I wanted to share this with you all incase you wanted something similar to share with kids trying to understand how to read the Bible. I know that if I didn’t understand what those numbers meant, it would be pretty confusing.

Please feel free to use this as you want, and share it with anyone who might find it helpful.

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. “What’s In The Bible?” Answers Tricky Questions
2. 9 Dramatic Youth Group Games To Enhance Bible Teaching
3. Reading the Bible Out Loud is Hard

I hope you enjoy this list

Youth Group Games

This is one of the most comprehensive sites I have seen for finding youth group games. The have a wide variety of categories and an excellent search feature that will help you to find just the game you are looking for. This is a must see!

Youth Group Games @ Jubed

Another great site with a helpful and thorough search tool. Has around 109 games to search through, and is definitely worth your time.

Games 4 Youth Groups

This site doesn’t look very pretty and it’s categories aren’t specifically for Church youth groups, but it does have a very wide range of games (they boast 1000 games!). They also give basic information about each game such as minimum group size, age recommendation and preparation time among other things. Definitely worth a look.

Youth Group Games (.org)

This site is simple and beautiful in nature. The main function of it is built around a simple search tool where you select the number of people in your group and the age. It then comes up with a list of games with a brief description, click on a game for more details. A very elegant way to find a youth group game.

The Source for Youth Ministry

This site has a wide range of games and a helpful search tool. However the games are not always easy to read and it’s not the most attractive site in this list.

Ministry Blue

This site has 32 ideas that can be incorporated into a youth group game. Probably more for getting your creative juices flowing.

EGAD Ideas

This site claims to be the biggest source of free youth group games, with over 1800 games. Having said that, the two big links at the top of the page returned games when clicked on, and the search box only allows you to search for words, not within parameters. Having said that, it is still a good source for a wide range of games.

Game Secretary

This site has a wide range of games as all of the above sites do. However finding games is not really intuitive. Rather to get the most out of this site you need to register and read a tutorial. If your keen to go through that effort, then this site could be good for you.

13 and 11 Icebreakers from fervr.net

Fervr is one of my absolute favourite websites, especially for youth related stuff. These two articles about youth group icebreakers/mixers are 24 games that are definitely worth checking out. One thing I like about games embedded in sites like fervr, as opposed to sites dedicated to games is that it’s not as overwhelming when looking for games. So hopefully you’ll be able to find just the right one.

Minute To Win It

This isn’t a youth group games website, but it’s basically a TV that’s all about playing youth group games. Check out this site for creative games that you can adapt for your youth group.

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. Youth Group Games | Main Page
2. 9 Crazy Youth Group Games That Are Bigger Than Ben Hur
3. 9 Not Awkward Youth Group Games To Get To Know Everyone

In my experience youth groups tend to have a lot of space, but I’ve also had times when I have very little space to use. It’s times like these that classroom games come in handy. These are the type of games that you can play in a small amount of space with a lot of people.

The games in this post are games just for that situation, they can be played in a small amount of space with resources that you would typically find in a classroom (chairs, tables, whiteboard etc.). These games can be played in small groups or in groups up to about 20-40 people, and if you’re creative you could probably modify some of them to work in much bigger groups.

So here’s the list of 9 youth group games that you can play in a classroom. Keep reading below the break for a description of all of these games.

1. Silent Ball
2. Heads Down Thumbs Up
3. Hangman/Martyr Man
4. Straw Towers
5. Blind Guidance
6. Heads or Tails
7. Scategories
8. Coin Rugby
9. Balloon Netball

Silent Ball (6-40 people)

A great, simple classroom game. The only thing that you will need is a ball (preferably something about the size of a tennis ball). The group spreads out around the room, and one person is given the ball. They then toss the ball to someone else, when that person catches the ball, they can take one step. After they take that step they can then try to physically tag someone with the ball in their hand. If they can, then that person is out. If they can not, then they need to throw the ball to someone else. If you drop the ball then you are also out.

This game gets it’s name from the fact that everyone must be absolutely silent throughout the game. If you make a noise (even a giggle), then you are out. Last person in wins.

Heads Down Thumbs Up (10-30 people)

This is a classic classroom game. Firstly, select 20% of your group to be in (this would be 4 people in 20). These people say “Heads down thumbs up” and everyone else in the room puts their heads down on a desk and both of their thumbs up. The people who are in then go around and tag 1 persons thumb each, when somebody has their thumb tagged, they put both of their thumbs down.

Once the people who are in have selected their people and are standing at the front of the classroom, they say “heads up stand up”, everyone brings their heads up and anyone who was selected stands up. These people who were standing then get to try and guess who tagged their thumbs. If they are right, then they are in, if not, then the person who tagged them stays in.

Hangman/Martyr Man (5-40 people)

I’m sure you’ve heard of hang man. If you haven’t, here’s the gist. One person thinks of a word and writes that many lines on the board. People from the group then have to guess letters and eventually the word. For each incorrect guess, part of the man being hung is drawn. If the drawing of the hung man is completed then the class loses.

For a twist on Hangman, why not play Martyr Man? Instead of drawing a man being hung, draw somebody being martyred (stoned, crucified, crucified upside down, burnt alive etc.). This could then lead to some interesting conversations about the men that were killed in these ways.

Straw Towers (6+ people)

Firstly, divide your group into smaller teams of about 3-6 people. Each team then gets a packet of straws and some sticky tape. The goal of this game is to create the highest self supporting tower that they can using the straws and tape in a certain time. At the end of the game, whoever has the highest tower, wins.

Blind Guidance (6-40 people)

This is a good game to play if you’re looking at something to do with trust or guidance in the rest of your session. The basic idea behind this game is to create an obstacle course (made of chairs, tables and anything else), and to try and have someone who is blindfolded being led through the course by someone who is not blindfolded. The aim is to get through the course without the blindfolded person touching anything, in the shortest period of time. You can then have a competition to try and beat the best time.

Heads or Tails (4+ people)

This is a quick true or false game that involves the entire youth group. Everyone stands up and is told a statement. If they think the statement is true, they put their hands on their heads, if they think it is false, then they put their hands on their bottoms. If they get it right, they remain standing, if they get it wrong, sit down. The last person standing wins.

Scategories (6-40 people)

This is one of my favourite non-active youth group games. Divide your group into teams of 3-6 people, each team is then given a sheet of paper with a grid on it, down the side of the grid are a number of categories such as fruit, band/artist or country. The row across the top is left blank. Each round, a letter is announced, and within 2 minutes (or other amount of time that you determine), they must come up with something for each category that begins with that letter.

A point is scored for each correct word. However, if another team has the same word, then neither team gets a point. So the aim is to come up with unique words for your categories. Fun right?!

I have made an example of a scategories grid which you can download here.

Coin Rugby (2-30 people)

This is a really quick game that is best used as a time filler. Divide your youth group into pairs. Each pair gets a coin and a table. The goal is for one person to flick the coin so that it is partly hanging off the other side of the table, the person has 3 attempts to do this and then it is the other persons turn, the person with the most points at the end wins.

Balloon Netball (6-30 people)

This is one of the few active youth group games that I know of that can be played in a classroom. You’ll need 2 chairs, a number of balloons, and 2 pins. Divide your group into two teams, one person from each team is then given a pin and stands on a chair at one end of the room. That persons team needs to then try to hit the balloon towards the person on the chair, who must then pop the balloon with the pin. The team who pops the mosts balloons, wins.

Conclusion

Done! This is the last post in this series of 9 youth group games. This wont be the last thing that I write about youth group games, but for now, I’m ending this series. I’m hoping to compile all of the games that I have written about so far into one downloadable resource for you all, so stay tuned for that. But in the mean time, I’d love to hear from you.

Do you have any youth group games that work well in a classroom setting?

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. 9 Amazing Youth Group Games To Play When You Have No Resources
2. 9 Spectacular Youth Group Games To Play In A Gym
3. 9 Annoying Youth Group Games Never To Play On Camp

Wide games are great! We’ve all been to that camp or youth group night where we spend an entire evening playing the one game, it’s incredible fun!

When you’re on the other side and actually planning a wide game, it can be quite the opposite. Because of the planning that is required to successfully pull off a wide game, they can at times be quite stressful to organise, and then when the night comes you need everything to work perfectly in order for maximum fun to be achieved. But when they work, boy are they fun.

This would probably be enough space to play some of these games

This list of 9 games are not completely organised wide games for you, rather they are ideas from which your planning can springboard from. At some stage in the future, I hope to fully plan a number of wide games and have them, as well as all resources needed for the game, available for download at some stage in the future.

But for now, here are 9 ideas for youth group wide games that will get you started in planning for that special night (or day).

• Murder Mystery
• Team Challenges Game
• Water Fight
• Spotto
• Scav Hunt
• Vampire
• Capture the Flag
• Glow in the Dark Games
• Find the People

Murder Mystery Night (30+ people)

A Murder Mystery youth group night is one of the most elaborate things that you can plan. I have attended a few in my years and they have normally been based off murder mystery board games or have been written by very creative people. These nights need to be incredibly well planned and tend to only work well for older youth (years 10-12), but they can be spectacular if they work.

The night starts with a murder (or other terrible crime), which can be acted out by your leaders, or dramatically introduced. The general idea is that your youth group is divided into teams, and these teams are then given the task of solving the murder. They have to do this by walking around and asking characters (your leaders acting as characters) questions, the leaders then give out information as needed and the group has to formulate an answer by the end.

As you can imagine, these nights need a large number of leaders (preferably with acting skills) to work, as well as a ton of preparation from yourself and the rest of the leadership team (in learning their parts). But if you can pull it off, it will be amazing!

Team Challenges Game (30+ people)

This type of wide game generally involves your youth group being split up into teams. Each of these teams then needs to complete a number of smaller activities (such as crossing a swimming pool in a home made raft) over the course of a night. There would be a number of activities that you come up with and that a leader runs.

In between these activities, teams can be given challenges such as avoiding certain leaders with water bombs.

The basic premise of these wide games is that teams have to work together to finish each of the mini activities, and they then gather clues which will allow them to finish the whole game. As with a lot of wide games, lot’s of preparation and lot’s of leaders are needed.

Water Fight (5+ people)

Is there anything more fun than a water fight on a hot summers day?

There isn’t much to explain with a water fight, it’s basically throwing large amounts of water around and you win by getting the other team wet. However the aim of a water fight is to get wet, so not matter what, everyone wins!

If you really want you can score water fights by taping paper sheets to people. These are their “lives”, if their sheet of paper gets wet, then they are “dead”. They then have to go and get a new sheet of paper in order to keep playing. This can sometimes work, but in my experience, water fights work really well if you let chaos reign. (or if you combine them with paint wars…)

Spotto (10+ people)

Spotto is one of the more simple wide games, but more simple doesn’t mean less fun. Spotto works only at night and involves your youth trying to reach an object. The challenge is that there are leaders everywhere with torches, and if somebody is spotted moving while a torch is on them (or spotted not being sneaky enough), then they have to go back to the start. The person (or people) who reaches the object first wins.

Spotto is not only great by itself, but it can also be incorporated into other wide games as a mini challenge along the way. Something to keep in mind…

Scav Hunt (20+ people)

Scav hunt’s can take many different forms as youth group games. The underlying formula is that a team of youth is trying to find as many things as possible from a defined list and they get a number of points for each item on the list, the team with the most points at the end wins.

Common forms of scav hunts include the photo hunt and the item hunt. The photo hunt involves teams taking photos of certain items, normally with members of the team in the photo. The item hunt involves teams trying to find hidden objects and bring them back.

Scav hunts can be done on site or can be done using teams in cars. Just make sure you have enough responsible drivers and permission from parents to do this.

Vampire (15+ people)

I have some very fond memories of playing vampire as a teenager, but it is quite a complicated game, so read carefully.

At the start of the game, there is 1 vampire (or more depending on the size of your group). Their aim is to ‘bite’ every person and convert them to vampires. This is done over a number of turns, and is done by gently pinching someones shoulder. Everyone else’s aim is to not get bitten. Each turn, everyone leaves indoors, and tries to avoid being bitten. This can be done by running, or hiding, or whatever else. The vampire has to subtly bite others, because if anyone finds out they are the vampire, then they will easily be avoided. The vampire can bite as many people as they want each turn.

At the end of each turn, each person is brought inside on at a time and says if they have been bitten. If they haven’t, then next turn they will continue to avoid being bitten, if they have, then they become a vampire themselves, and from the start of the next turn, they will be able to bite 1 person per turn.

The last person alive at the end, wins.

Capture the Flag (12+ people)

Capture the flag is one of the more simple wide games. There are two teams, and two flags (or objects). The aim is to get the other teams flag. If you capture the other teams flag then you must run it back to your base without getting tipped. If you get tipped then the other team can take their flag back to where it was.

With this game, the placement of the teams is vital and it’s important to give each team time to think and talk about strategies and tactics.

Glow in the Dark Games (10+ people)

Glow in the dark games are really fun and quite easy to organise (compared to other wide games). The basic idea of the night is to convert a number of normal games into glow in the dark games by covering everything in glow sticks. The best glow sticks to get are the long thin ones (for necklaces and armbands), you can then give each person 5+ glow sticks, and cover any other resources (such as frisbees or balls) in glowsticks and sticky tape to make for a fun night.

Games that work well include ultimate frisbee, streets and lanes and human fooseball amoung others. Let your imagination go wild! But please be safe, because obviously you will need to turn all of the lights off if you’re indoors.

Find the People (15+ people)

This is a variation on Spotto that was mentioned before. For this game you need to hide a number of leaders over an area, and have a number of other leaders with torches spotting your youth. Their aim is to find the hidden leaders, and they have to avoid the leaders with torches when they are looking for leaders. Once they find a leader they get something to show that they have found them. The person (or small team) that finds all of the leaders first, wins.

Conclusion

There we go, 9 ideas for you to get started with when planning a wide game. Wide games are great fun when executed properly, but they do require a large amount of planning and resources to work well. Don’t let that scare you, because they are great experiences. As with all youth group games, they need to be explained very well, so practice explaining them before you explain the game to your youth group. But most importantly, have a lot of fun!

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. 10 Other Sites To Find Youth Group Games
2. Youth Group Games | Main Page
3. 9 Not Awkward Youth Group Games To Get To Know Everyone

Food is fun. Everyone loves food. Therefore everyone loves games that involve food. And if you have a youth group full of kids who especially love food, then you should definitely check out these food related youth group games.

Everyone in your youth group will regularly deal with food, which makes food very engaging and interesting for games. However, play games that involve food can also sometimes be more risky than other games. So you have to be extra careful when planning for and playing food related youth group games. There are two big things that you can do: 1. Check for allergies before planning anything (which is good to do anyway incase you want to share a meal together) and 2. Be extremely hygienic, make sure you stop accidental double dipping or anything like that.

A lot of these games are very scalable, that is to say that you can play with with small groups or large groups. One this to remember when playing with large groups is that activities with food may need more supervision to keep things sensible, so maybe rope in an extra leader or two if you can.

So here are the 9 tasty youth group games that are all about food. Keep reading below for a description of each game on this list.

• Chocolate Game
• Masterchef/Ready Steady Cook Challenge
• Smartie In Flour
• Malteaser Soccer
• Liquorice Structures
• Taste the Difference
• World’s Largest Banana Split
• Skittles Chopstick Race
• Orange Bowls

Chocolate Game (5+ people)

This is one of my favourite ever games for a small group, mainly because it involves eating large amounts of chocolate. For this game you will need a dice, a block of chocolate, a knife, a fork, something to cut chocolate on (chopping board or plate) and a selection of silly clothing (such as gloves, a scraf, a hat or a jumper).

To play the chocolate game, you sit in a circle with everything in the middle of the circle. You then go round the circle rolling the dice, when one person rolls a 6, it’s game on! That person then needs to put on all of the clothes, and then start chopping up the block of chocolate using only the knife and fork, one square at a time, when a square has been cut, they can then eat it. The really fun part of this game is the fact that while all of this is going on, the rest of the group continues to roll the dice, and if at any stage another person rolls a 6, they then have to start getting the clothes on and trying to cut the chocolate block! Sounds fun right!?

Masterchef/Ready Steady Cook Challenge (4+ people)

These popular TV shows can be easily adapted to a youth group setting. In these shows, constestants are required to to cook a meal, given a theme or ingrediants, within a time limit. In the youth group version, the kids in your group are required to do the exact same thing!

What you need to do is divide your group into cooking teams, and then give them equal amounts of ingrediants. For example, you could get your groups to make the worlds best milkshake using milk, ice cream and a variety of toppings. The leaders can then act up the judging of the food and fun can be had by all!

Smartie In Flour (3-10 people)

This game could almost fit into a “messy games” category but as you can eat something during the game, it can stay here. Smartie in Flour is a simple and fun game for small groups that requires a lot of flour, a packet of smarties, a knife and a plate.

Simply pile the flour into a mound on a plate, and then place a smartie on top. Now one at a time, the people in your group cut some of the flour off the mound using the knife. Eventually you will have the smartie balancing on a very small amount of flour, the person who makes the smartie fall off the flour by cutting too much away then needs to eat the smartie without using their hands. This is where it gets messy. They need to bury their head in the flour and fish out the smartie.

Malteaser Soccer (2+ people)

A very quick partner game that can be a lot of fun. All you need is a malteaser (or other round lollie) and two straws. The two people sit on opposite sides a a desk with the malteaser in the middle. The aim is to get the malteaser to roll off your oppnoents side of the desk. Person with the most goals at the end wins.

Liquorice Structures (4+ people)

This is another fun game for groups. Firstly you need to divide your youth group into smaller groups of 6 or less. Each group is then given a packet of licorice and is tasked with making the tallest licourice structure that they can make using what is in their packet only. They will have to come up with ideas of how to make their structure strong as well as how to join the licourice together. Victory goes to the team with the tallest structure, and for winning they win another packet of licourice.

Taste the Difference (12+ people)

Throughout history, people have been wrongly either taking stuff out of the Bible, or adding to the Bible. This heresy is really sad to see and something we want to teach our youth about so that they don’t make the same mistakes. A fun way of demonstrating this is in a game that I like to call “Taste the Difference”.

For this game you will need Vanilla Coke, Diet Coke and Regular Coke, as well as a blindfold. You will then need one or more kids to come up and discern between the different types of Coke. Firstly blindfold them, and then ask them to taste on of the types of Coke, and tell you what it is. Repeat this for the other types of Coke. The point of this is to demonstrate that by adding or taking away from the Bible, we change what it is really about.

To really emphasise this point, add something crazy (like fish sauce) to some Coke and get them to taste it. That will really make them aware of the difference!

Worlds Largest Banana Split (10+ people)

This is a crazy relay game with a lot of preparation needed, but of all the games I know, I think it has the biggest WOW factor.

You will need quite a lot for this game, including: Aluminium foil, plastic spoons, 1+ metres of PVC half piping, and enough ice cream, bananas, chocolate sauce and hundreds and thousands to fill the the pipe.

Before the game begins you need to make your banana split. Do this by thoroughly cleaning the half pipe, and then lining it with aluminium foil. You can then create your banana split (Have fun!).

The game part of this is quite short. You need to divide your youth group into smaller teams, and divide the pipe into a number of segments equal to the number of groups that you have made. The goal for each team to eat their section of banana split before everyone else does.

In order to control what could be complete chaos, make each team stand behind a line. One at a time, a person from each team takes a NEW plastic spoon (can’t emphasise the fact that each time somebody goes to the banana split, they need a new spoon, no double dipping) and walks towards their segment. They then take a spoonful and walk back past the line to eat their spoonful. Once they are over the line the next person can go.

For older groups, get the group to make the banana split as well. SO MUCH FUN!

Skittles chopstick race (4+ people)

This is another fun and challenging relay game. Divide your youth group into teams. Place 1 bowl per team at one end of your hall, and another bowl a few metres away. One at a time, members from each team must pick up a skittles from one bowl, and transfer it to the other bowl. The team with the most skittles in their second bowl at the end of the game, wins.

Orange bowls (2+ people)

Do you like playing lawns bowls? Well if you do then you’re going to love Orange Bowls! For orange bowls you will need a number of oranges (or other round fruit) and a lime. Roll the lime down one end of the hall. The goal is now to get your orange as close to the lime as possible by rolling it. This game can be done either individually, or in teams.

Conclusion

And there are 9 tasty games for you to play at youth group. As I said earlier, please remember to check with your youth group for allergies and please be extra conscious of hygiene while you play.

Ready. Steady. Play!

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. 10 Other Sites To Find Youth Group Games
2. Youth Group Games | Main Page
3. 9 Not Awkward Youth Group Games To Get To Know Everyone

Have you ever wanted to, just for one week, change up the Bible teaching in your youth group? Well here are some ways in which you can do that.

Drama is a tool used in schools all over the world to enhance teaching, and today I’m going to show you some games that will help you enhance your Bible teaching.

Some of these games (if you can call of these games) are best suited to small groups, and some of them are suited to larger groups. Whatever the situation, pretty much all of these games require a large amount of explanation, and for younger kids, scafolding. By this I mean that you need to be really explicit with both your instructions and explantions. And more often then not it is very very good to have an example of these ready so that your youth group guys know what to do.

Drama is scary at times for High School teens, but it can also be really really fun and a great learning experience. The difference is in the environment. If you think that you can make your youth group a good environment for dramatic games then go ahead! If you think that your youth group may struggle, then maybe just use these as ideas for other creative possibilties.

Remember that with games that require people to take on a character, this character could be a real person (such as Judas or Paul), or it could be a fictional character that represents a group from the Bible (Joan the hungry woman in the crowd or Steve the Corinthian).

Below is a list of the games, read below the break for a detailed description of each game.

1. Conscience Ally
2. Hot seating
3. Role Playing
4. Role Walk
5. Monologuing
6. Dramatic Bible Reading
7. Silent Bible Story
8. Film a Bible Story
9. Make Your Own Puppet Show

1. Conscience Ally (10+ people)

This game involves one person taking on a persona of a character. This one person is given a decision that they need to make, and everyone body else is going to act as their conscience. The rest of the people line up in two lines (like making an ally). One side of the ally is the “good conscience”, and one side of the ally is the “bad conscience”. As the person walks down the ally, the good conscience side tries to convince them to do the good thing (one at a time), and the bad conscience side tries to convince them to do the bad thing (one at a time). When they get to the end, they need to make their “decision”.

This game can be good for getting your youth group to think about and understand reasons behind why people made decisions. A great game for empathy.

2. Hot seating (Small group, <10 people)

Hot seating requires 1 person to take on a character. This person then sits in the “hot seat”. As soon as this person sits in the “hot seat”, they become the character. The rest of the group then asks the character questions and the character then answers those questions as if they were that character. You can encourage your group to even make up accents to get them into the game.

Hot seating is again a great game for empathy and allows your group to think about what that character would have thought.

3. Role Playing (2+ people)

Instead of just one person taking on a character, in this game, everyone becomes someone else! In this game they have to try and create their own character within a boundry that you will set. For example, you could create the boundary that they have to be someone who was listening to Jesus preach at the sermon on the mount. They then have to pretend that they were someone there.

Once everyone has a character, they then need to find a partner. You can then give them a question such as “what did you think when Jesus said…?”, they then have to answer this question with their partner. You can repeat this as you wish.

This game is a fun way of thinking about and discussing a topic of your choosing.

4. Role Walk (5+ people)

This game is very similar to Role Playing, except that instead of just standing with one partner, they walk around and and find different partners each time. This also can work as a get to know you game (for older Christians). This game also introduces the possibility of asking questions such as “Who was the last person you spoke to and what did they say?”.

Another fun way of discussing a topic.

5. Monologuing (1+ people)

This game is only suitable for older youth groups, and probably only for those dramatically inclined. In order to monologue, get someone to take on the role of a character and give a speech based on a situation that this character has been in. It would be good to give people time to prepare (weeks), and as I said, this game is only for the strong of heart.

6. Dramatic Bible Reading (1+ people)

This game is quite easy to do. The only resource required is a Bible, and the title pretty much explains itself. All your youth group needs to do is pick a passage, and then read the passage out loud. And by read I don’t mean boringly read, I mean read with inflection, and pretend that you’re in the space where the story is, and make up voices for characters, and speed up when it gets exciting, and slow down when there’s something meaningful. You get the picture.

For extra spice get your youth group to memorise the passage that they are dramatically reading.

If you need an example of this, then check out the Backyard Bard, these guys are awesome.

7. Silent Bible Story (1+ people)

I think this game is the opposite of a dramatic Bible reading. If you’re a fan of mime then you’ll like this, and this game can work for everyone!

In order to do this, you need to get your youth group to act out without sound a passage from the Bible. This will be interesting… But give it a go. It will work best if you do it as a group activity, as then your guys and gals will communicate with each other and go deep into what the meaning of the passage is, and how best to communicate it. Seriously, give it a go!

8. Film a Bible Story

This is quite self explanatory, except for one thing, film a Bible Story using either claymation, aluminium figures or lego stopmotion. You youth group will find any of these techniques super fun to try out, and what better way to get them to understand a story from the Bible then to retell the story themselves.

This is also great as it allows your group to show these videos at a later date, or put them up online for their friends to see (especially if they’re good).

9. Make Your Own Puppet Show

Very similar to filming a Bible story, but this time perform it using puppets! These could be home make puppets, or youth group made puppets, or sock puppets, or any other puppets you can find. But really, just retelling the story will once again be great for retention of facts, and will help them to understand the point behind the passage.

Conclusion

So there you have it. 9 youth group “games” to help your Bible teaching. These games will be great to give a go, at least to change up the way that your group is learning about the Bible, and to get your group to think “Wow, we haven’t done this before.” I’ve tried some of these games and they’ve been a great change up for teaching, and some of them I’ve heard of other people trying. So I’d love to hear your stories of using these games in your youth groups.

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. 9 Memorable Youth Group Games To Help Memorise The Bible
2. Youth Group Games | Main Page
3. 10 Other Sites To Find Youth Group Games

Memorising the Bible is a really awesome habit to get into. And I think it is a great thing that we can teach younger Christians to do. So that they can get some Bible into their minds, and get into the habit of memorising it.

These games are designed to help younger Christians (or older ones) memorise parts of the Bible. These games do not have a number of people next to them, as they could be suited to any number, or modified for a large group or a small Bible study. Some of these games would be more appropriate for younger kids, but some would be appropriate for all ages, you can be the judge for your group. Below is the list of games, and read below the break for a detailed description of each game.

1. Cut Up Bible Verse In Balloons
2. Bible Verse Amazing Race
3. Erase The Words
4. Bible Verse Relay
5. B-I-N-G-* (That’s a clap)
6. Bible Jigsaw
7. Bible Verse Song
8. Action Words
9. SMS Memory

1. Cut Up Bible Verse In Balloon

This is a great and fun way for a memory verse to be revealed. You need to print out your memory verse in large font onto a piece of paper, and then you need to put these pieces of paper into different balloons. Blow up the balloons and put them at one end of the hall. Then get your guys/gals to stand at the other end of the hall. One at a time, they can run down, grab a balloon and bring it back. The rest of then need to pop the balloon and begin to order the memory verse.

This game can of course be modified for a number of teams, or you could be more creative with the way that the guys and gals collect the balloons (waddle back with the balloon between your legs).

2. Bible Verse Amazing Race

For this game, you once again need to print out and cut up a Bible verse (or as many Bible verses as you will have teams). Cut them into 4 pieces, the same 4 pieces for each verse (i.e. they need to be cut up identically). You then need to number each section 1-4.

Here comes the tricky part. You need to come up with 4 locations to hide your verses, and a clue for each location. Then, in the style of amazing race, create an order for each team, and make sure that the teams don’t have the same order of locations, as then they will just follow each other. This requires a lot of planning, but it is well worth the fun of seeing kids run around.

Once they have collected all 4 pieces, then they need to put the Bible verse together. Done.

3. Erase the words

This activity can be done with either a whiteboard or a power point presentation. The memory verse is shown to all of the group, and they read it aloud together. Then one or more words are taken away, and the group reads aloud again. This process is then repeated until there is none of the verse left, and everyone is just saying it from memory.

If you’re using a whiteboard, get one of the guys or gals in your group to erase the word for you.

4. Bible verse relay

This is a simple racing game. Cut out the Bible verse into words, and place the pile of words somewhere, then get the team to go somewhere else. One at a time, a person from the team goes and collects a word and brings it back, when the team can read out the memory verse, they win. Multiply the process for as many teams that you have.

5. B-I-N-G-* (That’s a clap)

This is a game that is similar to erase the words, but is more suited to a younger group, although it could be done with an older group if the leaders could pull it off. Simply get the group to say the verse, but each time take out a word, and replace it with a clap. Easy.

6. Bible Jigsaw

This can be a game on it’s own, but it can also be used as a way to cut out Bible verses for other games.

Print the Bible verse on a sheet of paper, and make sure there is only one verse per sheet, then cut up the piece of paper like a jigsaw puzzle, and get the kids to put it back together. For added jigsawness, glue the Bible verse to thick cardboard or foamboard first.

7. Bible verse song

This one requires some creativity from the leaders, but can be well worth it. It simply requires you to write a song with the lyrics being the words to your memory verse. Even better if you include your group in this creative process. For added fun, record your song and upload it to the internet for your group to enjoy.

If you don’t have the mad skillz required to write your own song from scratch. Then you can re-write the words of a pop song. This is probably a good thing as most pop songs are pretty filthy lyrically, so instead of singing the real lyrics to their favourite song, maybe they’ll sing the lyrics that came from the memory verse?

8. Action words (Make actions for each word)

All that is required for this game is to make an action that represents each word (or group) of words in the memory verse. Then, as you say the verse, everyone in the group does the actions. If you want, you can get people from your group to make the actions, or you can make up the actions yourself prior to showing the rest of the group.

This game works really well with a Bible verse song, (Bible verse song + actions? Hmm… Where have I seen that before?)

9. SMS Memory

This is less of a game and more of a way to get the group to remember the memory verse. Name a random time in the middle of the week (e.g. Wednesday @5pm), and tell everyone in your group that they need to SMS you the memory verse at that time. The person who sends you the verse closest to that time, wins.

This can be modified in an infinite number of ways. If you have a small group, give everyone who remembers to message you a prize. Or get them to send it to you via Facebook or Twitter or Email (but be child protection safe in this). Or even get them to transl8 the verse into txt speak.

This allows the members of your group to be thinking about the memory verse during the week, a great thing.

Conclusion

So there are 9 games (activities) that you can use to get the guys and gals in your youth group to memorise the Bible. Remember that memorising something doesn’t come from a one off thing, but from a determined and conscious effort to memorise over a period of time.

That being said, have fun while doing it, and I’m sure that this will benefit both you and the guys and gals in your group.

Do you have any other memory verse games that you have used?

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. Youth Group Games | Main Page
2. 9 Dramatic Youth Group Games To Enhance Bible Teaching
3. 9 Fantastic Youth Group Games That Will Leave You A Bit Messy

The vox pop on sin asks two questions

1. What does the word sin mean?
2. Can you use sin in a sentence?

If you would like to use this vox pop for your own group or would like to use the title, please contact me and I’ll get the file to you somehow.

This video is another one in 720p HD. With the ease of use of HD video, most of the videos that I do from now on will be in 720p HD. Longer upload time but will look sweet on your widescreen monitors. If you have any advice for me on how to make my videos better, please do suggest it to me (through contacting me or the comments below).

No related posts.

Talk 1: I’m a creature, not the creator. Life is but a breath and I need to stop, remember God and bring him glory.

Talk 2: Thank God for the gifts that he has given us. Stop and do that now.

Talk 3: Enjoy the season that you are in, and thank God for those moments that he gives you.

Talk 4: Our God is good, and his grace is enough! Jesus will fix the world.

Talk 5: Stop making excuses. Stop putting it off. Trust Jesus. Have a go. Serve God.

Talk 6: Remember your creator in the days of your youth. (How good was the end of the talk, where he just walked out!)

These have mostly come from my Twitter stream, just incase you thought you had seen them before.

A great weekend overall, and it was great to see God working.

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. KYCK This Weekend
2. Club Veg 2010 Reflections – It’s Not All About Quiet Times
3. 27 Quick Reflections from Ancon 2011

(Written on my phone)

I’m currently sitting in the loungeroom of the house in which my youth group is staying. It’s started raining which is disappointing for the 4 people in our group who just went for a bush walk, also disappointing for the person in that group who left their sunroof open, but all is good, some of our youth group girls are covering the hole with glad wrap. All around good times.

There have been some great lessons so far on KYCK. We have been encouraged to remember that we are creatures, not creators. We have also learnt that there are different seasons in life, and we shouldn’t wish those seasons away, instead, we should thank God for the good things we are given.

Dave Miers is speaking in the next session tonight and will be challenging everyone to put their faith in Christ if they have not done so already. Tonight is hopefully going to be one of the most important nights in a number of lives. I’m praying that tonight, God will be working in the hearts of the youth so that many may be saved. Will you join me in this prayer?

Related posts from calumhenderson.com:

1. KYCK 2010 Reflections
2. KYCK This Weekend