A family dinner game to prepare for the “big” game?

I have said this before: a way to spark faith conversations with your family is to make family dinner a priority.

But don’t just eat. Play games.

That’s right. To extend your time together as a family, add a “game” to your meal. And the game I have in mind – a variation of Twenty Questions – will surreptitiously help your kids to prepare for this coming Sunday’s Cool Disciples review game – AKA “The Big Game.”

Supplies needed:

• Slips of paper no larger than someone’s forehead, 3 or 4 per person
• Writing implements
• Adhesive tape
• A Bible (optional, in case someone needs a hint, or an argument needs solving!)

Distribute the slips of paper and the writing implements and ask everyone to secretly write the name of a character on each slip of paper. The characters should be from the Bible stories that the kids have learned this year.

What were those stories?

The Beatitudes, Adam and Eve in the Garden, Four Friends Carry a Lame Man to Jesus, The Birth of Jesus from the viewpoint of his mother Mary, John the Baptist, The Parable of the Sower, and the story of Easter Week.

Right away you’ll probably not want anyone to write down God or Jesus. Way too easy to guess!

What are some possibilities?

• Someone at the Sermon on the Mount
• Adam
• Eve
• The snake (why not get creative)
• The man let down from the roof
• One of the 4 Friends
• Angel Gabriel
• Mary, mother of Jesus
• Elizabeth
• Joseph
• John the Baptist
• Daniel
• King Darius
• A farmer sowing seed (in Bible times)
• Peter (the disciple)
• The donkey Jesus rode on Palm Sunday
• Judas
• Caiaphas
• Pilate
• Herod
• Joseph of Arimathea
• Mary Magdalene

(Or you could just write out enough of the above characters ahead of time.)

Have everyone pass their pile of written characters (name-side-down) to the person on their right. Everyone will pick up one of the characters and paste it (name-side-out) on their forehead. (Pass the tape, please!)

Everyone takes turns asking yes or no questions about their character in an effort to determine who they are wearing. Have fun!

We’d love to have you join the fun at this Sunday’s game: “Are You Smarter Than a Sixth Grader” at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI.

Photo credits:
Child eating a peach by Bruce Tuten, who licensed his photo under: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. (Which allows me to re-touch this photo to add the forehead game card!)