Bible Snakes and Ladders

• Bible Snakes and Ladders

  As part of your Sunday School program or children’s group get the children to learn some Bible memory verses.
  For example: John 3:16, Revelation 3:20, John 14:6, Psalm 23:1, John 1:1, Romans 3:23, Isaiah 53:6, Genesis 1:1
  (perhaps use a simplified translation for younger children)
  Use these texts for your Snakes and Ladders as follows:
  1. Have a Bible reference at the bottom of each ladder. If you land on that square you can only go up the ladder if you can quote the verse, otherwise stay where you are.
  2. Have a Bible text written out a the top of each snake.If  when landing on that square you can give the correct reference for the text, you do not go down the snake. If you cannot give the reference, you do go down the snake.
  The group could be divided into teams for this game and it could be played on an data projector or wall chart using counters or on the wall with makers which could stick on and be moved.

Share Prayer Ideas

• Share Prayer Ideas

  • Share teaspoon prayers… Give everyone a teaspoon and explain that a short way (abbreviation) of teaspoon is TSP.
  TSP prayers include Thanks God , Sorry God , Please God
  • Hand of prayer…
  Pointer finger- reminds us that our lives should point to God to thank and praise Him.
  Tall man (finger ) -The biggest finger reminds us to pray for people
  who are leaders …ministers, Sunday school teachers, teachers, Prime Minister/President…
  Ring finger – reminds us to pray for people you know who need prayer…parents, family, friends, missionaries, sick people.
  Little finger- reminds us to pray for ourselves, to ask God to be with us , to help us and to give us what we need to love and obey Him.
  • Silent hands confession
  With short silences and closed eyes move through this three-part confession.
  Fists should be clenched to help bring to mind wrong things we hold on tightly to .
  Turn fists downwards and open hands as a sign of letting go the things we are sorry for and repent of.
  Turn hands upward, with palms open, as a mark of receiving God’s forgiveness.
  • Arrow Prayers ( You will need cardboard arrow-shapes; pens)
  Sometimes when you’re in a difficult situation, feeling frightened or nervous, there’s no time to kneel and pray or to wait for a quiet time at the end of the day; you simply have to shoot an arrow prayer to God right away. Try to give your group some examples of when they might want to pray instant on-the-spot prayers. For example: whe you’re facing a fierce dog, when you’re nervous about reading something out loud. Talk about Nehemiah’s short prayer in Nehemiah 2:4-5 before he spoke to the king. Give all the children a cardboard arrow shape and encourage them to write the words of Psalm 31:22 along the shaft as a take home reminder that God hears even the shortest prayers.

Looking for an Easter Family Service idea?

Looking for an Easter Family Service idea?

A Family Service address with considerable involvement is as follows:

Worship leader begins telling a story (let’s say about a lost rabbit) only to be interrupted by two young folk offering a chocolate Easter Egg (as a thank-you or whatever).

Worship leader thanks young folk, notices that it is an Easter Egg with sweets (say, chocolate buttons) inside, and asks children (and adults) if they would like to open it in church so that the egg and the sweets inside could be shared.

Invite a child out to open the egg but youngster finds out that the egg is empty.

The shocked congregation soon grasp the surprise of the disciples who found an empty tomb. Opportunity for details to be offered by worship leader.

On a pre-arranged cue the original two young folk come forward with an apology and with the bag of chocolate buttons. They thought that they would eat them themselves and that worship leader would never notice they were missing. They didn’t think it would be opened in church!

Those in the congregation particularly the children – who had been hoping for a sweet are pleased at the discovery of the chocolates. As they are shared, the congregation is in a receptive mood to reflect on the joy of the disciples when they discovered that Jesus was alive again.

This idea is from The Church of Scotland website. Prepared by Rev Douglas Nicol .

The Ascension – Craft idea

Check out some great resources for either Sunday School or family devotions.
ChristianityCove.com

Here is one really good idea for a Craft activity at Easter which 

focuses on The Ascension.

Willing to die

A story to share at Easter

He died for another

Over two hundred years ago, the French Revolution brought fear and terror to France. Rich and powerful people – even the king and queen -were killed by the revolutionaries. Every day, hundreds of people were arrested, dragged from their homes and flung into horrible prisons. They were given hardly any chance to defend themselves, but were sent off to the guillotine to be killed.

Some of those who died probably deserved to be punished, for they had been cruelly thoughtless of the poor and hungry peasants and city workers. But in those terrible days, many good and honest people suffered, too.

Francois-Simon Liozerolles was a young man of twenty two when he and his father, General Loizerolles, were arrested.

First, young Liozerolles was tried. The case went against him and every morning he wondered if it would be his last.

One afternoon, tired and miserable, he flung himself on a couch to rest. His father sat beside him and talked calmly till he fell asleep. When he awoke he looked around for his father and excitedly asked some friends what had become of him. They told him.

While he slept, the tumbrils* had arrived and the warder entered with the list of those who were to die. The name of Francois-Simon Loizerolles was called. The General promptly stepped forward, saying, “I am Loizerolles”. He walked out and climbed in to the cart and was carried away to die.

It was then too late to correct the error. Within a week the reign of terror came to an end and young Loizerolles walked out free!

But he was a changed man and for him the world was a changed world. Everything seemed different after that awakening. He went to sleep, unwilling to die and longing to live. We awoke to love life less and understand it more, because by dying in his place, his father had shown him how to live. All his days he lives as a man for whom another gave his life.

(*Tumbrils were carts used to take prisoners to be executed.)

Easter Message - Bible Theatre

More Easter resources for children’s ministry

A Glorious Easter
Probably one of the best list of Easter resources for children’s ministry online.

See also my other websites – http://easterplus.blogspot.com and http://eliab.com

Peter's denial puppet script

I have just written a short children’s puppet script based on Peter’s denial of Jesus (based on John 18). It involves a rooster puppet and an interviewer or ventriloquist. Peter’s Denial Puppet Script I used it today with a group of boys in a chapel a long with a video and short talk and it went down well. Feel free to adapt it to your setting if you find it helpful.

Favourite Night

Favourite Night ( An all-age activity for a family night or small group with children)

1. Ask the children (or families) to bring along their favourite item/toy/piece of clothing etc. for showing and talking about.

2. Have sheets of paper hung around the walls of the room/hall with different heading on each. eg. "Your Favourite Food, Colour, TV show, Takeaway Food, Holiday Destination, Sport, Hobby, Singer/Actor etc... (the children give answers including their names) Sheets could then be read out during the evening.

3. Devotions- Jesus "Favourite disciples" Peter & John ?

Talk about how showing favouritism can be unfair. Does God have favourites?

We all have different favourite likes and dislikes. God made us all different. Just because someone else doesn't like what we like doesn't make them wrong.

Talk about having favourite places to spend time.Time to think and reflect.

Ask the children to share their favourite story from the Bible and perhaps draw or act it out.

4. Play - Charades- guess your favourite TV show, singer, Bible character...

Celebrity Hats- Place names on hats for three contestants. They wear the hat and can't see who they are supposed to be. Contestants play 20 questions with the group. A correct answer means they get to ask another question until a contestant guesses what name is on their hat.

5. Ask the children ( or a family) to bring along their favourite food to share for supper.

Memory verse game

Here's a fun way to help children remember a Bible memory verse. Play "flashlight tag" (or torch tag if you're from Australia). Bring a flashlight and let someone be "it". It tries to shine the flashlight on someone's feet to tag them. If they are tagged, they can be set free by someone running to them and saying the memory verse.