The hero in this story is the young boy David as he shows his heart for God and is anointed as the future king. The games play on the three ideas of the family traits held by the brothers, the shepherd David, and the revelation of David’s heart.
Just like you – This is a simple matching game. Play with a big group by getting into small groups for each round or play in a small group by simply getting into pairs. Once the groups are formed the leader calls out a category and the children have to find something they have in common associated with it. Repeat answers are not allowed. Eg. If the category is green perhaps all the people in the group may have green eyes, if the category is school perhaps they are in the same school year. Good categories are colours, months, places, numbers, & family members.
David’s sheep – This is a very silly game for a well controlled group. Have the group choose a person to play David the shepherd. As David goes looking for his sheep he finds other animals. Have David walk round the room calling the various animals he sees ‘here snails’…’here cats’…etc. the children then act out the animal, complete with noises. When David say’s ‘here sheep’ the children have to ‘Baa’ and run to David. The first person there becomes David and the game repeats.
The best game – (taken from www.greatgroupgames.com) Arrange everyone into groups of 4 or 5. Everyone has to participate in at least one round. Explain the rules: Each group needs to select one person who they think will win the category. If a person has “the best” within the category, their team gets a point. After the person is chosen reveal the specific action or measurement the selected people have to do to win the contest (example: Whoever has the “The Tallest” thumb). The person with the best action or measurement wins a point for their team. The team with the most points wins the game. (PDF of suggestions available on the original site)
Creating a heart – If you want a really simple group game then this is for you. Challenge the children to make a heart shape in as many ways as possible. they can use bodies, furniture, fingers, paper and scissors. have a camera and see how many hearts you can photograph in 3 minutes. You’ll be amazed at how many you can do.
Heart pieces – If you are pushed for time or just have a very young group then cut coloured craft paper into the shape of a heart, one per child. Divide the hearts into 5 pieces (or more for older groups) and throw all the pieces together in the middle. Assign each child a colour and get them to race to complete their heart.
