Books of the Bible - Youth Group Ideas

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

If you struggle to find short lessons or activities to add to your Youth Group time, think about teaching the kids the Books of the Bible.

Adding 1 or 2 books of the bible each week will help the kids learn them slowly, but surely. Here is a link to some books of the bible coloring pages and other FREE coloring pages for kids.

Youth Group Ideas
Photo courtesy of
Chris Metcalf

A couple of ways you can add these to your Youth Group is by printing off one book of the bible coloring sheet for every child. You can adjust the size of the picture to make four per sheet. That way - you can cut them out and the kids can work on a small book of their own.

Not sure what I'm talking about?

Maybe I can explain it better...

Each piece of printer paper will have four small coloring sheets on them. This will be enough for four children to have the same picture. The first one may be Genesis. Let them color it, then take them back up. The next week, hand out Exodus. After they have colored them, have the kids say them aloud adding a new book each week.

After you have finished the Old Testament books, staple them together for a small book of  Books of the Bible.

The kids can take them home afterward as a reminder. Keep in mind, there are 66 books of the bible and doing one book per week will take 66 weeks. You may want to do 2 books each week, but it is entirely up to you.

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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 - Youth Group Lessons

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Did I mention - have a blast a Youth Group!
Photo: John Trainor

If you are a part of a Youth Group, then you fully understand how hard it can be to get new kids to come on a regular basis. Sure, a regular from your youth group may bring a friend ever now and then, but will they come for the long haul?

More than likely - No.

In the world we live in today, it is hard to get new church members to come let alone new kids. Parents just don't seem to think that teaching their children about God is important at all.

Rest assured, there is good news.

What We're Doing in Our Youth Group

At our youth group, we have decided to make getting new/more kids to youth group one of our main priorities. As workers for God, it is our duty to share the gospel with others. But, if no one comes when the doors are open, who will we teach? How can we pass on what we've learned?

The problem is we can't do it alone. So, who do we bring in to help us?

Our regular youth group kids, of course!

Youth Group Lessons

For the next several weeks, choose youth group lessons that focus on spreading God's word, telling others about Christ, and winning lost souls.

These youth group lessons will get the kids in the mind set of inviting their friends, family, neighbors and anyone else they can think of. Don't limit the kids to just bringing kids their own age. Be clear that the bible loves everyone and we are to love them too. Even encourage the kids to invite people they are not particularly fond of.

In the long run, that person may become their best friend!

What are some youth group lessons you can use?

Youth Group Lesson - Number One

Here is a great bible verse that helps kids understand that people can't understand God and the bible unless they 'hear' it. How can they hear the word of God? By coming to church and youth group. If they never hear the word, how can they be saved?

Romans 10:17 (KJV) - So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Youth Group Lesson - Number Two

People can live in this world as Godly or as wickedly as they please, but they can not live forever in heaven with our heavenly father unless they accept Jesus as their savior. For those who have never cared about hearing the word of God, they can't fully understand why they must ask Jesus to be their savior. We must attend church, youth group, Sunday school, and study the bible on our own if we want to be able to teach others about him and win souls to Christ.

Matthew 4:4 (KJV) - But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God

.

There are hundreds of verses you can base your youth group lessons around to show kids the importance of asking others to come to church/youth group/Sunday school/VBS or any other time the church doors or church functions are under way.

Get FREE Youth Group Games!

 

 

Find ways to encourge the kids to bring visitors such as: charts with rewards, games, fun days, trips, community service, or any thing else that will bring the kids and adults together in Christ!

 



You can also visit our Sunday School Lessons of Plenty blog and our website Christian Magazine Today for more ideas!

 

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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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Fun Youth Group Games | Bible Lessons for Youth

Thursday, January 24, 2013

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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