Jonah and the Whale | Youth Group Games

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Kids of all ages love this Jonah and the whale youth group game. It is so fun and fast paced the kids want to play it over and over.

Just tonight, we played this game. The kids loved it so much that they wanted to skip snack-time and asked if they could play it again next week!

We have even played it in Sunday school after telling the Jonah and the whale bible story.

Youth Group Games
Jonah and the Whale
Photo: Leelilly

 

How to Play this Youth Group Game

To play this youth group game, you simply need kids who are willing to run, play and have fun along with enough room for the kids to move around easily.

Pick one child to be the 'whale'.

The whale will stand in the center of the playing area. Line up all the other kids on one side of the room. They will be 'Jonah'. Yes, all of them will be Jonah.

When you call out 'STORM', the kids will try to run from one side of the room to the other without getting tagged by the 'whale'.

Whoever gets tagged will remain in the middle and become an extra whale.

Play will continue until there is only one 'Jonah' left and everyone else has now become a 'whale'.

This game is simple and fun!

For more ideas, check out our Youth Group Games page.

 

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Youth Group Games - Praise the Lord

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Here's a quick, fun Youth Group game that you can modify to your class and your Youth Group lessons. Kids of all ages love to have fun and laugh, so what better Youth Group games could you choose than ones that fit into having fun, laughing, and of course, praising the Lord?

Praise the Lord
Youth Group Games
Photo: Bill Gantz

Praise the Lord Youth Group Games

You'll only need a few things for this Youth Group game:

• upbeat music
• a CD player or ipod
• room to move
• and kids to yell, "Praise the Lord"

Choose music that the kids can move too. Some great Christian songs we love are:

1. Francesca Batistelli- "This Is The Stuff"
2. Chris Tomlin- “Sing, Sing, Sing”
3. Jeremy Camp- “Jesus Saves”
4. Newsboys- “God’s Not Dead”
5. Casting Crowns- “Courageous”
6. The Afters- “Light Up The Sky”
7. Chris Tomlin- "Our God"
8. Chris Tomlin- "I Will Follow"
9. Tenth Avenue North- "You Are More"
10. Brandon Heath- "Your Love"
11. Mandisa- "Stronger"
12. Newsboys- "I Am Free"
13. Matthew West- "Strong Enough"
14. Kutless- "Strong Tower"
15. Philips, Craig, and Dean- "Friend of God"

You can also use VBS songs, Sunday School songs, or any other songs you have available.

What to Do:

When playing Youth Group games, try to keep the mood light. Picking games that need to be structured is a must. I know this from experience. Once, I had the kids run around the room to find a certain person. When they found them, they were supposed to say a bible verse together.

Sounds pretty easy, right?

Wrong.

The kids ran around bumping into each other, then trying to scream the verse louder than the other person. The only thing it did was give me a headache and the kids didn't learn a thing.

It was a lesson well learned.

Okay, back to this game.

This Youth Group game will be played by having the kids dance when the music starts and freezing when the music stops and shouting "Praise the Lord". Each time they kids freeze, have one child read the memory verse for the night. Then, start the music up again.

Continue until everyone has had a chance to read the verse.

You can also have the kids walk in a circle, crawl, hop, or anything else that they find fun.



May God bless you as you teach the kids about the Lord Jesus Christ!
 

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Youth Group Games | Charades

Saturday, April 13, 2013

After you've taught your youth group lesson, it's time for some youth group games! It doesn't really matter what your lesson is about as you can make up dozens of words to use in a game of charades.

Youth Group Games
Photo: Evan-Amos

For this post, we'll use the youth group lesson of Daniel and the Lion's Den as an example.

After you have told the bible story of Daniel and the Lion's Den, divide the youth group into two to four groups depending on how many kids you have. Of course, if you need to make more groups, have a helper take part of the kids so every child will have a chance to participate in the charades game.

Youth Group Games - Charades

The story of Daniel has so many elements that your story may be more about praying instead of the actual lions themselves. It doesn't matter though. Just use any parts of the bible story for your charades word list.

Here is some charade words you could use:

• lion
• king or King Darius
• praying
• window
• law
• jealous
• angel
• God
• throw
• den or lion's den
• bible
• music
• no sleep
• safe

Use any words you think the kids will be able to act out.

Optional Youth Group Game

Decide on a certain amount of time for each word. If the first group can't figure out the word, let the others guess. If no one can guess it, have a white board ready and allow 15 seconds extra to see if the person acting out the word can draw it instead.

If you are keeping points, give 10 points for each correct word figured out during charades and only 5 points if the word is figured out by drawing it.

Have fun with your games. The more fun you have the more fun your youth group will have. Find more youth group games and other Sunday school games for your church.

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Bible Games for Kids: Sword Drill

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Bible games for kids are great, but you need to make sure that each game is teaching a point or a lesson that will help them grow closer to God and/or learn more about his word. A great game that can be used in Sunday School, Church Youth Groups, bible bowls, Christian schools, or even in a church service, is called a sword drill.

What is this crazy sounding game? No, you don't actually use a metal or wooden sword. You use God's word - the bible.

Hebrews 4:12 KJV says... 

¹² For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

and Ephesians 6:17 KJV says...

¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 

Sword Drills for Learning the Word of God

Doing regular sword drills with your Sunday school class, youth groups at church, or Christian school will help the kids learn the word of God. 

How does it work?

Have all the kids hold their bibles above their heads in one hand. The bibles should be all soft back as the hard back bibles can be tougher to turn the pages. When every one is ready and not cheating by putting a finger inside the pages, call out a bible verse for them to find, say go, and see who can find the verse first!

You can have specific verses ready for the sword drill before the class starts or just do it randomly. Either way, the kids will begin learning where the books of the bible are. 

Don't forget to let the kids read the verse when they find it. This will not only ensure they really found the verse, but will get them used to reading God's word. 

For smaller kids, call out books of the bible that are easier to find then work you way up to the harder ones. Some examples of beginner verses for sword drills would be verses found in Genesis, Psalm, Proverbs, Matthew, and Revelation. 

May God bless you in your effort to teach kids about the word of God.

Visit our website Christian Magazine Today for more great stuff and check our our latest post about walking with God.

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Fun Youth Group Games | Bible Lessons for Youth

When you are in charge of a church youth group, you may often find yourself at a loss for new youth group games or a bible lesson for youth that applies to their daily lives.

If you will just look all around, God has given us hundreds of thousands of ideas for teaching kids about him.

Bible Lessons for Youth (and me)

A few weeks ago, I was asked, at the last minute, to come up with some bible lessons for the youth group at church. I wondered what in the world I would come up with to teach the kids that would help them learn about God and still keep today's world in mind.

My second concern was the ages of kids in our church youth group as they range from 5 to 19. How could I keep all of them interested and still teach them a life lesson?

I began by doing sword drills. If you don't know what sword drills are then you definitely need to learn about it and incorporate it in your teachings. First, I let the teenagers race against each other. This not only helped them, but it let the younger kids see how it was played.

I learned a lot from this one youth group game - kids have no idea where the books of the bible are.

This told me that we needed to work on finding books of the bible along with a lesson. If a child doesn't know how to use the bible or where the books of the bible are, then they certainly are not reading the bible at home.

A youth bible lesson doesn't always have to consist of standing in front of the group and talking the entire time. More often than not, letting the kids have some hands on activities will probably teach them more than you could realize.

Fun Youth Group Games

Along with using sword drills as a game and a bible lesson, you can also use everyday common items to teach. For example, a cotton ball, a spoon, and a plastic cup can teach the kids about following God, striving to become closer to him, and teaching the kids to be careful with their life. 

Sounds a little out there, right?

Here is the game:

Divide the kids up into teams. Give the first child in each line a spoon and a cotton ball. Place the cup 10, 20, or even 50 feet in front of each line. 

The kids will have to balance the cotton ball in the spoon while walking toward the cup. When they reach the cup, they must drop the cotton ball into the cup and race back to the next player. Whichever team gets all their cotton balls inside the cup first - wins. If the cotton ball is dropped, the child must pick it up, race back to the starting point and try again.

How will this teach the kids?

The cotton ball is white. This represents our life as Christians. When the cotton ball is dropped during the game, it begins to get dirty just like when we mess up in our lives and sin starts to corrupt us. The child must pick up the cotton ball and start over. When we mess up (sin) in our lives, we must ask God for forgiveness and start the next day over with a clean slate. 

As the kids are balancing the cotton ball on the spoon, they must be careful not to drop it. We have to be careful in our lives, as well. If we are not, we may find ourselves sinning more and more and like the cotton ball becoming dirtier and dirtier. 

The cup represents God. The kids are working toward a goal - to get the cotton ball inside the cup. In life, we also work for a goal - to get to heaven to be with God. 

A Final Note

Pray before each lesson and ask God to help you teach and explain things in a way the kids can understand, but most importantly, to teach the way He wants you to. 

Visit our website Christian Magazine Today for more ways to teach kids the bible.

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