Church Picnic Games
Have children use a broom to sweep a balloon to a finish
line. Put a penny inside the balloon to give it some weight.
Draw a large target on a bedsheet and hang it between two
trees or over a fence. Use water guns to try to hit the
bulls-eye, one shot per child. Give each child or team a
different colour of water. Older children can be
blindfolded!
Organize a signature scavenger hunt for the older children.
Children must get the signatures of people on a list. Examples:
someone who has travelled more than 20 kilometers, someone with
blue shoes, someone with four children, someone over 65, etc.
It’s a great way for the children to socialize with people of
all ages in the congregation.
Teaching With Food
Using food to reinforce a lesson may seem like an unnecessary
expense and mess. But consider this—Jesus used food many times
to underscore his teachings. His first miracle was to change
water into wine. Jesus taught about faith when he fed the five
thousand with a bit of bread and fish, and he gave us our
greatest sacrament at the Last Supper.
So how do you incorporate food into your lesson plan without
having it become a gluttonous free-for-all?
Don’t offer food every time. That way it is a pleasant
surprise, and the children will learn that it has
significance.
The food should have some meaning to the story you are
telling: animal cookies for the story of Noah, goldfish
crackers for the story of Jesus calling his disciples
(fishers of men), honey sandwiches and milk for the story of
the Israelites finding the promised land, etc.
If you have access to a kitchen, you can get more
elaborate. Use refrigerated breadstick dough to make a host
of shapes, like crosses or staffs. Or prepare a "shepherd’s
supper" in a frying pan using ground meat, seasonings,
water, noodles, and a can of vegetables.
While candy is not food, use jellybeans to reinforce the
way to salvation (black for sin, red for Jesus’ blood, blue
for baptism, etc.).
Make two of a snack and encourage the children to share
one with someone else, just as the Samaritan shared with the
injured man or the boy shared his food with five thousand.
Don’t forget to say grace before you eat!
More Ideas. . .
Need some time-fillers?
Try some tried-and-true games
which have been adapted to your
lesson quarter or memory work.
1. Make bingo cards using symbols from your Bible stories or
words from your memory verses.
2. Use word symbols or words to make cards for a memory game.
3. Younger children enjoy fishing for their memory work words.
Write the words on construction paper fish and attach a paper
clip to each one. Make
a fishing rod from a pencil, string,
and a magnet. Encourage the
children to "catch" the
memory work words
in order.
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