This passage in John 1 lends itself to word games, hunts for letters, light, and order. John was beginning, but he was aware that he wasn’t starting the story, it was already alive. Choose the game or games that suit your group and setup best.
Beginning
All Ages
Any size group
No Setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
Have you ever turned a doodle into a picture? Give each child a sheet of paper and a pencil. Have them draw a circle. They then have 1 minute to turn it into a picture of something. Repeat with other shapes: triangle, square, zigzag, spiral, etc.
Link : How to start a gospel.
Find a word
Ages 7+
Small group
Requires setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
Grab a letter-based game and put out the letters. Explain that the kids have to make a word using the letters that link to the word you give them. This can be against the clock or against another team. Words to give : sport, food, family, write, Jesus.
Link : John trying to describe Jesus
Light hunt
Under 7’s
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Crack a bunch of glow-sticks and then hide them around the room, drop the lights and challenge the kids to find them. If you have many colours, you can hide different colours according to age group or have kids only collect one of each colour.
Link : Darkness can’t stop the light.
Order
Ages 7+
Any size group
Requires setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
Grab a selection of random objects and give them to the youngsters. Tell them they have to put them in ‘order’. Let them decide of what that order will be. Talk about how when we put something together, we send messages about the order we see. Challenge them to choose another way of ordering them: how many can they do? If they are stuck, try size, colour, usefulness, beauty, or purpose.
Link : John was sending the message that Jesus’ story was part of the big story from the beginning.
Echoes
All Ages
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Can be seated
A simple mimic game where the first person taps out a small beat and passes it around the group, once it reaches the last person they change the beat. Add in sound effects as your group gets more confident.
Link : John was echoing something familiar — Genesis 1.
