for New Testament and https://otbiblebackgroundsbyjenny.weebly.com/ for Old Testament and general art (Weebly's space limits on free websites required me to make 2), so if you like my art on here, you might get use out of some of that art also
- https://www.daniellesplace.com/ is a good free source for Bible crafts
- https://www.biblewise.com/ is a really good source for Bible worksheets
- I have a completely unrelated website at https://jennyjennyplaystwinkletwinklelittlestar.weebly.com where I play "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" on as many musical instruments as I can get ahold of (100+ and counting!)
Tips:
- An electric drill works well for making holes when a hole punch won't work (the hole is in the middle of a bigger craft) or is too slow (the drill can do multiple pages at once)
- Stapling works to hold cloth together
- Tiny hole punches are useful for adding brads and so on
- Kids love metallic crayons and they aren't too expensive on Amazon (and other sites)
- I've gotten a lot of use out of the Complete Bible Story Clip Art Book by Gospel Light Publications - it's out of print, but you can buy an old copy and scan and use the art
- I use a lot of card stock and cover stock to be a bit thicker but still cutable - most copies and printers can handle card stock (with changed settings) and nearly all can handle cover stock...I have the best luck if I set my printer on "labels", which slows it down
- I added an "Emoji Keyboard" to my MS Office programs and find it very useful
Games:(games that work for a wide age range can be hard to come up with!)
- Carry Items: on a yardstick (held by 2 people) or using a plastic spoon - anything to slow them down and make them be careful
- Character Actions: 1 per character (for, say, the Trinity - 1 action each for God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) and you call out the character name and the kids do the action (start with 3 characters and then add more?)
- Circle Chase: kids sit in a circle with 1 holding a stuffed lion and another a "Daniel" (for that story - other options available) and the lion tries to catch Daniel as the kids pass them around the circle (I once had grapes with geese trying to get the grapes and then put in snakes going after the geese...I allowed passes every 3 kids or some such and it was a good amount of chaos for the group I had)
- Cup Stack: kids get paper/Styrofoam cups and see how tall they can go for the Tower of Babel story, etc.
- Flannelgraph Removal: have the story up in flannelgraph (the birth of Jesus is great for this one) and turn around the board, remove 1 item, and the kids guess which item is gone - can have the kids take turns removing and so on
- Give 4: instead of "for-give" there is a line and each side has beach balls and pool noodles (cut in half) to use to try to get all of the balls on the other teams' side (outside game, probably!)
- Hacky Sack games: make simple hacky sacks by filling balloons with beans/rice and tying them off; I cut out circles, blue on one side and purple on the other, for the Water to Wine story and the 2 teams tried to get the circles all 1 color
- Hoops: lots of options here, including all of the kids have to get in the hoop or put in a foot or elbow or go through the hoop
- Idol Bowling: toilet paper tubes with faces drawn/painted on them and then some sort of lightweight plastic ball to knock them over
- Lost Sheep Shell Game: use 3 cups and 1 white pompom to cover, move around, and the kids guess which one has the sheep - if you have multiple copies, they can do it with each other
- "Minute to Win It" Games: look online - a lot of these are really good for a wide range of ages
- Missing Sheep: 1 kid at the front is the "shepherd" and turns around and closes his/her eyes; 1 of the other kids says "baaa" and the kid who is it tries to guess which is the lost sheep
- No Legs Allowed: activities for stories involving someone who is crippled or lame - have to army crawl or roll, etc.
- Obstacle Course: lots of options here too - I've done a Parable of the Sower one with paper airplanes for the birds or a healings one where the kids have to be wrapped up and roll underneath tables and so on
- Prayer Hands Tasks: with their hands folded together in "prayer" position the kids have to put on a hat or work together to carry something, etc.
- Relays: can be moving water across (in a small cup or spoon) or taking items 1 at a time (that are needed for the story) - lots of options
- Silent Line Up: have the kids put themselves in a line in order by height or age, but they have to do it without speaking (probably could give them other tasks to do also)
- Simon Says: or King David Says or whatever
- Some Assembly Required: have a flashlight or other simple item disassembled in a box with some useless parts and the kids have to run back and forth choosing 1 item from the box and then trying to put it all together into a working whole
- Who Is My Neighbor?: 1 kid stands at the front and says things like, "My neighbor has...blue shoes....braids...a shirt with stripes," and so on until there is only 1 option left and then that kid is at the front and chooses a new "neighbor"
- Treasure Hunts: always a hit and useful in a wide range of situations