Tag Archives: balloons

Peace in the turmoil

June 4, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Use three balloons to understand the concept peace during times difficulty and persecution.

Activity
Begin with a deflated balloon in your hand. Tell the group you’re going to use it to help them understand peace. Inflate the balloon about half full. Sometimes troubles come into life and the tension builds as we give over a portion of our time, energy, and thought to deal with the situation. One way to deal with tense situations is to pray and trust God to work things out. Trusting God frees us for other things and we are back at peace again. But when we spend all our time and energy concentrating on difficulties things can gt more and more tense. Inflate the balloon fully and hold it in front of you. When we concentrate on the difficulties, our lives become more and more crowded and tense, until we finally burst (pop the balloon). Ask the kids for examples of things people become worried about.

Next, take a second balloon and inflate it less than half full. Hold it out in front of you and poke it with your finger, allowing the surface of the balloon to contract and expand. Explain that when trust God we’re more flexible and less sensitive to other pressures. Inflate the balloon fully and tell the kids that a life filled with pointless worry makes us less able to deal with other pressures that come our way, and can cause even small problems to explode emotionally (For added emphasis, make sure you take your time inflating the balloon and popping it.) Some of the kids will slightly dread the pop, exhibiting a form of worry. Ask the kids for examples of times when they or someone they know overreacted to some small irritation or pressure because they were already worried about something.

Finally, take a third balloon and tell the kids that some things happen in life that cause us a great deal of concern such as someone who is leaving for a long time, the death of a friend, or a divorce in the family. Explain that often during such times people are full of fear or anger or confusion. Inflate the balloon and ask the kids what they can do in a situation like that. Tell them that God has something to say about that situation, and about all the times when they’re tempted to worry.

Application
Read or quote John 16:33. Assure them that God will help them deal with their worries and concerns and will give them his peace. Let the balloon go so that it flies round the room until it’s deflated.

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Improving Your Teaching

Popping Points

May 2, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
A balloon (helium filled are best) for each point in your talk.

Preparation
Write your key points on small pieces of paper. Roll them up and place them in separate balloons. Inflate the balloons and tie them. Use these to illustrate your message.

Variation
You can also write key questions on uninflated balloons with a permanent marking pen and insert the answers or related scripture verses inside. When you inflate the balloon the message will appear in bold letters. Then allow participants to pop the balloon and read the answers or related scripture verse.

Makes any message a little more fun and more memorable.

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Creative Teaching Ideas

Balloon Hunt

March 26, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

One day as a child and her grandmother were taking flowers to the cemetery they passed a newly dug grave. “Grandma, look!” Nicole exclaimed. “One got out!” Jesus Got out!

Materials
Before the meeting, hide deflated red, green, black, white, and yellow balloons in the room or outside. With each balloon, place a long piece of string.

Divide the participants into groups of five; have the groups choose names such as “Egg Raiders.” Ask each team to line up. Have the members place their hands on the waist of the person in front of them. The last person in line will give verbal instructions to the team, trying to get them to hop in unison. The first person is the only one who can touch the balloons.

The object of the game is to hop around the room in a connected line and find the balloons. Each group must find one balloon of each color. The first person blows up the balloon, ties the string to it, and places the balloon between the teeth of the second person. This process continues until everyone has a balloon in his or her teeth or until time is called.

Play songs such as the “Bunny Hop” or “Peter Cottontail.” After five minutes, call time and award 100 points for each balloon; 500 points if thery have one of each color. Award prizes such as chocolate Easter bunnies and color-dyed, hard-boiled eggs. You also can make awards by blowing up balloons and using a marker to write titles such as “Most unique hopper” or “ ‘Hoppiest’ group member.”

Debrief
Use the colored balloons to share the message of Easter. Black represents sin, red represents the blood of Christ shed on the cross to wash away our sins, white represents the life cleansed by Christ’s sacrifice, green represents new life in Christ, and yellow represents heaven which is now accessible to us through the death of Christ on the cross.

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Game Ideas

Water Balloon Catch

March 14, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Tons of water balloons and a group of youth.

Preparation
Separate the youth into two or three groups, depending on how many you have and give them a t-shirt. Have them put their arms in the shirt and through the arm holes, but don’t let them put it on any furthur. They will use the shirts to catch the water balloons.

Send the youth out into the yard and set minimum distances for tossing the balloons. Let the balloons fly. When you run out of water balloons, the kids should be soaked. The team that catches the most water balloons within the specified boundaries wins!

It may be helpful to set up a tub or kiddie pool for each team before you start so they can put their balloons in it as they catch them.

Variation:
Instead of tossing balloons by hand, increase the minimum distance and use a water balloon launcher for each team. Not sure what a water balloon launcher is? Check out this site http://www.cxblaster.com/

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