Abraham and Sarah Bible Skills and Games Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Participants will follow the journey of Abraham and Sarah and participate through games in some of the major points in Abraham and Sarah's lives.

Scripture Reference:

Genesis 12:1-9, 17:1-8 and 15-22, 15:1-7 21:1-7

Leader Preparation:

• Read scripture ahead of time.
• Gather the materials.
• Set up chairs in a circle.

Supplies List:

• one soft ball
• deck of playing cards for every two students, remove jokers
• index cards & pencils
• sticker nametags and markers
• Bible map clearly marked to point out "stops" on the journey (the New Interpreter's Bible has a GREAT map of Abraham's journey on page 423 of vol. I or find a map on the internet such as this one)
• Optional: 5 separate places within the church that can serve as "stopping points" along the journey. If using option, make signs for locations and carry map with you to each spot.

LESSON

Welcome and Introduction

Gather in a circle. Greet the children and Introduce yourself. Explain that today they will be taking a journey with Abraham and Sarah.

Dig-Main Content and Reflection

Lesson Plan:

I. The Call to Canaan
Location: Haran

• Distribute Bibles. Talk about where the book of Genesis is found (hint: it means "beginning"). Show students how to find the chapter numbers and find chapter 12.
• Read Genesis 12:1-9.
• Discuss what the participants know about being "called" and the situations they are called to and from.
• Play "The Calling Game".
• All participants place their hands in front of them. The leader calls the name of someone across the circle and throws the ball to that person. The leader then puts his/her hands behind her back. (The hands in front helps know who's received the ball and who has not.)
• The person with the ball (person #2) calls out someone else's name who has their hands in front of them and throws that person the ball. Then person #2 puts their hands behind them.
• Play continues until all players have been called (received and thrown the ball) - the last person to receive the ball calls and throws to the leader.
• No player should receive the ball more than once.
• You must call out the person's name to whom you are throwing AND establish eye contact with that person BEFORE you throw the ball to them.
• Remember who you threw it to and who threw to you - you are establishing a pattern!
• Once through - try again a bit faster - then again a bit faster.
• For an extra challenge, try to do it by sending the ball through the pattern backwards.

II. You shall be an ancestor of nations
Location: Oaks of Mamre

1. Read Genesis 15:1-7.
2. Discuss with participants what they think of those verses. How many stars do they really think there are? How might we count all of them? Do you think there are more than one hundred? Let's see what one hundred looks like!
3. Play "The Counting Game"- a race to 100

• Divide the class into pairs and give each pair a deck of cards. (If you have an odd number of students, one group can have three.)
• Partners take turns flipping over a card in their deck and start adding (or counting) a running tally based on the card value (jacks, queens, and kings count as 10).
• They need to reach 100 exactly. As they get closer, they will need to discard cards until they reach 100 exactly.
• Students should keep the cards spread faceup in front of them so they can see what 100 looks like.
• The first pair to get to 100 (or a smaller total such as 20 for younger students) wins!
  

III. And you shall be called "Abraham"
Location: Canaan

1. Read Genesis 17:1-8, 15-22.
2. Discuss why God changed Abraham's name and how Abraham felt. See if any participants know what their name means. (You might have a baby book on hand to help just in case!)
3. Play the "Guess Who I Really Am?" Game.

• Hand everyone an index card and a pencil.
• Have each of them think of a new name they would like to be called and what that name means. (Things like "always wins baseball games" and "lover of cats." You will have to help younger learners.) Have them write their new names on index cards. MAKE sure they keep their names secret!
• Gather the cards and read the new names and have everyone try to guess who is each name.

ASK: What name might God give you? (things like "Helper of teacher" or "servant to all" or "singer of praise songs") Does that name change how you feel about yourself?

Give everyone a nametag with their new name, and use it for the rest of the class time.

IV. And Sarah laughed
Location: Oaks of Mamre - Hebron

1. Read Genesis 18:1-15.
2. Discuss how Abraham felt when these strangers began to tell him about his wife having a baby. Why did Sarah laugh when told that she would have a baby? Why did she deny the fact she laughed? Why would Sarah not want anyone to know she laughed?'
3. Play "I Never" Game.

• Everyone sits in chairs in a circle.
• One person goes into the middle and their chair is removed.
• The player in the middle truthfully completes the sentence, "I never ..." (For example, "I never went to a baseball game" or "I never put dressing on my salad.")
• For those who are seated, if the statement is false for them, they must get up and change seats. If it is true, they stay seated.
• When those who are switching seats get up, the person in the middle tries to take one of their seats leaving a new person in the middle.

V. Isaac is born
Location: Hebron

1. Read Genesis 21:1-7.
2. Discuss the reasons why they think Sarah and Abraham named Isaac laughter.
3. Sometimes it is hard not to laugh. Play the "HA" game. The object of "HA" is to see how many times the word "HA" can go around our circle without anyone laughing.

• Participants hold hands in a circle.
• The first player in the chain says, "HA." The second player repeats, then the third, and so on through the chain.
• Then the first player says, "HA HA." The second player repeats, etc.
• See how many "HA"s can go around the circle. How quickly can you get to five "HA HA HA HA HA"? Can your group set a record?

Closing:

See the Verse Sorting Game in a post below for a great suggestion to tie all the events from this lesson into a final wrap-up game.

End with a prayer, praying for each student using their new name.

A lesson written by St. Elmo's Choir Rotation Writing Group.

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Abraham and Sarah Relay or Treasure Hunt Game

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Students will journey along with Abraham using your game choice of either a "Treasure Hunt" or a "Relay Journey."

Scripture Reference:

Genesis 12: 1-8, Genesis 18:1–15, Genesis 21:1, 3, 5-7

Lesson Objectives:

• The students will be able to find the story in their Bible
• The students will be able to retell the story of Abraham's call.

Life Application:

• The students will know that God calls us all on a journey.
• The students will know that God is with us on this journey.

Lesson

Opening

Greet the children and introduce yourself.

Open with a prayer.

Play Game:

Decide which game (Treasure Hunt or Relay Journey) you will use for the story; details for both found below.

Reflection:

Reflection occurs with the questions in this lesson, either following the Treasure Hunt or during the Relay Journey.

Closing:

End with prayer:
Dear God,
Thank you for being present in every step we take. Life and faith are journeys we do not take alone. You are always with us. We ask for peace, [place students requests here], healing for members of our congregation, and safety for classmates that are not on this journey with us today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen

Game Option #1: Treasure Hunt

The student will travel together to find clues to the next part of the story. You will give them the first clue: Then the LORD told Abram “Leave your country..." From this clue, students would go and find something that contains countries (for example: a map).

Here they will find or be given the second clue: I will cause you… All the families of the earth… Students will then go to a place where all the families would gather to find the next clue (for example, fellowship hall).

Do this for each one of the clues. This has the students reading the story as they go along. We have given suggestions for places to hide clues; you will need to adjust to fit your facility. (Use the attached Word document if you need to reformat and bold a different word in any of the clues.) Be prepared to give students hints for some of the harder clues.

Place the clues in an envelopes labeled #1, #2 , etc. It will be important for you to remember where you hid the clues. For the older students you will want to challenge them a bit more by hiding clues somewhere in the area the clue leads them to; for the younger students the numbered envelopes can be in plain sight.

Preparation:

• Print Student Clues. Cut them apart and place each clue in a separate envelope & number them 1 through 13.
• Print the teacher's copy (and extra copies for any helpers). Hide the clues and write the location of each clue as you hide it. (Printable PDF containing both the Student and Teacher Treasure Hunt clues found here).

Clue Words and Location Examples:

• country – near a map or globe
• All the families - a place where families gather like a fellowship hall
• Departed - a place where you could leave the church (an exit or door)
• Oak - any tree outside (if possible) or near a window where you can look out and see a tree
• Altar – a place where you can learn about God, or praise & worship God – a classroom or a stage, altar, pulpit, lectern, communion table, offering box
• Southward - head south down a hallway or into a room,  or a room at south end of building
• Worship - Fellowship hall under one of the chairs where they sit for worship, the sanctuary, or the choir room
• Three  - somewhere with a number three – maybe a clock or room number or  near the 3 pastors' offices
• Prepare Food - Kitchen
• Milk - Refrigerator
• Baby - nursery
• Too Hard - something hard, maybe a wooden cross or brick wall

Supplies:

• 13 Envelopes, to put clues into

Treasure Hunt Reflection Questions (for when the group gathers back at the starting point, or at some stops along the way)

• Who told Abraham to leave his country? (God called him)
• What does it mean to be called?
• What does it mean to bless someone? (Dictionary.com defines "blessing" as "the invoking of God's favor upon a person.")
• What are some of the good gifts of God (blessings) that show he loves us?
• Why did Sarah laugh?
• Would you ever laugh at God?
• What was the name of Abraham and Sarah's son? (Isaac)
• Does anyone know what Isaac's name means? (One who laughs or rejoices)
• Was God with Abraham and Sarah through all of their travels? How did they know?
• Does God call us to do things, or does he only call grownups and people in the Bible like Abraham?
• What might God call us to do?

Game Option #2: Relay Journey

Preparation and game play:

• Make copies of the directions for the relay journey for you and any adult helpers. Printable Relay Journey PDF here.
• Designate stations around the room. Put the necessary supplies at each station.
• Have all the students go through and do the activities together. If you have a really big group, you can have each student do at least one part of the relay journey. If desired, divide into teams and do each part of the journey like a race.

Supplies for each station:

• signs with numbers and location names
• #1: String or yarn or painter's tape to tie legs together.
• #2: Suitcase(s) or basket(s) or trash bags; oversize clothing (drama cupboard bathrobes or old clothes), bag of coins, a couple stuffed animals or puppets (ex. cow, sheep), play dishes and play food, pillow, blankets, etc.
• #3: nothing required
• #4: a globe (foam globe ball or globe beach ball).
• #5: 3-5 rocks/team (or wooden or cardboard blocks, boxes).
• #6: basin(s) of water and towels
• #7: a tray with animal crackers, slices of bread, or some other treat, glasses and a pitcher of water or milk (have Soy Milk on hand if any allergies), hand sanitizer
• Optional: Map, have them look up locations as they are mentioned on a map: Ur, Haran, Canaan, Shechem, Bethel, Ai, Negev (Negeb), and Mamre (see resources for map suggestion).

Extra Activities

Map Activity: (for either game)

Print the two maps found under resources and have a map at the stations/treasure stops where a place is mentioned. Have the students find it on the map.
The linked maps shows these locations:

• Map 20 includes: Ur, Haran, Shechem, Bethel, Canaan.
• Map 21 includes: Ai, Mamre, Negev (shows as Negeb).

Resources

• About the meaning of blessings: Mission Workshop by Staci Woodruff from: Jenks Church, Jenks, OK
• Maps from BibleQuest.Org https://www.biblequestions.org...ar12_abraham-map.pdf
• Genealogy Chart of Abraham to Jesus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genealogy_of_Jesus
• Tips for improving game questions to add reflection: posted below

A lesson written by Wendy Sempf from: Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Rochester, MN  

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Sarah's Laughter ~ Games Workshop

View and print the attached PDF of the lesson

Also attached to this post is a set of quiz questions about Abraham and Sarah's story for use in the second game of the lesson (Bible Wheel of Fortune).

Summary:

• Scripture: Genesis 18:1-15  (Note: the PDF has the wrong scripture citation)
• Sarah laughs at God's promise that she will bear a son in her old age.

Activities: Students play two fun games to explore the story of Sarah's laughter upon hearing the "visitors" tell her husband that she will bear a son in her old age: "Laugh Leader Sarah" and Bible Wheel of Fortune (a unit review game).

Note: Only questions 43-68 on the attached "game questions" for the Bible Wheel of Fortune game are about Abraham. The others review stories which the lesson writer's church had previously taught.

Additional Suggestions:

• The first game in this lesson - "Laugh Leader Sarah - is a good opener for ANY lesson about Sarah's Laughter.
• The second game in this lesson - Bible Wheel of Fortune - is a review game that presumes knowledge of the story which may only be present after students have visited other workshops in this rotation. (The game questions attached to this lesson also has questions related to other Genesis stories, including Creation, Cain and Abel, and Noah).
• Need help with a Wheel of Fortune-type game spinner? Check out the suggestions here!

You are welcome to use this lesson in part or entirely. In addition to printing the PDF, you can copy the text from the PDF by dragging it with your mouse and copying/pasting into your own document. You can also save the PDF to your computer, then upload the PDF to https://simplypdf.com/ and convert it to a Word doc for easy editing in Word.

This Verse sort technique is also found in our Bible Skills and Games Workshop "how to" forum.

A Verse Sort Game

The following simple "verse sort" game is particularly good for covering large stories that have several episodes and scenes such as Abraham and Sarah's story, Jacob and Esau's long set of stories, the Exodus, Joseph's story, and the story of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.

In a lesson above in this topic, the lesson writer known as "St Elmo's Choir" has listed the main Abraham and Sarah episodes by chapter and verse. In the following game, after the class briefly reads those scriptures (or sees them in a video or hears them from an illustrated Bible), they can then sort key verses or phrases you have taken from each story's episode and put them into the correct "story episode basket."   Feel free to narrow down the number of story episodes you read, and thus the number of baskets you need to suit the ability of your students or the scope of the story you want to cover.
Keep reading for "how to " game details.

You can have students play this sorting game as individuals or teams. You can play it the first time so students get the idea, then play a second time and time them with your cellphone stopwatch  to create a bit of excitement. After sorting, the verse slips can be randomly retrieved and discussed for their life application potential. Examples below.

HOW TO PLAY

Ahead of time:
Write each story or episode's titles and chapters/verses on a sheet of paper and tape them to containers on the table (buckets, baskets, or boxes).

Then write 3 key verses/phrases from each story's scripture reading on slips of paper and place them in a pile on the table in front of the container.

Play:
Invite the class or teams to put the scripture slips in their correct story buckets. If you have more than one team, "time" them to see how fast they can sort the key verses into the correct buckets. (This game works for prereaders, too! Just read the slips to them - they can still remember the story and sort them into baskets - especially if you put some sort of clipart reminder of the story on the basket.)

Reflect:
Call a student forward to retrieve a verse slip from any bucket and have them explain its place in the story ("it's what Sarah did when the angel said she was going to have a baby"), then put themselves in the key character's role and ask them how THEY would have responded.

For example, by making Genesis 18:12 "Sarah Laughed" one of your key verse phrases, when the student retrieves that verse you can ask them "why" Sarah laughed, whether or not people "laugh" at God now, and what promise has God made to you that should fill you with joy?

Tip: In many lesson plans these reflection insights are found in the last step of the lesson. Pull them out of there and put them into the quiz game itself.

Game Lesson Technique:
Turning Key Questions & Answers into Moments of Reflection

"Just the facts, ma'am" may have been fine for Sergeant Joe Friday, but a Bible story is more than its parts. It's the life application we're driving for, and every question and answer has the potential to offer a moment of reflection.

Below is an example of how to expand a question from Wendy Sempf's lesson above to build it into a follow-up moment of reflection during the quiz.

Sample revision of questions from Wendy's lesson:

Here is a series of questions that build on each other. It is good to lead with the fact questions. Notice how the questions build on each other and help the children consider not just the facts but also motives for why people did what they did and then questions that help the children consider how the story applies to their lives.

WHERE was Sarah when the visitors asked Abraham, "Where is Sarah, your wife?”

WHY do you think she was in the tent? Was she afraid? Hiding?

WHAT did the visitor say to Abraham that made Sarah laugh?

Reflection Follow-up #1:
WHY did Sarah laugh at the visitor's promise?

WHAT was the visitor's (God's) response to Sarah's laughter of disbelief?

Reflection Follow-up #2:
WHAT promise has God made to you that is so amazing and/or unbelievable that you might FEEL like laughing and/or other people might say was unbelievable?

WHAT did Abraham and Sarah learn that day about God's promises that they want YOU to KNOW and BELIEVE?

Here are some Games Workshop Lesosns that are part of complete lesson sets posted here at Rotation.org:

• From Creative Carol, FUMC Ann Arbor: God’s Covenant With Abraham And Sarah Giant Game Workshop Students will play a room-sized board game to explore the story after hearing it, and also to practice some Bible skills.
  
  
• From Call and Covenant lesson set from Barb Shackelford: Temple (Games and Bible Skills) Workshop: following directions; descendant chart. Includes activities that demonstrate "trust" (beyond the typical trust walk).