Preparation
Use the words of your memory verse to create a hangman style puzzle. Draw a line for each letter, separating words in the phrase by spaces. Include punctuation.
Activity
Invite students to take turns selecting letters that might fit in the phrase. If a letter is correctly chosen, write it into every blank where it belongs. If the letter chosen does not appear in the phrase, write the letter out to the side and add one item to the hangman (i.e. Draw the head, body, arms, hands, legs, feet, eyes, nose, mouth, as per normal hangman) A person may only attempt to identify the phrase after he/she has correctly guessed a letter. If the phrase is guessed incorrectly, that person automatically loses.
Example
VERSE: “Abba Father” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet, not what I will, but what you will.” [Mark 14:36] (Replace the hyphen in the example with spaces)
“_ _ _ _ – _ _ _ _ _ _”-_ _-_ _ _ _,-“_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _-
_ _-_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _-_ _ _-_ _ _.-_ _ _ _-_ _ _ _-_ _ _-
_ _ _ _-_ _.-_ _ _,-_ _ _-_ _ _ _-_-_ _ _ _,- _ _ _-
_ _ _ _-_ _ _-_ _ _ _.”
Variations
1. Instead of using the entire verse, use short key phrases from your scripture passage and have several puzzles.
2. Divide the class into two teams and play a version of “wheel of fortune” to guess the phrases. Make a spinner from a paper plate.
3. Instead of using a hangman, use a man on a cross”hangman=man hanging on the cross”, use the normal parts of the hangman, but add the two beams of the cross.
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200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.