 First Grade to Preteen, Learn the books of the Bible |
First Grade to Preteen, Learn the books of the Bible |
| 1. | A game for learning the books of the Bible called Before and After. Make a card for every book in the Bible (66). Shuffle them well. Hold up a card so everyone can see it, then say "Before," "After," or "Before AND After." Examples: 1. I hold up the Matthew card and say, "After", the class should respond, "Mark". The book that comes "After" Matthew. 2. I hold up the Romans card and say, "Before and After", the class should respond, "Acts and 1 Corinthians". The books that come "Before and After" Romans. |
| 2. | Bible Drill Bingo Have 2 teams – doesn’t matter how many kids you have. Place bibles at the end of gym and have teams meet at the other end. Call out a bible verse and have kids race to the bibles and see who finds it first. Award 4 points to the team who finds the correct verse first. Then, have the person who found the verse shoot the basketball (we used the foul line) and award 2 points if basket is made. Towards the end, mix it up and add more points for the verse or extra points for the basketball shots. I did this with my 8th grade and they had a blast. They couldn’t believe how much trouble they had looking up verses so it helped them learn the Bible! The winning team planned the following week’s youth activity. |
| 3. | I wanted to pass on to you a game that my Sunday school youth love. I call it "Bible Treasure Hunt". Bible verse containing clues to locations within a church are written on sticky notes. Youth start off with a bible verse reference written on piece of paper, such as James 1:23. The group looks up the verse in their bible which says, "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not doer, he is like a man beholding his natural face in a glass." Kids then figure out to look for the next clue on the mirror in the men's restroom. At the men's restroom there is another sticky note that has a reference like Luke 2:12. This verse reference is about finding a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. The kids then know to look in the nursery. In the nursery they find another verse. You get the idea. It is a great way for the kids to get to know their way around the church, learn how to look up verses in the bible and have a great time. The last clue can lead them to a spot where a special treat (chocolate gold coins?) has been prepared. Write the verses on sticky notes and place them in the proper order throughout specific locations within the church. Be creative in coming up with verses that match specific locations. Here are a couple of samples: |
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Verse .............Clue................Location James 4:10 - "I will lift you up" - Elevator Daniel 3:16 - Burning fiery furnace" - Boiler room or furnace room Romans 12:20 - "give your enemy a drink" - Drinking fountain Psalm 36:9 - "Fountain of light" - Water fountain (if your church has one) Psalm 104:16-17 "Trees" - If there is a big tree at the church. John 1:1 - "In the beginning" - Go back to the room where you started. |
| Special Thanks to Jim White of the First United Methodist Church in Wenatchee, Washington for sharing this great activity |
| 4. | Here's a twist --Bible Tic-Tac-Toe : Divide kids into two teams--boys vs girls or mixed groups. Everyone must have a Bible and it must be closed before game begins. Teacher calls out a scripture verse. The first one to find the verse and starts reading it first gets to mark their x or o for their team on the board. This encourages the kids to learn where the books of the Bible are and helps them get over their fear of reading aloud. You can give hints from time to time, like whether it is in the old or new testament, etc. |
| 5. | The teacher was having trouble coming up with an active way to have the kids learn the books of the Bible. I went down to the nursery and took a whole bunch of "duplos" building blocks.
I color coded them according to OT, Law, Prophets, Songs, ect... and NT, Gospels...
used permanent marker. OT or NT on one edge category on one side, book of the bible on the other side. They then have to "Build the Bible"...in the correct order. |