Materials
You’ll need a Bible and enough canned goods for each person to have two cans. You can also use barbells, bricks, stones or other heavy objects. 1 liter water bottles willed with water are also effective.

Activity
Give every person two cans, and have them hold the cans with their arms straight out from their bodies. Challenge the youth to hold their arms this way for one minute. At the end of a minute, note how many students still have their arms out.

Debrief
· Was that easier or more difficult than you thought it would be? Why?
· What would make the task easier-aside from setting the cans down?
· In what ways does God give us strength?
· How does this apply to us when issues or circumstances weigh us down or overwhelm us?

Continue
Have students form pairs, and have one partner hold his or her arms out again, holding the cans This time, ask the other partner to help by holding up his or her partner’s arms under the biceps. How much longer can they last now?

Application
We may not have the strength to do things on our own, but with God’s strength we can do anything. Sometimes God’s way of giving strength to us is through members of the body of Christ supporting and giving help to each other.

Variation
Use a stopwatch and hold a competition to see which class representatives can hold an object out to the side the longest.

This test of strength reminds us that our strength is limited, but God and other Christians can give us the strength to do the things we cannot do ourselves.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Materials
Make a list of actions. These actions will include:
1. Things that will bring us or others closer to God / each other.
2. Things that will create barriers or move us away from God or away from others.

Examples

• Move one step closer if you’ve ever prayed for a friend.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever prayed for a parent.
• Move one step back if you’ve ever broken one of the Ten Commandments.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever told someone about God’s love.
• Move one step back if you’ve ever made fun of a classmate at school.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever fed or helped a stranger.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever believed in someone when nobody else would.
• Move one step back if you’ve ever pretended not to see someone in need.
• Move one step closer if you’ve ever been honest when it would have been easier to tell a lie.

Activity
Stand in the center of a circle of participants, with the youth all positioned an equal distance from you. As you call out the items on the list, if a child/youth has ever done that he must either take one step forward or one step backward depending on if it was a good thing or a bad thing. The objective is to be the first person to reach you. Ask kids to be honest.

Variation
Have some volunteers stand as obstacles… Their objective is to stand in the way of participants trying to move forward. Anything that is an obstacle between us and God needs to be removed.

Discussion
Have kids form pairs and discuss the following questions:

• How did you feel as you moved closer to the center of the circle?
• What did you notice about the group as the activity went on?

Have a volunteer pick up the Bible from the center of the circle and Read James 4:7-8a. Ask:

• How do your actions affect your relationship with God?
• What do you think it means to submit to God?

Application
Reconciliation is removing the distance between people and God similar to the way you moved in this game to get closer to the teacher. Some things we do like lying, hurting others move people away from God. Other actions like encouraging others and helping them do their chores make people closer. When we forgive, confess our sins, read our Bible, tell others about Jesus, etc we help them move closer to God. That’s what reconciliation is all about.

This game / creative teaching idea reminds youth and children that our actions serve to either draw us nearer to God or take us farther away from him.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Materials
None

Activity
In this game for youth, children or adults, you will call out a number and one of the following body parts (knees, hands, eyes, or body) The participants must then get into clumps (groups) of the number you called with the touching his/her body part you named. For example: if I called 3 knees, then everyone must form groups of three persons all touching their knees. (For body you might have them stand in a specific pose or have them turn their body in a circle – repent means to turn around and go in the opposite direction) Because of odd numbers, some of the kids may be unable to form a group of three. The objective is to not be left out of a group. Repeat calling out a different number and different body part.

Variation 1
Once kids have gotten used to the activity make it a little more complicated by having them touch the body parts together in their group. (i.e. 5 – hands – must form groups of five with everyone touching everyone else’s hands.)

Variation 2
Once kids have mastered this, call out two body parts along with a number. (i.e. 3 hands-knees – the group must form groups of three touching boths hands TO knees) Knees to eyes is quite difficult – grins

Application
When a body part was called out, your entire body must move to accomplish the task. Scripture describes us as part of the body of Christ -the church and Christ is the head. Our goals is the goal of Christ – to bring reconciliation and peace with God to the world. 1 Corinthians 12

This game / creative teaching activity illustrates the connection between all believers with one another and with Christ.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Objective
To help students learn to differentiate between the wisdom of the Bible and the wisdom of men.

Activity
Listed below are common sayings. Many are from the Bible. Others are not. There are several possible activities that can be done with these saying. One option is to split each saying in half and put each part on a separate card. Make several sets for more than one team. You could also split them in half and put the entire list (scrambled) on a piece of paper for youth to match.

Have a competition to see who can correctly match the different halves of the sayings together first. After they have matched all the sayings have them identify which ones are from scripture and which are from the saying of men. You might be surprised yourself that some of our common expressions come from the Bible.

A gentle answer / turns away wrath (prov 15:1)
Too close / for comfort (not in Bible)
Pride goes / before destruction (prov16:18)
Too big / for your britches (not in Bible)
A good name / is more desirable than great riches (pr. 22:1)
Sticks and stones / may break my bones, but words will never hurt me (not in Bible)
As iron sharpens iron / so one man sharpens another (prov 27:17)
If you play with fire / you will get burnt (not in Bible)
Saved by the skin / of your teeth (job 19:20)
Better safe / than sorry (not in Bible)
Do to others / as you would have them do to you (Mt 7:12)
Innocent / until proven guilty (not in Bible)
It is not good / that man should be alone (Gen 2:18)
A land flowing / with milk and honey (ex 3:8)
Man does not live / by bread alone (Deut. 8:3)
A still small / voice (I Kings19:12)
Two heads / are better than one (ecclesastes 4:9)
You are / what you eat (not in Bible)
As he think in his heart, / so is he (Prov 23:7)
Whoever digs a hole / will fall into it (Eccl 10:8)
They have sown the wind and / will reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7)
Where your treasure is, / there you heart will be also (Mt 6:21)
No man can serve / two masters (Mat 6:24)
A wolf / in sheep’s clothing (mat 7:15)
A pearl / of great price (13:46)
The blind / leading the Blind (Matt 15:14)
You can lead a horse to water / but you can’t make him drink. (not in Bible)
A rolling stone / gathers no moss (not in Bible)
Oil and water / don’t mix (not in Bible)
A stitch in time / saves nine. (not in Bible)
A watched pot / never boils (not in Bible)
If at first you don’t succeed, / try, try, again. (not in Bible)
The squeeky wheel / gets the oil.(not in Bible)
Seek / and you will find (Mt 7:7)
He who hesitates / is lost. (not in Bible)
Beauty / is only skin deep (not in Bible)
A city set on a hill / cannot be hidden. (Mt 5:14)
Necessity /is the mother of invention. (not in Bible)
A friend in need / is a friend in deed. (not in Bible)
A bird in hand / is worth two in the bush. (not in Bible)
Silence / is golden. (not in Bible)
Children / should be seen and not heard. (not in Bible)
Don’t cast your pearls / before swine. (Mt 7:6)
What is good for the goose / is good for the gander. (not in Bible)
You can’t judge a book / by its cover. (not in Bible)
Don’t count your chicens / before they hatch. (not in Bible)
Cleanliness / is next to godliness. (not in Bible)
Where there’s smoke / there’s fire. (not in Bible)
Don’t cry over / spilt milk. (not in Bible)
People who live in glass houses / shouldn’t throw stones. (not in Bible)
The early bird / gets the worm. (not in Bible)
An apple a day / keeps the doctor away. (not in Bible)
All’s fair / in love and war. (not in Bible)
Look / before you leap. (not in Bible)
All work and no play / makes Jack a dull boy. (not in Bible)

Application
In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon collected the sayings of the world and then compared them with the Word of God. It is important in our life to be able to distinguish what is from the world and what is from God. The Word of God is our guide for living our life.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Materials
A compass

Activity
1. As a small game stand in the center of the room as the target. Students must arrange themselves in lines next to you to form a cross “+”.
2. Designate each direction of the cross as according to the directions of the compass (North, South, East, West).
3. Using the compass, let youth rotate themselves so that the correct line is facing north. Ask them to freeze and take note of their orientation in the room.
4. As the target you must now move to another place in the room.
5. On your signal participants are to reform the compass at the new location, aligning themselves in the correct directions.
6. First line of the cross to get in the correct position wins, making sure they are all facing their respective directions of the compass.
7. To make it more difficult, stand in a doorway, next to a wall, squat under a table, etc.

Debrief
After the game, ask youth/ children to point to north at a given signal. Check their alignment with the compass. Then try to confuse the youth / children by turning round, going to a corner or standing on a chair and asking where north is from those positions.
1. Whatever position we are in, a compass will direct us accurately to north.
2. What are some things that people use to find direction in life?
3. How accurate are these guides?
4. What directions are you aligning your life to?
5. How does a sense of direction help us in the twists and turns of life?

Application
The Holy Spirit is our inner ‘guide’. (John 16:13-14) The Holy Spirit keeps us on the right path in life by always pointing us to Jesus.

Finding Direction in life helps us to navigate its twists and turns.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Materials
Obtain a ball of string or yarn and a cross of image of Jesus.

Activity
Sit the group on the floor in a circle. Holding firmly to the string, toss it to a person in the circle. The person then, holding firmly onto the string, tosses the ball on to another person. The string should be held above the ground. Continue until everyone has received the string at least once. You will have a spiderweb of string representing how we are all connected to each other. Then attach the end of the string to a cross or to a picture of Jesus.

Application
Scripture tells us that like this string, Jesus connects us all together. He is the head of the body and we are all connected though him. Colossians 1:15-20

This activity illustrates the connection between all believers with one another and with Christ.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Materials
A Bible and a soft object to throw, such as afoam ball or a wadded-up pair of clean socks.

Activity
Have everyone stand or sit in a circle. Say: “Let’s play a game called All You Need.” I’ll begin with a statement and will throw the ball to someone in the circle. Whoever catches the ball will finish the statement. For example, if I say, “All you need to make spaghetti is…” and then throw the ball to you, you might say, “boiling water.” And then you throw the ball to someone else, who might say “meatballs.” Then that person throws the ball to someone else, and so on. I’ll interrupt with new statements, so don’t be concerned if you don’t get to answer every statement. Let’s make sure everyone gets a chance to throw the ball.

Begin the game by saying: All you need for a good party is… Then have each person finish the statement as he or she catches the ball. As the game continues, interject the following statements:
· All you need to fix a flat tire is…
· All you need for a great concert is…
· All you need for a perfect weekend is…
· All you need to be popular is…
· All you need to make mee siam is…
· All you need to make friends is…
· All you need for peace is…
· All you need to recieve blessings from God is to … (PRAY)
ADD YOUR OWN IDEAS

Debrief
· What was easy about this game? What was difficult?
· Which statements took more thought? Why?
· Was everything mentioned really needed?
· Were some things needed that were not mentioned?
· Is prayer all we need? Why or why not?

Application
There are times when we think we need something, but it is not really a need. It is merely a desire, a wish. Sometimes there are things we need but we don’t realize it. Fortunately God promises to provide all our needs – Philippians 4:19. God is all we need and he blesses us with even more than we ask in our prayers.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Activity
Form trios and have kids introduce themselves. Then tell trio members to alphabetize their first names and make the person with the name closest to A “get lost.” These people must quickly join different pairs. The last person to reach a different pair and the kids in that pair are eliminated from the game. Then instruct the new trio members to introduce themselves and tell each other when they were born. Direct the oldest and the youngest trio members to tell the other member to “get lost.” As before, new trios are formed and three players are eliminated.

Continue to play with new criteria for getting lost until only one trio survives. For example, tell each trio to send away the person who
* has the most colorful socks,
* has the oldest living grandparent,
* has the most cousins,
* has the least pets, or
* owns the largest pet.

Debrief
* How did it feel to be left out?
* What can we learn from this in our relationships with others in the church?
* What are some ways we tell others to get lost?
* What are some of the reasons we tell others to get lost?
* How can we be more united as a church or youth group?

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Materials
Puzzles – You can use large wooden children’s puzzle pieces for both and youth or children. Cardboard puzzles with a limited number of pieces can also be used. You will need more than one puzzle – one for each participant in a small group or divide the class into multiple groups and have a puzzle for each group.

Activity
Mix up the peices so that the pieces that go to each puzzle are with the wrong frame or in the wrong box. To make it more difficult completely mix up the pieces. Of course students won’t be able to fit the peices into the wooden puzzle frames because they are the wrong peices. And the others will have more difficulty because they are in the wrong box. Let the participants trade pieces and correctly put together the puzzles.

Debrief
King Solomon also tried to fill in the holes in his life with peices that didn’t fit. The book of Ecclesiastes is the record of the results. Only God can fill the puzzle of the life He has planned for each of us.

Makes a great Children’s sermon, object lesson or learning activity for youth to introduce a lesson on God’s plan for our lives.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”
200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.
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Bible Text
John 16:13-14

Materials
A compass

Central Truth
The Holy Spirit guides us

Activity
Set the Stage: As a small game stand in the center of the room and let students arrange themselves in lines next to you to form a cross “+”. Designate one line of the cross as “North.” Designate the remaining three lines the other directions of the compass (East, etc) Then using the compass, let youth rotate themselves so that the correct line is facing north. Ask them to freeze in position. They must remember this position. Their line must always be arranged in the position it is now arrange in and correctly aligned to the compass.

Game Play:Move to another place in the room. On your signal the four teams are to reform the compass at the new location, pointing themselves in the correct directions. (To make it more difficult, stand in a doorway, next to a wall, squat under a table, etc.) First line of the cross to get in the correct position wins. Make sure all four teams are facing their respective directions of the compass before you freeze them and move to a new location.

Debrief
Ask the youth to point to north. Check to see who is correct with the compass. Then try to confuse the youngsters by turning round, going to a corner or standing on a chair and asking where north is from those positions.

Whatever position we are in, a compass will direct us accurately to north.

Application
The Holy Spirit is our inner ‘guide’. Look up John 16:13-14. The Holy Spirit will keep us on the right path, always pointing us to Jesus. It is our responsibility to align ourselves with his direction.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…