Middle School Bible Games

...
Jupiterimages/Polka Dot/Getty Images

Middle school is an exciting time for most children. Middle school students can read most things and interact with children and adults easily and respectfully. Most middle school children are still open to learning new things, which makes this an ideal time for cementing biblical truths and ideas leaned earlier in life. Bible games help solidify biblical ideas in an engaging way that is enjoyable for middle-schoolers.

Character Guessing

Give each child a card with the name of a famous Bible character written on it. Give each child a pencil, plus a piece of paper with the real names of all of the other kids in the class. The children should write their guesses for the identity of each person's Bible character next to the student's real name on the paper. The children's answers on the paper will be compared to the real list of characters to identify correct answers at the end of the game. The children have 10 minutes to go around talking to people and asking questions about things that the other children's characters did or said, to try to discover who those characters are, before writing their answers next to the child's real name on the paper. The child with the most correct answers wins the game.

Two Clues

In this game, children must guess Bible characters based on two word clues. The teacher should come up with various characters and questions beforehand. The questions should be as specific as possible, such as “who sinned,” “who obeyed,” “who prophesied” and so on. Each correct answer wins one point. There typically can be several answers for each question, so the teacher should accept any answer that could be correct, or the group can vote on it. The child with the most correct answers wins.

Sin Battle

Divide the room into two equal halves. Give each child two paper towel tubes taped together end to end to use like hockey sticks. Crumple up several pieces of paper into ball shapes, or use regular balls. Tell the children that the balls of paper represent sin and that they must remove the sin from their lives with the hockey stick, which represents the Bible and God’s truth. Divide the children into two teams. For five minutes, the members of each team use their "hockey sticks" to remove the paper balls from their side and hit them over into the other team's side. The team with the least amount of paper on its half of the room at the end of the game wins.

Bible Race

Place a line of masking tape, about 8 feet long, on the floor. Create 20 or 30 Bible questions that can be answered "True" or "False." Place all of the children on one edge of the line. Children who answer the question correctly can take one small step forward. Children who answer wrong take one step back. Have children raise their hands for true answers, and keep them down for false. The child who reaches the finish line first wins.