Games for Religious School Education

Sword Drills

• Familiarize students with the books of the Bible with a sword drill game. Every student in the class should have a Bible. The teacher should have a list of pertinent Bible verses to the day's lesson. She should call out the location of the one of the verses, such as "John 3:16" or "I Corinthians 1:17." Students will then race to find the verses in their Bibles. The first student to find the verse should stand up the read it out loud. He gets one point. The teacher reads the rest of the verses---one by one---and play continues until each verse is read out loud by the winner of that particular round. The student with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Religious Story Puzzles

• Use puzzles to help reinforce a religious story for children. This game can be used for any religious tradition. Students should be divided into two groups; however, if the group is larger than ten students, it can be divided into more. Create puzzle pieces that correspond to the religious story. Print or draw an image and paste it to a piece of construction paper. Cut it in many pieces to create a puzzle effect. Place the pieces in a small plastic bag. After telling students the story, give each group a puzzle bag, and have them see which group can put the puzzle together first. After the winning group finishes its puzzle, have the students repeat the story and its importance. The teacher could even have other questions prepared to emphasize the point of the story and how it relates to the class's particular religious tradition.

I Am Thankful Memory Game

• Students will enjoy a Memory game that helps them focus the things they have for which they should be thankful. Many religious traditions encourage being thankful and having a grateful heart. Students should have index cards. They can cut a card in half and draw an identical picture of something for which they are thankful on each half. For instance, if a student is thankful for her mom, she would draw a picture on each half of her mom. Students can create several pairs, depending on the size of the class. Students should divide into groups of four. They can mix up their index card halves and place them upside down on a table. Each should take a turn flipping up two cards to try to find a match. Students continue play in this way, and the student who finds the most matches wins.