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5 Board Games for Children's Ministry

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If you’re looking for a way to help your kids and volunteers grow together, a great board game might be what you need. Keeping a few board games around your meeting space is always a good idea. While a board game might not be our first thought when it comes to fostering relationships, they’re an important piece of the puzzle. (Get it? Puzzle? ?)

A board game in children’s ministry can do more for a kid’s relationships than you might be able to pack into your object lesson or small group time. They might seem simple, but they’re great for …

• Helping kids collaborate and make decisions with their friends.
• Letting volunteers build new relationships with the teenagers they serve.
• Giving kids a quiet way to take a break from the rest of their environment.

Plus, with board games in children’s ministry, kids can play and work towards a common goal. We tend to overlook it, but play is a really important part of how kids develop. Play helps them …

• Use their creativity
• Practice their autonomy
• Operate within set boundaries
• Work on their communication skills

Each of these can help them grow as individuals and in their faith.

So, if you’re looking for a few more board games for your children’s ministry closet or if you’re ready to start building your own collection of games, we’ve put together a few of our favorite board games for children’s ministry.

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5 Board Games for Children's Ministry

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THE FLOOR IS LAVA

The Floor is Lava is one of the best games you can play in your ministry right now. In this larger, expanded version of the board game, there are ten different styles of play for you and your children’s ministry. In this game, players must reach the end of the course without losing their balance and falling off their stepping stones. Plus, setup is easy! Just throw down your stepping stones, grab your challenge cards, and set up your spinner to start playing. Learn more about The Floor is Lava here.

THROW THROW BURRITO

Throw Throw Burrito is a combination of Go Fish and dodgeball. In this game, players draw up to five cards in their hand. Then, at the same time, they pass cards to their left while trying to make three-of-a-kind matches. Each match is worth points at the end of the game. But players can also match battle cards, which trigger burrito battles. So, pass your cards quickly and watch out for flying burritos! Check out Throw Throw Burrito here.

DIXIT

Dixit is a great game for older kids. In this guessing game, one player, the storyteller, chooses a card from their hand and gives a clue about it. Then, the other players choose a card of their own that they think matches this clue. All of the cards are shuffled together and then flipped over, revealing the cards. Then, everyone but the storyteller gets to guess which card they think belongs to the storyteller. Dixit’s unique scoring gives storytellers points if their clue is not too simple or too difficult. If they can get one or more players to guess their card, they’ll earn points. But if all or none of the players guess their card, they won’t earn any points. The game is played until one player earns 30 points! Find out more about Dixit here.

MONKEY AROUND

If you’re looking for a board game for the preschool kids in your children’s ministry, check out Monkey Around! In this game, players take turns drawing a card from a pile. Each card has an action where the player must interact with the included stuffed banana, like balancing it or tossing it to another player. Once the player performs their action, they can place the card on the tree. Once the tree is full of cards, you can take off the cards and play again! Check out Monkey Around here.

UNO

For a lot of us, Uno is the first card game we remember playing. It’s a race to get rid of your cards by playing them on top of a matching color or number. Each deck comes with action cards like reveres, wilds, and skips that can make it more challenging for a player to empty their hand. Just be sure to shout “Uno!” once you’re down to your last card. Not only is the original Uno a great game, but there are tons of variations like Uno All Wild!, Uno Flex, and Dos. There’s a fun Uno variation for every children’s ministry and family! Grab your Uno set here.

These are just a few board games for your children’s ministry that can help you, your volunteers, or your families connect and play with kids.

And if you’re looking for even more games, check out Grow Games! We’ve put together a list of over 500 different types of games for your children’s ministry.

Each game comes complete with instructions, editable graphics, and a supply list, so you can start playing right away!

So, instead of searching online the next time you need a great game, download the Grow Games App instead.

Free PDF Resources

5 Board Games for Children's Ministry

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If you’ve spent any amount of time in kids ministry, you’ve probably played a few incredible games. Games are a central part of kids ministry. They give us a chance to make new connections with kids and help them relate to their peers. Games are more than just a way for us to drain kids of their energy before we head into the quieter, more reflective parts of our weekly environments. They’re a way for kids to build genuine relationships based on a shared experience. So, how can you better help your kids make these relationships? Well, take a look at the structures of your games!

Every great game is built upon a structure. This structure provides the basic limits of how the game will work. Let’s take Angry Birds, for example. At first glance, you might only see a slingshot full of birds you can launch toward some pigs hiding behind wooden towers. But once you strip away that theme, it’s a game about launching objects at a target. Sometimes, when we see or hear about a game, we only focus on the game’s theme, not the structure. But as we pull games apart, we’ll find many use similar structures. So, if you plan to build your own games for kids, you’ll want to grow familiar with some of these structures.

Here are a few of our favorites…

• RELAY RACES. Relay races are a great way to get multiple groups of people involved. There are a couple of different ways to handle your relays. You can have players from each team race to complete the same action at the same time, like hula hoop five times in a row, before tagging their teammate. Or, you could have players from each team perform different actions, like one player hoops five times, another whistles a Taylor Swift song, and the final player answers some trivia questions. No matter how you plan it, relay races are high-energy games that get the crowd cheering on their friends and favorite teams.
• TRIVIA. Trivia games are great for those weeks when you want something with less energy. When you do trivia right, you can make connections with kids who might not want to join in with the louder, more active games. But just because trivia takes less energy than a relay race, that doesn’t mean it needs to be less fun. To build your trivia game, just choose a topic, come up with some questions (or Google them), and then throw them up on your screen. Group your kids by age, grade, or however you want, and have some relaxed fun. If you want to raise the energy, ask a question and give kids 45 seconds to write down their answers and run them to the stage. You can do so much with trivia, but just remember to pick a theme!
• TIME TRIALS. In time trials, every player is racing the clock. The format is really simple—choose your players, give them a short amount of time, and have them compete against each other and the clock to determine a winner. You could see who can shake the most ping pong balls out of an empty box of tissue in one minute or grab a bubble machine to see which kid can pop the most bubbles in 45 seconds. Just make sure all of your actions take place where everyone can see what’s happening and make sure the goal can actually be accomplished. If no one can see what’s happening or your game is too difficult to make any progress, your players and your audience will start to check out.
• CONTESTS. These games can take a lot of different forms, but it might be best to think of them as ongoing challenges. A contest could look like the Impossible Shot, where you set up a trash can or hoop somewhere far from your stage, and kids try to throw a ball into it. You could create a series of “On the Spot” contests where kids have five minutes to paint the best picture, write the best song, or tell the best jokes. Contests are a good change of pace from your other game structures. They can be fast-paced, or they can take some focus, allowing you to build up the anticipation in your kids.

These are just a few of the game structures that exist, and they don’t always need to stand alone, either. You can create a timed trivia game or a trivia relay race. Each of these structures can be blended into the next to help you create something unique and fun for your kids ministry. Don’t be afraid to shake things up and try a new structure or combination of structures for your games. There are so many great games to create!

If you need help building a game on any of these structures, then check out our guide to creating games from scratch. Just remember you don’t have to do it alone! You can ask your volunteers for input or even empower a few of them to take over creating your games altogether. You never know what great games a volunteer has hiding in the back of their minds!

Free PDF Resource

4 Game Structures Used in Kids Ministry

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And if you’re looking for great games that you can plug into your kids ministry right now, then check out the Grow Games App. In the Grow Games App for iOS and Android, we have over 500 different games for your kids ministry. Each game comes ready to play with instructions, editable image files, and a supply list so you can get started right away. Plus, you can add your own games to build up a database of all the great games you’ve already been playing in your kids ministry. So, when you’re looking for a new game structure, you can use the Grow Games App.

Free PDF Resource

6 Ways to Make Kids Ministry Games More Fun

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The games and activities you play with your kids aren’t just a way for them to use all of their energy before you get to the more serious parts of your service or event. These games allow kids to connect and create memories around a shared experience. Ask a kid about a fun memory from their life, and they’ll probably recite it in detail—who was there, what happened, and why it’s so important to them. Fun helps ideas stick. Fun builds relationships. Fun is an essential part of kids ministry.

However, you can’t just throw a bunch of kids in a room and say, “Have fun! See you soon!” Sure, that might create fun for the kids involved, but it would not be a fun conversation with your lead pastor about the new holes in the wall, broken light fixtures, and the gallons of paint on the ceiling. There are ways you can increase the fun in all of your games and for everyone involved, regardless of their role.

THINK IT THROUGH

You’re not alone if you’ve searched for “fun kids games” the night before your service. There are certainly times when you’ll need to scramble to find a new game for your kids, but if it’s happening every single week, you’re not setting yourself up to have the most fun with your kids.

As you prepare your service, you’ll want games that help to level up your teaching and the other elements of your service. Don’t just pick random games from the internet and try them out. You can do a lot to help your teaching stick by thinking about how a game connects to your main teaching points or a worship song you’ll sing. When everything feels connected, kids have more fun playing games.

Don’t just think through the connection to your environment, though. You can increase fun in your games by thinking about the different varieties of games, too. We can fall into a habit of playing a specific type of game each week, like all-play games, screen games, or outdoor games. When we think through a rotation of every kind of game or cycle out older games for newer ones, we can help kids have new experiences and new ways to have fun.

RESPECT YOUR AUDIENCE

What’s your first instinct when you’ve got a game and notice a few kids who aren’t participating? Most of the time, we’ll lead with encouragement. We want our games to be accessible and fun for everyone in the room, but occasionally, a kid might need a gentle nudge to jump in. But what do we do when they still don’t want to play?

Your response in this situation is an important indicator of how much fun the group will have. No one wants to be forced to play a game. Encourage kids to play. Gently nudge them and keep the invitation open for them to hop in when they’re comfortable and ready. Never force a kid to play a game. Instead, focus on respecting your audience.

This strategy may seem different than what you’re used to. You might expect kids to respect you and the environment you’ve worked so hard to curate for them carefully. But respect goes both ways. If you’re out there forcing kids to play games they don’t love, embarrassing them, or forcing them to pay attention, that’s not respect—it’s control—and being controlled isn’t any fun.

When kids sense that you respect them, they can lower their guard. They’ll be more likely to take healthy risks and might even be willing to embarrass themselves for some fun. Take a small step in respecting your audience by allowing kids to participate in games and other activities as they’d like. Communicate your expectations of alternate activities or responses. Focus your energy on creating a safe and respectful environment so everyone can have fun.

CONTROL THE ENERGY

Great fun can come from great energy. When planning out your games, remember to create an energy that matches what’s needed for your game. The first place to start is with your music.

Your playlist can level up the fun for your kids. When you match music to the feeling you hope to get from your games, incredible things can happen. You’ll want to pair high-energy songs with high-energy and low-energy songs with low-energy games. But focusing on music is only part of controlling energy.

You’ll also want to make sure you have the right hosts for your games. A great host can harness the energy needed for a game and draw it from the kids. They’re great at explaining instructions clearly and getting a whole room to cheer along, no matter the result. They’re also great at keeping things positive. Sometimes, a game doesn’t work out how you’d hope, or a kid might struggle to reach their goal. A great host (and a respectful environment) can turn this situation around so everyone has fun.

INVOLVE SMALL GROUP LEADERS

Your small group leaders are essential to your ministry. They spend a lot of time having conversations with your kids. They bring support and structure to your services. They can also help set the tone for your environment by engaging in your games.

When you think back on your time in kids or youth ministry, was there a leader who went all out for games? Typically, this leader’s energy is infectious. They can rally kids behind a concept or help them find the courage to try something new. Their relationship with kids can make the difference in bringing out a new level of fun.

Set out some expectations with your volunteers about how they can get involved. Like your group, give them alternate options to care for kids who may feel shy or want to try an alternate game or activity. Don’t stop inviting them to participate in your games and build new memories with your kids. Their experiences could open up a new path for conversations and connections that help kids grow closer to Jesus.

REWARD YOUR WINNERS

Prizes are an excellent motivator for games. When kids know ahead of time they’re competing for something, they’re more likely to get invested in having fun. As you plan games, create opportunities for your kids to compete for prizes and rewards. The trick is not to make things too competitive, though.

In the same way a prize can motivate a kid, too much competition can demotivate some. If your prize is so great that kids are willing to do anything to win, that’s not very fun for the people involved. Try to choose rewards that are accessible but still fun, like a gift card, free snacks, or an ice cream party for a small group. Prizes like these can build up the fun in your games without guaranteeing a free-for-all competition.

You could even choose rewards and prizes that are strategic to what’s happening in your ministry. You could give away early entry or free admission to an event you’re throwing or give out a discount on camp. If you connect your rewards to your ministry strategy, you can create incentives for kids and their families to stay connected to what’s happening in your ministry and church!

PLAN YOUR TRANSITION

This last point is probably the most important. If you’re moving from a higher energy portion of your weekly environment to something lower energy, you’ll need to nail this transition. Smooth transitions aren’t just about harnessing your kids’ energy but also about connecting each part of your environment.

As you think through your games, you’ll want to know what’s coming up next throughout your service. How will you move from one point in your service to the next? What can you say to ease the transition? What items can you set up ahead of time to help you move from one activity to the next? There are many questions to consider when transitioning between parts of your service, but each is important.

Creating smooth transitions requires some strategy, which takes us back to our first point of thinking through your service. Each week, you’ll want to know which components make up your service and how they connect to the main point, or Big Idea, of your service. Knowing why you’ve included each element in your environment, you’ll better understand how to connect and transition between the different parts. When everything connects seamlessly (or, let’s be honest, mostly seamlessly), you’ll be able to maintain momentum and fun for your kids and your leaders!

These are just a few ways to make the kids ministry games you play more fun. Best of all, these strategies work with every type of game—indoor, outdoor, screen games, all-play games, and more. And if you’re looking for new kinds of games for your kids ministry, we’ve got you covered. In the Grow Games App for iOS and Android, we have over 500 different games for your kids ministry. Each game comes with instructions, a supply list, and editable graphics so you can be ready to play with your kids. Plus, you can add your own games to build up a database of all the great games you’ve been playing in your kids ministry. So, if you’re ready to make your games more fun, just follow these six strategies and check out the Grow Games App!

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6 Ways to Make Kids Ministry Games More Fun

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Free PDF Resources

How to Create Simple Church Games for Kids

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If you’ve spent more than a few weeks in kids ministry, chances are you’ve played a lot of games. Games sit at the center of ministry because it gives kids (and leaders) a chance to make connections. When you’re playing a game with a kid or watching them play with one of their peers, you’re experiencing connection in action. Ultimately, games are more than a way for us to empty our kids of all of their energy. They help us create memories through common experiences.

Sometimes, we can fall into a pattern of playing the same handful of games on a rotation. There are a ton of reasons why that happens, from our levels of comfort to our genuine enjoyment of the game. But what if you wanted to create your own game? What if you wanted to make something special for your ministry’s kids? You might be surprised to find out it’s a lot easier than it seems. So what does it take? First, you’ll want to ensure you have the right host for your games, space, and mood and energy level. But once you’ve secured those things, you can follow this simple formula.

PICK A THEME

The first step to building a great game from scratch is to find a theme. You might want this to connect to what you’re teaching that week, but you might want something more universal that you could play every week. Regardless of how well your game does (or doesn’t) connect to your teaching content, you’ll need a theme to hold everything together. A strong theme is what draws people into the game.

Think about something like Angry Birds. It’s a classic game about launching birds toward some pigs hiding behind blocks of wood, ice, or steel. But most of what we know about Angry Birds is really related to the theme. If you took away the theme, you’d just have someone launching soccer balls at wooden structures. It might be fun, but having a theme on top of the gameplay is what makes the game compelling and fun.

So, start your game construction by choosing a strong theme. Maybe look to random holidays for inspiration and build a game off of that. You could look at the events in your calendar, like the Super Bowl and the Olympics. You might even be inspired to build a game based on a popular TV show, movie, or song. The possibilities for your theme are endless, but what’s most important is to choose a theme.

PICK A STRUCTURE

Once you’ve selected your theme, you’re ready to move on to the next step—pick a structure. Every game is built around a simple structure or framework. We’ll take a look at four different structures for your games, but this isn’t an exhaustive list by any means. There are so many structures for games, but these are just some of our favorites.

• RELAY RACES: Relay races are a great way to get multiple groups of people involved. There are a couple of different ways to handle your relays. You can have players from each team race to complete the same action at the same time, like hula hoop five times in a row, before tagging their teammate. Or, you could have players from each team perform different actions like one player hula hoops five times, another whistles a Taylor Swift song, and the final player answering some trivia questions. No matter how you plan it, relay races are high-energy games that get the crowd cheering their friends and favorite teams on.
• TRIVIA: Not every week needs to have a high-energy game! For those weeks, try out some trivia. When you do trivia right, you can make connections with kids who might not want to join in with the louder, more active games. But just because trivia takes less energy than a relay race, that doesn’t mean it needs to be less fun. To build your trivia game, just choose a topic, come up with some questions (or Google them), and then throw them up on your screen. Group your kids by age, grade, or however you want, and have some relaxed fun. If you want to raise the energy, ask a question and give kids 45 seconds to write down their answers and run them to the stage. You can do so much with trivia, but just remember to pick a theme!
• TIME TRIALS: In time trials, every player is racing the clock. The format is really simple—choose your players, give them a short amount of time, and have them compete against each other and the clock to determine a winner. You could see who can shake the most ping pong balls out of an empty box of tissue in one minute or grab a bubble machine to see which kid can pop the most bubbles in 45 seconds. Just make sure all of your actions take place where everyone can see what’s happening and make sure the goal can actually be accomplished. If no one can see what’s happening or your game is too difficult to make any progress, your players and your audience will start to check out.
• CONTESTS: These games can take a lot of different forms, but it might be best to think of them as ongoing challenges. A contest could look like the “Impossible Shot,” where you set up a trash can or hoop somewhere far from your stage, and kids try to throw a ball into it. You could create a series of “On the Spot” contests where kids have five minutes to paint the best picture, write the best song, or tell the best jokes. Contests are a good change of pace from your other game structures. They can be fast-paced, or they can take some focus, allowing you to build up the anticipation in your kids.

Just remember to rotate your game structures at least every other week. When you play the same types of games over and over, your games can become predictable and less exciting for kids. Don’t be afraid to shake things up and try a new structure or even combine a few structures together. There are so many games you can create within these structures!

FIND SUPPLIES

Once you’ve established your structure and your theme, it’s time to get your supplies. Sometimes, your supplies can inspire your games, like Random Object Mini Golf, where kids use anything but a golf club to play. But when it comes to creating your game, there aren’t many with unlimited supplies. Clean toilet plungers can become pool cues. A volleyball net can become a slingshot, pool noodles can become javelins, baseball bats, and anything else you can imagine. If your church doesn’t have a lot of supplies for games, ask your volunteer team what they have. You might even consider calling up another church in the area to see if you can borrow some of their supplies. You don’t need an enormous budget to create great games. You just need a little imagination (and maybe the phone number for the church down the road).

TEST IT

You’ve done it! You have a theme, you have your structure, and you found your supplies when you realized carrying the fake plants around the church could make a great relay. Now, the last step in creating your game is to test it. You should test every single game you ever play—whether you created it or not. You can make this easier on yourself by picking a few volunteers to test out each of your games during the week or before your weekly environment. When you test out your games before you play them, you can see what parts of your game need adjustment. Maybe you need more time during your time trial. Maybe one of your trivia questions is incorrect. Maybe the plants are too heavy for kids to carry safely. Whatever it is, testing your games before you let your kids play them gives you the time to find the problems, make adjustments, and increase the fun for everyone involved. Plus, it makes for great social media content and fun staff meetings!

EMPOWER YOUR TEAM

Creating games from scratch can take a lot of time and energy. It might be something you don’t always have time to do. If that’s the case, consider empowering your volunteer team to help you in the process. We love it when churches ask their volunteers to invest in big ways (we think it’s the first step in creating a great volunteer culture). Asking your volunteers to help you create games isn’t just about your time and schedule, but it’s about pulling out incredible ideas from your team. Consider making a game creation a part of your volunteer meetings, or maybe you could set up a way for volunteers to share the random, silly game ideas that pop into their heads. Give them the space to be creative, have fun, and make something special just for your kids. You might be amazed at the great things they come up with!

And if you’re looking for great games, you can plug into your kids ministry right now, then check outcheck out the Grow Games App for iOS and Android. Inside the app, we have over 500 games ready for you to add to your kids ministry. Each game comes ready to play with instructions, editable image files, and a supply list so you can get started right away. Plus, you can add your own games to build up a database of all the great games you’ve already been playing in your kids ministry. So, for the times when you need a break from creating your games from scratch, you can use the Grow Games App.

Free PDF Resources

How to Create Simple Church Games for Kids

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If you’re like most children’s ministry leaders, you’re always looking for new ways to keep your kids entertained. That’s a pretty important part of your role. Not only are you responsible for helping kids grow their relationship with Jesus, but you have to do it in a way that helps them connect to God and the other kids around them. That’s a lot to balance, but you’re not alone! All around the world, pastors and ministry leaders like you are sharing a similar burden. You’re looking for ways to create a fun, inviting environment while helping kids foster their relationship with Jesus.

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking, “But why games? Aren’t there other ways to have fun and help kids grow closer to Jesus?” Yes! There are! Games aren’t the only way to create a fun environment for kids to learn and develop their faith. You can craft with kids, show them videos and images, talk with them, and so many more. We actually think there are 13 ways to teach kids effectively. Games are just one small part of creating a great environment for your kids.

Games have the unique ability to bring people together through fun. When we play games together, we build connections with people through a shared experience. A lot of our favorite memories from childhood are associated with the different games we played. So, we play games to create shared experiences, but those experiences are just a part of it. When we create experiences, we create connections, and those connections can help a kid start to feel comfortable enough to share something. Talking with a group of people you don’t know can feel intimidating, but talking with a bunch of kids who just launched water balloons at their leader? That’s something something we can all do.

Playing games and doing other activities during your weekly environment can both be key parts of making kids feel welcomed and comfortable. They’re so much more than a way to entertain kids or fill time each week. Instead, games can serve a powerful, strategic role in your ministry, so all you need to do is find some great games to play.

To help make that search just a little bit easier, we’ve put together this list of games you could play with your kids and leaders the next time you see them. We’ve pulled together five great games to play outside. But, if you’re looking for something to do inside, we’ve got a great list of over 670 game ideas over in the Grow Games App. There are all types of games over there— indoor, screen, large group games, up-front games, and so many more. But you’re probably looking for that list by now, so let’s go!

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Elevate Church Events: 5 Fun Outdoor Games for Children's Ministry

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THE POTTY RUNNETH OVER

This game is more than an intriguing title. It’s a way for kids to have an incredibly silly time. All you need are some buckets (or actual toilets, if you prefer), rolls of toilet paper, some tarp or drop cloth, bowls of water, and tape.

• Split your group into teams and choose two players from each team to play. Then, give them a bowl of water and a roll of toilet paper.
• Set the “toilet” buckets at some distance and lay down tape for your players to stand behind.
• On “Go,” kids will tear off toilet paper from their roll, dip it in water, and try to throw it into their toilet without stepping over the line.
• The team who has filled their bucket with the most toilet paper by the end of the playing time wins!
• As a variation, choose more players from the teams to play during each round.

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY

In this game inspired by the classic movie (or the more recent one, depending on which of our team members you talk with). This is a great game to play over a large space, and you’ll simply need a few trash bags, lots of multi-colored balloons, and some candy!

• Before you play, make some point values for the different balloons, but don’t tell anyone what they are.
• Split your kids into teams of five to six, and give each team a trash bag to hold their “candy” balloons.
• Select two adult leaders to play the role of “Oompa Loompa” while a few of your other leaders play as “Candy Makers.”
• On “Go,” kids will run around the playing area looking for Candy Makers. Once they find a Candy Maker, they’ll receive a balloon to put in their trash bag. Then, they can return to their base to drop off the balloon or keep searching for new candy makers.
• They’ll need to watch out for Oompa Loompas, though! If they’re caught, the team must carry out a task like making a human pyramid or answering some trivia questions. If they pass their test, they can keep going, but if they get it wrong, the Oompa Loompa takes their balloon!
• Any balloons kids drop off at base are locked in and can’t be stolen.
• At the end of your playing time, count up the point totals using your point values. The team with the most points wins!

WATER BALLOON TIC-TAC-TOE

This is a great game to play during your water events! You’ll just need some chalk, tape, or ropes to make your Tic-Tac-Toe grid, lots of water balloons, and a balloon launcher!

• Create a large Tic-Tac-Toe board using whichever materials suit your location best. Also, at a fair distance, make a line where you’ll launch your water balloons.
• Split your group into teams and play rock, paper, scissors to choose which team will launch first.
• One at a time, have teams launch a balloon towards your grid. If they land in a square, have a leader stand in the square while making an X or O, depending on the team. Be sure to give them a helmet and goggles for safety!
• Keep taking turns launching balloons. Any time a balloon lands in a square, change the letter of the square. The first team to claim three squares in a row wins!

YOU AND ME AGAINST THE WORLD

Great friendships can survive the most challenging tests. But this dodgeball challenge is unlike any test they’ve ever been through! For this game, you’ll just need a few dodgeballs.

• Have everyone get into pairs and select one pair to go through the challenge first.
• Spread the rest of the players out around the area, and give the dodgeball to the team facing the challenge.
• On “Go,” the team will kick the ball in any direction and a one-minute timer will start. If the ball is caught in the air, the round ends and no points are rewarded. If the ball lands, the other players must work together to try and throw the ball at the competing pair.
• Once the ball is kicked, the pair must run around the area, either together or separately, trying to avoid getting hit with the dodgeball. If they’re hit, they must freeze until their partner tags them. If both players are hit, the round is over.
• Players receive points for every team member who isn’t frozen at the end of the one-minute round.
• Play as many rounds as you can, and consider adding more dodgeballs to increase the difficulty!

ONE-MAN KICKBALL

Kickball is a great team sport to play with your kids, but what would happen if a team only started with one player? For this kickball remix, you’ll only need a kickball and some hula hoops to use as bases.

• Start by choosing one person to pitch for the whole game. This person won’t get a chance to kick the ball, so choosing a leader might be best.
• Set out your bases to make a kickball diamond, and have everyone but the pitcher line up in a straight line a few feet from home plate. Be sure to write down your lineup because once the ball is kicked, it might be hard to get kids back into the right order.
• Have the pitcher roll the ball to the first kicker. Once the ball has been kicked, every kid starts running around the bases, trying to get back to home plate before the pitcher can tag them with the ball.
• The pitcher must retrieve the ball and tag players running the bases. Any player that is tagged joins the pitcher’s team, and the last player remaining wins the game!
• Once all of the kids have crossed home plate, get the lineup back in order, and the next person gets to kick the ball!

These are just a few of the awesome games you can play with your kids any time you’re outdoors with them. But the ideas don’t stop here! Inside the Grow Games App, you’ll find over 670 different games you can play with in your kids ministry. Each game comes with instructions, editable graphics, and a supply list! Let us make it easier for you to create shared experiences with your kids, and download the Grow Games App today!

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Elevate Church Events: 5 Fun Outdoor Games for Children's Ministry

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Take a look around you. What do you see? What sounds do you hear? How does the space feel to you? Your environment helps inform and store all of the information you take in about a place. It’s why a doctor’s office feels differently than a concert venue — one feels clean and bright while the other feels dark and full of energy.

This isn’t just true for our favorite (or least favorite) places on earth, but it’s also true for our ministry spaces. On Sundays, we might think learning starts with the sermon, but, in reality, the process of learning begins the moment kids walk through our doors. So it’s probably time to be strategic about building the right environment.

In every series of Grow, we’ve crafted an engaging theme for each teaching series that complements what we’re teaching. Then, we created an environment around it. This helps tie together all of the teaching, activities, visuals and experiences your kids will experience and it complements all of the Bible stories you’re sharing.

Here’s every theme you’ll find in Grow Kids Volume 7 and how it connects with the series!

BLAST OFF

In our free series, Blast Off, we’re talking about how to “launch” your faith in Jesus to greater heights. We’ll be using the theme of rocket ships and outer space. Think space-themed activities and games, décor and graphics that use planets and stars and rocket ships, coloring pages, object lessons — all of that stuff will be outer-space-themed.

IN YOUR DREAMS

When we talk about Joseph’s life in August’s series In Your Dreams, we’ll focus on some of the spectacular dreams Joseph had. So we’ll be recreating the perfect dreamscape environment with a nighttime theme.

LEAD THE WAY

When we cover the way Moses led Israel out of Egypt during Lead the Way, we’ll use a “jungle adventure” theme, full of daring obstacles and challenges, to help us understand how to follow God’s guidance.

ARE WE THERE YET?

When we tell the story of Israel wandering through the wilderness during Are We There Yet?, we’ll place ourselves right in the middle of the story as we cross through an endless desert. So get ready for lots of desert-themed ideas!

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

For our series on Joshua, we’re taking our journey “on the road” as we race On the Right Track around obstacles to get to the promised land in this car-themed series.

CHRISTMAS VACATION

Our Christmas series, Christmas Vacation, has a Christmas theme, of course — but for this one, you’re going to want to trade in your Christmas sweater for some Christmas sunglasses and swim gear for this TROPICAL Christmas theme.

WHAT CAN I DO?

In What Can I Do?, since we’re talking about Jesus growing up and looking toward his future ministry, our theme is all about professions and grown-up careers.

WOW!

Wow!, we’ll use the theme of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to talk about the amazing miracles of Jesus!

GLOW IN THE DARK

In our Easter series, Glow in the Dark, we’ll use the theme of neon and glow-in-the-dark to help kids see Jesus is the light!

THROWBACK

Our series Throwback will bring back some nostalgia for your leaders, as we talk about how Jesus’ teachings are timeless through our theme of retro trends.

ONE SMALL STEP

In One Small Step, our series on the Early Church, we use an outer space theme to talk about how, with Jesus, “one small step” made in faith can have a huge impact for all of humanity.

RECESS

As we head back to the Old Testament for Ruth and Judges for our series Recess, we’ll use a playground-themed talk about some “judges” kids might be familiar with, like referees in their favorite playground games.

TURN IT UP

Finally, in Turn It Up, our series on David, we’ll use a music theme to help guide us through the story of David’s life as a musician, poet, and king.

That’s the plan for Volume 7 of Grow Kids! No matter which curriculum you’re using, you need a strategy for your weekly environments. A great way to make your weekly environment strategic is to give it a theme that complements what you’re teaching.

If you’re using Grow Kids Curriculum, we’ve already done this work for you. For every month of curriculum, we provide a monthly theme that complements the teaching content and includes everything you need to theme your program in our Environment Guides — decor ideas, editable graphics, music suggestions, games, funny characters and sketches, take-homes, coloring pages, and more.

If you’re like most kids ministry people, you probably have a love/hate relationship with games. They’re a necessary ingredient to an engaging kids service, but between the supplies, the prep, and the instructions, they can take so much effort. We get it. So here are 15 games you can play any time with almost no supplies or preparation needed. Have fun!

HEAD, SHOULDERS, KNEES, CUP

You can play this simple game with just a few students upfront or with your whole group. All you need are some disposable cups.

• Split everyone into pairs. Put a cup on the floor between each pair.
• Call out a series of commands (“Head! Shoulders! Knees!”) and have kids place their hands on the part of their body you just shouted.
• To end the round, yell, “Cup!” The first person from each pair to grab the cup from the ground wins.
• Keep playing until only one player remains.

POCKET SCAVENGER HUNT

Make a list ahead of random objects kids or leaders might have on them (like a shoe, sock, crayon, or phone). Then…

• Split into teams that include both kids and adults.
• Call out items, then award a point to each team for every item they can find.
• You could also play this game, “alphabet style,” where each team must find an object that starts with each letter of the alphabet. (This version works best for older kids who can spell.)

SIT DOWN IF …

In this game, you’ll call out a series of commands starting with, “Sit down if…” You don’t need to prep anything for this game, but you can make a list of ideas, so you don’t need to make them up on the spot.

• Have everyone stand up.
• Call out a series of “sit down” commands until only one person remains. You might tell them to sit down if they are wearing a blue shirt, have their hair in a ponytail, have a younger sibling, or if they ate cereal for breakfast.

HEADS OR TAILS

All you need for this game is a single coin. Then…

• Have everyone stand up.
• Ask them to pick heads or tails. If they choose heads, they’ll need to put their hands on their heads. If they choose tails, they must put their hands on their hips.
• Flip the coin.
• If it’s heads, all the heads win and advance to the next round, and the tails are out, or vice versa. Keep playing until one or a few kids remain.

THIS OR THAT

This is a spin on the classic game Simon Says, except the leader says, “Do this …” instead of, “Simon says …”

• When the leader starts a command with, “Do this,” the kids should repeat it, but if the leader starts a command with, “Do that,” the kids should stay motionless. If a kid misses a motion, they sit down.
• Move fast and add fun motions, like jumping jacks, patting your head, spinning in circles, or quacking like a duck.
• Keep playing until there are only a few winners left.

BEACH BALL (OR BALLOON) TOSS

For this game, you only need a few balloons or beach balls from your storage closet. You can play with any number of students.

• Split kids into teams.
• Tell everyone their feet are frozen to the floor and can’t be moved.
• Toss a balloon or beach ball to each team. See which team can bat it and keep it in the air the longest without moving their feet.

SWITCH IT UP

All you need for this game is a nice open space.

• Split kids into two teams. Have them all stand in a line against a wall.
• Call out random facts like, “You love ice cream” or “You’ve been to the beach.” If the fact applies to them, have them switch walls and run to the other side.
• There’s no winner in this game! Keep playing until everyone’s tired, or you’re out of facts.

Free PDF Resource

15 No-Prep Indoor Games for Your Church's Children's Ministry

Discover 15 easy indoor games for children's ministry in our guide. No prep needed, just fun!

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4 CORNERS

All you need for this game is a room with four corners.

• Assign a number to each corner of the room.
• Choose one person to be “it” and have them stand in the center of the room with their eyes closed (or wearing a blindfold).
• Have them count to 20 while everyone else runs to one of the room’s four corners. After the countdown, everyone must freeze.
• The person who’s “it” calls out a number, and everyone in that corner is out.
• Keep playing until a few kids or one kid wins.

ONE HAND, TWO HANDS, NONE

• Have everyone stand up facing the front of the room.
• Choose one kid to join the leader at the front. Have them stand with their back to the crowd.
• Have everyone in the crowd put one hand, two hands, or no hands in the air. After a few seconds, shout, “Freeze!”
• Have the kid at the front of the room choose if they’ll be put one hand, two hands, or no hands in the air.
• Everyone whose hands match their position stays in, while everyone else is eliminated.

CROWD CHARADES

Crowd Charades is just like regular charades, but reversed. In this version of the game, one person is the guesser while the entire crowd silently acts out clues.

• Send the guesser out of the room while you give the crowd the clue they will act out.
• Bring the guesser back into the room and give them 15-30 seconds to guess what the crowd is acting out.

LINE UP

• Split your kids into teams of equal size of about five kids each.
• Call out a series of commands that will allow each team of kids to line up in a specific order.
• Start with something easy, like “Line up from shortest to tallest!” Then, move to more challenging things like grade, birthday, shoe size, number of states or countries they’ve visited, or the last letter of their last name.
• To level up the game even further, have kids play without talking.
• The first team to finish lining up wins that round.

SECRET LEADER

• Send one person out of the room. They’ll be the guesser.
• Have everyone else stand in a circle and choose one person to be the secret leader. Explain that they’ll do a series of any actions they’d like (jumping jacks, patting their head, squatting, clapping, yawning, etc.), and everyone else in the group will follow while the guesser tries to guess who the secret leader is—so they’ll need to be sneaky!
• Call your guesser back into the room. Give them three guesses (but unlimited time) to guess who the leader is.

EVERYONE’S IT

This is played just like tag…except everyone is “it”! In this version, everyone runs around chasing each other. When someone gets tagged, they’re out. Keep playing until there’s only one person left. This game usually goes quickly, so be prepared to play multiple rounds. You can level up this game by having kids hop or crab walk instead of running.

CAT & MOUSE

You’ll need blindfolds and a pool noodle from your storage closet for this game!

• Have everyone stand in a big circle.
• Choose one kid to be the cat and one to be the mouse.
• Blindfold them both and give the cat a pool noodle.
• Have the cat roam around the circle, trying to tag the mouse with the pool noodle. Since they are both blindfolded, they won’t be able to see each other, so have the students stand in a circle to protect them so they don’t run into anything.
• Once the cat tags the mouse, select a new group of kids to play.

SCREAM RACES

You probably only want to play this game if you’re a reasonable distance from any of your adult services because it gets noisy!

• Choose a few kids to play. Have them line up on one end of the room.
• When you say “go,” have them take a big breath and let out a big yell as they start running toward the other side of the room.
• When they run out of breath, they have to freeze wherever they stop yelling. Whoever makes it the furthest is the winner! If your room is smaller, have them run back and forth from one end to the other.

There are so many fun games to play with minimal prep work, and for more low- or no-prep games, check out the Grow Games app. Inside the app, we have over 670 different games for your kids ministry. Each game comes with instructions, a supply list, and editable graphics so you can be ready to play with your kids. Plus, you can add your own games to build up a database of all the great games you’ve been playing in your kids ministry. So, instead of randomly searching online for your next great game, just download the Grow Games app instead!

Free PDF Resource

15 No-Prep Indoor Games for Your Church's Children's Ministry

Discover 15 easy indoor games for children's ministry in our guide. No prep needed, just fun!

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We all want to teach kids about Jesus more effectively, but let’s be honest — it’s not always easy. It’s challenging enough to teach adults, but to teach kids whose brains are in different stages of development than our own is a challenge most of us were never really trained to do.

When we think about how to teach kids effectively, we probably jump immediately to thinking about our sermons or lessons. The truth is, the process of learning should begin the moment kids walk through our doors. That’s why we need to get strategic about the structure of our environment as a whole — the room design, props, graphics, snacks, crafts, and everything else!

It’s a lot to do and think about, but if this idea still feels a little overwhelming, don’t stress — we’re going to share how we’ve structured all of this in Grow Kids Curriculum. But don’t worry if you’ve never used Grow Kids in your ministry before. You can still steal our strategy! Take the ideas you find helpful, ignore the parts that don’t quite fit your context, and combine them with the unique language, vision, and strategy of your church.

Now, let’s talk about our weekly environments strategy for children’s ministry! We’ll start with the big picture and then get more specific as we go.

1. PLAN FOR THE YEAR

Before you can plan your weekly environment themes for the year, you’ll need to plan what you’re teaching for the year! That’s because your weekly environment should always complement what you’re teaching — not dictate or compete with it. So if you haven’t already, take a look at this article about planning your annual teaching strategy. When you’ve got a plan for your teaching nailed down, come back!

…Are you back now?

Okay, cool! Let’s keep going.

Free PDF Resource

An Annual Strategy for Creating Engaging Children's Ministry Environments

Create engaged ministries for kids with Grow Curriculum's annual strategy for creating engaging children's ministry environments.

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Now that you know what you’re teaching all year long, you here’s how to put a strategy around your weekly environments: determine an engaging theme for each teaching series that complements what you want kids to learn. Then create an environment around it!

Having distinct monthly themes isn’t just for fun. (But yeah, they are pretty fun.) These monthly themes help kids learn in a lot of different ways! When you have a monthly theme that ties all of your teaching, activities, visuals, and experiences together and complement the Bible stories you’re sharing, here’s how it can make your teaching more effective …

• A new theme for each teaching series signals to kids it’s time for a new topic, which reengages their attention.
• The right theme makes the stories and ideas from Scripture more understandable and relatable to a kid born in the 21st century!
• A good theme helps you get more creative with the types of object lessons, activities, visuals, characters, and whatever else you like to use to help capture and keep a kid’s attention.
• And yes, a monthly theme really is fun! Fun isn’t something to be afraid of. When kids are having fun, they learn better. So make your themes fun!

So what might a year of themes look like? The themes you choose for your teaching shouldn’t be random pairings of ideas (like video games and Noah’s ark, or emojis and the Gospels) without a good explanation. Instead, the themes you choose should directly complement your teaching in a way that makes the stories come alive and the principles take root. You might try …

• A nature theme to go with your series on Creation.
• A rocket ship theme to talk about “launching” your faith to new heights.
• An underwater theme to symbolize going deeper in your faith.
• A party theme to go with a series about praise and worship.

If you typically start a new teaching series every month, that means you’ll need a total of 12 fun monthly themes each year. And when you’re deciding on your themes for the year, it’s probably a good idea to find a balance between …

• Keeping your themes new and fresh so kids don’t get bored by seeing the same themes over and over again.
• Reusing decorations and supplies so you’re not filling your storage room with stuff you’ll never use again!

To learn more about how to do this well, check out this article about planning your annual ministry calendar. There’s a video walkthrough in there for you too!

2. PLAN FOR THE MONTH

Once you know your theme for the month, you can start building the rest of your environment — things kids will experience from the time your program begins until they go home.

When building a monthly theme, here are a few elements you should consider tying into that theme:

• ROOM DESIGN & DECOR: Whether you’re decorating the walls of your classroom, a bulletin board, or a whole stage, decorating is a big deal in children’s ministry! If you’re using Grow Kids Curriculum in your ministry, you know we provide a handy little Environment Guide for every teaching series that’s packed with tons of images and links to do-it-yourself decorations, Amazon products, and more, to help your room decor really bring your theme to life.
• PROPS: From object lessons and visuals that help kids better understand the Bible story, to silly costumes and things to make kids laugh, your props can tie into your monthly theme too!
• CRAFTS: Sometimes a craft can be just for fun, sometimes it can help kids remember a Bible story, and sometimes it can help them turn what they’ve learned into an action step. No matter what kind of crafts you’re planning, consider how your monthly theme can influence what kids will be making.
• SNACKS: Sure, you can always get away with the classic Goldfish or generic-branded-Oreos Sunday school snacks … or … you could have a little more fun with your snacks! Whether it’s animal-shaped cookies for your lesson on Noah’s ark, popsicles for your tropical-themed Christmas series, or fish-shaped fruit sliced or cookies for a lesson about Jesus feeding the 5,000, try having a little more themed-up fun with your snacks once in a while!
• GIVEAWAYS: Once in a while (maybe at the start or end of a teaching series) you may want to give every kid a little something fun to take home. Whether it’s a sticker, temporary tattoo, fidget toy, or party favor, this is another way to reinforce your monthly theme, instead of just handing out something random!
• MUSIC: From worship music, to your background playlists, to silly songs you cover or parody for kids, your monthly theme can help inform the songs you choose too.
• GRAPHICS & VIDEOS: And lastly, your graphics and videos can help reinforce your monthly theme too! When all of your images and videos stay in line with your monthly theme, it helps create a more immersive experience for kids.

None of these things are as important as the Bible stories and truths you’re teaching kids, of course! So it’s important to keep all of this in perspective. If you’re looking to create a more fun, themed monthly experience, this checklist will help you find new ways to integrate your theme into your weekly environment. But even if you never plan a single on-theme craft, prop, or giveaway, you can still create a weekly environment for kids that makes a big impact. Let’s talk about how.

3. PLAN FOR THE WEEK

If we’re going to create effective and meaningful weekly environments for kids each week, we can’t just talk about your physical environment, decorations, and fun stuff. We’ve got to talk about the physical, emotional, and relational environment you’re creating each week too. The environments we create each week are so important, they can actually make or break whether or not kids receive the message we’re trying to share with them.

We’ve talked a lot already about the decorations, music, and physical space that goes into creating a weekly environment, but it’s so much bigger than that. It’s about creating environments that help everyone feel welcome in your church, and that reinforce what you’re teaching.

For kids, it means focusing on having fun through age-appropriate games and play, using all of their senses, and prioritizing safety so kids are free to learn and grow. So each week, think about what kind of environment you’re creating, beyond just the decorations.

• Is your environment physically safe?
• Is it emotionally safe?
• Is it fun?
• Is it loving?
• Is it inclusive of kids with disabilities?
• Is it welcoming to kids of diverse backgrounds, family structures, cultures, and experiences?
• In short, is your weekly environment a place kids love to be?

We hope so! Because kids struggle to learn when they feel uncomfortable, scared, unsafe, or bored. (And let’s be honest — we’re grown-ups, and we probably struggle with that too.) But when kids feel safe and loved, they are more free to learn! So be strategic about the environments you’re creating for kids. They might just be the key to helping them know Jesus better.

This is a lot to think about and plan for, we know — but if your strategy around creating compelling weekly environments will ultimately help kids get to know Jesus better, then it’s so worth it!

In case you missed it, check out this article about planning an entire year of ministry. It’ll show you how this weekly environments strategy could look on your annual calendar, alongside an annual strategy for your:

• Teaching
• Discipleship
• Events
• Volunteers
• Families

We’ve said this before, but we’ve got to say it again! These ideas we’ve talked about are nice … but these ideas only become a strategy when you put them on your calendar and turn them into actions.

When you have an annual plan to turn your ideas and goals into a strategy, you’ll make a much bigger impact.

And hey, if you’re using Grow Kids Curriculum, we’ve already done some of this work for you. For every month of curriculum, we provide a monthly theme that complements the teaching content and includes everything you need to theme your program in our Environment Guides — decor ideas, editable graphics, music suggestions, games, funny characters and sketches, take-homes, coloring pages, and more.

But whether you use Grow Curriculum or not, we hope you’ll steal our strategy! We developed it over lots of years of ministry, with input from lots of church leaders and lots of trial and error. Take it, tweak it, and make it your own. We really hope it helps you be just a little more awesome at what you do this year!

Free PDF Resource

An Annual Strategy for Creating Engaging Children's Ministry Environments

Create engaged ministries for kids with Grow Curriculum's annual strategy for creating engaging children's ministry environments.

Download Now