Tag Archives: Guidance

Coin Toss – Dangers of Temptations and How to Deal with Them

INTRODUCTION TO THE OBJECT LESSON ON TEMPTATION

This simple game serves as a Creative Teaching Idea and discussion starter and Object Lesson on the topic of temptation. Youth will learn how to handle the temptations that are a normal part of life.

A. TRIVIA

The is a variation of a game commonly known as “Pitching Pennies.” In the traditional version of the game, players take turns to throw a coin at a wall. The coin which lands closest to the wall is the winner. The winner collects all the losing players’ tossed coins. Ancient Greek children played a similar game using bronze coins. In modern Israel a version of the game is played with Apricot kernels, and called “Gogoim”. This game is also known by other names: Pigeon Toss, Britain Pap, Penny Up, Keeley, Pitch and Toss, Chucks, Tinks or Jingies.

B. WHAT YOU NEED

  • Coins for each youth
  • Prize for the winner.
  • Tape to mark the boundaries.

C. GAME PLAY

  1. Put a line across the floor on each side of the room.
  2. Give each youth a coin and ask them to line them up on one side of the room.
  3. Demonstrate from a specific distance a toss of a coin toward the goal. Do not give them any strategy. Do not tell them how to play. Only demonstrate the game.
  4. Hype up the prize for the person who can toss the coin closest to the line without going over it.
  5. Then let everyone have an opportunity to try. If there is time, you can let them try more than once.
  6. Award the prize to the winner

D. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

If playing with younger children, there is a danger of children swallowing a coin. For safety reasons, you play the game with a golf ball, a tennis ball or another object. Older youth can play with marbles, checkers, washers, buttons or any other objects available.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

DEBRIEF

As you were playing this game,

  1. What was your goal or objective?
  2. What was your strategy?
  3. What are the possible risks with your strategy?
  4. Did you follow your own strategy or learn from others?
  5. What is the best way to guarantee you will not cross over the line (i.e. the boundary)?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

  1. Starting in Genesis 1 and continuing throughout Scripture, God gave us boundaries for what we should and should not do. What are some of those boundaries?
    – Related to our thoughts
    – Related to our feelings
    – Related to our bodies
    – Related to our words
    – Related to our decisions
    – Related to our actions
  2. What is temptation?
  3. What are some things that tempt youth today?
  4. In this game, the objective was to get as close to the line as possible without crossing over? Sometimes, youth, adults, and even children have a similar mindset when dealing with temptations. We want to get as close to the boundary as possible without crossing over. Why is this strategy dangerous?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

How do we manage our boundaries and temptations and avoid crossing the line into sin?

THREE PRINCIPLES (I CORINTHIANS 6)

  1. The Help Principle (6:12a). Some things, even if they are within the boundaries of the law of God, are to be avoided simply because they do not build up the individual toward spiritual maturity or because they do not help others.
  2. The Habit Principle (6:12b). Some things are wrong because they are habit-forming. They take control over a person’s life. [II PETER 2:19 – “a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him”] ROMANS 6:16 – “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey–whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?”
  3. The Holiness Principle (6:15-20). – Some things are wrong for the believer simply because they do not honor or please God.

SEVEN QUESTIONS

  1. Would Jesus put his name on this for a stamp of approval? (Colossians 3:17)
  2. Does this fall into the classification of good thinking? (Philippians 4:8)
  3. Will this degrade or defile the temple of the Holy Spirit? (I Corinthians 6:19) Does this have the “smell” of evil on it? (1 Thessalonians 5:22)
  4. Will this sooner or later make a slave out of me? (I Corinthians 9:27)
  5. Is it spiritually beneficial or does it have the potential to control me? (1 Corinthians 6:12)
  6. Does it benefit others? (Romans 15:1-2; Philippians 2:3)
  7. Will my indulgence in this prevent someone from accepting Christ as Savior or tend to weaken someone’s faith? (I Cor. 8:9-13)

Remember what Paul says in Romans 14:22 “Happy is he that condemns not himself in that thing that he allows.”

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  1. Of those temptations of youth we mentioned previously, which are most difficult for you?
  2. What steps can you learn from this lesson to avoid crossing the line from temptation into sin?
  3. Say a prayer for God to show you a) ways to FLEE from your personal temptations, b) show you holy things on which you can FOCUS your thoughts, energy and time in pursuit, and c) to give you good Christian friends who are also seeking purity in their relationship with God.

TOUCH POINTS

  1. We often imitate what we see others do rather than seek guidance from God and God’s Word.
  2. If we don’t set our own goals, someone will set our goals for us. Satan’s goal for us is self-destruction.
  3. In temptation we often want to clearly know the boundaries so that we can get as close to the boundary as possible. God’s goal in setting boundaries is not so that we can get as close to those boundaries as possible, but so that we know where they are and can keep a safe distance.
  4. Sometimes things do not turn out as we planned. When we are trying to get so close to the boundaries the chances of us crossing over are very high. (e.g. In this game sometimes the coin lands on the edge and rolls, sometimes we underestimate distance, strength, or how slippery the floor is.)
  5. To get as close to the boundary as possible is the wrong objective. We should seek to stay as far from temptation as possible to avoid crossing over into sin.
  6. The hype of temptation may be greater than what we actually receive. It may be enjoyable but it is fleeting and the more we get of it, the less satisfying it becomes.
  7. No one said you had to toss the coin. You just followed an example. The way to ensure we do not cross the boundary is to remain in control and set our own boundaries a safe distance away from sin.
  8. We need to recognize that we are drawn toward sin. (James 1:14)
  9. A key to handling temptation is mention by Paul to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:22:
    A) Flee – Flee the evil desires of youth
    B) Focus – pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace and
    C) Fellowship – along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

ILLUSTRATIONS

  1. In the comic strip “Cathy”, Cathy loves candy. In one story line, Cathy is trying to avoid the temptation of eating candy:

Cathy goes for a drive to get her mind off the temptation of eating candy.
She thinks, “I’ll go for a drive, but I won’t stop at the grocery store.
Next frame, “I’ll drive past, but I won’t stop.”
Next frame, “I’ll stop, but I won’t go inside.”
Then, “I’ll go inside, but I won’t go down the candy aisle.”
“I’ll go down the candy aisle, but I’ll just look. I won’t pick up any candy.”
“I’ll pick up the candy, but I won’t buy it.”
“I’ll buy it but I won’t open it.”
“I’ll open it, but I won’t smell it.”
“I’ll smell it but not taste it.”
“I’ll taste it but not eat it.”
Then in the last frame “EAT EAT EAT EAT”
So much for avoiding temptation.

Too often, we deal with temptation in the same way as Cathy… getting closer and closer until we can no longer resist and yield to the temptation.

a. If you were to design a similar comic strip with one of those temptations we mentioned that youth of today face, what might be some of the steps in the process of a youth being lured to indulging in the temptation?
b. In each of these real-life scenarios that youth of today face, what could be done differently? How could we break the cycle at different stages in the temptation?

  1. The boy was standing near an open box of peanut butter cookies.
    “Now then, young man,” said the grocer as he approached the young boy.
    “What are you up to?”
    “Nothing,” replied the boy: “Nothing.”
    “Well it looks to me like you were trying to take a cookie.”
    “Oh you’re so wrong, mister, …. I’m trying not to!”

SCRIPTURE

  • 2 Timothy 2:22 – “Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lordd out of a pure heart.”
  • 1 Corinthians 6:12 – “I have the right to do anything,” you say–but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”–but I will not be mastered by anything.”
  • 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 – “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.””
  • 1 Corinthians 9:27 – “No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
  • 1 Corinthians 10:13 – “No temptation[a] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[c] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:22 – “reject every kind of evil.”
  • Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
  • Galatians 5:1 – “Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
  • James 1:13-16 – “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.”
  • James 4:7 – “Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
  • James 4:17 – “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”
  • Philippians 2:3 – “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
  • Philippians 4:8 – “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
  • Proverbs 17:27 – “The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered.”
  • Romans 6:12-14, 22 – “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” “But now having been set free from sin, and having become servants to God, you have your fruit of holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”
  • Romans 13:14 – “Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.”
  • Romans 14:22-23 – “So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
  • Romans 15:1-2 – “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good, to build them up.”

INTERESTING QUOTES RELATED TO TEMPTATION

  • “If thou wouldst conquer thy weakness, thou must never gratify it. No man is compelled to evil: his consent only makes it his. It is no sin to be tempted, but to be overcome.” – William Penn
  • “Our minds are mental greenhouses where unlawful thoughts, once planted, are nurtured and watered before being transplanted into the real world of unlawful actions… These actions are savored in the mind long before they are enjoyed in reality. The thought life, then, is our first line of defense in the battle of self-control.” – Jerry Bridges
  • “Every time I say ‘no’ to a small temptation, I strengthen my will to say ‘no’ to a greater one.” – Mother Angelica
  • “He who chooses the beginning of the road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determines the end.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick
  • “He who chooses the beginning of the road chooses the place it leads to. It is the means that determines the end.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick
  • “In the last analysis it is not the temptations that meet us on the streets that determine our conduct; it is the heart of the man who faces them. Two men may face the same conditions; one falls, the other stands. The difference is not in the temptation but in the heart of the man.” – Martyn Lloyd-Jones
  • “The first degree [of temptation] relates to the mind – it is dragged away from its duties by the deceit of sin. The second aims at the affections – they are enticed and entangled. The third overcomes the will – the consent of the will is the conception of actual sin. The fourth degree disrupts our way of life as sin is born into it. The fifth is the flesh’s goal, a hardened life of sin, which leads to eternal death (James 1:14-15).” – Kris Lundgaard
  • “Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair.” – Martin Luther
  • “It’s easier to avoid temptation then to resist it.” – Bill Shannon
  • “It’s easier to resist temptation at a distance than when it is near.” – Unknown

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

A 200-page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…

Guiding Others – A Story of Two Horses

Are we guiding others?

This tale reminds us that we must care for one another, not only with their needs, but also by guiding others along the right path in life.

Two Horses

On a forgotten country road, there is a field, with two horses in it.

From a distance, each horse looks like any other horse. But if you look closer you will notice something quite interesting.

One of the horses is blind.

The horse’s owner has chosen not to have him put down. Instead he has built a safe and comfortable barn for him to live in.

This alone is pretty amazing. But if you stand nearby and listen, you will hear the sound of a bell. The sound is coming from a smaller horse in the field.

Attached to the smaller horse’s halter is a copper-colored bell. It lets the blind friend know where the smaller horse is, so he can follow.

If you take a moment to stand and watch these two friends, you’ll see that the horse with the bell is always checking on the blind horse. The blind horse listens for the bell.  He then slowly walks to where the other horse is, trusting he will not be led astray.

Each evening the horse with the bell returns to the shelter of the barn. On the way, he will occasionally stop to look back. He is making sure that the blind friend isn’t too far behind to hear the bell.

We all need people we can depend on when we face struggles in life. Sometimes we are the guide. And sometimes we need others to guide us. Listen for my bell and I’ll listen for yours.

Scriptures on Helping Others and Guiding Others

Helping Others

  • Hebrews 6:10 – “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”
  • Luke 6:38 – “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
  • Matthew 25:44-45 – “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ ” He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'”
  • Isaiah 58:10-11 – “Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.”

Guiding Others

  • Ephesians 4:2 – “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:11 – “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
  • Galatians 6:2 – “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
  • 1 Corinthians 12:25 – “There should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.”
  • Philippians 2:3-5 – “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.”
  • Proverbs 12:26 – “The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray.” (NLT)
  • Proverbs 17:17 – “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (ESV)
  • Proverbs 18:24 – “Some friends don’t help, but a true friend is closer than your own family.” (CEV)
  • Luke 6:31 – “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.” (NASB)
  • Romans 15:1 – “We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.”
  • Isaiah 58:10-11 – “Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon. The LORD will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.”

Lessons from “Father May I?”

Father May I?

This is a paternal variation of the classic children’s game: Mother, May I?  Use it for Father’s Day or simply to talk about our relationship with the Heavenly Father.

What to do

If you have played the classic game you know that everyone starts out across the room, at an equal distance from mother.  Whoever is mother calls out a person’s name and asks them to take X number of steps forward. If the person steps forward without saying “Mother May I?” he or she is penalised or sent back to the start. However if he or she remembers to say the magic words, mother will reply with directions to take X number of baby steps, ballerina steps, giant steps, scissor steps, spinning steps, crab steps, etc. The first youth to reach mother wins.

Play a variation of the game, where the children or youth don’t ask mother, but instead ask “Father May I?”

Discussion

  • Who make the decisions in your house? Father or mother?
  • On what basis do parents make their decisions?
  • What are the possible consequences of making decisions on our own with guidance from parents?

Take it to the Next Level

Make it Spiritual

How is this game similar to walking with God? In the Bible, the word “walk” is often used to describe our relationship with the Heavenly Father. We don’t stand still nor does God intend for us to go backwards. Sometimes God may ask us to take baby steps, and other times we may need to take a leap of faith. Just like the game, the outcome is a result of our paying attention to God’s instructions and seeking permission before we move.

Make it Practical
In our relationship with the Heavenly Father, if we move without asking first, we may misstep, go in the wrong directions, or experience other unwanted consequences which take us away from the Father. Instead of moving nearer we end up farther away. We draw closer to God when we learn to listen to Him and seek his permission before we move.  Then the actions we take will bring us closer to Him!

Make it Personal

  • What step is God asking you to take today?
  • Does it feel like a baby or giant step?
  • Are you seeking God’s voice, in the direction you are taking in life?
  • How can you become more attentive to his voice and his guidance?
  • What is an area of your life you need to seek God’s permission and guidance in?

Scripture
My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me. – John 10:27 (NIV)

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan not only your next Father’s Day event, but also other common holidays. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for the holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

God’s Embroidery – What’s your Perspective?

Many times our lives seem like a mess and it’s often our mothers who come to our rescue. We don’t always see the wisdom in the things they tell us to do and sometimes we think that we’re smarter than they are. But we often forget that many times, they see life through the lens of their rich life experiences. Often, it is only later, when we look back, that we appreciate their wisdom and guidance. What is true of mothers, is even more true of God.

God’s Embroidery – An illustration

When I was a little boy, my mother used to embroider a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. I told her that it looked like a mess from where I was. As from the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop that she held in her hand, I complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat. She would smile at me, look down and gently say, “My son, you go about your playing for a while, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side.”

I would wonder why she was using some dark threads along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few minutes would pass and then I would hear Mother’s voice say, “Son, come and sit on my knee.”

This I did only to be surprised and thrilled to see a beautiful flower or a sunset. I could not believe it, because from underneath it looked so messy.

Then Mother would say to me, “My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a pre-drawn plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing.”

Many times through the years I have looked up to my Heavenly Father and said, “Father, what are You doing?” He has answered, “I am embroidering your life.” I say, “But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can’t they all be bright?”

The Father seems to tell me, “‘My child, you go about your business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side.”

Author Unknown

A Learning Activity

  1. Ask the youth to imagine a big clock on the ceiling, the kind with hands on it.
  2. Ask the youth to then imagine the second hand moving around the clock in a clockwise direction.
  3. Ask everyone to reach out their hand and finger and point at the clock, and move their hands in a circle in the same direction the clock hand would be moving. (Demonstrate this for the group to see)
  4. Ask the youth to slowly lower their hand and finger to chest level, all the time still pointing at the celing and rotating their hand in the same direction.
  5. Now ask them to look at their finger and to tell you if their finger is rotating clockwise or counterclockwise?
  6. The answer: counterclockwise!

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

 
Make it Spiritual

  • What changed during the activity? – The youth’s finger has NOT changed it’s direction during the activity, but the perspective has changed.
  • Have there been experiences in your life that seemed messy, chaotic, without any apparent plan? Explain.
  • What are some of the lessons your mom has taught you? Did some of them seem to make no sense at the time?
  • Are there some things in the Bible that you once found difficult to undertand?
  • What are some ways that a mom or parents have a different perspective from a child or youth?
  • What lessons from your Mom or from the Bible now make sense because you have a different perspective?
  • What are some ways in which God has a different perspective from us?
  • What do you think some of the famous Bible personalities might say about this lesson? Jonah swallowed by a fish? Joseph sold into slavery? Israelites marching around Jericho and blowing trumpets? The disciples at Christ’s crucifixtion? Paul on the Road to Damascus? Moses in front of the red sea?

Make it Spiritual

  • What are some of the lessons for life we can learn from this story and the activity?

Make it Personal

  • Maybe there are some things in life that you don’t understand now. Maybe there are some things that look messy and without a plan. What is an area of your life where you need to trust in God’s perspective on things?
  • Take a moment this week to thank God for having a plan for your life, and working things out for your good.
  • Take a moment this week to thank your mother for also having a plan to raise you well and to help you to have the best things in life, for having faith in you and putting all those things in place so that one day you might be amazed and delighted at God’s plan for you.

Scriptures

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” – Proverbs 3:5-6

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:2

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; …” – Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

“Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” – Psalm 139:16

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” – Proverbs 16:9

“But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him'” – 1 Corinthians 2:9

 


Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan not only your next Mother’s Day event, but also other common holidays. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for the holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Pumpkin Picasso

Game Description

How well can you draw the Halloween Jack-o-Lantern?  Here is a great youth game idea for the Halloween season. You can use it to bring a fresh spiritual meaning to the holiday and allow your youth to apply it to seeking God’s plan and direction for their lives. You could even relate it to a talk about not conforming to the patterns of the world. Be creative and have a great week!  And for those completely adverse to anything associated with Halloween, see the alternative variation under the “preparation” section.

Game Materials

  • Paper
  • Colored pens or pencils
  • Several different Pumpkin Faces (Drawings or actual pumpkins)
  • One blindfold for each team

Game Preparation

Create several different pumpkin jack-o-lantern faces either by drawing them or by cutting them into actual pumpkins. The more intricate and detailed the face, the more difficult it will be for participants.

Variation: If you are adverse to having anything even remotely associated with Halloween, you can use the shapes of natural fallen leaves from various trees or simple images from a Children’s Bible Story book.

Game Play

  1. Divide your church youth group into various teams or into couples.
  2. Have each youth team choose one “Picasso” who will draw the pumpkin face.
  3. Blindfold all the Picasso’s
  4. Reveal the carved pumpkin or the sketched pumpkin Jack-O-lantern face.
  5. Teams must instruct their blindfolded “Picasso” using words only how to draw the pumpkin face on a piece of paper. (No touching is allowed).
  6. You might want to give the teams 2 or 3 minutes to complete their masterpieces.
  7. Compare the final masterpieces drawn by the youth to the actual pumpkin or original drawing and the one that is closest to the original wins!
  8. Swap roles and have a new “Picasso” to play again!

Variation

  1. Allow team members to roam about the room and try to distract or give incorrect instructions to opposing teams. But beware, this can get very noisy! (In the debrief, you can discuss the distractions and false instructions we face in life.)
  2. Give the Picasso 10 seconds one round to see the jack-o-lantern face before blindfolding them. Did it help them to better understand the instructions?
  3. Instead of judging which pumpkin is closest to the original, create a list of items to award various points:
    • 20 points for drawing a circle so that the line crossed or connected with itself
    • 10 points for each eye that was drawn INSIDE the circle.
    • 20 points for a stem that was actually on top of the pumpkin
    • 5 points for getting the mouth inside the circle
    • 5 points if the mouth was BELOW both of the eyes
    • 5 points for each eye that was the correct shape
    • 5 points for each mouth that was the correct shape
    • 5 points for getting the nose inside the circle
    • 5 points for putting the nose between the mouth and the eyes
    • 5 points for any triangle that is drawn
    • 1 point for each place that lines cross each other.
    • ETC

Take it to the Next Level

  • If you were able to see the desired result before putting on the blindfold would it have made a difference? Explain.
  • What role does “vision” play in accomplishing goals?
  • Was it more important – to focus on the big picture or the small details?
  • Did the person giving instructions do so clearly, orderly, and in a way that helped you achieve the desired results? Could any of the instructions have been clearer? How could the person giving instructions be more effective?

Make it Spiritual

  • Has God given us a pattern for life? Do we know what the end result is supposed to look like?
  • Does God focus more on the big picture or on the small steps needed to create the end result?
  • Are God’s instructions clear? Explain.
  • What can youth do to hear God more clearly?
  • Are there things in the lives of youth that obstruct God’s directions?
  • What are some of our standards for comparison for the Christian walk?

Make it Practical

  • Are there things in your life that are out of place?
  • Do you know what you are supposed to create with your life or do you feel you are struggling in the dark?
  • What are some of the references that have played the biggest role in how you have formed your own Christian life?
  • How will God judge the end results of your life?

Make it Personal

  • What is something you can do this week so that God can use you for greater results with your life?

Scripture References

“but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.” – Jeremiah 7:23

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” – John 10:27-30

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebookCreative Youth Ideas – Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection