Playing Bible Review Games in Children's Church

Our children's church kids probably enjoy playing Bible review games more than anything else during our entire children's church hour. Nothing reinforces the truths of the Bible lesson and memory verse quite as effectively as playing Bible review games. We got most of the ideas for our various Bible review games from Ed Dunlop's books. I highly recommend all of his resources for children's church, whether you have projection capabilities or still do things the old fogey way (like us!) with flannel or Marlite boards.

I get a lot of ideas for children's church Bible review games by just browsing around the local teachers' store looking at various bulletin boards and cut-outs. For example, I recently used American flag cut-outs and border to make one of our Bible review games, which we used for the weekend before Independence Day.

In our children's church, we play our Bible review games immediately after the Bible lesson. We begin by briefly explaining the rules for whichever of the Bible review games we are playing that week. In our children's church, we always play boys against girls. I roll a huge die to determine which team goes first. The first team is asked a question pertaining to the Bible lesson. The kids sit still and think of the answer in their heads. When we shout, "Go!" they stand as quickly as possible, if they know the answer. We recognize the first kid who stands, and he/she has the opportunity to answer the Bible review question. If the answer is correct... it's time to play the Bible review game!

The child approaches our huge Marlite board, which has the Bible review games pieces scattered all over it. He/she then gets to take a shot at it while the other kids cheer.

To give a specific example: one of our Bible review games in children's church is Sea Monster (pictured at left). I bought the game pieces at the teachers' store and wrote point values 100-1000 on the back in increments of 100. Some of the pieces also say "Shark" or "Sea Monster" on the back. Our children's church kids know that there are certain pieces in our Bible review games that they always want to avoid! They can choose as many pieces as they want... but that privilege carries certain risks, and they must be cautious. If they select a "Shark"... all of the points from that turn are lost. If they pick a "Sea Monster," it's even worse... all of the points shift to the other team! They absolutely love it! It gets very intense, and we always permit the kids in children's church to cheer during the Bible review games. After we have finished asking all the Bible review questions, the game is over and points are tallied. The kids have a blast... and we do too!

Another one of our favorite Bible review games is Leap Frog. I will not divulge the details; but they are published in Ed Dunlop's books and pictured at www.childrens-church-ministry.com. If you can't afford any books or resources, you can always make up your own Bible review games with your computer and printer or even construction paper and scissors. My Leap Frog Bible review game was made years ago with construction paper and contact paper, and it has been played dozens of times in our children's church.

If you have access to Power Point, I highly recommend that you order Power Point Bible Games. Each of the three volumes has several awesome Bible review games; and I guarantee that you'll find your children's church kids remembering more of your lessons than ever before, once you implement them!