As the kids are getting picked up from service, you often hear the same two questions from parents. Question one goes something like this, “How was your service?” Question number two is probably, “What did you learn?” Here are a couple of answers I heard to these questions recently:

“It was so gross! One kid barfed all over the place!”

“Good, mommy, Jesus talked to me.” (Not their Heavenly Father, their friend Jesús who had just moved here from Mexico.)

And then there’s the dreaded, “I don’t know,” answer.

Those three words can crush any sense of momentum you may feel in ministry. Gone are the days where kids can be expected to remember a three-point sermon. Most children (and adults) need one big point to walk away with. One of the things that has worked wonders in our kids’ church is combining the big point with the JBQ Bible Fact Pak.

For example, if you’re doing a lesson on Abraham, you can go online and pull all of the JBQ questions on Abraham and do a recap game. You can separate the questions by character or even by theme. Talk about making it easy! Then take your big point lesson to the next level and make a game out of it—not just a trivia game, but an actual game.  Here are a few ideas that could be done in a classroom:

Tic-Tac-Toe
Setup: JBQ questions.  Using painters tape or hula hoops, make a tic-tac-toe board in the middle of the room.
   
Instructions: Have the kids line up in two lines. The first person in each line gets asked a JBQ question. The first of the two to raise his/her hand gets to answer the JBQ question. If that person gets it right, he/she sits in the spot on the board. The first team to connect three spots on the tic-tac-toe board wins.

Nerf Gun Game

Setup: JBQ questions, Grasshopper stand, Nerf target, and a Nerf gun with ammo.
 
Instructions: Split the children into two teams. The leader will ask one question to one team. They have five seconds to answer (may work as a team). If they get it right, one child gets one shot at the Nerf target. Keep score. Repeat for the other team and vice versa until time is up.

Jenga®

Setup: JBQ questions, giant Jenga® blocks
   
Instructions:  Split the children into two teams on opposite sides of the room and have them form a line. By alternating teams, have one child from a team come up and take a Jenga® game piece out of the middle and place it on top (following Jenga® rules). If the tower falls, the other team gets a chance to answer the question. The team may work together to answer the question. If the tower does not fall, a child from the opposing team takes his/her turn. Likewise, if the tower falls, the other team gets a chance to answer the question, and the team can work together to answer the question.

Legos® Tower

Setup: JBQ questions, Legos®
   
Instructions: Split the children into two teams and have them work together to build the tallest Legos® tower. The team that builds the tallest tower in two minutes gets to answer a JBQ question. After the round is over, dismantle the tower and repeat the game. The team with the most points wins.

These are just a few games you can use to help. Perhaps you have found other successful games to use in your ministry. Share your ideas on the AG Kidmin Facebook page.