For a free pdf download of this resource click here
Cat and Mouse
Where: indoors or outdoors
Space needed: enough to run around in
Number of children: 10+
Equipment: none
There are many variations of the cat and mouse game, but here’s a version that works well with our group of 5 - 11-yearolds. Start by getting everyone into pairs. It doesn’t really matter who they are paired with at the start so they can go with their friends if they wish. (If there’s a close group of three they might not want to form a pair. Explain that they won’t stay in the same pairs for the whole game and it will just be this way at the beginning.)
You will need an even number of people playing the game so a leader will have to play too if there’s an odd number of children. Get the pairs to hold hands and spread themselves around the hall. If some don’t like holding hands an alternative is to stand side by side with your hands on each other’s shoulders.
Once that is done, choose one pair to be the cat and the mouse. Put the cat at one end of the room and the mouse at the other. As you might have already guessed the cat chases the mouse and tries to catch them. If the cat catches the mouse they switch roles and the cat becomes the mouse and the mouse becomes the cat. The pairs stand still and watch as the cat and mouse run between them.
There is no ‘home’ or safe area in this game but what the mouse can do is grab the hand (or shoulder) of one person in a pair. If that happens the child the mouse grabs lets go of their partner’s hand and their partner now becomes the mouse. The old mouse and the person who they grabbed now become one of the pairs who stand still.
Encourage the mouse to keep grabbing people to keep the game moving. And you may also need to encourage the mouse to grab different people’s hands to ensure everyone gets a go at being the cat or the mouse. Keep going for as long as you like!
SMS (Silly Messy Simple) Game: Flour Power
Where: indoors
Space needed: small table to sit at
Number of children: 2+
Equipment: flour, bowl, tray, sweet, knife, table cloth, vacuum cleaner!
Before the game, get a large mixing bowl and fill it with flour. As you add the flour, keep compacting it down to get rid of the air; you want to have a solid dome of flour at the end. When you’ve filled the bowl place a tray or large plate over the top and turn the bowl upside down. Slowly remove the bowl and you should have a solid dome of flour resting on the tray. Then take a sweet, and push it into the top of the flour dome so it’s half in the flour, half out. Now you’re ready to play.
The game itself is very simple. In turn, each person takes the (blunt!) knife and cuts off a slice of flour from the dome. They need to make one clean cut through the flour then push their slice away from the dome. Their go ends when they’ve placed the knife back on the table. The aim is not to disturb the sweet at the top of the flour so it doesn’t fall into the flour. If the sweet falls at any point during their go then they have to get the it from the flour using only their mouth (the consolation being that they get to keep the sweet).
You’ll find this game pretty much regulates itself in terms of who is prepared to stick their face in the flour at the end. Those who really don’t will take very small slithers of flour from the edges. But if someone really doesn’t want to play anymore they can drop out as the game goes on so only the willing are left. And, of course, please do check for allergies before you play this game.
Story Game
Where: indoors
Space needed: space to sit in a circle
Number of children: 8+
Equipment: none
I don’t often link games to the teaching in our sessions but this is an excellent game when you want to drive home certain key words, names or places in a story.
Get all of the kids to sit on the ground in a circle facing inwards. Make sure there is a space behind for people to run around the outside of the circle. In the story you are going to tell, highlight four or five key words that are repeated several times. For example in the story of the lost coin you might have lost, coin, woman and search. Go around the circle and give a key word to each child. There should be more children than key words so each time you call a key word at least two or three children will be chosen. Don’t worry if there isn’t the same number of children for each key word.
The storyteller then begins to read the story. When the child’s word is read out they have to stand up, run around the outside of the circle until they’re back at their place then sit down again. Make sure you leave a little gap between key words so the children can still hear the story and not miss their key word.
Once the children are used to the game you can read quicker and perhaps get two groups running at once. As a twist you can add in a key word that means everyone has to run. For younger children, it’s better if this is a word like ‘all’, ‘everyone’ or something like that. (If you want to make it competitive you could make teams of four with a different key word assigned to each member of the team. Then award points for the first person to run round the circle and sit back down in their spot and the team with the most points at the end wins.) It doesn’t have to be a Bible story – you can play it with a themed story for that time of year or any other story!
