Category Archives: Object Lessons

Object Lessons: Ken’s favorite word pictures to teach Biblical principles and stir the imagination of your youth. They also make great Children’s sermons. Christ often used them in his teaching, using common objects like a mustard seed, a fig tree, a grain of wheat, a drink of water, stony soil, and more.

Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Gift Wrapped Christmas

December 2, 2014 kensapp Leave a comment

We are attracted by extravagantly wrapped gifts with red bows and colorful paper. But its not the wrapper we treasure but the gift. Sometimes the wrapper might give clues as to what is inside but sometimes the gift inside is a complete surprise and totally unexpected. The gift of the first Christmas was not wrapped the way the world expected either. The Jews wanted a mighty warrior with a sword in one hand and King’s crown in the other. But instead, God sent his greatest gift – an innocent, defenceless, vulnerable baby, wrapped in cloths, not wrapping paper.

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Games using Wrapping Paper

All Wrapped Up – Tear up various types of Christmas wrapping paper and place it inside a large sheet. More is better. There are two rounds to this game. In the first round, each group wraps one of its members in masking tape (STICKY SIDE OUT) from ankles to just below their arms. Arms should NOT be wrapped. Be sure to emphasize STICKY SIDE OUT. The first team to completely wrap up their teammate in making tape with no cracks whatsoever wins. In Round two, first, throw all the torn up wrapping paper on the floor of the playing area and then teams work to roll the wrapped player in as much wrapping paper as possible. After a couple of minutes, tell teams to stop. Award the team with the most wrapping player stuck to their teammate. Be sure to take group photos!
Christmas dice gift exchange – Have everyone sit in a circle and start with a gift. Play a Christmas carol while 1-3 dice are being passed around (space them out). Each person rolls and passes the dice. If they roll a six, they can trade gift wrapped packages with whomever they want. At the end of the song, everyone keeps the package in front of him or her.
Christmas Unwrap – Wrap a gift with several layers of paper and heavy duty tape to make it difficult to unwrap. Youth line up and then must roll doubles six on a pair of dice, run to a baseball bat, spin 5 times around the bat, then go to the gift and put on a woolhat, snow / ski gloves and then begin to unwrap the present – first to do so wins the prize. As soon as they get to the present the next person can start rolling the dice to start the process again. When someone new gets to the present, they first person must stop, remove the clothing items and then run back to the end of the line. The youth who successfully unwraps the gift gets to keep it.
Christmas Wrap Up – You’ll need a lot of wrapping paper, some tape, and a bow for each team. The objective is to be the first team to completely wrap someone up and place a bow on their head like a giant Christmas present. Be sure that your students do not forget to make a gift tag written to whom the present is for and from. You can have an award for the most completely wrapped as well as the most creative and best wrapped. Be sure to take some photos along the way.
Christmas Wrapping Paper Match – Cut out squares from several different patters of Christmas wrapping paper. You want to have one square for each person in your group. Place them all in box with a small hole cut in the top. You’ll also want two of the squares to be identical in design and pattern but make all the others different. Fold each square and place it inside the box. Let each youth pick one square. Once everyone has a square announce, that the first two people to find matching squares will win a prize.
Gift Ball – Save used wrapping paper, bubble wrap, cardboard, plastic, and packaging bits to create a ball. To create the gift ball, begin by wrapping a small prize or even money in a piece of used gift wrap. Layer on additional wrap and packaging bits to create a ball, securing it tightly. If you are short of gift wrap you can also use magazines, plastic bags, newspaper, and other things you have around the house. Add a few layers of these between the layers of wrapping paper. You can secure the layers with any kind of tape, yarn, string, and leftover ribbon bits, etc. You can add candy and small gifts to the ball in a bonus layers as you go along. The more the merrier so that everyone has a chance to get something. The bigger the ball, the better, especially if you have a large group. To play, have the youth group members sit in a circle with the gift ball and a pair of dice. One youth begins unwrapping the ball as fast as he can while the player to his left rolls the dice repeatedly until he gets a 7. When he does, the ball is passed to him to unwrap, and the dice are passed to the next player. Tearing off layers and dice-rolling continues until someone finally reaches the prize and claims it as the winner. You can make it more challenging by making the player wear winter gloves.
Gift Guess – Gift wrap a variety of common objects and place tags on them with numbers (socks, ornaments, a candy cane, holly, pinecones, bells, an angel, Jesus in a manger, a can of egg nog, a Santa hat, a reindeer, a cookie, and any other common Christmas items you can find. Pass the gifts around and give each person a small amount of time to feel the gifts and make their guesses as to what•s inside each. Give them a peice of paper to number and write down thier guesses. The youth that make the most correct guesses are the winners.
Gift wrap Relay – Cut up the front pictures of several old Christmas Greeting cards and hide each piece in a separate box. Gift Wrap the boxes. Divide the youth into two or more teams and put the pile of wrapped boxes on a table at the other end of the room. You’ll need to have one set of boxes and one picture for each team. The first player in each team runs to the table, unwraps a present, grabs his picture piece and sprints back to his next teammate. The rest of the team has a turn until all the pieces of the picture have been unwrapped. The teams then need to race to assemble and correctly identify their picture. The first team to do this wins!
Gift Wrap Snowball Fight – Take a bunch of used wrapping paper and wad it up into balls. Divide the room in half or quarters so that you have a team in each section. Dump the wadded up wrapping paper in the middle of the room. On go, youth toss the balls of wrapping paper at each other and into other sections as quickly as they can. When time is up the team with the least amount of wrapping paper in their section wins.
Penguin Gift Race – Divide the youth into two teams. Have players at the start of the line put a gift wrapped box between their knees and waddle to a designated spot and back. The next in line does the same until all youth have had their turn. If the gift is dropped, they must return to start and begin waddling again. The team that finishes first wins.
Siamese Twin gift-wrapping race – For this Christmas game you•ll need to have a box, wrapping paper, scissors and tape for each team. Divide your youth group into pairs who will stand side by side with one hand free and the other around the waist of their team member (as if they were one person with two hands- a left hand and a right hand). The object of the game is to see which Siamese Twin team can gift wrap their present (correctly) in the smallest amount of time.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Unfortunately, because God came to us wrapped in a human body and not in his majesty and glory a lot of people at the first Christmas missed Him. The gift wasn’t wrapped as they expected. There was no special welcome, no special preparations, no grand entrance and in fact there wasn’t even room for him in the inn nor a real bed to sleep in. The son of God was wrapped in rags and lying in a manger, a feed trough.

Just imagine focusing on the wrapping paper from a Christmas gift and treasuring the wrapper and missing and throwing away the gift.

Unfortunately, today, too many people in the world are so focused on all the wrappings of Christmas – the gifts, the cheer, the celebrations, the wishes of peace – that they forget the real gift – that God sent his Son to save the world.

What matters is not the outside wrapping, but rather the gift inside and what we do with it.

We don’t have to earn a gift, work for it, or do anything other than receive it. Read Romans 2:8: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–”

Read Luke 2:1-20

The people God first told about the birth were shepherds. In general, the shepherds were the poor, the jobless, the powerless, the less educated, the uncultured, maybe even the outcasts. Often when we buy gifts for others, we reserve the best gifts for the special people, the ones who will surely give us something in return, the ones who are our favorites. But the gift of Jesus was first announced to the shepherds, those without titles, those who could return little.

God had given the world a gift it didn’t think it wanted or needed, and certainly not as expected, and he presented the gift to a group of people who weren’t the powerful, the rulers, or those most looked up to. It was a seemingly ordinary gift, in an ordinary wrapper, given to ordinary people.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

The Shepherds
Read Luke 2:1-20
* Why do you think the angels appeared to the shepherds and not someone else?
* Could the shepherds have chosen to accept or decline the angels invitation? What did they choose to do?
* How long do you think it took them to decide?
* Why do you think it was important to them to see the Baby Jesus first hand?
* Why did the shepherds drop everything to go find out about some baby? Why were they so excited?
* What does this baby mean to them?
* What does this baby mean to us?
* Why was the birth of Christ Good News?
* What are some lessons, truths, attitudes, and responses can we learn from the shepherds?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

* Do you still find a sense of wonder when you consider God’s gift to the world, or has it lost its luster? Are you more focused on the wrappings of Christmas or the Gift God Sent?
* What are you hoping for this Christmas?
* How can you have a deeper first hand experience with Christ this Christmas?
* What can you do to help others see through all the wrappings of the holiday and clearly see the true gift of Christmas?
* The gift is not really ours until we choose to receive it. It is of no use to us unless we take it for ourselves, unwrap it, and make it our own. Have you received the gift of Christ in your life?

SCRIPTURES

Luke 2:11-12 (NIV) – “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

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Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Thanksgiving Object Lesson – 5 Kernels of Corn

November 26, 2014 kensapp Leave a comment

The cornucopia, also known in English as the Horn of Plenty, is a symbol of prosperity and affluence, dating back to the 5th century BC. It was often filled with the fruits of the harvest which included corn, fruits, and other vegetables. Corn itself was one of the staple foods of the Pilgrims and early settlers. The native Americans taught them how to bury a fish with the kernel of corn to act as fertilizer and speed its growth. After the first year of the Plymouth colony, only half of the 102 settlers were still alive. Times were hard. At a later harvest, after a particularly tough winter it was said that each person had only 5 kernels of corn to live on each day. Yet they still gave God thanks in spite of the difficult circumstances. Here are a variety of games using corn kernels.

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What You Need

Dried Corn Kernels or popcorn – you can get dried feed corn like that sold for bird feeders or unpopped popcorn will also work.

Games using Corn

Chopsticks and corn – Using a pair of chopsticks and a couple shallow bowls or saucers, each youth is given one minute to move corn from one bowl to the other using only the chopsticks. Only one hand can be used to hold the chopsticks. The youth to transfer the most corn wins.
Corn and Straws Relay – Divide the youth into teams and give every person on a team a plastic straw and a paper cup. Place a piece of corn in the first team member’s cup. The youth must create a vacuum in the straw to pick up the corn and place it into the next person’s cup. First team to get the corn into the last person’s cup wins. If the corn is dropped on the floor, the team must start completely over at the beginning.
Corn Bocce – On a smooth surface like a table, one youth acts as the referee, sliding out the first piece of corn. He then marks this piece with a toothpick. Contestants take turns sliding 4 different pieces as close to the referee’s mark as they can. The referee determines which piece is the closest, awarding that youth or team a point. Play until someone gets ten points
Corn Catch – You’ll need one cornucopia or basket for each team, one bag of corn per team, and a belt or length of rope for each team. Use the rope or belt to secure the cornucopia around the waist of one player per team. Have the team member who is wearing the cornucopia stand about 7 to 10 feet away from the players who will be throwing the corn. The player wearing the cornucopia may move around to try and catch the corn as it is thrown without using their hands to deflect the corn in any way. Once everyone has thrown the corn, take the cornucopia and count the corn inside. The youth with the most corn wins.
Corn Foosball – Have two youth stand at either end of a large table. One youth throws corn (or a plastic bag of it) to the other end of the table, and the other youth must block it from going through and making a goal. Use a dry sponge for blocking making sure it is one that will not scratch your table.
Corn Pitching – Players takes turns pitching ten corn kernels, one at a time, into a bowl from a set distance. You might choose to have various bowls of different sizes and at different distances. Display the points based upon difficulty. Keep score of how many kernels end up in the various bowls. The winner is the one with the highest score after three rounds.
Corn Race – Using a drinking straw, the youth must blow a kernel of corn across a table. First to blow it from one end to the other wins.
Corn Straw Relay – Race to see who could move the most corn from the table into a bowl in sixty seconds using only a single straw.
Kernel Relay – Mark a starting line and a finish line with masking tape on the floor roughly 15 feet apart. Set an empty bowl for each player at the finish line and a bag of corn and a spoon at the starting line. Have each player stand at a bag of corn and take the spoon in hand, placing a single kernel on the spoon. The youth will then carefully race a piece of corn to an empty bowl at the finish line, trying not to let the corn fall off the spoon. Each player will continue to race from the bag of corn to the bowl to see how many pieces of corn she or he can get into the bowl within the allotted time of one minute. If a player drops a kernel from the spoon, that youth must then run back to the bag of corn and get another piece to start over again.
Odds or Evens – Each player starts out with the same number of corn kernels. Players rotate about the room pairing up with others. When they find a partner, one player hides a few kernels of corn in his hand. The other player must guess if the number of corn kernels is odd or even. If guessed correctly, the player can add the kernels to his own collection. Players take turns hiding and guessing, until one player has all the corn or until a specified time limit!
Turkey Feed – Mix a few pieces of candy corn in with a bowl of corn kernels. Blindfold players and have them retrieve the candy corn from the bowl within a designate amount of time. (As a gross out variation, have them retrieve it with their bare feet then eat it.) The player that retrieves the most candy corn in the designated time limit wins.
Where’s the Corn? – Line up three plastic cups out on a tabletop in front of a youth. Place a single piece of corn under one of the cups, allowing the player to see which cup the corn is under. Begin to change the cups’ formation around for five to ten seconds. The youth then must try to remember which cup is hiding the corn and will continue to play and collect corn until he or she chooses the wrong cup. Give the earned corn to that player, and continue on with the next player until every youth has won pieces of corn.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

In these games are you someone who plays it safe or shoots for the moon?
Was the voyage to the new world by the pilgrims a safe bet or a big risk?
What were some of the potential risks? Potential rewards?
What were some of your strategies in these games?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Some people play it safe in life. Others take risks. Most of the time we evaluate if the potential reward is worth the risk. For the Pilgrims, coming to America was a great risk. But the lure of religious freedom was worth the risk. Many of them lost their lives in pursuit of the opportunity to freely worship God as their conscience dictated. After the first year of the Plymouth colony, only half of the 102 settlers were still alive. Times were hard. Later during a particularly tough winter is was said that each person had only 5 kernels of corn to live on each day.

Yet in spite of their hardships, they gave thanks to God. Eternal blessings outweighed the physical ones. There may be times when we do not have much, but to have a relationship with God is worth any cost and any hardship! They made a choice, a decision to pursue God at any cost.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

What risks are worth the reward of knowing Jesus as Lord and living for him?
Is Christianity a risk? Why or why not?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

Has God called you to do something out of the ordinary?
To what has God called you?
What are you willing to risk for religious freedom?

CLOSING ACTIVITY

Just as a single grain of corn has the potential for an abundant harvest, even one decision for God can lead to a harvest of blessings in your life. What choice is God calling you to make today? Take a kernel of corn home as a reminder of a decision God has called you to make for him regardless of the risk.

SCRIPTURES

1 Thessalonians 5:18 – “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 5:20 – “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 4:6 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

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Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Turkey Feathers of Thanksgiving

November 20, 2014 kensapp Leave a comment

Thanksgiving Day was first celebrated in the American Plymouth colony in 1621, when Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer. Before that, a Native American named Squanto taught the pilgrims how to plant corn and how to survive in the new land. When the harvest came, it was celebrated by all the colonists and neighboring Native Americans who had helped them. Gradually it became a common annual custom to celebrate thanksgiving after the harvest. While turkeys were known to the colonists and Indians, we don’t have any proof they were served at the first thanksgiving. But they were added later as part of the celebration that continues until today. Long before that, the Isrealites has a similar feast day to Thank God for what he had done for them. It was called the Feast of Tabernacles and can be found in Leviticus 23:33-44; Numbers 29:12-39; Deuteronomy 16:13. The games in this lesson use feathers, not only because they are associated with Thanksgiving, but also because there are places in the Bible where God is compared to a protective bird who covers us with his wings.

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What You Need

Lots of feathers – Most of these games work best with feathers that are light and fluffy and not the heavy quill-like feathers. You can buy them at any craft store or pluck them from a cheap feather boa.

Games using Feathers

Falling Turkey Feathers – The youth on one or more teams must all hold hands in a circle. Throw a feather up into the air inside each circle and then each team must keep the feather from touching the ground only by blowing it upward. They are not allowed to release their their hands to keep the feather up. Have a competition to see which group can keep the feather in the air the longest, or which group in the matter of three minutes drops the feather the least, etc.
Feather Blow Floor Race – Tape two lines on the floor at opposite ends of the room as goal lines. Teams blow the feather along the floor to the opposite goal and back. First team to complete the relay wins. Team members should cheer their teams on with the loudest gobble-gobble sounds as possible.
Feathers – Play the regular game of Spoons, but substitute feathers for the spoons. In the middle of the table, place one less feather than the number of players you have. Shuffle a standard 52-card deck and deal 4 cards to each person. Have everyone take one of their cards and discard it to their left simultaneously. The person to the right of the dealer, however, should put one of their cards down on the table to start the discard pile, while the dealer picks up a new card. Repeat this process of everyone passing to the left. Each round the dealer should pick up a new card and the person to their right should add to the discard pile, so as to have a continuous influx of new cards. The first person to have 4 of a kind (e.g. all 4 aces or all 4 nines) has to pick up a feather. Following this, all other players need to do the same, with the slowest person left without a feather and out of the game.
Fluffy Turkey Feathers Matre d: Youth must carry feathers on a plate or plastic spoon to a target and back. The players must pick up any feathers that drop. First team team to have every member complete the relay wins. You can also designate a body part the feather must rest on such as the back of a hand, on the shoulder, on an elbow, etc.
Highest Feather Blow – Award a prize for the person who can blow a feather up to the greatest height.
Pin the feather on the Turkey – In this thanksgiving version of the classic kids game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, blindfolded kids try to pin the Tail Feather on the Turkey.
Turkey Feather Circle Relay – Youth form a circle. The first person blows a feather to the next person who catches it in his or her cupped hands. Each person blows the feather to the next person. First team to have the feather travel around the circle wins. If the feather is dropped on the floor the team must start over.
Turkey Feather Darts – Attach a small weight to the tip of some feathers. These can then be tossed like a dart at cups or targets. You can play with harder to hit targets which are worth more points or have a bullseye like in darts where the closest toss wins.
Turkey Feather Float – Give a light fluffy feather to each youth. On “GO” each youth starts blowing to keep their feather in the air. The youth that keeps their feather in the air the longest is the winner.
Turkey Feather Juggling – In this minute to Win It Game, keep your head up, eyes open, and a steady stream of air coming through your mouth as you attempt to keep two feathers in the air for a full sixty seconds while staying within set boundaries. Prior to the game create a circle in the middle of the floor that will be the playing area. Make the boundaries large enough to allow some moving room but small enough to keep things challenging.
Turkey Feather Relay – Designate a start line and a finish line. At the start signal, the first person on each team tosses the turkey tail feather into the air and tries to blow it up into the air and across the finish line. Anytime a turkey tail feather touches the floor, the person must make loud gobble gobble sounds and take three large steps backward toward the start line. They can then toss the turkey tail feather up again and start moving forward. When a player makes it back to the team the next person starts and the person who just completed the dash, goes to the back of the line and sits down. Team members should cheer their teams on with the loudest gobble-gobble sounds as possible.
Turkey Feather Soccer – Play a game where the youth must blow a feather into a cup, bucket or small box that is lying on its side. It is not as easy as it seems. This can also be a great minute to win it game.
Turkey Feather Table Tennis – Youth split into two teams across from each other on opposite ends of a table. The objective is to blow the feather off the opponent’s end for a point.
Turkey Feather Toss Race – First youth in each team is given a feather. On ‘GO’, he or she throws the feather towards the finish line. From where it lands, it is thrown again, repeating until it lands past the finish line. The participamt can then pick up the feather and run it back to the next person on the team. First team to complete the relay wins.
Turkey Feather Volleyball – Tie a string across the room as a net. Each team tries to blow a feather over the string rather than hitting a ball. Rules are similar to volleyball, but they have to blow the feather. The feather can be blown as many times as necessary to get it over the net. You can also play with four teams and the room divided into quarters. Add more than one feather for more fun!
Turkey Feathers and Gobblers – All the players sit in a circle. The leader stands on a chair and releases a light fluffy feather. As it flies through the air, everyone must make the gobbling sounds of a turkey. The moment it lands they must become completely quiet. Anyone who makes a noice after it lands is out. The objective is to be wild and crazy so that others can’t help but laugh and make noise.
Turkey Feathers in the Wind – The youth kneel around the four sides of a sheet or blanket and then grab the edge. They must then pull the sheet taut and hold it just beneath their chins. Place a light fluffy feather on the middle of the sheet. Each side of the sheet is one team. The youth try to blow the feather away from their side. If a feather touches someone, get’s blown off the edge, or gets blown over the head of someone then that side gets a penalty point. The lowest points wins. You can also play this like musical chairs and the person the feather is closest to when the music stops is out.
Turkey Tail-feathers – With a glue gun or piece of adhesive tape, attach feathers to both legs of each clothespin. Give every person two clothespins (Turkey Feathers) as they enter. When everyone has their turkey feathers, tell them you’re giving them two minutes to get rid of their feathers. The only way for participants to get rid of the feathers is onto pin them to someone else. Award a prize to the person with the least number of feathers. The person with the MOST feathers is the official TURKEY! Icebreaker idea: After playing the game, each person must state one Fun Fact about themselves for each feather they are wearing. If they have no feathers they only have to say ONE thing about themselves.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

The first Thanksgiving was a time to remember and thank God for what he had done. What do you think people do the most: complain or give thanks?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

What are some of the things we should be thankful to God for?
Looking at some of the scripture verses, what does the Bible teach us about Giving thanks? (Share some of the scriptures included in the lesson plan)
What are some ways we can say, “Thank you” to God?
How many of us have said THANK YOU to someone today? . . .in the past day? . . . in the past week? . . . the past month? Why should we be thankful to other people?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

What do you do the most: complain or give thanks?
What are some things that you are thankful for?
Name 5 things that God has done for you that make you thankful?
What are some things you can do to show your thankfulness to God this week?

CLOSING ACTIVITY

In advance, make a large turkey body with no tail feathers. Give each youth a piece of paper cut in the shape of a turkey feather. Ask the youth to write at least 5 things they are thankful to God for on the tail-feather and attach it to the turkey.

SCRIPTURES

1 Chronicles 16:34 – “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
1 Thessalonians 5:18 – “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 4:4 – “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,”
Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Ephesians 5:20 – “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Matthew 23:37 – “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”
Philippians 4:6 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
Psalm 100:4-5 – “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
Psalm 105:1 – “O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known His deeds among the people.”
Psalm 107:8 – “Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.”
Psalm 118:1 – “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
Psalm 118:21 – “I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.”
Psalm 136:1 – “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
Psalm 17:8 – “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings”
Psalm 28:7 – “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”
Psalm 36:7 – “How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
Psalm 91:4 – “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”
Psalm 95:2 – “Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”
Ruth 2:12 – “May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

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Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Gummy Worm Discipleship

November 10, 2014 kensapp 1 Comment

Although gummy bears were invented by German Candy maker Hans Reigel in 1922, the gummy worm is a relatively recent concept. The Gummy bear wasn’t shipped to America until around 1981 and then an American candy company extended the idea to gummy worms to give youth something fun to eat and to shock their parents. Gummy worms are one of the most popular gummy candies around. Use these games with gummy worms as an object lesson to talk about Jesus’ call to his disciples to become fishers of men.

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What You Need

Lots of Gummy Worms

Games using Gummy Worms

NOTE: The intention is for these youth games to be played with gummy worms, but if you can’t get gummy worms, you can use extra long Twizzlers, or string licorice.

Chicken Races – In this crazy youth game, everyone is a chicken. Place gummy worms in a shallow baking pan with crushed Oreos piled on top and place it at the opposite end of the room. You can use one pan for each team or have them all fight over the worms in a single pan. On “go”, the first team member from each team must flap their arms like wings and make clucking sounds while running to the pan to collect a worm using their mouth (beaks) only. No hands allowed. Once they retrieve a worm they can return to the team and the next youth repeats the task. Worms must still be whole to be counted. The first team to have everyone retrieve a worm wins. Variation: Instead of oreo cookies, use chocolate pudding sprinkled with oreo cookies.
Chicken Feed – This is similar to the chicken race, but have a deeper pan with more chocolate pudding and Oreos. Each team chooses one representative. The youth who retrieves the most worms from the pan in a designated time wins.
Worm Fishing – To play this game you fill a fishbowl with pretzels or goldfish crackers, and the youth use a fishing rod to get one out and eat it. The bait is gummy worms that are nice and sticky. If you don’t have a real fishing rod, use a stick and some string. You could even add a reel if you wanted to. If you don’t have a fishbowl handy, any clear, large bowl will do the trick. Use lukewarm water to wet down a gummy worm and then pat it dry so that it’s nice and sticky. Tie the worm to the end of the string on the fishing rod. Players have one minute to use the wishing rod to “hook” a pretzel/goldfish from the fishbowl by getting it to stick to the ooey-gooey gummy worm. No hands allowed. Then, once one is “caught,” it must be brought back to the player’s mouth and she must eat it before the timer runs out in order to win the game. To make it more difficult, increase the distance to the fishbowl. If a pretzel/goldfish falls off the gummy worm it must be abandoned and another one “caught” on the gummy worm. If a player touches the string or gummy worm while a pretzel is attached, that pretzel won’t count. String may not be wound around the finger during an attempt. The player(s) with the most pretzels at the end of the 60-seconds wins.
Worms between your toes – Fill 5 or 10-gallon buckets (or kiddie pools) about 1/4 of the way up with water and drop at least 20 gummy worms in each one. Everyone takes off their socks & shoes. The first person in line for each team will run to bucket and dip their foot in the water, pulling out a worm with their toes. They must then transfer the worm into a bowl located beside the bucket. Teams only get a point for worms dropped into the bowl. Whoever has the most worms at the end of a designated time limit wins! (If you•re indoors, have some towels on hand for participants to dry their feet. You may also want to lay tarps down to minimize the mess.) Variation: Instead of a bowl, guys lie down with their heads beside buckets. The girls feed them to the guys using only their feet. The girl and guy team who can eat the most gummy bears in 2 minutes wins.
Gummy Worm Rulers – Provide a list of measurements in gummy worms of various items around the youth room. Youth must find the item that matches the measurements. The team with the greatest number of correctly identified items wins. (Tip: Measure the length of a typical gummy worm and then just measure things in the room with a ruler like the length of a table, the width of a door, the height of a poster, etc. Divide the measurements by the length of a typical gummy worm to get the lengths in gummy worms – 3.5 gummy worms, etc)
Gummy Relay – Pair up the youth. One end of a gummy bear goes into each person’s mouth. The pairs must then navigate an obstacle course without break the gummy bear or allowing it to drop from their mouths. Fastest pair wins!
Gummy Worm Race – Placed a marshmallow, a pretzel, or even a donut in the middle of a gummy worm. On go, players must eat their way to be the one to finish off the marshmallow. Whoever eats the marshmallow wins the game. Variation – The team who eats the worm the fastest wins!
Gummy Worms Pictionary – Played like normal Pictionary where you have to draw the clues for your teams to guess the word or phrase, but in this variation, instead of drawing, lay out the gummy worms to create shapes. No numbers symbols or letters are allowed. You can do it on a cookie sheet, chopping board, or butcher paper.
Gummy Worm Stretch – In this game, the goal is for partners to have the most stretched-out gummy worm without breaking it. Check your results with a ruler.
Fishies – Take a couple fishing poles and stick gummy worms to them with string. Blindfold the youth and dangle the gummy worms around. The first person to find the gummy worm with their tongue and eat it, wins.
Make Dirt Cups as snacks – You’ll need 8-ounce clear plastic cups, chocolate pudding mix, milk (as specified on pudding box) chocolate sandwich cookies like Oreos (crushed) and gummy worms. Mix the pudding according to the package directions. Layer the pudding and the cookie crumbs in cups. Top the layers with more crumbs and gummy worms.
Gummy Worm Gulpers – Youth race against the clock to eat gummy worms hanging from the ceiling. You’ll need clothespins, strong string, and lots of gummy worms. Cut various lengths of string, attach one end to the ceiling or from a tree and one end to a clothespin, and clamp a gummy worm in each clothespin. Youth run from string to string and, using only their mouths, snatch and eat the gummy worms. The winner is whoever eats all the worms in the shortest amount of time.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

How would you describe a gummy worm to someone who has never seen or eaten one before?
What are some of the characteristics of gummy worms?
Name some uses of real worms?
Has anyone ever fished with a worm?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Read Matthew 4:17-22

Worms are attractive to fish. What are some things that are attractive to people?
What things does the world go fishing for?
What are we to fish for as Christians?
Is a person a fisherman if year after year he never goes fishing?
Is he a fisherman if he never catches a fish?
Is someone a true disciple of Jesus Christ if he never attempts to win a soul for Christ?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

As a fisherman, do we cast our nets in our backyard or do we go to a place where fish can be found? (Jesus never suggests that the world should come to the church but commands the church to go into the world to witness. Jesus has given us the example – he goes to the people, he never waits for the people to come to Him.)
How is telling others about Jesus similar to fishing?
Lures are attractive to fish. How can you make the good news of Jesus attractive to your friends?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

What can you do this week to be more effective as a fisher of men?

KEY SCRIPTURE

Matthew 4:19: “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”

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Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Paper Airplane Christians

November 5, 2014 kensapp Leave a comment

It is impossible to know where and in what form the first paper airplanes were folded and flown. There is evidence to suggest it was Ancient China, or Japan. Paper was certainly available and common. Da Vinci, the Wright brothers and many others are known to have used them to understand the mysteries of flight. In this youth Bible Study, Paper airplanes are used to remind us that we also do not have to be weighed down, but can fly to great heights in our relationship with God.

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What You Need

Rubber bands, paper clips, paper, masking tape, a measuring tape

Games using Paper Airplanes

Air Show – Award prizes for the following: longest flight, shortest flight, smoothest takeoff, roughest landing, highest altitude, bumpiest route, biggest loop-the-loop, widest zigzag, and most creative flight pattern, most creative design. Encourage a lot of “oohs” and “aahs” during the performances. You may wish to allow two throws or best of three, depending on time constraints.
Target Practice – Set up a series of rings hanging from a strong as targets. Have youth take turns trying to launch their planes so that they pass through the various size rings or hoops for points. The smaller the target the higher the points.
Air Race – Stretch several strings across the room, making sure that each of them is tight and will not come loose. Make several small, light airplanes, one for each string and hang each by its nose or tail by means of a hole threaded through the string. The hole should be the size of a paper punch, so that the airplane will move easily along the string (race course) Line up your contestants and at the signal “Go,” each proceeds to blow his airplane across the string and see who can reach the goal line first. Anyone who touches his airplane or the string is automatically disqualified.
Pass The Plane – Just like hot potato, you sit the youth in a cirle and give them a paper plane and start the music. When the music stops who ever is holding the plane is out and the game will continue til there is only one youth left.
Flight Plan – Create an obstacle course in the room. Obstacles can be a small table that the plane must land on, a door or window it must fly through, chairs and obstacles it must fly around, targets it must hit, things it must fly over, under, or through. Fastest time in the obstacle race wins.
Airplane Blitz – Bring a stack of paper and have the youth write their names, and something significant on the paper, like a favorite verse, prayer request, or something they learned at a recent youth event. They can write another one on another piece of paper (or several). Then let them make paper airplanes out of these. Then you need some way to clearly divide the room in half. (The taller the divider the better.) Put half the youth on each side of the divider. Put half the paper airplanes on each side of the divider. Explain that they can only throw ONE plane at a time and they must stop when the leader says “Stop”. On “Go”, they throw the airplanes over the divider as fast as they can. Planes are flying in both directions. When you say “stop”, count the airplanes on each side of the divider. The team with the least number of planes wins. THEN: Have each person pick up an airplane and read the fun fact on each plane while everyone else tries to guess the identity of the person.
Largest Paper Airplane contest – Provide butcher paper or newsprint, scissors and masking tape, and one Bible per student. Have the group design a gigantic paper airplane. sharing their paper airplane construction techniques. Have them test out some of their ideas with a normal sheet paper. When the group has decided how to design the giant airplane. have youth fold their huge piece of paper accordingly. Award prizes for the best in various categories.
Fewest Throws – Count how many throws it takes to get their paper airplanes across a room and land on a table. Reward the youth with the least amount of throws their airplanes took.
Paper Airplane Dodgeball – Play a game of dodgeball using paper airplanes. If a player is hit with a plane, he hands over his plane and is out of the game. Here are some more rules: Airplanes must be thrown. Simply touching your opponent with your airplane is considered a self-destruct and you are out of the game, forfeiting your planes to your opponent. Airplanes cannot be picked up until they stop moving. (They can’t be stopped with your foot, either.)

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Were you focused on trying to achieve a specific award or did you just create a general purpose plane? Why?
What were the key characteristics of your design? Why?
What were the keys to success for each award category?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

In what ways are the paper airplanes similar to people? Similar to Christians?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

The Scriptures in Isaiah 40:31 promise us eagle wings as we wait on God. What does that mean?
What things keep us spiritually grounded / prevent us from soaring as high as we can as a Christian?
What things weigh us down spiritually?
How can we lighten our load?
What purpose do goals serve in helping us to reach a higher calling in the Christian life?
What goals did Paul have in life, what did he aspire to reach in life?
What were Christ’s goals?
What factors / keys to success make someone a winner in the Christian life?
What things can we people to be more successful?
When it comes to accuracy, the word “sin” means “to miss the mark” as we all have done. Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Every one of us has sinned against God and missed the mark of God’s perfection. What are some things that cause us to miss our goal as Christians? How do we recover?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

What are your goals in life? As a Christian?
Do you have just one goal or many goals? Why?
Which goal is most important to you? Why?
How are you similar / different in your goals as compared to Paul / Christ?
What do you need to change to be more successful as a Christian?

SCRIPTURE

Exodus 19:4 – “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.”
Isaiah 40:31 (NIV) – “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (NIV) – “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
Matthew 11:30 – “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
John 8:31-36 (NIV) – “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
Ephesians 4:11-14 (NIV) – “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.”

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Masked?

October 26, 2014 kensapp Leave a comment

It’s not just Halloween that people wear masks. If we are honest with ourselves, most of us put on masks from time to time. We put on a mask any time we are not honest with others or don’t want to reveal some aspect of who we are. Anytime we try to make ourselves come across as something we are not, we are putting on a mask.

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Games using masks

Masked Games – You can play just about any favorite youth game but add masks to the game for a twist and to tie into the lesson. The mask limits your vision and adds an interesting twist to the favorite game.
Find the masks – Hide various masks around the youth room. Youth must search the room and note the locations of all the visible masks. First youth to get the correct answer and identify all the locations wins.
Masked Man Relay – Buy a variety of hats, wigs and masks or maybe some sunglasses or other fun eye wear … anything and everything your guests can use to decorate themselves. Use non-offensive costumes like superheroes, hobo, clown, farmer brown, a prince or princess, scarecrow, hippie, animals, disney characters etc. Clothes should be large enough to fit easily over what youth are already wearing. Have one set for each team. Place all the props on a table. One by one each team member must run to their team’s table, put on all the props, and then return team and remove them. The next player then puts them all on, runs to the table, removes them and places them back on the table then returns to the team. First team to complete the relay wins. (Note: be sure to take a photo as each one gets costumed up.)
Quick Change Artists – Get a veriety of costumes. Use non-offensive costumes like superheroes, hobo, clown, farmer brown, a prince or princess, hippie, scarecrow, animals, disney characters etc. Have one set for each team. In this relay each team must use all the costumes givem to them to dress up their team members. One costume is in each bag. First team to get all the costumes onto team members wins.
Create a Mummy Challenge – All you need to play this game is a roll of white crepe paper, toilet paper works in a pinch. Divide the youth into teams of two and have one person be the mummy and one person be the mummy wrapper. Time the kids and the first group to completely wrap up their mummy wins and receives a prize.
Masked Bobbing for apples – Put a large tub, baby bath, or small kiddie pool full of water on the floor – it will be very heavy when it is full, so either do this outside or have some method of emptying it. If you are doing this inside take care to cover the whole area with plastic otherwise the floor will get very wet. Float the apples in the water, pulling all the stalks off the apples makes the game harder. The size of the apples is important, if older youth are playing then you will need big apples, small ones fit into their mouth too easily. The contestants have to wear masks and kneel beside the tub and grab the apples with their teeth. The water must be deep enough or some people will cheat by pushing the apple against the base of the tub. It’s simple! The first person to get an apple out – WITHOUT USING THEIR HANDS – is the winner.
Masked apples on a string – You will need apples and string. Tie the string to the stalk of the apple. Tie the other end of the apple to something high; you could hang these from the banisters of your stairs (only above a flat surface, it’s not safe to play games on stairs), or pin the strings to beams. On the word “GO” the winner is the first person to take a big bite out of their apple without using their hands.
Monster Mash – Pick an area that free of obstacles and dangerous corners. You can do it in a room with leaders blocking off any dangerous areas. The monster wears a monster mask and monster hands. They also have a mask with the eye openings covered up placed over their eyes, they aren’t supposed to see. This is a hearing and touching game. All players have to stay within the game area while the monster wanders around with their arms reaching out to catch the players. When the “monster” moans or growls, all the players must moan or growl back and extend their arms. This is how the “monster” finds his/her victims. When a player gets tagged, they becomes the next “monster” and gets to wear the mask.
Guess the Ghost – This game is guaranteed to be great fun. Sit the youth in a circle, put some music on and get them to take it in turns to be blindfolded with a mask with the eyes covered over so they cannot see. The masked person walks around the circle touching the other youth on the head. When the music stops, the youth who is currently tapped on the head has to let out their scariest ghostly wail. The masked person then has to guess who they think it is. Hand out rewards to people who guess correctly.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

If you could be any superhero who would you be?
What is it about this character that attracts you?
Why do most of the superheroes wear masks?

MAKE IT SPRITUAL

The word for an actor is the word ‘hypocrite’ in the Greek language. It means ‘the person who wears a mask’ (or covers on his face). In the original Greek plays, actors pretended to be someone else by putting on a mask.

Jesus used the word ‘hypocrite’ to describe the Pharisees and in a parable teaches us an important lesson about masks… (see Luke 18:9-14)

Why was the Pharisee called a hypocrite – one wearing a mask?
Why do you think the Pharisee ‘acted’ this way?
Have you met people like the Pharisee? How did they make you feel?
In what ways are you like a Pharisee? What are some of your masks?
Why is the Tax-collector unwilling to even look up to heaven? Have you ever been so ashamed that you wanted to hide your face from heaven? How is this similar to wearing a mask?
How is it different from the mask of the Pharisee?
What is Jesus’ main point in this story?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

What are examples of the different masks people put on?
What are some of the reasons people wear masks?
How do masks help or hinder us?
In what situations do people hide behind a mask, afraid to reveal who they really are and what they really feel?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

Give each participant a piece of paper cut into a mask shape.
On one side, ask them to write or draw characteristics of how they want people to see them.
Then, on the other side, ask them to write down some true characteristics of who they really are and some of the things about their life that they don’t want other people to see.

Is there a difference between the two sides of the mask?
What are the risks of revealing what is hidden behind the mask?
Are there certain things about yourself that you prefer to hide?
What are the benefits of hiding behind a mask?
In what areas of your life do you need to be honest with God?
How would being honest with God make a difference in your life?
Is there a mask you would like to remove?

Action Point
Let participants crumple up their mask and toss it away. Name one truth about yourself that may be hidden, but that you would like people to know.

SCRIPTURE

Matthew 23:27
Luke 18:9-14

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Game Ideas, Object Lessons

Candy Corn Choices

October 22, 2014 kensapp Leave a comment

Candy corn is the top-selling Halloween candy and the most talked about candy during Halloween, but it is also talked about as the worst candy for you. Candy Corn isn’t real corn. It is almost pure sugar – a sweet imitation of the real thing which isn’t good for us in any way. So it’s good, but it’s bad. How do we decide what things are good for us in our Christian life? The most difficult decisions are often not between what is good and bad, but between what is permissible and what is beneficial to us.

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Candy Corn Games

Candy Corn Cluckers – Fill a bowl with dried corn kernels or peanuts and add several pieces of candy corn. Blindfolded youth must retrieve the candy corn from the bowl within a designate amount of time without eating the dried corn kernels / nuts. The teen that retrieves the most candy corn in the designated time limit wins.
Candy Corn Pitching – Youth take turns pitching ten to twenty candy corn kernels, one at a time, into a bowl from a set distance. You might choose to have various bowls of different sizes and at different distances. Display the points based upon difficulty. Keep score of how many kernels end up in the various bowls. The winner is the youth with the highest score after three rounds.
Odds or Evens – Each player starts out with the same number of candy corn kernels. Players rotate about the room pairing up with others. When they find a partner, one youth hides a few kernels of candy corn in his hand. The other youth must guess if the number of corn kernels is odd or even. If guessed correctly, the player can add the kernels to his own collection. Youth take turns hiding and guessing, until one player has all the corn or until a specified time limit! [With this game the candy corn can get a little messy 🙂 to avoid the mess use individually wrapped mints or other candy.]
Candy Corn Drop – Have the youth stand on a sturdy chair or other safe elevation and drop the pieces down into a person’s mouth who is lying on the floor. The youth who gets the most candy corn into the person’s mouth in a given time frame wins.
Candy Corn Toss – Place the pieces of candy corn into a small sealed sandwich bag or similar cellophane bag and have a “candy corn bag” toss. Number pails, bowls, or plastic pumpkins, placing them in a row perpendicular to A start line, pail number one being closest. youth stand behind the line and throw candy cord bags into each consecutive bucket. Keep score or issue prizes for hitting each target.
Candy Corn Bocce – On a smooth surface like a table, one youth acts as the referee, sliding out the first piece of candy corn. He then marks this piece with a toothpick. Contestants take turns sliding 4 different pieces as close to the referee’s mark as they can. The referee determines which piece is the closest, awarding that youth or team a point. Play until someone gets ten points.
Candy Corn Hunt – Fill small plastic bags with candy corn and hide them throughout the yard. Send players out into the yard to find the bags until every bag has been claimed. You may also divide the players up into groups and see which group can find the most bags. This game can also be played inside, or at night with flashlights.
Corny Scramble – Toss handfuls of candy corn onto a large table clear of obstacles. Give each youth a treat bag and make the scramblers wait until you say “Boo!” On the signal, the players must run forward and collect as many pieces of candy corn as possible. Once all the kernels have been picked up, see who has the most candy in his bag.
Guess the Kernels – Fill a decorated jar or Halloween treat pail with pieces of candy corn, making sure you count how many pieces you put into the container. Set the container up on a table supplied with slips of paper, pencils and a bucket to put the paper slips into. Each participant may take one guess at how many pieces of candy are inside the container. The player who guesses the closest to the actual amount wins all the candy corn.
Kernel Relay – Mark a starting line and a finish line with masking tape on the floor roughly 15 feet apart. Set an empty bowl for each player at the finish line and a bag of candy corn and a spoon at the starting line. Have each player stand at a bag of corn and take the spoon in hand, placing a single kernel on the spoon. The youth will then carefully race a piece of corn to an empty bowl at the finish line, trying not to let the candy fall off the spoon. Each player will continue to race from the bag of corn to the bowl to see how many pieces of candy she or he can get into the bowl within the allotted time of one minute. If a player drops a kernel from the spoon, that youth must then run back to the bag of candy corn and get another piece to start over again.
Candy Corn and Straws Relay – Divide the youth into teams and give every person on a team a plastic straw and a paper cup. Place a piece of candy corn in the first team member’s cup. The youth must create a vacuum in the straw to pick up the candy corn and place it into the next person’s cup. First team to get the candy corn into the last person’s cup wins. If the candy corn is dropped on the floor, the team must start completely over at the beginning.
Where’s the Corn? – Line up three plastic cups out on a tabletop in front of a youth. Place a single piece of candy corn under one of the cups, allowing the player to see which cup the corn is under. Begin to change the cups’ formation around for five to ten seconds. The youth then must try to remember which cup is hiding the candy and will continue to play and collect candy corn until he or she chooses the wrong cup. Give the earned candy corn to that player, and continue on with the next player until every youth has won pieces of candy.
Candy Corn and Spoons – Divide into teams, have each team to line up single file, and have a cup with one or more pieces of candy corn for each team. Give each player a spoon. The first player on each team picks up a piece of candy corn with the spoon, spins around in place 3 times, then passes the candy to the next person on the team. Candy Corn can only be touched with the spoon. If the candy is dropped the team must start over again from the beginning. First team to get all the marbles down the line wins.
Chopsticks and Candy Corn – Using a pair of chopsticks and a couple shallow bowls or saucers, each youth is given one minute to move candy corn from one bowl to the other using only the chopsticks. Only one hand can be used to hold the chopsticks. The youth to transfer the most candy corn wins.
Tick-Tack-Corn – Pair the youth up into groups of two and sit them down at a table across from each other. Give the pair a tick-tack-toe board, and one player a handful of regular candy corn pieces. The other youth will receive a handful of the chocolate variety of candy corn, making one player the yellow team and the other player the brown team. Have the players play tick-tack-toe using their corn until one player wins, or until there is a draw. This may continue for as many rounds as desired.
Musical Candy Corn – Fill treat bags with candy corn for as many youth as are playing, minus one. Set the bags up in a circle on a tabletop or floor. Have the players circle around the bags at a steady walking pace while some music plays. Stop the music at random, at which point each player tries to grab the bag closest to him. Whoever fails to grab a bag or candy corn in time is out of the game, and the players still in must set the bags back up in the circle. Remove one of the bags from the circle, then start the music up again. Continue this until the game is down between two players and one treat bag. Whoever snatches up the last bag is the game winner.
Candy Corn Foosball – Have two youth stand at either end of a large table. One youth throws candy corn (or a plastic bag of it) to the other end of the table, and the other youth must block it from going through and making a goal. Use a dry sponge for blocking making sure it is one that will not scratch your table.
Candy Corn Straw Relay – Race to see who could move the most candy corn from the table into a bowl in sixty seconds using only a single straw.
Candy Corn Catch – You’ll need one plastic pumpkin with a handle for each team, one bag of candy corn per team, and a belt or length of rope for each team. Use the rope or belt to secure the pumpkin around the waist of one player per team. Have the team member who is wearing the pumpkin stand about 7 to 10 feet away from the players who will be throwing the candy corn. The player wearing the pumpkin may move around to try and catch the candy corn as it is thrown without using their hands to deflect the candy corn in any way. Once everyone has thrown the candy corn, take the pumpkin and count the candy corn inside. The youth with the most candy corn wins.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

What are some of the differences between real corn and candy corn?
Which is good for you? Bad for you?
What other things in life are good for you? Bad for you?
How do you know the difference?

Candy corn may not kill you, but it most certainly is not the best for you. It may taste sweet, but the sugar rush doesn’t last and it really isn’t something that is good for you. Corn is healthy and good for us, but candy corn, is really just sugar. It’s a sweet imitation of something good. In life there are many things which may seem good, but are not good for us. BUT how can we decide what is good for us and what is not?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

Some decisions are not simply a matter of right and wrong, but a choice between what is permissable, what is good, and what is best. These are often the toughest decisions.

Here are some guidelines:

Is this action Scripturally based–does Scripture support or condemn it (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10; I Timothy 3:16-17)?
How would this affect my witness for Christ if others knew about it (Matthew 5:13-16; I Thessalonians 5:21-22)?
Would Jesus put his name on this for a stamp of approval? (Colossians 3:17)
Does this fall into the classification of good thinking? (Philippians 4:8)
Will this degrade or defile my body (the temple of the Holy Spirit)? (I Corinthians 6:19)
Will this sooner or later make a slave out of me? (I Corinthians 9:27, 2 Peter 2:19)
Does this have the “smell” of evil on it? (1 Thessalonians 5:22)
Will my indulgence in this tend to weaken someone’s faith? (I Corinthians 8:13)
Does it benefit us or others? (I Corinthians 6:12a, 10:23)
Can you do it with a clear conscience? (Romans 14:22)
Does it bring Glory to God, meet his approval? (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 10:31-33; 2 Corinthians 5:9)
Does it help lead others to Christ? (1 Corinthians 10:33)
Would I be ashamed to be doing this thing when Christ returns (Matthew 24:42-46)?
Does this action hurt others (Romans 14:20-21; Galatians 5:13-15)?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

What are some of the things I allow as substitutes in my life for the real things?
Which of the above considerations is new to me?
Which of the above considerations is most difficult for me?
What can I do this week to be more Christlike?
How can I allow Christ to have more influence in the daily decisions of my life?

SCRIPTURE

1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 – “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God – even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

ROMANS 12:2 – “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.”

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Christian Pumpkins? – Games and an Object Lesson

October 14, 2014 kensapp Leave a comment

Pumpkins are closely associated with Halloween, Harvest, and Thanksgiving and are most likely native to the Americas. In this week’s lesson you’ll find a lot of game ideas using pumpkins, and also a reminder that God looks at the inside and not merely whats on the outside. He wants us to have a clean heart. Like a like shining from inside the pumpkin, he also wants us to shine out to the world.

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Pumpkin Games

Capture the Pumpkin – For this Pumpkin-themed version of capture the flag, divide the teens into two teams, each with a territory, a jail and a pumpkin. The teens can choose to place the pumpkin anywhere on their territory, but it must be visible. While teams can assign people to guard the pumpkin, you must set a perimeter around it that they cannot enter to give the other team a chance to capture it. The goal is to steal the other team’s pumpkin and make it back to your own territory without getting tagged. If anyone is tagged on another team’s territory, they are sent to jail. Other team members can free them if they can manage to tag them and both make it safely back to their territory. If no one has captured a pumpkin within a certain time frame, determine a winner by the number of prisoners a team has. This game is best played in a large park with plenty of hiding places.
Card Ninja – Players must throw playing cards at a pumpkin trying to get one card to stick in the pumpkin before one minute is up.
Connect The Pumpkin – This game is especially good around Halloween but can be played any time. Purchase some pumpkins and cut them up into pieces (make sure the pieces are not too small). Next to the pieces of pumpkin place a set of wooden toothpicks. Once everyone is ready instruct the group to put the pumpkin together using the toothpicks. Give the group a set time limit and ask them to begin. The team with the pumpkin that has been best put together wins.
Elephant March – Knock over plastic bottles filled with sand using a small pumpkin hanging from panty hose worn around the head.
Pass the Pumpkin – This game is a variation on “hot potato”. Seat the youth on the floor in a circle. Give them a small pumpkin to pass around. Play music as they pass the pumpkin, and periodically stop the music. Whoever is holding the pumpkin is out. The game continues until one person is left with the pumpkin.
Pass the Pumpkin – Youth tuck a small pumpkin under their chin and shoulder, race to their teammate, and pass the pumpkin to them without using their hands. If the pumpkin is dropped, it can be put back into place using hands.
Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin – Using a Black Marker, Draw a face on a pumpkin but leave off the nose. In turn, blindfold each youth and give them a black cutout shape of a nose with double-side tape on the back. Youth must pin the nose on the pumpkin. Closest wins. (You might want to have the nose draw as well. The one who pins the nose most accurately over the drawing wins.)
Pumpkin Bocce Ball – Place the big pumpkin several feet away. Give each player a small pumpkin. Each player rolls (No tossing or throwing) their pumpkin and tries to be the closest to the big pumpkin. The player closest wins …
Pumpkin Carving Contest – Working as teams, youth create the winning carvings for categories such as funniest, spookiest and most beautiful pumpkin. If you have young kids without adult participation, hold a pumpkin painting contest instead.
Pumpkin Golf – Played just like miniature golf where you use putters to hit the golf ball into the pumpkins mouth rather than a cup. To create a pumpkin golf pumpkin, you’ll need to cut off the bottom of the pumpkin and then clean out the inside of the pumpkin and then add the mouth to the pumpkin. The pumpkin’s mouth will also serve as the entry point for the golf ball so the mouth must be at the bottom of the pumpkin. Then create the eyes and nose just as you would a normal pumpkin.
Pumpkin Penny Toss – Carve out a large pumpkin, making a wide opening at the top. Give the youths a limited number of pennies. Have them stand an appropriate distance from the pumpkin and try to toss the pennies in, one at a time. Whoever gets the most inside wins.
Pumpkin Relay – Teams race to be the first to pass the miniature pumpkins to the end of the line without using their hands. If the pumpkin is dropped they must start over again.
Pumpkin Ring Toss – Toss rings over pumpkins with stems.
Pumpkin Roll – You need two large pumpkins and two sturdy sticks (or brooms). The racers, line up on the starting line with the pumpkins turned on their sides. On the signal, the racers use the stick to roll the pumpkins to the finish line. Since pumpkins are uneven, they rarely roll straight.
Pumpkin Roll Icebreaker – With a permanent marker, write some icebreaker questions on a pumpkin until the surface is covered. These can be simple things like your “favorite fall vegetable?” or more personal things like “the scariest moment in your life?”. Then sit the youth on the floor in a circle. Youth roll the pumpkin to each other, but they rarely roll in a straight line. The person closest to the pumpkin must catch it. When caught, the question your thumb lands on is yours. Answer the question then roll it on to someone else, so they can take a turn.
Pumpkin Seed Count – Divide the class into teams of two to four and cut the top off of a pumpkin for each team. Tell the teams that the first team to scoop out and count 50 pumpkin seeds is the winner.
Pumpkin Stackers – Stack five pumpkins on top of each other without them falling in the quickest time.
Pumpkin Toss – Ask the first player to stand 3 to 4 feet away from a deep wicker basket and give him or her 10 to 20 mini pumpkins. See how many can be tossed into the basket in 30 seconds. In the event of a tie, let the finalists compete for the win by determining which one can make 10 baskets in the shortest time.
Pumpkin Transport – Tie five to eight long cord/string pieces (4-6 feet long) to a large ring. Place the ring on the ground with the cords coming out from it like rays of sunshine. Place a small pumpkin on top of the washer. The challenge is for the youth to pick up the ring and pumpkin by hanging onto the strings only without the pumpkin falling off.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

How can pumpkins represent us as Christians?

Just like us, pumpkins are different. God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then he cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc., and then he carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.

How do the following verses relate to Pumpkins and to our lives as Christians?
- 1 Samuel 16:7 – “The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart”
- Matthew 23:25-28 – “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
- Jeremiah 17:10 – “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind to reward according to conduct and deeds.”
- Psalm 51:10 – “Create in me a pure heart, O God.”
- Matthew 5:14-16 – “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
- John 8:12 – “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 – “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 – “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
- 2 Corinthians 4:7-10 – “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

How is the way we clean out A pumpkin like the way Jesus cleans us out when we confess our sins?
What happens when we hide our light so others can’t see it?
What lessons can we learn from Pumpkins?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

What can you do to maintain a clean heart?
What can you do this week to have your light shine brighter for Christ?

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Living Skeletons

October 8, 2014 kensapp Leave a comment

Even if you don’t want to be involved with Halloween, you’ll want to grab at least one of those plastic or paper Halloween skeletons for this object lesson and games.

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Skeleton Games

Preparation: Purchase one or more plastic skeletons commonly found during the Halloween holiday season. You can also use a paper skeleton that is already cut into parts or make your own. Separate the plastic skeleton parts into pieces or cut them out if they are on paper.

Build the Skeleton – Obtain one skeleton for each team. Place all the parts for each skeleton in its own sack and give one sack to each team. When you say ‘Go’, each team must take out the skeleton parts and correctly reconstruct the skeletons. Award prizes for the fastest times. You can also give additional prizes for weirdest skeleton, etc.
Skeleton Scavenger Hunt – Hide the skeleton bones before the lesson starts. Let the participants search for them and then reassemble the skeleton. For older youth, you can hide the bones and then write out clues for them to follow to find them. You can also get a few skeletons and break the kids into teams. You can have it as a free for all (i.e. hide all parts and award the first team to find one of each part and put the skeleton together), or you can add a spot of color or a colored ribbon to identify which skeletons belong to which team. Team members must first find a complete set of parts… then they must assemble it correctly.
Skeleton Hoop Toss – This game requires a plastic-molded skeleton, positioned upright, and three plastic hula-type hoops. Mark a place where youth teams must stand. Each youth attempts to toss the three hoops over the skeleton. The player who tosses the most hoops over the skeleton wins.
Blind Skeleton Assembly – Place all the parts for each skeleton in its own sack and give one sack to each team. Each team chooses one team member to be blindfolded. When you say ‘Go’, the blindfolded person must correctly reconstruct the skeleton according to directions given by his or her team. First team to finish wins.
Skeleton Posers – Hang a Skeleton up and then using poster tape, pose the skeletons in different positions and take a picture of each pose. Have fun by placing all the Skeleton’s hands in the air, holding hands, legs positioned like doing a split and so on. You’ll want 20 to 30 different skeleton poses for the game. Take the photos and print out the pictures to create your Skeleton posing cards. When a card is drawn, the first team to pose the skeleton in the correct position wins. Variation: The team chooses one person (who is not allowed to see the photo) to help pose the skeleton according to directions given by the team, so it matches the photo. Variation: Teams are given 3 minutes to see how many Skeleton Poses they can create, the team with the most Poses made in 3 minutes wins.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

One of the scary things about Halloween is the skeletons. A lot of people are afraid of death. When they see bones it reminds them of death and they become afraid. But they are just bones and there is nothing to be scared about. They can’t come to life right? Or can they?

The prophet Ezekiel might have had the first Halloween scare! We don’t know what day it took place, but it probably wasn’t October 31st. Let’s look at Ezekiel 37 to find out more!

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Read the key verses from this vision. God’s question to Ezekiel, “Can these dry bones live?” (v3) might be a question a lot of youth ask on 31st of October.

God was talking about more than a skeleton in a closet. He was giving Ezekiel a glimpse into the future when Jesus would conquer death and bring life to us. Jesus did conquer death on a cross. He also resurrected Lazarus from the dead.

Yet God was giving Ezekiel a picture of something more.

The bones represented the house of Israel and their dryness and loss of hope. (v11) The spirit of God would enter their bodies and they would experience restoration and life.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

There may situations in life when people feel like a pile of dry bones. A new life may seem impossible.

What are some of the seemingly impossible situations youth / people face in life?

Like Ezekiel’s response to God when asked “Can these bones live?”, we can answer “You alone know.” God knows all and with God all things are possible. God can breath life into any situation we are in. Not only can he bring you a new life, but he can also give you a new heart: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

We are all dead in our sin, like a pile of dry bones (Ephesians 2:1)
But God, because of his great love for us, makes us alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5)
We experience new life through faith in Christ! Doing good things doesn’t get us eternal life, but we are made alive in Christ that we might do good things for Him. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

MAKE IT PERSONAL

Have there been times in your own life when you feel like a pile of dry bones?
How can knowing that God can bring even piles of bones back to life give you hope in hopeless situations?
How can Christ’s resurrection give you hope in hopeless situations?

SCRIPTURE VERSES

Ezekiel 37
Ezekiel 36:26-27
Ephesians 2:1
Ephesians 2:4-5
Ephesians 2:8-10

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Clay in the Potter’s Hands

September 30, 2014 kensapp Leave a comment

A Lump of clay is chosen with a purpose in mind. The potter envisions a vessel that will be useful to its final owner and a credit to the potter’s craftsmanship and experience. The potter applies pressure to the clay in different ways shaping and forming it until the final product he imagined is realized. The Bible tells us Adam was made from clay. God describes his relationship to us as a Potter. We are the clay. Like clay we can be mouldable, or we can become hard. The choice is ours.

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Games Using Clay or Playdoh

Note: Playdoh, while generally easy to remove can get mashed into carpets and leave bihind residue on some objects. You’ll want to make sure you use it in a way so that cleanup presents no problems.

Best impressions – Give youth some playdoh and send them on a scavenger hunt to obtain impressions of various objects in the clay/ playdoh. You can put things on your list like 5 different size coins, comb, leaf, key, button, pen cap, bottle cap, can tab, fork, shell, dog-tag, chess piece, cross, earring, paper clip, tweesers, action figure, bug, small lightbulb, lego, marble, battery, chain, rope, pencil, pair of dice, monopoly piece, checkers, wrench, nail, screw, watch, belt buckle, thimble, safety pin, whistle, lifesaver, golf ball, a letter, word from an engraving, etc. Add your own.
Clay Bowling – Have youth make balls from the clay / playdoh. See which one can get their ball to roll the farthest, or the straightest…. Or get closest to a target.
Longest snake – Which team can roll our the longest snake given the same amount of clay.
Great Minds Think Alike – Provide each of the youth with a tub of play dough. Have all the youth sit in a circle with their backs to each other. Call out a theme; example Animal, Shape, Candy, Letter, Pastry, etc. Give the players 1 minute to create something with that theme. When the time is up everyone turns around to face the center of the circle and shows what they have made. Points are determined by how many youth thought of the same thing to make. So, for example if the theme was ANIMAL and four teens made cats, two made fish, six made dogs, and one made a penguin then all the youth who made cats would get 4 pts, all who made fish would get 2 pts, all that made a dog get six points.
Pass the Clay – Divide the youth into two or more teams, sit them in a circle, and then give one person on each team a large lump of clay/Playdoh. When you shout out an object, scene or word, the person holding the clay begins to shape it as fast as they can. After a few seconds blow a whistle or use some other loud noise to indicate a change and then the clay must be passed to the next person who picks up where the first person left off. Continue to change sculptors every few seconds. Shout a final “STOP” after which each team shows off their creation. You can award points for the most realistic, the funniest, etc. You can use Biblical objects, people, and ideas or everyday objects like a hotdog stand, a clown, a barn with animals, A plate of spagetti with meatballs, etc.
Pass the Clay Mystery Object – This is played just like pass the clay, but the first person must start making something without communicating to the rest of the group in any way what the object is. You can assign an item to the first person or let them choose the item on their own. Once you yell the final stop, have the first person express what they started to create and then compare this to the final object. It can make for lots of laughs.
Playdoh Pictionary – Divide the youth into 2 or more teams. Each team chooses one member to start the game as the sculptor. It’s played just like pictionary, but instead of drawing the word, the youth must shape it from the Playdoh/clay. The first team to correctly guess the word wins a point. After a word is shaped and guessed, the next person on the team becomes the sculptor. The team at the end of the game with the most points wins. The sculptors may only mould the clay to represent the word and cannot say anything, make noises, use actions and gestures or represent the word in any other way. They also are not allowed to shape any letters or numbers. The words can be people, animals, objects, concepts, Adjectives, etc. VARIATION: Instead of going through the whole bowl of words to win, you can set a timer. When the time is up, the team with the most words guessed, wins.
Playdoh Pictionary Race – Played the same as playdoh pictionary, but this one is a race. Each team sends one “sculpter” up to get the first word. They then run back to the team and sculpt the word. As soon as their teammates correctly guess the word, a new person from their group who has not gone yet runs up to the person with the list and they are given the next word. The team who successfully gets through the whole list first, wins.
PlayDoh Pong – Set up plastic cups at one end of the table in a row of five, a row of four, a row of three, a row of two, and then one to form a triangle of cups. In the bottom of each cup write a different point value – In some cups put 5, others put 10, and in others put 15. To play have each youth stand and the other side of the table. Provide them with a can of Playdoh and a plastic spoon. Give them two minutes to create as many Playdoh balls as they can and use the spoon to try and flick them into the cups. At the end of two minutes count up their points. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.
PlayDoh Treasure Hunt – Mix about 50-100 coins and pennies into a large amount of Playdoh and roll the Playdoh into a thick, flat mass on a table. At your signal, they can use plastic spoons to dig into the playdoh and collect as many pennies as they can in a given amount of time. The person with the most value coins wins.
Ring toss – Youth make coil hoops and do a ring toss over objects for various points.
Tallest tower – Give each team a lump of playdoh. The team that builds the tallest standing tower in the given time wins. Add some dried spaghetti for a little more excitement. The tower must be standing with no help from the group members or any other devices.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

What does it mean to sculpt, shape, or mould something into a particular shape?
What are things that might be molded, sculpted, or formed?
How does something that’s molded become changed from its original form?
How did you decide what your creation was going to look like?
Did you come up with a plan before you started or did you just start and make changes as you went? Was this a good or bad method? Why?
What can this activity tell us about God working in our lives?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

Why do you think God wants to mold us?
Why is it better for us to be like clay?
What are some things in life that try to mould us and shape us?
What are some typical molds that students at your school get squeezed into?
Why do we give way to pressure to be shaped by things and people around us?
Is conformity good or bad? Explain? What makes the difference?
Why do we give in so easy to allow us things to force us to conform?
Why is it difficult for us to allow God to mould us?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

What are some of the things you are you being squeezed into?
What things are shaping your life?
How would you describe the work of the Divine Potter in your life?
What can you do to be more yielding to God’s hand to shape your life?

SCRIPTURE VERSES

Genesis 2:5-7 – “In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground—then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
Job 10:9 – “Remember that thou hast made me of clay; and wilt thou turn me to dust again?”
Jeremiah 18:3-6 – “Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: ‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?’ says the LORD. ‘Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!’ “
Isaiah 45:9 – “Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter,’What are you making?’ Does your work say,’The potter has no hands’?”
Isaiah 64:8 “Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
Romans 9:21 – “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?”
Romans 12:1-2 – “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
II Timothy 2:20-26 – “In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and earthenware, and some for noble use, some for ignoble. If any one purifies himself from what is ignoble [those practices which appear just before this in the context —wrongful attitudes, contentiousness, ungodliness, doctrinal aberrations, iniquity] then he will be a vessel for noble use, consecrated and useful to the master of the house, ready for any good work.”

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HOME MADE PLAYDOH RECIPE

You can find various alternative recipes for this on the internet

1 cup cold water
Food coloring of your choice
1 cup white flour
1/2 cup table salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp cooking oil
Scented oil or extract (optional, just for scent)

Combine the ingredients in a heavy saucepan and stir to mix and review the color. The color will deepen when the playdough is cooked. To get really good purples and colors like black I bought gel food coloring. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the Playdoh pulls away from the sides of the pan. About 3 to 5 minutes, or until it has the consistency of mashed potatoes or well, Playdoh. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool for 1 minute before kneading the dough. Store, after cooling, in a plastic container or resealable plastic bags. If stored in an air tight container or bag it can be kept for months.

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