Kids’ Church Games

Children are a special gift from the Lord and will always have a special place in God’s heart! One of the best, most effective ways of teaching the little ones is by using fun games and activities to teach them about the Bible.

If you are looking for some fun and exciting games to keep your Children’s Church kids engaged, you’ve come to the right place!

10 Fun and Exciting Kid’s Church Games

Our children are one of the most precious things on this earth, they are the next generation and need to be taught and raised in the admonition of the Lord.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart.” – Proverbs 22: 6

Children are full of energy and require special attention and techniques to help them learn. These exciting games are a fun and interactive way to keep their attention while teaching them about the Bible at the same time.

While many of these games relate to the Bible, some of them are just something fun to do after the lesson or during free time.

• Trashket Ball

This one is a fun game that does not require much preparation. It’s so simple, yet the kids love it!

What you will need:

1. A small trash can
2. 3 Balls of Paper
3. A roll of tape

How to Play:

Depending on how many children you have, you can split them into two teams or you can let them all stay together and play against each other.

1. Line up the children into two rows from front to back and let them take turns answering questions about the Bible.
   • If they answer correctly, then their team gains a point, but if they get the answer wrong, the other team has the chance to steal the point by getting the question right.
2. Each child will have their turn to answer a question and then shoot the ball for the chance at up to 3 extra points for their team.
   • If you don’t have many children (5 or fewer), just keep them together in one line. Each child will have his or her own points and whoever has the most points at the end of the game will be the winner.

Special Rules:

You can add some special rules to make it more interesting if you like, for example:

• You can give each team 3 “helps”: If they don’t know the answer to the question they can ask the rest of their team. They only get 3 of these, so they must use them wisely.

You can think of your own special rules or just play the game as it is. The choice is yours!

• Angry Ping-Pong

This game is a play off of the viral mobile game “Angry Birds”. It shows the children the damage that acting out in anger can do.

Key Verse:

Ephesians 4: 26-27 says: “Be angry and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.”

What you will need:

1. Lots of Ping-pong balls
2. Fine-pointed markers
3. Cardboard blocks [at least 20 or more] ( you can make them yourself from cardboard and tape or hot glue.)
4. Two Slingshots

How to Play:

1. Organize your kids into two or more groups of 6 to 10 people.
   • both groups will have 5 minutes to build a tower with their blocks
     • This fosters teamwork and helps them understand that we are stronger when we work together.
2. Give the groups 4 or 5 of the ping-pong balls and a marker.
   • Tell the children to write at least one thing that makes them angry on each of their team’s balls.
3. Create an imaginary line for the children to shoot the balls from and make sure everyone stands behind the line.
4. Give them a “ready, set, go” to shoot at the other team’s block tower.

Have all of the kids read the Key Verse: Ephesians 4: 26-27 and then ask them some questions about the meaning of the verses.

Sample Questions:

• Do you see how your anger can affect others around us?
• What do you think the Bible means when it says, “Be angry and yet do not sin”?
• What are some ways that we can keep from sinning even when we are angry?

Any questions that you can think of to bring the activity back to the Bible will do!

• Cotton Nosed Kids Game

The goal of this game is to help the children learn the importance of encouraging one another.

Key Verse:

1 Thessalonians 5: 11 – “Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing”.

What you will need:

1. Masking Tape
2. Vaseline or petroleum jelly
3. A table
4. Cotton balls
5. Paper plates

How to play:

1. Put the children into groups.
2. Put some Vaseline on their noses.
3. Place an empty plate on one side of the table and then a plate full of cotton balls on the other side of the table in front of each group.
   • Use your tape to form a starting line for the groups to stand behind.
4. Explain to the children that the object of the game is to retrieve the balls from the plate and move them to their empty plate.
   • Only one child can go at a time.
   • They must move the balls using only their noses!!
   • Explain to them that this will not be easy and they will need the cheers and encouragement from their teammates to get the job done.
5. Have all of the kids repeat after you as you read the Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5: 11 and then let the game begin!!

After the game, ask them some questions about how the game related to the Bible verse.

Sample Questions:

• How did you feel when you heard the cheers of your teammates?
• When your teammates cheered you on, did it give you more strength?
• Do you think their encouragement helped you?

Again, you can find your own way to tie the game back to the Key Verse; use the gifts God has given you to minister to the children!

• The Freeze Frame Game

Here’s another super easy game that will help to rid the children of any of their pent-up energy before sitting them down for a Bible lesson!

What you will need:

1. A Bluetooth speaker or a CD player.
2. Children

How to play:

1. Choose whatever Christian Music you want and have the children jump and dance for Jesus while the music is playing.
2. When you pause the song, everyone freezes!

That’s all! Such a simple and exciting way to help calm the children down before your Bible teaching or Sunday School time.

• The Telephone Game

This game helps to teach the children the dangers of repeating rumors or gossip and how our words can change as they pass from person to person.

Key Verses:

Exodus 23: 1 – “Do not spread a false report….”

Proverbs 20: 19 – “A gossip betrays a confidence…”

Psalm 141: 3 – “Set a guard over my mouth, LORD, keep watch over the door of my lips.”

What you will need:

1. A group of children
   • The more children the better.
     • The more times the message is passed the more it will change!
2. A leader (You).

Yep, that’s all, it’s really that simple.

How to play:

1. Make a circle with all of the kids.
2. You will choose one of the children as the “Speaker” to start the game by thinking of a sentence or phrase of words.
   • Make sure they think of this phrase silently in their heads so that no one else can hear.
     • Only church-appropriate things, of course!
3. Ask the “Speaker” to whisper their message into the ear of the person to his or her left or right who will then repeat it quietly into the ear of the next person, and so on, until the message makes its way back to the player next to the “Speaker”.
   • Have them whisper quietly so that no one can hear except the next player!
   • Even if the person does not hear the message clearly, they must pass along what they think they have heard.
     • They can only hear the message once, no repeating, so listen carefully!!
4. Once the message makes its way back to the player standing next to the “Speaker, have them say it out loud clearly for all to hear.
   • You can repeat the game and choose a different “Speaker” every time until all of the children have the chance to be a “Speaker” if they want to.

You will be surprised at how much the message can change during the game and it’s sure to get lots of laughs.

After the game, just ask the children questions that connect back to the Key Verses.

Sample Questions:

• Were you surprised by how much the message changed during the game?
• How does this make you feel about spreading rumors that you might hear at school?
• What do you think you should do the next time you hear a rumor about someone?

You can play this game anywhere and any time you meet for Children’s Church and it’s always a fun way to pass the time.

• Four Corners Bible Review Game

Here is another simple game that doesn’t require much apart from a little preparation beforehand.

What you will need:

1. Prepare a list of multiple choice questions (A, B, C, D) beforehand.
   • Choose as many questions as you like depending on how much time you have to play.
2. Four sheets of paper.
   • Either have 4 different colors of paper, or write A, B, C, or D on each piece.
   • Tape each page to 4 different corners of the room.

How to play:

1. Have your list of multiple-choice questions ready to go and have all of the children stand in the center of the room.
2. Tell them the rules:
   • You will ask them multiple-choice questions and they have 20-30 seconds to choose their answer by running to one of the four corners of the room.
3. Once the time is up, you will reveal the correct answer and each child with the right answer will receive a point.
4. At the end of the game, the one with the most points wins.
   • You don’t have to keep score if you don’t want to. It will still be fun with or without keeping score, so it’s up to you.

• Captain of the Ship Game

This is another super simple game that doesn’t require a whole lot of prep work. There are a few different versions of this game, but here is one of the most popular versions:

What you need:

1. A timer.
2. 2 cut-out cardboard crosses

How to play:

1. Place each cross on the opposite sides of the room.
2. The Captain of the Ship stands in the center of the room to give commands to the “sailors”.
   • You can be the Captain first to explain and demonstrate how the game is played.
3. Captain’s Job:
   • When the Captain says, “March”, everyone will have 60 seconds to “march” back and forth from one cross to the other as many times as they can before the timer is up.
     • When the Captain says, “SWIM”, the kids must move their arms over and under in a swimming motion as they march.
     • When the Captain says, “SWAB THE DECK”, have the kids go to their knees and pretend to scrub the deck as you go from side to side.
     • When the Captain says, “HOIST THE SAILS”, pretend to pull down on the ropes above as if they are hoisting up the sails.
     • When the Captain says, “UP THE RIGGING”, pretend you are climbing up the ropes as you march from side to side.
4. If you bump or touch any of the other players while marching, you must freeze in place and stand at attention until the Captain says, “AT EASE, SAILOR”.
5. Pick a new Captain for each round.
   • To make the game more exciting, try shortening the timer with each round…45 seconds…35 seconds…25 seconds… all the way down to 10 seconds.
6. Keep track of how many times each of the children has crossed to either side of the room as best as you can.
   • It might be easier if you have two adults to keep score for this one if you have a larger group of children.

Biblical Connection:

God should be the Lord of our lives and we should follow his commands just as we followed the commands of the Captain of the Ship. On the Ship, the Captian knows best for his sailors and the same is true about us and God…He always knows what is best for His sailors.

• Hula Hoop Game

This is a classic game for kids and a great game to emphasize the importance of working together. This game works best when you are dealing with a large group of kids especially a group of 20 or more.

Key Verse:

Ecclesiastes 4: 12 – “And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.”

What you will need:

1. Hula hoops
   • One for each team.

How to play:

1. Split the children into groups of 5 or 10 each.
2. All the Children will hold hands and form a straight line with arms stretched out between them.
3. Give a hula hoop to the child at the end of each line.
4. On your “Ready, Set, Go”, they will pass the hula hoop along their line to the other side.
   • If any of the lines break at any time, the hula hoop goes all the way back to the beginning!
5. The first team to pass the hula hoop all the way to the end and then back again is the winner.
   • To extend the game, you can have multiple rounds and switch up the order of the teams for each time. The team with the highest score is the winner.

At the end of the game, be sure to make the connection between the teamwork it took to get the hula hoop to one end of the line and back with the Key Verse.

• Sticky Balloon Game

Here is a unique game that can show how our words stick with people over time.

Key Verse:

Ephesians 4: 29 – “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”

What you will need:

1. A roll of Duck Tape
2. A bunch of balloons of two different colors
3. Toothpicks

How to play:

1. Split the kids into two teams.
   • each team will choose one color of balloons as their team color
2. Choose one person to be “it” for each team.
3. Have the teams wrap the Duck Tape around the one who is “it” but with the sticky side facing out!
4. Give each team their color balloons
   • each team should have the same number of balloons
5. Explain the rules that there will be 5 minutes to blow up as many balloons as possible and stick them to one of the other team’s “Sticky person”.
   • Tell them to make sure the balloons are stuck to the tape really well!
6. After the time is up, reveal to the kids that the balloons represent hurtful things that people have said to the “sticky person”.
7. Now, ask the children to take their toothpicks and tell the teams to pop the balloons of their “sticky person”.
   • When the balloons have been popped, the rubber of the balloon will remain even though the balloon has already been popped.

Bible Connection:

To bring it back to the Bible, explain to the children that just as the balloons stuck to the sticky person, hurtful words said to others are remembered long after they have been said.

Many times, the pain of those remarks sticks with them just as the rubber of the balloons remained stuck to the sticky person even after the balloons had been popped.

• The Hill of Beans Game

This is another unique game with a good moral.

What you will need:

1. Food-service gloves
2. Plastic table cloths
3. Pint-sized mason jars
4. One pound of dried: kidney beans, lima beans, lentils, navy beans, black-eyed peas, green peas, red lentils, and split peas.

How to play:

1. Make 2 or 4 teams of kids depending on how many children.
   • 2 teams for a smaller group and 4 teams for larger ones
2. Give each team one pound each of two different beans if there are 4 teams
   • If there are only 2 teams, give each team one pound of 4 different beans.
3. Each child will wear the gloves and when you say, “Ready, Set, Go” they will have 5 minutes to create the biggest hill of beans they can.
4. The team with the largest hill of beans is the winner.
5. After the game, give the children 30-45 seconds to pick up all of the beans and put them into the mason jars to be donated to the local food pantry.
   • The children will discover that the beans are hard to clean up and easily spread everywhere.
   • No matter how hard they try, they will likely be unable to put all of the beans away before the time runs out.

Moral of the game:

When we tell lots of lies, it is like building a hill of beans. It makes a big mess everywhere and is hard to clean up afterward.

Sometimes, no matter what we do to try to make the situation right, we can never undo all of the damage done by our lies just as we were unable to pick up all the beans before the time ran out.

God Bless You

We believe that children’s ministry is one of the most important parts of church ministry and we pray that these games will help you as you seek to train up the next generation of mighty warriors for God’s Kingdom.

We pray that God would give you wisdom as you serve the Lord with Children’s church.

May we all be victorious in prayer when we pray for our little ones!