For example: John 3:16, Revelation 3:20, John 14:6, Psalm 23:1, John 1:1, Romans 3:23, Isaiah 53:6, Genesis 1:1

(perhaps use a simplified translation for younger children)

Use these texts for your Snakes and Ladders as follows:

1. Have a Bible reference at the bottom of each ladder. If you land on that square you can only go up the ladder if you can quote the verse, otherwise stay where you are.

2. Have a Bile text written out a the top of each snake.If  when landing on that square you can give the correct reference for the text, you do not go down the snake. If you cannot give the reference, you do go down the snake.

The group could be divided into teams for this game and it could be played on an overhead projector or wall chart using counters or on the wall with makers which could stick on and be moved.

1. Boop - Form into hand-in-hand circles of 4-6 people. Toss a balloon into the centre of each group. The task is for the group to keep it off the ground without letting go hands. Try counting the number of hits before it drops and aiming for a high score.

2.  Touch the can – Divide into groups of 10-12 people. Give each group an empty soft drink can. Each member of the group must make contact with the can but without touching one another. At least one person must have their nose in contact with the can.

3. Blind Guide -In pairs seat the group back to back in a circle (one half facing in, the other half facing out). Give each person facing out a puzzle, tangram or Lego construction and give each person facing in the solution to the puzzle,tangram, or Lego structure. This person has to verbally explain to the other how to do the puzzle, etc. without either player turning their heads or looking at what someone else is doing (if the puzzles are the same).  The ages of your group will determine the difficulty of the puzzle.

It is suggested you print the calendar on light cardboard so that it is more durable ( or cover in plastic). Permission is given by Don Stott to reproduce the calendar only for non-commercial uses – family, Sunday school class or Christian school.

Bible Verse Calendar PDF Download ( the printed pdf is much clearer than the Google preview)

Well worth bookmarking for when you are in a hurry planning a program.

During your class closest to the person’s half birthday, have the class form a circle around him/her have a bit of fun, give them three cheers and sing “Happy Half Birthday to You!”

1. Ask the children (or families) to bring along their favourite item/toy/piece of clothing etc. for showing and talking about.

2. Have sheets of paper hung around the walls of the room/hall with different heading on each. eg. “Your Favourite Food, Colour, TV show, Takeaway Food, Holiday Destination, Sport, Hobby, Singer/Actor etc… (the children give answers including their names) Sheets could then be read out during the evening.

3. Devotions- Jesus “Favourite disciples” Peter & John ?

Talk about how showing favouritism can be unfair. Does God have favourites?

We all have different favourite likes and dislikes. God made us all different. Just because someone else doesn’t like what we like doesn’t make them wrong.

Talk about having favourite places to spend time.Time to think and reflect.

Ask the children to share their favourite story from the Bible and perhaps draw or act it out.

4. Play – Charades- guess your favourite TV show, singer, Bible character…

Celebrity Hats- Place names on hats for three contestants. They wear the hat and can’t see who they are supposed to be. Contestants play 20 questions with the group. A correct answer means they get to ask another question until a contestant guesses what name is on their hat.

5. Ask the children ( or a family) to bring along their favourite food to share for supper.

2. Round the World One child stands behind another child. The leader asks a question. The first to answer gets to continue round the room. Whenever the game needs to stop, the person who correctly answered the last question becomes the “champ” for the week.

3. Who am I? The teacher says “I am thinking of a Bible character, who am I?” The class asks questions only answerable with yes/no. You can count or limit the number of questions asked and have many a variation on this!

A variation: have several children out the front with a word on a headband (or hat, or held).  On each sign there is a word, title, occupation, object, food, place or Bible character. The  class can see it, the child with the sign, can’t. The child with the headband asks a question  and the class can only  reply yes/no. If  “yes” , they have another turn, if “no”, the next child gets to ask a question. First to guess their word wins.