Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 13 are a beautiful attempt at pinning down what God’s love is, and these games will help you explore the passage deeper with your youngsters.

What love is

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All Ages

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Small group

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Requires setup time

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Noisy game

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Can be seated

Print the 2 pages of the card game included with this pack and follow the instructions on the printout pages. This simple card game is suitable for 1-3 players and is a great way of learning the different attributes that Paul assigns to love. (click on picture for file!)
Link: The description of love.
 

Love is…

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Under 7’s

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Any size group

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No Setup time

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Noisy game

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Can be seated

The leader calls out words. Those related to love (care, affection, like, etc), get no reaction, but when they say a word not associated with love (hurt, pain, mean etc), the kids make noise by pretending to crash cymbals or pounding on the table.
Link: We know what love is, even though it’s sometimes difficult to describe.

Finding love

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All Ages

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Small group

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Requires setup time

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Noisy game

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Space needed

Have a love hunt. Write the letters F,A,I,T,H,H,O,P,E,L,O,V and E on 13 hearts and hide them around your area. Have the youngsters find the hearts and make the three words.
Link: The final verse: 1 Corinthians 13:13.

Mirror Muddle

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All Ages

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Any size group

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Requires setup time

Quiet game icon

Noisy game

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Can be seated

Use a small hand mirror to try to read something behind you( or look at a picture) and try to describe what you see to the rest of the group. The group could attempt to replicate the picture on their own piece of paper based on what the person looking at the original picture in the mirror says; see who can get the closest.
Link: We might try to explain God, Jesus, Christianity to someone, but we’ll never do a perfect job because it isn’t clear in the mirror (verse 12).

love is craft animation

Moving crafts are always a hit, and this one swipes from a very plain heart into one full of colour. It’s not got any tricky cutting, either! The hope, faith and love tie nicely into the passage, leaving the opportunity to use the piece as a conversation starter as to why Paul chose those 3 words.

(more…)

These are the Character resources provided for: Love is… (1 Corinthians 13).

For each passage, there is a collectable card alongside high-quality character images and a colouring page. All other graphics are extra’s!

Click on the images below to see a larger version. Save the images by right click + ‘save image as’ (computers) OR long press + ‘save image’ (mobile).

These images are NOT copyright free.

These resources are provided for personal/classroom use only.
Use can use them for teaching, games, publicity, decor, big screen presentations, flannelgraphs, stickers, or any other non-commercial activity in your church, school, home, or organised group.
You may not use them in products you are going to sell – both printed and digital, or to upload the original images online, on websites, social media or in YouTube videos.
Any questions, please reach out to me using the contact page link at the end of the page.

This passage is so quoted and used, it’s a key part of understanding the “love” theme that echoes through scripture. It is, however, rather abstract, and this retelling used the instance of Paul writing it to frame the passage into a story.

This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.

Main Passage : 1 Corinthians 13


Character resources for: Love is. 1 Corinthians 13

Paul was in the midst of writing to all the people in Corinth about the gifts God could send them through his Holy Spirit when he suddenly stopped and threw his hands in the air. In all his talk about the great gifts and the way they all worked together, he’d forgotten the most important things of all… Love!

It didn’t matter if you had every gift God could give; if you didn’t have love, then they were nothing, nadda, zip, diddlysquat, useless! Love was the thing that tied everything together.

But what kind of love. After all, there are many kinds. We may love chocolate or football, but we love our parents with a different kind of love. And God loves us with a love even greater than that. So, Paul tried to do the impossible: he tried to write out exactly what this “love” was.

Love is patient and kind.
It does not envy, boast or be rude.
Love thinks first of others and keeps no record of wrongs.
Love finds no joy in brokenness but rejoices in the truth.
It holds all things, believes all things, hopes all things, suffers all things.
Love never, ever ends.

Paul sat back and read the long list of things about love. It was something he was still learning about. It was something too big for him to ever know everything about. It was like he could only see part of the picture.

He described it as looking at a reflection in a dull mirror. He knew it was God’s love, and he knew a lot about it, but the image was still blurry. His greatest wish was that one day he would see God’s love face to face, to discover what he already knew in part, but then to know fully.

Paul picked up his pen one last time for the day. He would stop after this and continue the letter tomorrow, but this last sentence needed adding:

Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—
but the greatest of these is love.

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