Easy Games for Your Kids Ministry

by Collin Spindle

As a CentriKid director, I’ve learned to be prepared for lag time with kids. Whether a lesson takes less time than expected or a storm ruins plans for outside play, it’s important to have a back-up plan. Here are a few of my favorite games to use when these situations come up:

Indoor Game
Tribble King Hunt
Set Up: Hide at least 100 balls of paper around the room. Hide one balloon especially well.
Play: Tell the kids this room has been taken over by King Tribble and his army. We need to collect all the Tribbles and find the Tribble King. Split the kids into 3 – 4 teams and let them put the “Tribbles” in their team bucket getting one point for every “Tribble”. 10 points are awarded to the group that finds King Tribble the balloon.

No Equipment Game
Crazy Counting
Set Up: Get in a circle
Play: Someone starts and can say 1 or 1, 2…the next player picks up where the previous left off and can count the next number or the next two numbers. Each player can only count up to two numbers. When a player has to count to 10 they are out. This game takes critical thinking and some strategy. It is great as a lead in game.

Tag game
Mosquito Tag
Set Up: 3 or 4 pool half sized pool noodles
Play: The designated players will put the pool noodles on their heads as mosquitoes tagging other players with the noodle. This game works like freeze tag and if someone gets tagged they must stop and itch their body. Two players can untag someone by linking hands around them saying BUG SPRAY”

Always remember to connect the games back to the lesson you are teaching. For example, if you are teaching on Abraham you may use Tribble King Hunt to talk about how God promised Abraham how he would spread his descendants and they would be as numerous as the stars. It might have taken some time to find 100 tribbles but imagine how long it would take to count all of Abraham’s descendants.