Water Relay

Tuesday:	Water Relay
Elementary Bible Lesson:	Daniel and the Satraps: God expects faithfulness
Memory Verse:	1st Corinthians 15:58
Preschool Bible Lesson:	TBA

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• plastic plates
• two large buckets
• two smaller buckets

Instructions:

Divide the children into their red and blue teams. Give each team a plastic plate. (Rubbermaid plates like the ones distributed with Mainstay dogfood in the eighties work nicely. Otherwise, styrofoam will do in a pinch but not paper.) Line each team up in a line behind the starting line. Give each team a large bucket full of water at the starting line. Place a smaller, empty bucket for each team at the finish line. (For teens, place the buckets farther apart than for the younger children.) When the whistle is blown, the first person on each team must carry water on the plate from the large bucket to the small bucket, then give the empty plate to the next person, and return to the back of the line. Repeat until bucket is full (if time allows); each person may go more than once. The first team to fill their small bucket wins. (Repeat the game only if time allows.) The game leaders should keep plenty of water in the large buckets, using the hose as necessary. Whichever team wins the most number of times (or gets their bucket fullest if time runs short) should be awarded fifty points.

Pre-school Version:

Shorten the distance between the buckets, use cups instead of plates, and play all as one team together.

Soak the Paper

Tuesday:	Soak the Paper
Elementary Bible Lesson:	Do What It Says (Ezra Reads from the Book of the Law): We should study God's word and obey it.
Memory Verse:	James 1:22

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• hula hoops
• roll paper
• buckets
• sponges

Preparation:

Cover each hula hoop with a large strip of roll paper, such as bulletin board paper. Fasten the edges of the paper in place around the hoop (either to the hoop itself, or around and to the back of the paper) with tape, staples, or whatever. Set up the buckets of water and sponges near where the group will stand.

Instructions:

Have an adult volunteer hold up the hula hoops as targets a fixed distance from the group. (Start a pretty good distance away, so that the kids can barely throw the wet sponges that far.) Divide the group into teams and hold up one hoop for each team.

Each team member gets the same number of sponges (probably one) per round. The object is to wet and break the paper that is stretched across the hoop, by throwing wet sponges against it. When every team member has thrown their sponge, have the targets move a little closer, give everyone their sponges back, and go another round. Whichever team breaks their paper first wins the game.

You can play another game if time and the supply of prepared hoops allows. If the hoops run out before time runs out, allow the play to devolve into a wet-sponge free-for-all (if it's warm enough out).

Preschool Game: Floating Stuff

Monday:	Floating Stuff
Preschool Bible Lesson:	TBA

Age Groups:

• preschool

Equipment Needed:

• wading pool
• plastic balls
• other floating toys
• towels

Preparation:

Put just a couple of inches of water in the pool, just enough for stuff to float.

Instruction:

Give the kids the plastic balls and other floating toys (e.g., toy boats, rubber duckies) and let them sit around the outside of the edge of the pool and play with the floating stuff. Be sure to have a few towels on hand in case of accidental water exposure.

Wet Sponge Dodgeball

Monday:	Wet Sponge Dodgeball
Elementary Bible Lesson:	Two Obedient Men (Caleb & Joshua): We should trust and obey God.
Memory Verse:	1st John 2:5

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• sponges
• buckets
• rope

Note:

Note: if it's cold at the beginning of the week, play the fourth night's game (Pile-Up) instead for now, and come back to this one later in the week when it's warmer.

Preparation:

Use a rope or something to mark a midpoint of the playing area. Put the pool (or buckets) full of water and sponges across the rope, so it can be reached from both sides.

Instructions:

Divide the kids into two teams, and explain the rules and boundaries. Basically, the goal is to hit every member of the other team with a web sponge, before everyone on your team gets hit. You can't cross the line, but you can approach the line to get sponges and/or to dip them in the water for better throwing. If you get hit by a wet sponge, you have to go stand on the sidelines (until the next game). When one entire team is out, if there's time left, put everyone back in and repeat.

Wet Sponge Relay

Wednesday:	Wet Sponge Relay
Bible Lesson:	Raised from the Dead
Memory Verse:	1st John 4:10
Indoor Variant:	Indoor Fish Relay

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• sponges (You can re-use the fish-shaped sponges from earlier in the week.)
• buckets (4)
• water

Instructions:

Divide the group into two equal teams. Each team receives a full bucket (of water), a (smaller) empty bucket, and a fish-shaped sponge. Team members line up and take turns running the fish sponge from the full bucket to fill the empty bucket, in an attempt to fill the empty bucket. If the full bucket gets empty, it can be refilled from a spigot. The first team to fill their empty bucket, or the team with the most water when time expires, wins the game.

Teen Variation:

Increase the difficulty by making them stand a little more than arm's length apart and toss the wet sponge from person to person down the line, trying to keep as much water in the sponge as possible; the last person in the line squeezes it into the bucket.

Fish Coin Hunt

Monday:	Fish Coin Hunt
Preschool Bible Lesson:	The Coin in the Fish's Mouth: Jesus is God

Age Groups:

• preschool

Equipment Needed:

• small portable wading pool
• water (outdoor) or packing peanuts (indoor)
• fish-shaped sponges (these can be cut from ordinary synthetic cleaning sponges)
• buckets (2)
• toy pool nets (2)
• one coin

Instructions:

Set up a pool containing either water (outdoors) or foam packing peanuts (indoors) and toy or sponge fish. One of the fish should have a coin hidden inside. You need two hand-held nets for fishing them out (similar to pool nets). Preschoolers take turns fishing a fish out of the pool with the net and running them to the team's fish bucket. When all the fish are out, have them look for the coin, and the team that has the coin wins. Get excited with them when they find it. Remind them that it was a miracle that Jesus sent Peter to find the coin in the fish and it was there. The coin may then be rehidden secretly in a random fish and all the fish returned to the pool for more gameplay.

Copyright © 2003—2009, Nathan Eady, Sarah Eady, Theresa Wagoner, and the Galion Grace Brethren Church, but you are welcome to use it in your local church. See licensing for more detailed information about rights and permissions.

Water Balloon Toss (Preschool Version)

Tuesday:	Water Balloon Toss
Bible Lesson:	The Centurion's Servant: Jesus is God

Age Groups:

• preschool

Equipment Needed:

• balloons
• water
• bubble stuff and wands

Instructions:

Pair off the children and provide each pair with a water balloon. (If there's an odd number, grab an adult to fill out the pairs. For preschool, don't overfill the balloons, so that they are less likely to pop easily.) Have them stand opposite their teammates in two parallel lines, very close to one another. Each time you blow the whistle, they must throw the balloon to their partner, and then take a small step backward. When a pair's balloon pops, they're done and must sit where they are and wait for the others. Go until there's only one balloon left (or none). If there's time, play again, or get out the bubble stuff and let the kids blow bubbles.

Sealed Orders

Tuesday:	Sealed Orders
Bible Lesson:	Our Commanding Officer (the Centurion's Servant)
Memory Verse:	1st John 5:3-4.
See Also:	The Orders

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• plastic or Styrofoam cups
• hula hoops
• two buckets, identical except for color
• two larger buckets
• water
• sand
• a tarp
• ten envelopes
• the orders

Instructions:

Prepare ahead by setting up the matching red and blue buckets, filled with water, about twenty-five feet from a tree (or similar landmark, to which the instructions in the envelopes will refer); a bucket of sand in another part of the yard; a tarp or sheet in another part of the yard (away from the first two), and a chair in a fourth location with hula hoops hanging over the back of it.

Divide the children (or teens) into two roughly equal teams. Explain that each team will receive orders in a sealed envelope, five different sets of orders in five sealed envelopes, and they must complete each set of orders in order to receive the next envelope. Each team's envelopes are numbered. When you are ready to begin, hand out one disposable cup to each person, then hand out the first envelope to each team. When they finish each set of orders, hand them the next. First team to complete all five sets of orders wins. Each team's water bucket will need to be refilled by an adult after the first set of orders (while they are doing the second set).

Water Balloon Toss

Monday:	Water Balloon Toss
Bible Lesson:	Rahab was saved because she believed in God, and we are saved the same way.
Memory Verse:	Ephesians 2:8-9

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• balloons
• water

Instructions:

Pair off the children and provide each pair with a water balloon. (If there's an odd number, grab an adult to fill out the pairs.) Have them stand opposite their teammates in two parallel lines, very close to one another. Each time you blow the whistle, they must throw the balloon to their partner, and then take a step backward. When a pair's balloon pops, they're done and must sit where they are and wait for the others. Go until there's only one balloon left (or none). If there's time, play again.