Materials
Balloons
Have a balloon carnival by having various games involving balloons:
1. BANG: Have a competition to see who can be the first to blow up a balloon until it pops.
2. AIR RACE: The objective is to have the balloon reach the other side of the room. Kids can only reach it by blowing up a balloon and …
Materials
Supply of crumpled up newspaper sheets for each team
Activity
Have kids form two teams, and have teams move to opposite sides of the room. Designate one team as the Cartoon Team and the other team as the Giants Team. Give each team a supply of papers.
The goal is for the teams to get their opponents “out” by …
Materials
Bring in a variety of plants, flowers, etc. You can also bring in various vegetables and fruits. Buy two small plants. Water one to make it green and full of life. Let the other one dry and shrivel up.
Activity
Ask youth to identify the different plants if they can. What fruits do they produce? What is their purpose? …
Materials
Paper, pencil and blindfold for every two students.
Activity
Break into pairs for a sheep drawing contest. Give one person in the pair some paper and a pencil. This person is the artist. The other person is the shepherd. Blindfold the artists. The “shepherd” can give verbal instructions to the artist but he may not touch his body or …
In 1909 a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea of a day to honor fathers while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon. She wanted a way to let her father, William Smart, know how special he was to her. William Smart, who was a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his …
Materials
Use three balloons to understand the concept peace during times difficulty and persecution.
Activity
Begin with a deflated balloon in your hand. Tell the group you’re going to use it to help them understand peace. Inflate the balloon about half full. Sometimes troubles come into life and the tension builds as we give over a portion of our time, …
When Jesus talked with the woman at the well He began with water, compared that water to eternal life, and finally explained about the Messiah (John 4:1-26). He began with people at the level they were at and then stretched them and gently guided them to deeper spiritual truths and action.
Rather than scolding Thomas for his religious questions, Jesus …
Jesus spent time with His students. He called 12 people to be His closest disciples (Mark 1:17-20). He talked with them (Mark 11:20-25), rested with them (Mark 6:30-31), and shared the Last Supper with them (Mark 14:12-26).
He also spent time teaching others who were interested in Him (Mark 6:34-44). He respected people by taking time for children and by …
Jesus’ parables, “earthly stories with heavenly meaning,” made spiritual truth clear by relating it to the everyday experiences of life. “The kingdom of God . . . is like a mustard seed” (Luke 13:19). People could relate to the stories because they were drawn from real life. He used a coin to teach about taxes (Mark 12:16-17). He used the …
Materials
Gather strips of soft cloth to tie the hands and ankles as well as to make blindfolds. (Strips torn from an old sheet work nicely) You’ll need enough strips for each person to have one.
Activity
Distrubute the cloth strips to kids and have them form three groups. Instruct one group to tie each other’s hands behind their backs. …