Faith Building Games for Children

By: Leah Williams

Learning about religion can be as fun as a card game or as lively as musical chairs. Many Sunday school activities center their lesson plans on group activities and games to help the message get across. Several of these games focus on memorizing core facts of the Christian teachings, as well as the importance of being a good person to others.

Old Testament Who Am I?

The Old Testament of the Bible has several stories that many children will like to read. For the Who Am I? game, all you need is to take the characters from these stories and write a brief description about them on an index card. You read each clue until your children figure out who they are talking about on a card. The difficulty of this game varies according to the age of the children answering the questions. For example, if the children are kindergarteners, then you may want to use simple clues, like "God made me the first man on earth" (Adam) or "God saved me from a den of lions" (Daniel). If the children are older, you can make the questions more difficult.

Ten Commandments Musical Chairs

Ten Commandment Musical Chairs is played very similarly to regular musical chairs, only this game uses a toy brick. Grab some folding chairs and create a circle in the center of the room. Instruct all the children to sit in each chair. Each child is to pass a toy brick around the circle; when the music stops, the child must name one of the Ten Commandments. If he fails to do so, he is out of the competition. The game continues until there is one child left holding the brick.

Bible Flash Card

Similar to the Who Am I? game, you can also make up flash cards the incorporate central themes in the Christian faith. You can choose images from the Old and New Testament. Once you have selected images for the game, draw the pictures onto index cards and instruct the children to explain what the images mean. Some examples to use include the burning bush, the cross, the apple, bread and fish.

Linking Biblical Names

To link Biblical names, you first ask a child to name someone in the Bible. The next to answer must say another person whose name begins with the last letter of the previous answer's first name. For example, if one child answers "Jesus," then another may say "Solomon." The next appropriate answer may be "Nicodemus." After each answer, you can give a brief explanation of who that person was and what importance he had in the Bible's history. Continue the game until the class cannot come up with a suitable answer, then start the game over again.