Ok, who can relate? Sunday morning, you woke up late, you have a million things still on your to-do list, a big Sunday ahead, and oh yeah, you forgot about the game(s)? What game are the kids going to play this week? Maybe you can just skip the game? WHAT?! No, it’s their favorite part of the day! But how are you going to figure out a game and do everything else you need to do in….ONE HOUR!?
Don’t worry! 😊 Below you will find a bunch of “no-prep” Sunday School games! Because let’s face it, we all run into those days when we run out of time more often than we’d like to admit.
Game Videos For Kids Church
Children's Ministry Deals has over 100 game videos for kids church that you can download right now! There are fun Bible Trivia Games as well as silly games like Dance Dance Freeze, Sloth Race, and Will It Crush? These games can be great to use as part of your service or as a fun activity if big church is running long.
FREE Bible Scavenger Hunts
Bible Scavenger Hunts are a great way to challenge kids to compete while also learning about the Bible. You can download a FREE Bible Scavenger Hunt for every book of the Bible so you'll be set whenever you need an extra activity in Kids Church.
Four Corners
- There is one “counter” who hides their eyes by the door and counts to ten, in that time everyone else picks a corner to stand in (which are labeled ahead of time as one, two, three, and four).
- Once the counter has finished counting to ten, before opening their eyes, they pick a corner, everyone in that corner is then out.
- When it gets down to 4 kids or less, they cannot share corners, they each must pick a new different corner every time.
- This goes on until everyone, but one person is out. The winner then becomes the counter for the next round.
You can also download some pre-made Four Corners Game Videos here!
Everyone Is It
- It’s just that simple, everyone is it!
- They have three minutes; everyone is trying to tag as many people as they can in the three minutes and keeps a running count by calling out the next number each time they tag someone (1! 2! 3! Etc.).
- In the end, the person who tagged the most people wins.
- Rock, paper, scissors for tiebreakers.
Building Challenge
Who doesn’t have those white Styrofoam cups lying around?! Exactly, everyone does! Use them for this game!
- Divide the class into two teams. Each team gets one cup per kid.
- Ask the teams a question. The question could be about anything, the lesson, a song, a holiday, the town you’re in, the church staff, anything.
- The first team to answer the question correctly gets to go and place their cup on the table.
- The first team to build a tower with all of their cups wins (or the tallest tower when you run out of time or questions)!
Telephone
Also, a good lesson on what happens when we gossip.
- Split the group into two even teams.
- They should all be standing in two separate lines.
- Whisper to the kids on the same end of the line a phrase (e.g. Jesus loves you, ducks drive daring doughnuts, or the weather is beautiful today).
- They must then whisper it to the next person in line, and this continues until it gets all the way down to the last person in the line.
- Once both lines have finished, bring the last two people up and have them say what they heard out loud to everyone.
- It hilariously, usually ends up being drastically different.
Bible Verse Eraser
- Once kids have learned their Bible verse, write it on a white or chalkboard.
- Then give each child a turn to come up and erase one word from the verse.
- This continues until there are no more words left on the board.
- Viola! They have memorized their Bible verse and played a game at the same time!
What’s Your Name…? Backwards?
This could also be a great icebreaker as the kids are arriving before you get started!
- Have them say their name…. but backwards, and then if they are new you try to guess the correct name but saying it the right way.
Bless You, Bless You, Amen!
AKA Duck, Duck, Goose!
Have the kids play the well-known game Duck, Duck, Goose, but instead call it Bless You, Bless You, Amen! All the kids sit in a circle and one kid is the “blesser”. The blesser walks around the circle tapping the other kids' heads, each time the kid taps someone’s head they say “Bless You” until they randomly tap a kid who they decide they would like to trade places with! When they tap the person they want they say “Amen” and run around the circle. The kid who was tapped must get up and chase the blesser. If they catch the blesser, then the blesser stays in and they keep their spot in the circle, if not, the blesser then gets to take that person’s spot.
What or Who Am I?
This could be played as who or what, it just depends on what you can come up with! You can write names from the Bible story, animals, cartoons, celebrities, or it could be random objects. Just make sure they are things kids will be familiar with.
- Take as many sticky notes as you have kids & write names/items on the sticky notes.
- Then have each child put one on their forehead without looking.
- No one can tell anyone who they are, everyone must guess.
- The kids then begin taking turns to ask questions leading them to discover who or what they are.
Hot Potato
You can never go wrong with hot potato and their favorite worship song! Use a ball, a potato, a stuffed animal, a bean bag, a pillow…. anything you have laying around will work! It gets them engaged and listening to worship music at the same time! They start passing the potato clockwise when the music starts and when you (or your leader) stop the music if they have the “potato” they are out! This goes until everyone has gotten the potato.
Would You Rather?
This game never gets old! You can always change up the questions to something different! Here are a few examples:
- Would you rather it be winter or summer?
- Would you rather sing or read?
- Would you rather make a craft or play a game?
- Would you rather fly a kite or ride a scooter?
- Would you rather be a carpenter or a fisherman?
- Would you rather be able to fly like a bird or swim like a fish?
I Spy with My Beautiful Eye
You can use what is in the room or if you have a little bit of time, place some random props and things around the room!
Choose one kid to be the person who “spies” so they stand at the front of the room and say “I spy with my beautiful eye…” then, they pick something in the room and say the color, and then the rest of the kids have to try and guess what they are looking at. It could be anything! The kid who guesses what they were looking at is the winner and gets to go “spy” next!
Scrap Ball
It is exactly what it sounds like! Take a scrap piece of paper and crumple it up into a ball! Then have all the kids sit in a circle. Hand the ball off to one kid and that kid has to throw it to someone else and ask them a question, when they catch the ball they have to answer it. This continues until each kid has answered a question. It can be any question! A question about them, a question about the story you learned, a question about their week, anything!
Bible Verse Pop Up
Give each child a word in the verse you are learning, and if you have more kids than words in the verse then just assign two kids the same word. Have them crouch down along the wall and then as you read the verse have them pop up when you say their word.
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