This is much like the classic game, but it adds some twists to make it more challenging for an older audience. Play “Simon Says” with the following variations.

Preparation: None

Set-up: Select Simon

Play:

Round 1: Cluster together a sequence of actions to make it harder for your players to complete the whole command. The way you phrase your commands can also be a way to make it even more confusing for your players, helping create an even more engaging experience. Try these examples (and maybe prepare a few of your own before class):

• • Say hello, after you touch your head, before hopping three times on one leg.
  • Clap three times once you’re done flapping your arms like a chicken
  • Write your name in the air using your right arm, but make sure you add a butt-wiggle between each letter
  • Hold your breath for 10 seconds as you spin counterclockwise, after counting from one to 10 backwards

Round 2: Divide the class in half, have them form two lines and then face one another. This way, there’s the added challenge of decoding your commands versus either ignoring or following what the other person is doing. If they get confused and end up taking cues from the player in front of them, then there’s a 50-50 chance they could get it totally wrong!

Round 3: Simon Moves Too! – Another fun way to make it even more confusing for your players is if you join in on the actions! Every time you give a command, stand up in front of your players and perform an action that’s completely different from the command you gave!

This game helps to illustrate the value of listening closely to directions. An added element halfway through introduces the value to choosing which voice you listen to. 

Preparation: You’ll need a blindfold and some items to act as “barriers” for the obstacle course. You might use chairs, coats, bags, water bottles, or anything else available. In a pinch, you can have the students all remove their shoes and use those to mark the path out!

Set up: Ask for two volunteers; one will walk through the course blindfolded while the other person gives them directions. Blindfold the first person, and then build the obstacle course path. Consider having the class help you build the course.

Play: 

1. The direction-giving volunteer leads the blindfolded person to the start of the course by hand. 
2. The direction-giving volunteer must stay at the start line throughout the exercise, giving the blindfolded person verbal directions for how to complete the course. 
3. For the first half of the course, only the direction-giving volunteer can speak. After that, allow the rest of the class to provide “bad” directions to the blindfolded volunteer to try and confuse them. This occurs while the direction-giving volunteer continues to try and provide “good” directions. One rule during this time: no yelling by anyone.
4. The game is over when the blindfolded person reaches the end.

This game is about working together as a team. 

Set up: Mark off a distance on the floor about 20 feet apart. Divide the students into teams of 3. 

Play: The object of the game is for each team to cross from one point to the other with only the correct number of limbs or body parts touching the floor. Give them up to 2 minutes to strategize and complete each challenge. It is not a race; completing each challenge is “winning”! Begin with easy combinations, gradually becoming more complicated: 

• 4 feet only
• 4 feet and 2 hands
• 3 feet
• 2 feet and 4 hands
• …make your own variation (you can make it as easy or difficult as you like.)

This is a game that illustrates the futility of working hard but getting nowhere. Odds are that no one will win this game.

Preparation: You will need 4 bowls (or cups) and 80 pennies.

Set up: Divide the class into 4 teams. Each team gets a bowl with 20 pennies in it.

Play: The last team with pennies in their bowl (i.e., they have all the pennies) – wins! 

1. One player from team 1 will get 15 seconds to run around and steal pennies from the other team.
   • They can only take 1 penny at a time.
   • They can not take a penny from the same team in succession (i.e., cannot take 1 penny from team 2, then immediately take another penny from team 2.)
   • After 15 seconds, place all the pennies that they stole into their team’s bowl.
2. Continue with one player from team 2, then team 3, then team 4.
   • Always one person at a time to avoid collisions.
   • Note: A team is eliminated when all of their pennies are gone.
3. After each team has gone once, continue with the second person for each team.
4. Continue until all players have taken a turn.
   • If you have a small class, you can play additional rounds.
   • Since it is likely no one will win, have a time limit for the game in mind and let that determine how many rounds to play.

This is an excellent team building activity. It will help them express their ideas and opinions and listen to others.

Set up: Have everyone stand in a tight circle, then have each person extend both hands into the middle of the circle. Each person will grab the hands of two different people. (Note: if there are more than 8-10 students in class, consider breaking them up into 2 groups.)

Play: Without letting go of each other’s hands, unravel the knot and make a circle. This may involve climbing over or crawling under each other’s interlocked arms. Good communication is the key; if they don’t do this well then they may become even more entangled.

This is a good game to get the students up and moving – and it helps them to learn more about one another.

Set up: Have the students stand in a circle with one of the teachers in the middle. Put some kind of position marker, such as a piece of paper, at each position where someone is standing in the circle.

Play: The person in the middle is the caller. They will say a true statement about something that they have done in life, such as “I ride the bus to school” or “I have played on a soccer team”. If that statement is true for anyone else on the circle perimeter, then:

• They must step into the center of the circle.
• Everyone in the circle, including the caller, must move to another “open” place in the circle.
  • One cannot move to the spot right next to where they are. In other words, the “new” spot that you move to must be at least 2 positions away.
• The person who doesn’t make it into an “open” place in the circle becomes the new caller. They now say a true statement about themselves and the game continues.

This game is well-suited for lessons that are content-rich. You can play it “open book” (i.e. students can use their Bibles) or not.

Preparation: Come up with several questions based on the lesson for the day.

Set-up: Divide the students into two teams and have each team select a spokesperson and a plunderer. The spokesperson will be the person who gives the team’s official answer. The plunderer will be the person who gets to steal candy from the other team – when allowed! Give each team several pieces of candy to start, placing it in a pile in a central location for each team. They cannot divide the candy amongst the team until the end of the game.

Play: Ask the first team a question.

• If they get it correct, award them with several more pieces of candy.
• If they get it wrong, the opposing team gets a chance to answer the same question.
  • If the opposing team gets it correct, then they get to “plunder” the other team. Tell the plunderer how many pieces of candy they get to steal.
  • If the opposing team gets the question wrong, then nothing happens (i.e. no penalty).

Proceed with asking the next question to the second team, and so on until all questions are exhausted. Give them a time limit for answering each question, something like 30 to 60 seconds.

A simple, quick game that helps the class to learn more about one another in a silly way.

Set up: The group stands in a circle.

Play: The teacher then asks a range of silly questions and people sit down if they have answered yes to the question. Questions can be as strange or random as you like, for example: “did you eat cheese today?”.  The last person standing wins a prize.

This is a quick competition game that gets the students up and moving, and makes them work together. This game is best when the class has about 10 students or more.

Set up: Divide the class into two teams. Then have each team line up in a particular order (e.g. shortest to tallest). 

Play: When the teacher says “go”, the first person in the line will clap their hands once. After the first person claps, then the second person will clap once. After the second person claps, then the third person will clap – and so on. When it reaches the last person in line, they will clap twice. The first team to finish wins.

• Play additional rounds by having the students line up in a different order. For example, have them line up by birth date (month & day), or alphabetically by first name, or by shoe size, etc. Or simply have them switch direction within a given schema (e.g., go from shortest to tallest – to tallest to shortest).

This game works well with getting the students accustomed to using their Bibles to look up passages of Scripture. It tends to take a theme and illustrate several examples of that throughout the Bible. To level the playing field, ensure everyone has the same type of Bible, either hard-copy or digital.

Preparation: Develop a list of several thematic situations based on the lesson for the day. Write down the situation and the passage of scripture where the answer can be found.

Set-up: Divide the students into two or more teams and have each team select a spokesperson. The spokesperson will be the person who gives the team’s official answer.

Play: Read the situation/clue and provide the accompanying scripture reference. The first team to answer correctly wins points/candy! If you have some young Bible scholars in your class who might dominate this sort of game, consider instituting a rule where a team cannot answer more than 1 question in a row to give everyone a chance.

A team must cross a “dangerous swamp” while remaining connected to one another and only stepping on “islands”. Good team building game.

Preparation: You will need something to represent the “islands”. Could be carpet squares, large sheets of construction paper, or you could create squares on the floor using painters tape. 

Set up: Say something like, “You have come to a deep swamp filled with dangerous leeches that have giant appetites. Luckily there is a line of islands that reach across the swamp. Your team must cross the islands to reach the other side. There are a few catches. Your team must hold hands while any one is on any of the islands to make sure no one falls in and after a foot touches an island that island must have a foot on it at all times until the last team member removes his foot. On the other side of the swamp is your source of transportation home.”

Play:

1. The game begins when the entire team is connected (holding hands), and they must remain this way the entire time.
2. If any member of the team touches the “swamp” at any time during the game the entire team must start over at the starting line.
3. Once the team has touched an “island”, a member of the team must always have contact with that “island” (a foot on it) until the last team member passes that “island.”
4. The team successfully completes the initiative when every team member makes it past the finish line using only the “islands”- with no “swamp” touches, “island” misses, or disconnections.

This game works well with getting the students accustomed to using their Bibles to look up passages of Scripture. To level the playing field, ensure everyone has the same type of Bible, either hard-copy or digital. 

Preparation: Have a list of scriptures including the text, so that you know for sure that the student actually found the right verse.

Set-up: Divide the students into two or more teams and have each team select a spokesperson. The spokesperson will be the person who gives the team’s official answer. 

Play: Everyone starts with their Bible held in one hand above their head. (This keeps people from trying to cheat and get a head start!) Read the scripture reference. The teams will then race to look up the passage of scripture. You may have the students simply read the scripture, or answer some question based on the text that they read. The first team to answer correctly wins points/candy! If you have some young Bible scholars in your class who might dominate this sort of game, consider instituting a rule where a team cannot answer more than 1 question in a row to give everyone a chance.

This game helps clearly show how small misconceptions can end up making a huge difference, serves as a springboard for discussing the importance of active listening, and basically generates laughs and helps the class to relax.

Preparation: No special preparations required, except deciding if there are any special phrases you may want to use.

Set up: Players must sit in a circle or stand in a straight line. They need to be close enough that whispering is possible, but not so close that players can hear each other whisper.

Play: Remember that the word or phrase can only be whispered once, so players must pay close attention. The first person in the line or circle whispers a word or phrase into the ear of the person sitting or standing to their right. Players whisper the phrase to their neighbors until it reaches the last player in line. The last player says the word or phrase out loud so everyone can hear how much it has changed from the first whisper at the beginning of the circle or line.

The aim of this challenge is for the team to try and retrieve 6 cups of water from around the room and place them in a specified location without spilling any of it. During the task, each person is only allowed to use only one hand and one leg to complete the task. This is great for working on problem solving and communication. 

Note: This ideally works for groups of 6-12; for larger groups, consider breaking them into smaller groups and increasing the amount of supplies you bring (e.g., if you break your class into 2 groups of 8 each, then you’ll need 12 cups of water).

Preparation: You will need 6 paper cups, each filled about ¾ with water, as well as a towel or paper towels to clean-up any spilled water.

Set-up: Place 3 cups of water on the ground at one end of the room, and 3 cups of water at the opposite side of the room on the ground. Designate a central location where the team must place all of the cups of water.

Play: 

1. They will have no more than 10 minutes to complete the task.
2. Each person in the team can only use just one hand and one foot for the duration of the challenge. 
3. The group is only allowed to retrieve one cup at a time and must alternate sides of the room.
4. If they spill any water, then that cup must be returned to the starting point.
5. The game is over when all 6 cups are successfully placed in the designated area.

Useful tip: Most of the time, groups will try to hop with the water cups which results in water spillage. The best way of completing this task is for the group to form a chain and pass the water cup down the line and then reverse the chain to the opposite and repeat until they have retrieved all of the cups.

This is a fun game that encourages healthy team debating and decision making as they decide how best to answer the question.

Preparation: Print a list of sample questions – make 2 copies.

Set up: Divide the class into 2 teams. Give each team a list of questions; some sample questions are provided below. You can create your own as well. Use caution if you let the 

students come up with their own questions, as they might get nonsensical or inappropriate.

Play: One team asks the other team a question. The opposing team must decide, as a team, how to answer the question and provide justification for their answer. Then the next team takes their turn and asks a question.

Sample questions: Would you rather…