It’s easy to feel sympathetic for the rich young man, he is obviously truly seeking belief beyond what he has experienced, but Jesus sees his heart is more tied to his wealth than his faith. These games play with this idea and the imagery of the needle and camel that Jesus used to illustrate the difficulty wealth can cause.
Human knot
All Ages
Any size group
No Setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Standing in a circle, have every child reach out both hands into the centre and grab another random wrist. The aim is to untangle the knot formed without letting go of each other by stepping over arms and spinning, etc.
Link: the rich man had tried to follow all the rules but failed because his love of money was greater than his faith.
Find the camel
Under 7’s
Small group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Print the page (click on the picture for the file) and hide the camels around the room. Once collected, talk about the different sizes.
Link: even these tiny camels can’t get through the eye of a needle!
Dominoes
All Ages
Small group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Can be seated
Use dominoes or Jenga blocks to make a fall run. For older kids, give each team a set-up time limit!
Link: In dominoes, the first falling block does not complete the series, that honour goes to the last block to fall.
The needle’s eye
Ages 7+
Any size group
Requires setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
Can you fit the camel? Print this page by clicking on the image for the PDF and let your kids try the challenge!
A reader reached out asking for the solutions, so here they are…
There are 2 ways to solve this:
The first is to roll the image of the camel into a tight tube, and then it will fit through the hole.
The second is to hold the needle up to your eye and see the camel “through” the eye of the needle.
The task proving impossible is the most likely scenario and fits the story best.
