We're running out of creative ideas to use during our weekly game time. Do you know of any good websites or books that have great ideas??
I'm sure our kids would appreciate any ideas you might have.

At the club we operate we do not have a "gym time".  Instead we like to use review games.  We love to use the Ed Dunlop PowerPoint Review games (http://dunlopministries.com).  The children get very excitied and love these games.  The children chant and cheer for their team mates as they answer questions from the K4T Truthlesson time and curriculum.  The games are easy to use and adapt well to audiences of mixed ages/grades.  If you don't have a powerpoint projector, you may want to try Ed Dunlop's Overhead Games.  We have used these games for years and love to use them as well.

You may want to try using something along these lines once or twice a month.  You may find that your children will enjoy it just as much or maybe even more than the gym time they are used to having.

Let's hear some other ideas!

Marrena Ralph, ministry coordinator

Hi,

For kids 1st-6th grade I use a book entitled "Games for Cub Scouts." produced by the Boy Scouts of America (dated 1978!!!). (I used to be in Scouts many moons ago.) There are 78 pages chocked full of games with instructions for the leader to follow. Some of these games are adaptations of others listed in the book in other places. Some of them I have to adjust for our own setting. There are also tricks and puzzles at the end of the book. 

 Perhaps you can find a local Boy Scouts store in your area (There's one not too far from our church.) that has an updated version of their game book. Maybe you could check the local thrift store or goodwill store to see what they have available.

Go to www.google.com and type in "games for kids" and see what links the website gives you.

 Hope these ideas help.

Great idea! 

Does anyone else have names of group game idea books that we can list here?

 Marrena

The WILDs has their SOAP book series with games and skits and more. These have been helpful to me in past endevors and usually has a variety of age and size groups for games which would be helpful for K4T clubs. The 7 book set is only $150 or they can be ordered individually for around $25 through http://store.wilds.org/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=s.o.a.p&osCsid=91495ccccb663bc928663fe6ddd178df.

 Also, find a former Neighborhood Bible Time evangelist and pick his brain. They usually are pretty creative.

We purchased a 24 foot kids play parachute of off Ebay. About 15 - 30 kids can be around the parachute at one time. There are many fun games that you can do with a parachute. The kids love it. Here is a websight that also sales them: http://playparachutes.com/bapa.html. Here are some links to parachute games: http://www.funandgames.org/parachute_games.html  or http://www.preschooleducation.com/gparachute.shtml or http://www.moogieland.com/parachutegames.html.

Here is a link to some other kids games: http://www.gameskidsplay.net/

I am the Game Director at our Kid's 4 Truth program and have also worked as the Game Assistant Director for another program at a rather large church. Through my experiences working with large and small groups, I have found or created games that work for both groups. A few of these games are listed below:

 Chariot of Carpet:  (Items needed are 1 carpet square, 1 jump rope, and 2 cones for each team)

• The carpet square (chariot) is placed on the gym floor (fuzzy side down). 1 child sits on the carpet square (this is the rider). 1 child (the horse) stands in front of the carpet with the rope in front of him and the ends of the rope are placed in the 'riders' hands. The 'rider' on the 'chariot' start out behind 1 of the cones on the far side of the gym, and the 'horse' stands far enough in front of the 'chariot' to make the rope taut.
• At the sound of the Game Director blowing the whistle, the 'horses' and 'chariots' are off. The 'horse' pulls the 'chariot' all the way down to the other end of the gym (the following can accure depending on how large or small your groups is):
• Large groups: Split each team into 2 groups. Each group from each team will be placed behind each cone. The 'horse' pulls the 'rider' down to the end of the gym (where the other cone is placed). As soon as the 'chariot' crosses the line where the cone is, the 'horse' turns around and gets ready to head back to where he was at first. Before the 'horse' takes off again, the next rider standing behind the cone on that end of the gym switch places with the rider and grabs onto the rope, and off they go. The winner of the Chariot of Carpet is the team who successfully gets each member of their team to the other side of the gym.
• Small groups: Each team is on only one side (behind the one cone). The 'horse' races down to the other side pulling the 'chariot'. Once they get to the other side, they go around the far cone and head back to the beginning where they switch off riders and do the process again. The winner of the Chariot of Carpet is the team who successfully gets each member of their team back to the one side of the gym.

Jumprope Hellicopter:  (Items needed is 1 jumprope)

• The Game Director sits on his knees in the middle of the gym. He holds the rope on one side (keeping it on the ground) and spins it around him to make it look as the hellicopter. One member from each team gets into the circle and jumps over the rope. When someone stops the rope or gets tagged by the rope, that person is out. The last person standing gets the points for their team. Continue doing the same thing for each round until everyone has had a chance to jump the hellicopter. The team that has the most points wins.

The Shoe Mix-up Game: (No additional items needed)

• Each child takes off their shoes and places them in the very center of the the square (about the size of half a gym). The Game Director mixes up the shoes. He then blows his whistle, and the first child on each team goes to the center and grabs a pair of shoes that is one of his team members and takes them back to that team member. After putting his shoes on (tying them up also), that team member goes out to find another members shoes. This continues till every member has their shoes on and tied. The team that wins is the first team to have his shoes on, tied, and sitting down quietly on their line.

I hope these ideas will help you out. There are several more that we do, but these are just a few...and the materials are rather inexpensive.

Our church program is moving away from gym time, but we are still having an activity time. I work with the Discoverers (3-5 yr. olds). Old children's favorites are still fresh and new to many of these children: Simeon Says, Red Light/Green Light, Mother May I, Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone?, Duck - Duck - Goose, Musical Chairs, and Hopscotch.

Sequencing is an important skills for this age group to master. One of the Discoverers lessons suggested making the letters G, O & D and helping the children learn to put the letters in order to spell GOD. From this suggestion, I made up some of my own sequencing games. For the 4's and 5's, I think you could use them in a true relay. We'll find out this year. For our 3's class we just allowed the children to take a turn at squencing in a relay without emphasizing a winning team. Squencing is a very new for most 3's. Many of them need to be "coached" to be successful, but they are learning on each try.

The following are squencing games that we will be using this year that match the lessons or lesson illustrations. Several were used last year for the 3's class. They enjoyed playing them. Their skills improved through the year, too. For each of these games, you need 2 complete pictures and 2 pictures cut into pieces. All the pictures in each game must be identical. Each team has one complete picture to look at and one matching picture cut into pieces to put back together in the right order. One at a time in relay style, one person from each team puts the picture pieces back together. They can look at the complete picture for help. Then the next person comes forward and does the same thing until all have had a turn to put the picture pieces back together.

Games:  I still need to come up with clever names for the games.

Life of Christ - Put the pictures in order of what happened. You need a picture of baby Jesus in a manger, a cross, and an empty tomb - Key Truth # 8 - Jesus Christ & Key Truth # 9 - Salvation

Flower Pot - Put the flower together. You need picture of a flower in a pot cut into parts: the blossom, the stem & leaves, and the pot - Key Truth #2 - God's Greatness 

Child - Put the child together. You need a picture of a child cut into parts: head, trunk, and legs - Key Truth #6 - God's View of You

Traffic light - Put the colors in order on the traffic light. You need picture of traffic light w/ and w/o colored lights plus red light, yellow light, and green light - Key Truth #7 - God's Law

Butterfly life cycle - Put the pictures in order of what happened. You need a picture of an egg, chrysalis, catepillar, and butterfly - Key Truth #9 - Salvation

All of my pictures were taken from free coloring pages online. Just search, print, and color. I hope these ideas are helpful to someone. I would like to hear about ideas that others use for Discoverers.