Activities that require youths to take on particular roles of characters and experience situations in order to better understand feelings, conflicts and other emotions
Materials
You’ll need 1 role card for each person, tape, and Bibles. A tape player and blues music are optional.
Role Cards
Print the following “roles” on 3X5 cards. Not all options may be suitable so use your own discretion.
* Business and home were lost in a flood.
* Home and all belongings were destroyed in a fire.
* Family was killed in an auto accident
* Home was burglarized.
* Family member is dying of cancer
* Father Lost his job a week before Christmas.
* Failed all your examinations
* Best friend died in a freak accident
* You are being forced to leave Singapore
* Your brother died during an National Service drill
* You mother was hospitalized and can’t afford the bills
* Your sister was raped.
For a little humor you could include:
* You ran out of toilet paper
* Your goldfish died
* You were stood up on date
Think of a different role for each student; or simply repeat.
Activity
Form a circle. Walk among the youth and tape a role card on each person’s back so that others may read the role. Say: “I’m giving you each a role to play although you don’t know what it is. I will tell you that each of you has become the victim of some sort of disaster”.
For a few minutes, let youth mingle and role play, treating each other as if they were really in the designated circumstances, but without revealing the roles. You may wish to play some blues music.
Discussion
1. What was your initial reaction to your situation?
2. What are some feelings that you might have under these circumstances? Explain.
3. How might you feel toward other people? toward God?
4. How did others respond to you in your activity?
5. Were the reactions realistic? Why or why not?
6. How did their words make you feel?
7. Why is it difficult to trust God in hard times?
8. What is one reason we can trust God in the hardest times?
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
Materials
Props for acting out the parables. These can extensive or minimalist depending on the creativity ad age of your participants. You might include biblical costumes, props mentioned in the parables, and objects that are focal to each parable. Alternatively, let youth find their own props for creative variations.
Activity
1. Assign groups of youth/ children / adults one of the parables.
2. Instruct the groups to find their parable in the Bible and read it. If the parable occurs in more than one Gospel, have the group read each version, noting the differences.
3. After reading the parable, have members of the group volunteer for parts in a skit about the parable. Give them time to plan and rehearse.
4. As a variation, have the groups rewrite the parable in a modern context.
Parables
The Prodigal son (Luke 15:11)
The Lost Coin (Luke 15:8)
The Lost Sheep (Matt 18:10)
The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25)
The Unforgiving Servant (Matt 18:21-34)
The Mustard Seed (Matt 13:31-32 and Mark 4:31-32 and Luke 13:18-19)
The Sower (Matt 13:3-9 and Mark 4:3-9 and Luke 8:5-8)
The Two House Builders (Matt. 7:24)
The Three Servants (Matt 25:14)
The Lamp under a Bowl (Mark 4:21-25 and Luke 8:16-18)
The Pharisees and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9)
The Yeast (Matt 13:33 and Luke 13:20-21)
The Hidden Treasure (Matt 13:44)
The Pearl (Matt 13:45)
Discussion
1. What are the key characters in this parable?
2. What did it feel like to be the person you acted out?
3. What is the key point of this parable?
4. How is this key point important to the Christian life?
5. What real life situations remind you of this parable?
6. What difference will knowing this parable make in a person’s life?
7. How can you personally apply the lesson of this parable in your life this week?
Application
Mark 4:34 seems to indicate that Jesus usually used parables in his teaching. Jesus’ parables were meant for ordinary people so he talked about things that ordinary people knew about, like farming and shepherding.
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
Act out the Easter story with your youth. It will help them to remember the order of the events. It makes a great Children’s Message too!
Jesus died and was put in a grave. (Squat down and curl into a little ball.)
A giant rock was rolled in front of the place. (Pound on the floor with your hands.)
His friends cried and were sad that he was dead. (Pretend to cry.)
But on the third day, something happened. (Count to three on your fingers.)
A giant earthquake rocked the ground. (Have youth stomp their feet and clap.)
The giant stone rolled away. (Have youth roll over on the floor.)
Mary and her friends walked to the grave. (Walk in place.)
They felt the earthquake. (Stomp your feet.)
They ran to the open grave. (Run in place.)
They looked in. (Cup your hand over your eyes.)
A bright angel was inside the grave. (Shield your eyes from the brightness.)
The women were sad and afraid. (Act scared.)
The angel told the women that Jesus was alive! (Cheer.)
And so the women went to tell the disciples. (Run in place.)
Jesus appeared to them. (Act surprised.)
The women fell down at his feet. (Fall to the floor.)
They were so happy to see him! (Cheer and hug each other.)
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Setup
Break the youth into several groups of equal number. Have each group form a line, sitting side-by-side in chairs. Have an empty chair at the front of each group. Create a list of index cards containing the actions.
Activity
The person at the front of the line comes to the leader to get the first action. The leader reveals the name of the action and the corresponding motions. The action must then be performed consecutively down the line . The last person must then run to the empty chair in the front of his line and perform the correct action for the leader. If not correct, he must go back to the end of the line and the person who initiated the action must again send the action down the line to the end. If he gets the action correct he is given a new action to ADD to the previous actions. He then takes the place at the beginning of the line and everyone shifts down a chair. He must perform all previous actions and add the new one. All actions are then performed down the line and the last man repeats the process. The first team to get through all the actions wins.
Sample Actions: Rocking chair – rock back and forth Knitting needles – knitting motions while sitting down Toothbrush – motion brushing your teeth Basketball – mime dribbling a basketball and shooting a shot Bicycle – sitting in chair pretend you ar epedaling with your feet Pogo stick – get out of chair and jump up and down Hula Hoop – sway those hips like using a hulahoop Jump rope – pretend you are jumping rope Accordian – Side to side motions as playing an according Escape from Prison – All stand Up – last guy must crawl through legs
Of course you can add or remove any items to control the time required for the activities. You may wish to start with the simpler actions and move to the more vigorous and humorous ones. Be sure to have a list of actions and corresponding motions to give to each youth as they come up. Also be sure to have a camera or video camera ready to record the chaos!
Debrief
1. Use this game to introduce the importance of setting a good example for others to follow.
2. Use this game to discuss discipleship – following Jesus.
This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.
Demonstration
Someone begins giving a discussion about the characteristics of the human heart, while eating something from a clear plastic bag (chips or candy etc), but is interrupted as soon as the bag is empty. The first interruption is by someone looking for her stereo. She grabs the plastic bag and holds it on her shoulder like a radio. The second interruption is by someone looking for a shoe. She snatches the bag from the person using it as a stereo and puts the plastic bag on her foot like a shoe. The third interruption escalating the chaos is by someone looking for his car – he holds the plastic bag like a steering wheel. Finally the speaker they interrupted takes the bag away and tells them it is just a plastic bag.
Debrief
The plastic bag is representative of our life. We are a reflection of that which fills our hearts. For some it is music, for others beauty, and still others it is possessions.
Provide a plastic bag for each person. Let volunteers use the paper bag to demonstrate something that is important to them or place something in the bag that is important to them.
What fills your thoughts? What actions fill your life? What words fill your silence? What have you made of your life for others?
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
Creative Youth ideas: 1700+ Resources for youth leaders, pastors, ministers to help plan camps, retreats, and meetings using games, illustrations, Children's Worship, Bible Studies, object lessons, sermons, creative ideas,creative activities
MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
