Children's Bible Songs

The Items Needed:

• Thick fishing line – the ‘ice’
• A ball with a hole in opposite sides (maybe a wiffle ball) – the ‘puck’
• 2 pens or other similarly shaped objects
• Enough plastic spoons for every player to have one – the ‘hockey sticks’
• 2 different colored electrical tape rolls (a set of 5 different colors for about $5 at hardware stores)
• A dark Sharpie marker – for the ‘goal lines’
• A referee whistle (optional)

The Players:

• Everyone plays at the same time and is on one of two teams, unless on a bus where half plays at a time as each team would have the “A line” and “B line” (Driver side, passenger side)
• 2 volunteers to hold up either ends of the fishing line
• A couple ‘referees’ are necessary to drop the puck and enforce the rules

The Objective:

• To get the puck over the right goal line

The Rules of the Game:

• The players may not touch the puck or string with anything but the spoon or else it’s a penalty.
• Penalty: puck is dropped 2 seats towards the offending player’s goal line.
• The players may not leave their spot on the string…”must stay in their positions” or else it’s a penalty
• The people holding the ends of the string must be able to hold it steady and tight: they are neutral players.
• The puck is dropped from ‘center ice’ (middle-most players) whenever there is a goal scored.
• On a bus, if you have at least two per seat there will be “line changes” after every goal or penalty, where the string will be held over the opposite set of seats.
• Fighting is not allowed (the biggest deviation from real hockey here)

Preparation (10-20 minutes):

1. Tie/tape the end of the fishing line securely to a pen in anticipation of a lot of tension.
2. Pull out enough line to span the entire playing area (either the whole bus or enough for everyone in class to stand in two lines).
3. Put the string straight through the ball so that it slides nicely on the string.
4. Tie/tape the other end to a pen just as you did in step #1.
5. Mark the goal lines as best as you can with a Sharpie (about 1 foot from either end).
6. Choose 2 colors of tape for your 2 team colors.
7. Wrap bands of tape around each spoon to “tape up their sticks”; half of them one team’s color, the rest in the other team’s color.

Overview:

Keyword for this game: Intense.  String Hockey has become a classic Old Time Baptist Church bus game, but can also be used as a fun Sunday School game.  It involves kids swinging spoons at a wiffle ball, trying desperately to swat the ball better than the kid across from them.  No one is allowed to move from their position so although it’s one of the wildest games with a lot of yelling and cheering, it doesn’t get out-of-control…normally.

Everyone needs to be in two long lines with the fishing line hanging between the 2 lines of opposing players (e.g. each player of the blue team needs to be across from a player from the red team all the way down the string).  You might think that it would be easy to block shots by laying the spoon on the string, but in fact your opponent can “deke you out” by pushing up or down on the string with their stick (spoon) when they swat the ball.

Let me know if you try this one!

The Items Needed:

• 2 small boxes of small Slim Jims ($3 for a box of 15 at Wal-Mart)
• 1 cardboard box approximately 2′ x 2′ x 1′
• 1 ballpoint pen
• 1 dark Sharpie marker (must be a quality marker to write on the Slim Jim wrappers)

The Players:

• One player at a time
• One administrator

The Objective:

• To select two Slim Jims with a matching number, and be rewarded therewith

The Rules of the Game:

• The player may choose 3 Slim Jims per turn.
• The chosen Slim Jims will be pulled out of the box with the numbers revealed.
• If the Slim Jims do not have a matching number, they must be put back into their holes immediately.
• If they match, the player may keep the Slim Jims.
• I like to give a small ‘consolation prize’ for each player if they don’t find a match.

Preparation (5-10 minutes):

1. Open your Slim Jim boxes and place a number on the same end of each Slim Jim, two of each number (1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5,5,etc.).
2. Punch as many holes into one side of the box as you have Slim Jims — use the pen to punch the holes.
3. Insert the Slim Jims into the holes just enough so the numbers are hidden inside the box.
4. You may want to mark a bonus pair of Slim Jims with a star or something (worth extra treat).

Overview:

This is a great affordable game that doesn’t take much preparation time or money, but people of all ages have fun playing it.  It’s scalable for if you have a larger crowd: just get more Slim Jims and punch more holes.  It is meant to be played much like the classic card game, except you can eat the game pieces!  Who doesn’t like that?

The Items Needed:

• A box of small Slim Jims ($3 for a box of 15 at Wal-Mart)

The Players:

• One player at a time
• One administrator

The Objective:

• To grab the Slim Jim as it falls with only your two fingers

The Rules of the Game:

• The player puts his index finger and thumb over the red spot on the bottom of the Slim Jim
• Their fingers cannot be touching the Slim Jim before it drops
• They may only catch it with their index finger and thumb

Overview:

This is a very quick game that allows everyone on the bus or in the classroom to get a chance to play and win the Slim Jim (or 2, as was my reward).  It looks very easy to win, but you’ll find that it is extremely difficult even for teens, especially if the person dropping it uses any distraction techniques, such as asking the player short goofy questions and then dropping it while they try to answer.  Even the youngest child can understand and play this game (3 years old kid had fun trying)!

The Items Needed:

• 2 big long socks (preferably clean–and without holes…)
• At least 60 regular size marbles
• 1 5-gallon bucket

The Players:

• Two teams of two will play against each other, so four people will play at a time.  One team member holds the sock and the other digs in the bucket for marbles.
• Optional participant: the designated counting person

The Objective:

• To get the most marbles into your team’s sock before the time runs out (10 seconds)

The Rules of the Game:

• Any violation of these rules is an automatic loss for your team
• No scooping the sock into the bucket of marbles
• If one marble falls to the floor (or elsewhere) your team loses
• No holding the sock over the bucket of marbles
• Time limit: 10 seconds (give more time if you have more marbles…and want it to take longer of course)

 Overview:

This is a simple game that we adopted from a game called “Rocks in Socks”.  We couldn’t figure out how to play it practically with rocks, but we had a 5 gallon bucket of “water pearls” leftover from a recent wedding.  I don’t know where we bought them, but here’s a place that sells water pearls. The kid’s couldn’t keep their hands out of the bucket because these squishy marbles felt so neat in their fingers.  Then after mostly everyone got off the bus we just started throwing them at each other 🙂