Sunday School or Bible Clubs > Games > 15 Spur of the moment games that require no preparation and use basic supplies to review Sunday school lessons

There is nothing quite as terrifying as being in a room full of children with nothing to do!

It doesn’t really make any difference whether it was because you didn’t prepare enough, or that the preacher spoke too long. If you find yourself in that situation, you can use some of these ideas to make the time a learning experience.

Children Make Up Game Questions

Divide the children into one or more teams. Tell them to make up questions for the Bible story they heard that day. They need to also know the answer to the question, not just make up the question. That should keep the questions from being too hard to answer. Provide Bibles so they can check for accuracy. When both teams have had time to make up several questions, use any game (see board game ideas and game paraphernalia for this) Have the teams take turns asking each other questions. If the team that made up the question doesn’t know the answer, either dock points from that team, or make them miss a turn.

Who Am I?

This game doesn’t take any preparation if you are good at thinking on your feet.

Tell one thing about a Bible character you have taught about recently, but be careful not to say that person’s name. Then say, “Who am I?” See if the children can guess who it is. Keep giving clues until someone guesses “who you are.” If the children are capable of thinking up clues, the child who correctly identified the mystery person could be the one to give the next clues. This is a great game to play when you have more time for the class than you were expecting to have.

Charades

Divide the children into two or more teams. Tell each team which Bible story or which scene from the story to act out. The other team should guess which Bible story/scene they are acting out

Pictionary

Divide the children into 2 or more teams. Provide each team with paper and pencils or whiteboards. Have one volunteer from each team come to you and tell them an object or scene from that day’s Bible story, (or a review of the previous few week’s stories.) The children run back to their group and try to draw a picture of the object or scene. Assure them that stick figures are fine. The first team to correctly guess the word or phrase, wins that round. This is another raucous game and can continue for quite awhile. Although you can give points, the game is fun enough that no one seems to notice that there is no score being kept.

Fruit Basket Upset With a Twist

Set up chairs so there is one less chair than there are children. Get a volunteer to be the first child to stand, or you can be the first one. Make up a question, then say “Fruit Basket Upset.” (feel free to make up your own phrase if this one doesn’t fit your situation.) As soon as someone says, “Fruit Basket Upset,” everyone needs to jump up and change seats. The last person standing answers the question, then makes up a new question and says, “Fruit Basket Upset,” again. If it is too difficult for the children to make up a question, then you can be the one to make up questions. This is a raucous game, so don’t play it in a room next to an adult meeting! You can keep doing this until interest runs out, or people who can’t answer the question can drop out of the game and see who is the last standing.

Stump the Teacher

This idea differs from the “Children Make Up Game Questions” above in that they try to make up questions so hard that the teacher doesn’t know the answer. Divide the children into one or more teams. Tell them to make up questions for the Bible story they heard that day. They need to also know the answer to the question, not just make up the question. That should keep the questions from being too hard to answer. Provide Bibles so they can check for accuracy. When both teams have had time to make up several questions, use any game (see board game ideas and game paraphernalia for this) Have the teams take turns asking the teacher questions. If the team that made up the question doesn’t know the answer, either dock points from that team, or make them miss a turn. The team with the most incorrectly answered questions wins.

Sword Drill

Once the children have memorized the books of the Bible in order, give them practice finding verses in the Bible. Make sure each child is holding a Bible. Have them hold the Bible above their heads. Say a Bible reference 2 or 3 times, then say, “Go.” All the children try to be the first to find the reference and stand. That person then reads the verse out loud. Then call out the next verse.

Re-enact That Day’s Bible Story

It makes it more fun to have costumes and props, but you don’t have to have them. This differs from charades in that the children should be encouraged to speak. If it is a large group, you can divide them into smaller groups. It can be a contest to see which group can do the best job acting out the story, or you can assign each group a different story, and everyone can try to guess which story it is. Tell the children not to tell their answer until the skit is over, so everyone gets a chance to act. This is actually a good way to review lessons, and not just use it as a spur of the moment idea.

Application Skit

Rather than act out the Bible story, make up situations that children might find themselves in, and let them act out good ways to handle it and bad ways to handle it. You can use puppets or dolls instead of acting for variety, or if the children are too shy to act. When each skit is over, everyone in the audience can give it a thumbs up for a good way to handle it, and a thumbs down for bad ways to handle it (the bad ways are always more fun to act out, for some reason!) This is actually a good way to apply lessons, so you could plan to use the idea, and not just use it as a spur of the moment idea.

Use Puppets or Dolls to Act Out the Bible Story

This may be a better option than acting out the story for shy children who don’t have the confidence to act in front of their friends. With puppets, they get to hide behind a curtain. This is actually a good way to review lessons, too, and not just use it as a spur of the moment idea.

Draw Cartoons of That Day’s Bible Story

If you have a large group, you can divide them into smaller groups. Each person can draw the whole story, or each person in the group can draw one scene to make a booklet together (or kamishibai). It can be a contest to see which group can do the best job of drawing the story, or you can assign each group a different story, and everyone can try to guess which story it is. Or you can spread the pictures out, and everyone can try to guess which pictures go with which sets.

Application Cartoon

Rather than draw the Bible story, have them draw situations that apply the day’s lesson from the Bibile. Make up situations that children might find themselves in, and ask them to draw cartoons about those kinds of situations. Some children/groups can draw good ways to handle it and other children/groups can draw bad ways to handle it.

Memorize Books of the Bible

Until children memorize the order of all the books of the Bible, it is hard to find anything in the Bible. Using times like these to memorize books of the Bible can be a profitable use of time. Have them pair up, or divide into small groups, and make sure they all have Bibles. They can copy the books out of the table of contents, and work on memorizing portions of the long list. Giving prizes can help motivate, too.

Map Drill

Use odd bits of time to challenge children to find locations on a map or globe. You can either name locations in the maps in the backs of most Bibles, or you can ask for locations all over the world (good for missions emphasis and Pentecost.

Memorize Verses of the Bible

If children are encouraged to memorize verses, they are likely to remember them all their lives, and God can bring them to mind in various situations they may find themselves in in years to come. Have the children pair up, or work in small groups. They can copy the verses out of Bibles onto small pieces of paper, and try to put them in the right order. If you plan ahead, you can print out a copy for each group/pair. A stop watch comes in handy here for making it into a competition. Prizes can make it more fun, too.

Sunday School or Bible Clubs > Games > 15 Spur of the moment games to review Sunday school lessons