Tag Archives: Sunday School games

How To Use Bible Printables In Sunday School Class

Bible printables are a teacher friendly resource that every Sunday school teacher should have at her fingertips.  Some teachers consider them helpful; others call them indispensable.  But all agree: a folder full of Bible printables in the Sunday school room where they are available at a moments notice, has saved the day time and time again.       

Teachers waiting for late arrivals often run into challenges of preventing chaos. If they start the lesson on time, the late ones miss so much that it’s almost mandatory they repeat what has already been said, and that makes the on-time students restless.  However, the introduction of Bible printables to the Sunday school class room has been called the miracle cure for an otherwise unsolvable problem.    

Late arrivals; early finishes

bible printables
Bible printables are a teacher friendly resource every Sunday school teacher should use

Along with keeping control for late arrivals, Bible printables can help maintain control at the end of class time.  When the lesson is over and the children are waiting for their parents to pick them up, it’s easy for kids to start climbing the walls.   Once again the solution to the problem is the Bible printable which keeps the children busy, occupied and under control until the parents finally arrive.

Emergencies 

The third most common use of Bible printables is what Sunday school teachers label “dire emergencies”.  And in this aspect their value is pr iceless.  When a Sunday school teacher calls in sick at the last minute, there is no panic and no confusion.   Those in charge pass out worksheets and coloring sheets.  One of the greatest joys of using them is their easy accessibility.  And with so many being free on the Internet, they don’t require much budget.

Surfing for Printables

Bible printables are available on the Internet, and the subject matter runs from Bible themes to games and mazes.   You may reinforce the lesson you have just taught, from Noah to King David to Daniel to Jonah, with these worksheets.  From a search engine like Google, the subject, “Bible printables” will provide a long and interesting list of sources, many of which are free.   In addition, the list of subjects covers every possible aspect of Bible teachings from coloring pages for the little ones, to finding the differences and games for the older children.  

Design Your Own Word Searches

            If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can always design your own word search or word puzzles to go with your lesson.  One great site for word searches is Ardmore Penguin, which is user friendly and only requires that you type in the words you need that go with the lesson.  It’s Word Scramble function will scramble any words so that your students have to figure out what the original was, such as Othgial = Goliath.  Its Fresh Words function will tell you what words you can make out of any word.  Would your students ever believe “Goliath” can make all these words? 

 

goa     got     gil     gal     ola     oil

oat     log     lot     lit     lag     lao

ila     ito     ago     aol     ali     ail

tog     tia     tag     tao     tho     hog

hot     hit     hag     hal     hat     goal

goat     goth     gila     gilt     gail     gait

olga     oath     loth     lath     iota     iago

alit     alto     toga     toil     tail     thai

holt     hilt     halo     halt     hail     gloat

loath light altho alight alioth goliath

Design Your Own Mazes

Kids love mazes, and since many Bible stories mimic “being lost and then found,” a maze is often appropriate.  One of the best online maze sites that doesn’t require a download is Discovery Education’s Puzzle Maker.  There, you can make mazes of five or six different shapes and various levels of difficulty, based on the ages of your students. Here is one appropriate for kids ages 6-7, made with three clicks. 

Other Make-Your-Own Freebees

Discovery also allows you to make other puzzles that are unique and original, including Fallen Phrases, Math Squares, Cryptograms and Hidden Messages.   

With all these features available with only a few clicks of the mouse and a few words typed in, you’ll no longer have to worry about before and after class madness or what to do when you can’t be in class! 

Bible Trivia – A Great Sunday School Activity for Kids

To many people fun Bible trivia for kids is a way to kill time or to entertain the children. However Bible trivia does a lot more than entertain.  It reinforces what the children have already learned, and it teaches them more.  Some research shows that when kids are presented facts in competition, they learn more quickly and retain more subject matter than through school memorization or wrote.  Bible Trivia is a fun way to prepare kids for real life with stories from real-life history.

Even Preschoolers Can Compete at Bible Trivia

Bible activity
To many people fun Bible trivia for kids is a way to kill time or to entertain the children. However Bible trivia does a lot more than entertain.

You can start teaching kids by using Bible trivia at a very young age.  Most preschoolers who regularly attend Sunday school know the stories of Noah, Jonah, David & Goliath and a few others.  Doing Bible trivia questions with kids will help prepare them for the types of testing that await them in school—and in a fun way.  Bible trivia contests also provide an opportunity to reinforce the exciting details of what they’ve learned in Sunday school. 

Finally, trivia for kids provides a great opportunity to compare biblical heroes with people of today.  Show them a trivia question that asks, “which Bible heroes were called by God and asked in terror, “why me??”  That’s a great opportunity to share how ancient heroes were just as scared as we are to do brave things. Trivia questions can help kids believe that God can use them too!

Here’s an easy bible trivia contest  

Below is a Bible Trivia Contest for kids as young as four but will work for those new to our faith of any age.  If you use it remember praise, praise, praise!  Praise for correct answers is just as good as a prize (thought prizes wouldn’t hurt either)!

Quiz

(Is the correct answer A, B. or C.)

1.  Who was the baby whose mother placed him in a basket and hid him in the bulrushes?

A.  Cain.    B. Moses.   C. Daniel.

2.  What did God tell Noah to build?

        A.  A statue.   B.  A chariot.   C.  An Ark.

3.  To whom did God give the Ten Commandments?

        A. Moses.  B. Saul.  C. King Solomon.

4.  What sign did God give to Noah after the flood?.  

A.  A star.   B.  An angel.  C. A rainbow.

5.  Who slew the giant Goliath?.  

        A. David.  B. Gideon.  C. Sampson. 

6.  Which of these men wanted to know, “Why me?” when God called on them to do something?

        A.  Moses and Gideon   B.  Jonah and Saul.  3.  All of them.

7.  How did David kill the giant?

        A.  With his slingshot.   B.  With his sword.   C.  With poison.  

8.  When the Israelites were hungry in the desert, how did God feed them?  

A. With Burnt Offerings.  B.  With Manna that fell from the sky.  C.  He filled their nets with fish.  

9.  In which book of the Bible is God not mentioned even once?

A. Micha.  B.  Esther.  C.  Malachi. 

10.   What happened to Jonah when God asked him to do something and he tried to run away?  

        A. He was thrown into the lions den.   B. He was swallowed by a whale.  C. He was thrown into the firey furnace.

 The Bible has an endless number of subjects and characters that can be turned into trivia contests for kids.  The Ten Commandments, the beatitudes, the disciples, the New Testament, The Christmas story, the Easter story and many others can be learned easily…especially if there is lots of praise and a prize at the end! 

Quiz Answers

(With the correct answer underlined and in bold.)

1.  Who was the baby whose mother placed him in a basket and hid him in the bulrushes?

A.  Cain,    B. Moses,   C, Daniel

2.  What did God tell Noah to build?

        A.  A statue.   B.  A chariot.   C.  An Ark.

3.  To whom did God give the Ten Commandments?

        A. Moses, B. Saul, C. King Solomon?

4.  What sign did God give to Noah after the flood?.  

A.  A star.   B.  An angel.  C. A rainbow.

5.  Who slew the giant Goliath?.  

        A. David.  B. Gideon.  C. Sampson 

6.  Which of these men wanted to know, “Why me? when God called on them to do something?

        A.  Moses and Gideon   B.  Jonah and Saul.  3.  All of them.

7.  How did David kill the giant?

        A. With his slingshot.   B.  With his sword.   C.  With poison.  

8.  When the Israelites were hungry, how did God feed them.  

A. With Burnt Offerings.  B.  With Manna that fell from the sky.  C.  He filled their nets with fish.  

  1. In which book of the Bible is God not mentioned once?

A. Micha.  B.  Esther.  C.  Malachi. 

10.   What happened to Jonah when God asked him to do something and he tried to run away?  

        A. He was thrown into the lions den.   B. He was swallowed by a whale.  C. He was thrown into the firey furnace.

Bible Games from Board Games?

All kids love board games, and all teachers love Bible games.  Combining the two may be an inexpensive and fun way to enhance learning  in Sunday school.  You can take regular board games and make them into fun Bible games with a few pieces of masking tape, a marker pen, and a few creative instructions!

Let’s start with the easy ones:  Parcheesi and its American compatriot, Sorry.  Parcheesi is known as the national game of India, though it was designed during the Depression in the United Kingdom.  Parcheesi likenesses such as Sorry are often the first games of strategy that kids are introduced to.  After rolling the dice, kids’ pieces may “slide” across a number of squares at once, and the idea is to get back to the starting point.

Many popular board games, like Monopoly and Sorry, can be easily converted to Bible games!

Introducing the Bible via Sorry or Parcheesi will bring kids into a new version of fun with a game with which they are already familiar.  To combine it with the Bible, tape certain Bible verses onto the board, verses that you’ve been studying in class.  Just tape the book, chapter and number, such as John 3:16.  Have kids guess the words, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…”  If they need help, put all the verses and their contents on a companion piece that you tape up to the wall or lay on the table.  Kids should be able to match up the verse they land on with the wording.  Suddenly Parcheesi and its likenesses can help kids memorize scripture!

Monopoly is another board game kids have loved for decades.  This time, use your masking tape to cover names like Connecticut Avenue, and put down places like Nineveh of Jonah’s ilk or Canaan, where Abraham settled.  Visit sites listing “places of the Bible.”  Instead of buying them for outright money kids must guess who lived there.  Again, wall charts can help them by providing needed clues.  Since the Community Chest and Chance cards teach charity as well as business principles, you can leave them as they are.  Free Parking can become “Free Salvation,” and “Go to Jail” and “Jail” can become “Prison of Your Own Sins.”

Scrabble is great for Biblical studies, as kids can spell out the names of places or people of the Bible.  Provide a Master List on the wall—words with 3, 4, 5 letters, all the way up to 10 letters.  You can find lists of “places in the Bible” or “people in the Bible” by surfing.

Bible Trivia is easy and relevant to any Sunday school lesson.  You can use your own games of just by putting your own questions and answers on index cards, and having kids earn points by answering correctly!  No board needed!    Apply this to any Sunday school lesson if you want to fill time and reinforce information afterward.

Barrel of Monkeys will increase dexterity while reinforcing Bible knowledge.  One way to use the monkey is to give children a verse from the Bible to memorize.  As they say each word, they then qualify themselves to pick up a monkey.  Example:  God.  So.  Loved.  The.  World.  He.  Gave.  His. Only. Begotten.  Son.  John.  3.  16.  All the children can chant the words while each takes a turn stringing monkeys.

Dominoes is also great for teaching Bible verses—given a few strips of masking tape.  Cover the dots with one word of a Bible verse such as Psalm 1:1:  “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the way of the ungodly, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit where the scornful and mockers gather.”  Throw all the taped dominoes into a basket, then spread it out on the table after repeating the verse a few times.  Have the kids connect the words in the proper order.

Games such as these have lasted the decades because they are inherently fun, and no amount of electronic games and sophisticated new additions are introduced to the world of “play.”  By using them in Sunday school classes, you are promoting an important message:  Christianity also lasts the ages and stays fun, no matter how much sophistication is added to the world.  Though he adapts to the times, Jesus is fun and relevant yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).