Children sit on the edge of their seats, bodies tense with excitement. Hands shoot up energetically, begging to answer your question. Is this what your Bible-lesson review looks like? Maybe not? If it doesn’t, it can!
Educators agree: repetition and review is a huge key to academic success. How much more important is this when teaching the Bible? Maybe your idea of a review time in class looks helpful but boring. How can you review your lessons and keep it exciting? Here are a few enjoyable game ideas to place in your bag of teacher tricks.
Race to the Finish Line
If you have a whiteboard or chalkboard in your classroom, this game is an easy one to do. Draw two “racetracks” on the board by drawing two rows of dashes. Either draw stick figures at the beginning of each track, or stick paper cut-outs on the tracks with sticky-tack. Split the class into teams, and alternate asking the teams questions. As each team answers questions, move their “racers” along the racetrack. If a team misses a question, let the other team try. Whichever racer reaches the finish line first, wins!
Jeopardy Bag
Write point values on slips of paper and put them in an opaque bag (or fold the pieces of paper in half in a clear bag). Make a “frowny face” card and a “smiley face” card. Split the class into two teams, and begin asking review questions. You can make this a free-for-all, by asking children to raise their hands, or you can make it more orderly by having teams take turns and working your way through an established line-up within each team. As children answer questions correctly, have them draw cards out of the bag. The team then gets as many points as indicated on the card. If a team draws the frowny face, it loses all its points. If it draws the smiley face, its points are doubled. Keep track of the points on the board.
Pre-K Zoo Review
For younger children, you can have a child who gives a correct answer select an animal that they would like the class to act like for a few seconds.
Zip-Lock Journal
For older children, keep a zip-lock bag full of index cards. After your lesson, have children draw a picture or draw something they learned from the lesson that they would like to apply in their lives.
Hangman Review
Play Hangman as you ask questions from the lesson. After a child answers a question, he gets to guess a letter in the puzzle.
Tic-Tac-Toe Review
Play Tic-Tac-Toe as you ask review questions. Split your class into O’s and X’s. Take turns asking each team a question. The team only gets to put an X or O on the board after answering a question correctly. If a team misses a question, the other team gets a chance to answer the question.
Egg-Carton Review
Have the class form two lines, as if they were going to do a relay. Place an egg-carton several feet in front of each line (before class, use a marker to number each hollow in the cartons with a point value). Take turns asking each team a question. After a student answers a question correctly, he tries to toss a marble or small stone into the egg carton. If he makes it in, his team gets as many points as are written in the egg carton hollow.