Game Idea Helps Make Bible Learning Fun

Here’s an idea for a Bible knowledge game that can be lots of fun for smaller classes of children and young teens. It is played on a "game board" that you set up using sheets of colored construction paper right on the floor of your classroom. It gets the kids out of their chairs and allows them to move around and have fun while testing their knowledge of Bible questions. It also helps them hear new facts about the scriptures.

You will need an equal number of five different colors of construction paper. About 6 or 8 of each color seems to work well. The number of sheets that you use will be determined by the space that you have available to lay out the "game board" on the floor of your classroom. Arrange the sheets in a circle, oval or other connected loop on the floor (you will want several inches of space between each sheet). The five different colors of paper should be spaced randomly throughout the circle. (You don’t really want colors in any set order.) Once you have arranged the sheets into a circle or other design, place a small loop of masking tape under each sheet to keep it in place.

You will need a "color cube." You can create a cube out of cardboard, tape and colored construction paper or you can find a cube or dice and color the sides with a marker. If you are making you own cube, each side should be about 4 inches square. After you cut, fold and tape the cube, cut a square of each of the five colors of construction paper that you have used for the "game board" (make each square the same size as the side of the cube.) Cut a sixth square from a color not used for the "game board." Glue the six squares on to the cube.

To play the game, ask each player to select one of the spaces anywhere on the "game board." They should write their name on that piece of construction paper to indicate it as the place where they started. Each person then stands on that sheet to start the game. It doesn’t matter where anyone starts. Everyone has to go completely around the circle to win. The first one back to their starting sheet "wins."

In turn, the teacher or leader asks each player a question. (Books of Bible questions are available at Christian bookstores. You could also use the cards from a "Bible Trivia" game. Or, you could prepare questions related to your lesson or to review the previous quarter’s study.) If the player answers the question correctly, they get to roll the color cube. They then get to move (decide on the direction that everyone will be going; everyone must go in the same direction) to the next board space of that color - if that space is available! There can be only one person standing on each space. If the space where they should go is occupied, they must wait until their next turn when they have to answer another question and roll the cube again, if they get the question right. The color on the cube that is not on the "game board" is "wild." There are two ways that you can designate the "wild" color. You could say that if the person rolls that color they lose their turn. Or, you could say that if they roll that color, they can choose any one color and move to the next space of that color on the board.

(This article appeared in the "Winter, 1994-95" issue of "The Herald.")