Children & youth ministry

“Shoe shucking race”

Divide into groups of 6 (girls must wear pants). Each team member must lie on his back with his feet in the air, meeting in the center of the circle. A container of water (dishpan) is placed on the elevated feet. The object is for each member to remove his shoes without spilling the water. The team to win is the one with the most shoes off after 3 minutes (Pratt, 3).
Shoe Hop

Divide into teams and make sure everyone is wearing shoes with laces. To play, race to the turn around line and take off one tennis shoe. Then, hop back to your team. Once you're back, take off your other shoe. Then, run back to where the first shoe was left, put that shoe back on and tie it. Then, hop back to your team and put on the other shoe on. After you've tied your shoe, tag the next person in line and then she goes. First team back with all their shoes tied wins (Ryan).

“Shoes” (active)

Materials: 4 mats

The group is split up into four teams and each team lines up behind a mat. Shoes are in a pile in the middle. On a signal one member from each team runs to get one shoe and put it on his mat at which the following team member may go to get another shoe. The object is to get 2 pairs of shoes on the team mat. Shoes may be taken from other team mats only once and those teams may not resist. When a team has 2 pairs of shoes they yell "SHOES!" (Gerson).

Shoe-in-a-bag Relay

How to Play:

You need at least 10 youth to play this game. Give each person a brown paper bag (lunch size). Have each person take off one shoe and place it in the bag. Pile the bags in one spot in an area. Have the youth stand at the other end, away from the pile of shoes. When you give the signal, the youth run to the pile of bagged shoes. When they find their shoes they must put them on and run to the finish line. The winner gets a prize (Arata).

Message

Introduction with a short prayer. As you can tell tonight our theme is “Shoes”! Every one of us needs shoes. What is the purpose for a shoe? (let the kids respond) Webster defines “shoe” as a protective covering for the foot. Protect from what? (responses) Shoes protect our feet from getting dirty, stepping on sharp objects that might cut our feet, also from the hot surfaces etc. Just like our feet need protection, our soul needs protection for the everyday life we live. “Put the whole Amour of God,” the apostle Paul wrote to church, Ephesians 6:11. We have the responsibility of putting it on to not only protect ourselves but to stand firm in the strategies of the enemy, Satan. How many of you chose different shoes or get new shoes every new season? I know that you’re not going to wear flip-flops in the winter, when it is all-cold! And vise-versa you’re not going to wear warm boots in the summer! We change what we wear on our feet according to the season. Like wise, we should renew our spirit everyday. I mean our blessing should constantly be renewed. We cannot count on the blessings from last season. “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day” II Corinthians 4:16. I know that I would not want people to see me with dirty, old shoes. We should all protect our souls (spirits) and be renewed.

(End this message with a prayer or ask questions about the message.)

Works Cited Page

Arata ,Joyce. “Shoe-in-a-bag relay.” Igrandparents. http://www.igrandparents.com/grandTopics/articles/Mini- Sites/Summer/ShoeBag.asp. © 2001 iGP, Inc.

Gerson, Darren. “Shoes.” http://gameskidsplay.net/games/xtra_games. Htm#shoes

“Group Scavenger Hunt.” EveryRule. .

“Human Scavenger Hunt.” EveryRule. .

Pratt, Stewart. “Shoe Box Relay.” http://playshoe.co.uk/othershoes.shtml

Pratt, Stewart. “Shoe Kick.” http://playshoe.co.uk/othershoes.shtml

Pratt, Stewart. “Shoe Schucking Race.” http://playshoe.co.uk/othershoes.shtml

Ryan D. “Shoe Hop.” Pbs.

“Shoe Pile.”

Scripture taken from New American Standard Bible

Veggie Tales. “Mayday Message.” Big Idea, Productions.

Baileigh Robertson

THEME: Body of Christ

5 Icebreakers

People Pieces

Prepare 2 sets of 3x5 cards. On 1 set write the names of the people in the group on the card, one name per card. On the 2^nd set write specific body parts on the cards, one part per card. You need the same # of body part cards as name cards. Have the group in a circle Pass 1 set to your right and 1 set to your left & make sure that everyone has 1 of each set. Tell the group that when you clap your hands find the person on the card and hold on to the body part of that person that is written on the other card. Continue until everyone is connected.

Human Pyramid

Get everyone to form teams and make a human pyramid. In this icebreaker everyone must shout the names of everyone in their pyramid staying in formation the whole time.

Shoe Switch/Link Up

In this icebreaker when the group comes in collect everyone’s shoes. Then put all the shoes in middle of the room and have everyone find two mismatching show that are not their own. They must find the owners and ask these three questions: 1.) Name?

2.) What would they do if they had a million dollars?

3.) What have they never done before?

Then the students must find a funky way to link up without using arms.

Twister with a Twist

Get the game twister, except in this game put the names of people in the group on the colored circles. The people with that name have to figure out how to get on the circle. This lets everyone begin to know each other’s names.