Ruth was poor and a foreigner but she had strength and God’s blessing on her side. These games look at her strength and the practice of gleaning. Some are best as introductory games and others are better used after the story.

 

To hunt to Glean – Grab a few big tubs and fill them with brown or yellow tissue paper. This is a hunt for the grain in the sheaf and mud. Use real grain or small objects like craft gems. Give each team a minute to find as much grain as they can. Talk about how gleaning was a hunt, and one that was often messy.
 

Stranger – Give one group of children the following instructions – you must only speak using the letter ‘h and p’, you must bow before you talk, you must not touch anything’. Tell the other children that they are going to meet a new group of people, they should welcome them and try and find out their customs. Give the 2 groups 5 minutes maximum to meet. At the end ask the two groups how they felt and what obstacles they found to being together. Talk about Ruth being a foreigner in Bethlehem and how life must have felt strange to her.

 
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Animal games abound and if you have a favourite with your group be sure to use it. Equally many groups have Christmas traditions, which include games they ‘always’ play, if so don’t worry about the season overtaking the message, Christmas is a time of celebration and not everything always needs to link. However, if you don’t have either of the above, here are a few suggestions.

 

Camel races – Camels can travel a long distance but be prepared for them to collapse in this race. Get your youngsters into teams of tree, 2 people will act as legs and the smallest will be the hump! You could even add a blanket over the hump then have the camels collect and carry gold, frankincense and myrrh packages from around the room!
 

Woollen treasures – use a mixture of cotton wool and packaging material to fill a large deep container with ‘sheep’s wool’. Take a small multi-part toy, a small puzzle, or even building bricks and hide inside the ‘wool’. Tell the youngsters that the sheep were given gifts to hold like the camels but lost them when they had their ‘wool cut’. This can be a single group activity or a race with 2 or more groups

 
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Naomi, Orpah and Ruth are three women who don’t have a lot of choices left. Three women brought together through marriage and now all facing permanent widowhood. They, like so many, leave their home and reach out to those who they once held close and are now distanced from. These games look at the idea of travel, allegiance, and support.

 

Too much to carry – This is a really simple game reminiscent of egg and spoon races. Each child is given a paper plate and needs to carry the plate and whatever is placed upon it from one side of the room to the other. Set up 2 tables full of ‘objects’ to add, this works best if each child is given the same objects ie. a beanbag, a ball, a cup, a pencil, etc.
 

Hands and feet – This is a silly game designed to show us how we support each other. Have the kids get into teams of 5. Explain that you will call 2 numbers – that’s the number of hands and the number of feet the team can have touching the ground. Start with a high number like 10,10 (all hands and feet) to make sure the kids understand. Prepare for kids to lift other kids and stand on their hands!
 
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For people like Simon being a Zealot was a big deal, while some have suggested it may have been a mere nickname, this man was obviously full of religious fervour. Unlike the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other religious leaders Jesus’s message hit a note with the Zealots as he talked transformation, but Zealots were ready to use force to get their message across, and Jesus clearly disagreed. Also in this Story we meet the man with the withered hand, his transformation is not ideological but physical. These games look at aspects of the Zealots views, Simon’s commitment to God and transformation in general.

 

I will fight – for this activity you need a couple of toy swords or newspaper swords. Gather the children in a circle and put the swords in the middle. Remind the children that swords are weapons, and while these are toys, real weapons are not to be played with. Ask the children to come up with reasons why they might fight. This can be silly, I like red better than blue, I prefer apple juice to orange juice… etc. When you find a person on each side of the argument they can have a pretend fight for 30 seconds. Once most of the children have had a go ask for serious reasons, things actually worth getting hurt for. If they come up with a suggestion they can play fight with a friend as a reward. Zealots believed fighting was the way to convince people they needed to change, did fighting make anyone change their minds in this activity?
 

Foolish leader – play follow the leader, make it fun and interesting my making big shapes and adding sounds. At one point in the game have the leader do something it is either unwise or impossible for everyone to follow. Stop the game and talk about why it’s not always wise to follow everything someone does. start the game again, at the end discuss who would be a good leader to follow in life.
 
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For this series Jude (Judas) Thaddaeus is given the gift of revelation, he sees the bigger meaning in part of Jesus’ teaching. Considering the apostles seem to stumble in and out of comprehension his question and it’s subsequent answer reveal a moment of increased clarity. Playing on the theme of revelation these games are suitable for a wide variety of groups.
 

Tangle – Grab yourself a big ball of string and arrange the kids in a circle. Throw that ball about letting it unravel as it goes until everybody is holding a bit… now time to untangle! Don’t let go of the string in your hands, just twist, turn, step over and under the string until you end up with a big circle. Link to how confusing and tangled some parts of faith can seem at first.
 

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Replace the missing piece – Print some photo images. Remove one or more small sections from each image and stick it onto a piece of card. Write a letter on the cards with sections and number each large image. The object of the game is to match the letters and numbers. if you want to give your children a reason to move stick these around the room and make it a timed activity, this will encourage movement.

Guess the missing piece – Before or as an alternative to the above, hand out the small pieces and see if the children can identify the picture. This can also be done with a single piece of any jigsaw puzzle.

 
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Samson’s story is a story of trust, trust laid in the wrong places, trust to keep promises that are repetitively broken, trust to protect the nation. These games either stem from specific events of the story or from that central idea of trust.
 

Trust tunnel – Have the children make 2 parallel lines to form a tunnel. One child will run along this tunnel and the last people on the line will catch them. Make sure the last people on each line as both sensible and strong enough. To make this a trust tunnel the runner must be blindfolded.
 

Samson flip cards – Print and play with your Samson cards. Lay out the cards face down and have the youngsters take turns to look for pairs. If using before the story then have the children hold up each card as the person/symbol is mentioned in the story. If using after the story, when a pair is found, have the child say how the character / symbol appeared in the story.
 
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Here we go again… This little flip card ‘match up’ game is perfect for highlighting the elements from the story of Samson and Delilah – there is also a version for the earlier story of Samson’s parents HERE

Includes a character picture of Samson, Delilah, a loom, bow strings (and bows), rope, a pillar, blind bald Samson, and a plait of hair.

 
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Manoah and his wife are an important part of Samson’s story, the Nazirite vow is made in conception, formed before the child is born. For some this is a strange concept, that Samson had no choice, that he is a hero we can’t hope to imitate. These activities play with the concepts of being a Nazirite, and the idea of angelic messengers.
 

That looks like a… – The idea of this game is to identify a picture while only being able to see a small amount. Take a large envelope and cut a small hole in the side (a hole punch will do this neatly, don’t worry about having holes on both sides). slip a picture into the envelope and give it to the children. The children will probably try and more the picture about to see as much as possible. Have the last picture be one of an Angel.
 

Samson flip cards – Print and play with your Samson cards. Lay out the cards face down and have the youngsters take turns to look for pairs. If using before the story then have the children hold up each card as the person/symbol is mentioned in the story. If using after the story, when a pair is found, have the child say how the character / symbol appeared in the story.
 
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