The Big Book of Bible Skills from Gospel Light

has lots of games having to do with the books of the Bible. ISBN 0-8307-2346-3.

More "game" ideas...

Posted by Diana Oppedal Russell

BOOKS OF BIBLE BRAIN TIME (for Grades 2-6)
From Diana Oppedal Russell, St. Luke United Methodist Church, Montgomery, AL

List of Books of Bible:
On projector or on large posterboard or even on chalk/dry erase board (list of 5 or 6 books at a time)

• Point to name of each book and pronounce it (Power point can bring names in one at a time)
• Have kids pronounce the book together
• If it is a difficult one, have each one then pronounce it separately
• Repeat the list together several times
• Cover up the last book, then have them say them all (supplying the now blank last one themselves)
  (Power point can have one “fly off")
• Cover up the next to last book and have them say them all (supplying the vacant ones themselves)
• Continue until they are saying all the books without seeing them.

Books of Bible Unscramble
(Our kids love this): Make a “scrambled” list of the books you are working on. Show the first 2 and ask the kids which one is first and which one is second. Then show the next 3 and ask them which is first, which is second, etc.

Around the Table:
One says the first book, then each one in turn says the next book (if they don’t know it, they say “pass” and the next one supplies it). Or you can have them pass an item (ball or cardboard sword), and the child who receives it says the next book.

New Testament/Old Testament Game:
You can do as individuals or as teams. Hold up card showing a book of Bible (to one person or 2 at a time). Is it in the Old Testament or the New Testament? Contestant getting it right gets the card (whoever or whichever team has most cards wins). They have to go with their first answer.

Before-After Game
(our more advanced kids love this): Same basic way as NT/OT above, except each card has a line either on top or on bottom. If the line is on top, then the contestant is to say the name of the Book that comes BEFORE. If the line is on the bottom, then the contestant is to say the name of the Book that comes AFTER. Person getting it right keeps card. Person or team with most cards wins.

Books of the Bible Game
(for teams or individuals): Less advanced may need to use list, but advanced should not need a list. Books of the Bible are printed on cards (we use “Business cards” (10 cards per sheet—available from office supply stores). Simply put the books in order. Whoever (or whatever team) finishes first wins. There is a great set of cards you can print on card stock and cut at www.kidssundayschool.com

Puzzles

Teaching with Puzzles:

We had two of the same puzzle (#1 below) – had kids break into 2 teams – to see who could put their puzzle together first. Either have a poster of the books for the kids to look at or a written list, for reference. Tell the kids to work in sections – it may be faster – and add their completed sections as they go. Once completed have children read off the bible names in order. Next have children follow names along and stop at each picture then discuss what the bible story it represents and which book it belongs to.

Unfortunately both of the below puzzles are out of print, try an on-line search.

#1 Books of the Bible Puzzle, Cook (Faithkidz), 2001, ISBN 9834502761. (OUT OF PRINT)
This 66-piece puzzle illustrates every book of the Bible while its background mural reveals Bible Stories.

To teach with the #2 puzzle I suggest – after putting it together I’d have the children read out loud the names (they can learn proper pronunciation), then discuss how the books are ordered and the groupings and what that means. Law – means…, Gospels – means…., etc.

#2 Books of the Bible Floor Puzzle, Lifeway, 2005, ISBN 1415820694. (OUT OF PRINT)
Designed for older preschoolers through middle children, the Books of the Bible Floor Puzzle contains 48 pieces and measures 24 inches by 36 inches. Bibles are stacked in groupings.

Make your own Books of the Bible puzzles as Jaymie did here https://www.rotation.org/topic...4#551452917265790704.

How to Use Your Bible

Supplies:

• Bibles, concordance,
• Bible dictionary,
• a bulletin from a past Sunday showing the responsive reading/Psalm,
  (Make sure your emphasis is on the concordance, dictionary, and how to look up Bible verses when you don’t know where they are at.)

Today we are going to study how the Bible works.
What do you know about the Bible? Get a feel from the kids what they already know.

• Divided into 2 parts
  o Old Testament
  o New Testament
  
  
• Divided into different books.
  o Each book divided into chapters.
  o Each chapter into verses.
  
  
• If you are quoting only part of the verse, it is written as the verse number followed by a ‘small’ letter – like ‘a’ for the first part, ‘b’ for the second part, or ‘c’ for the third part. Example: “Now the earth was formless and empty…” Genesis 1: 2a
  
  
• How many books does the total Bible have? 66
  
  
• How many books does the Old Testament have? 39
  
  
• How many books does the New Testament have? 27

Jesus promises us that He will guide us to understand what is true. Be sure to ask God to help you every time you study God’s Word!

Let us pray: Dear Lord, Thank you for giving us the Bible so that we may read and understand what You want us to do. Help us to find time to study it and find answers to our problems. Help us to learn all we can about the Bible and about You. Amen.

Bible Dictionary• A dictionary contains definitions of words or phrases found in the Bible.

• Could be located in the back of your Bible or could be a separate book. “The Illustrated Bible Dictionary” by George W. Knight is a good reference.
  
  
• Look up…. in the dictionary
  o Petition
  o Passover
  o Lord’s Prayer
  o Foot washing

Concordance

• Is a special index – contains a list of words in alphabetical order that is used in the Bible.
  
  
• By looking up key words, you can look up verses when you only remember a word or two, but not their location.
  
  
• If you look up a word (Like baptized), the concordance will give you the reference (Like Mk 1:9 – meaning Mark 1:9), then site part of the verse using a ‘letter’ to signify the word you are looking up (Like ‘and was b by John in the Jordan’)
  
  
• Look up
  o Say your friend has been upset and afraid. You want to have some Bible verses to help calm their fears. Look up “afraid” in the concordance. Are there any verses that might fit?
  o ‘Needle’ – Mt 19:24 – ‘go through the eye of a n’
  o ‘Methuselah’ – Ge 5: 27 – ‘altogether, M lived 969 years’
  o Isn’t there a verse that talks about ‘loving your neighbor as yourself’? What would you look up? ‘Neighbor’, ‘love’
  o Lev 19:18 – ‘but love your n as yourself’

Internet

• Is a special way to look up a Bible verse.
  
  
• Make sure you have your parent’s permission and they approve of the site you are using.
  
  
• There are many choices you could use for verse look up.
  o http://www.christnotes.org
  o http://www.bible.com
  o http://www.biblegateway.com
  
• Many of the internet sites also have a ‘daily Bible verse’ or a ‘daily devotion.
  o What is your ‘home page’ that is set up to come on when you turn on your computer to the internet?
  o If you are on the internet at home, what better way to start your day or start your time on the computer, than to first go to an approved site and read a verse before you move on to a game or chatting with your friends.
  o See if you could set one of these sites up as your ‘home page.’
  o What a great way to bring more of God into your life.
  
  
• Look up
  o ‘Needle’ – It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Mark 10:25
  o ‘Methuselah’ - And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. Genesis 5:27
  o ‘Neighbor’ – lots of choices, narrow the search by adding ‘love’ - And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 22:39

The Old Testament
The Old Testament is divided into 4 main parts.

1. Pentateuch – it was called the Torah or the Law of Moses by the Hebrew people
   a. The first 5 books of the OT (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
   b. Written by Moses
   c. Tells of the creation of the world and how a family grew into a nation – Israel. Tells how God freed Israel from slavery, their wonderings for 40 years, and the laws given by God.
   
   
2. Books of History
   a. Next 12 books (Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I&II Samuel, I&II Kings, I&II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther)
   b. Contain the history of the Israelites as they moved into the Promised Land/Canaan and established a kingdom that lasted almost 500 years. When Israel obeyed God, He defeated their enemies. But lots of times, people disobeyed and got into serious trouble.
   
   
3. Books of Poetry and Wisdom
   
   a. Open your Bible to the middle. What is the book are you looking at? Usually Psalms. What do you know about Psalms?
   i. They are prayers, songs, and poetry.
   ii. It is in the ‘Poetry and Wisdom’ portion of the Bible. (Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon)
   iii. Many Psalms were used for worship services. Thousands of people gathered together from all of Israel. The leader would sing (or read) one part and the people would respond with the other part. We read from the book of Psalms every Sunday during our responsive reading. (Show them a bulletin from a past Sunday.)
   iv. King David is connected to 73 of the 150 Psalms – either as a writer or a recipient.
   
   b. What is one of the most well known Psalms? Psalms 23 –see if they can say it without looking at the words.
   
   c. What is the center verse in the Bible? “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” Psalms 118:8 – Put God in the center of your life!
   
   d. What is the book before Psalms? Job
   
   e. What is the book after Psalms? Proverbs
   
   
4. The Books of the Prophets – the last section of the Old Testament.
   
   a. God sent many messengers, called prophets. God spoke through the prophets to His people. Some prophets predicted future events, but their primary job was to call God’s people back to him.
   i. Major prophets – The first five books – Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel
   ii. Minor prophets – Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
   
   b. Which prophets predicted that the messiah was coming? Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Malachi – Malachi 3:1 , Micah 5:2 , Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9: 6-7, Isaiah 11: 1-5, Jeremiah 31: 15, Isaiah 35: 4-6

The New Testament
The New Testament is divided into 2 main parts.

1. The Books of History
   
   a. The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
   i. Gospel means ‘good news.’
   ii. On the life of Jesus and the good news he brought to man.
   
   b. Acts of the Apostles
   i. Continues the history into the time after Jesus left earth.
   
   
2. The Letters
   a. Paul’s Letters
   i. To Churches – Romans, I&II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I&II Thessalonians,
   ii. To Others – I&II Timothy, Titus, Philemon
   
   b. Other Letters
   i. Hebrews, James, I&II Peter, I, II, &III John, Jude
   ii. Revelation – a Prophecy – an Apocalypse writing, a Greek word that refers to an unveiling of the hidden things known only to God.
   
   
3. The Book of Revelation reveals the end of what we know now and the coming of God’s future kingdom through symbols, visions and numbers. It’s hard to understand, but the big promise is clear – Jesus is coming back to Earth and everyone will know He is King!

Key points to emphasize:

• Concordance
• Bible Dictionary
• Internet to look up Bible verses
• Four main parts of the Old Testament
• Two main parts of the New Testament
• Gospels – ‘good news’

Written by Rachel Haugland

Reference: The Quest Study Bible/NIV by Zondervan, The Illustrated Bible Dictionary by George Knight, published by Barbour Publishing, Inc.

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

The Bible Games

“Put the Books in Order”
You can choose any of the activities you want to help the kids learn the order of the books of the Bible – Old Testament and New Testament.

‘Bible Dominos’ (See 52 Games that Teach the Bible – Rainbow Publishers 2007)

o It’s just a game for fun, there is no ‘winner’ – we are all winners in Christ.

Books of the Bible ‘Balloon Pop’
Supplies: Balloons, tape/sticky tack hooks, markers, Bible, push pin to pop the balloons

• Fill one wall with 39 blown up balloons taped to the wall or on stick tack hooks.
• Fill another wall with 27 blown up balloons taped to the wall
• Carefully write the Books of the Old Testament on one wall and New Testament on the other with a sharpie marker – not in order.
• Have the first child pop the balloon that has the first book of the Old Testament on it. (Pop ‘Genesis’)
• The second child finds the next book and pops that balloon (Pop ‘Exodus’)
• Continue until all Old Testament balloons are popped.
• Pick up the pieces and tape/sticky tack hooks
  o Go to the New Testament wall of balloons and repeat.
• Be careful that the marker doesn’t get on clothing, hands or the floor.

Flash Cards

• Put the flash cards of the Old Testament in order. Form 2 teams, with 2 sets of flash cards.
• Use the table, floor, or sticky tack on the wall.
• Then do the same with the New Testament.

Bible Book Bounce (Adapted from 52 Games that Teach the Bible – Rainbow Publishers 2007 page 41 and 59)

Books of the Bible Flash Cards

Use the following list to make two sets of “flash cards” for the Books of the Bible. Write ‘OT’ on the back of one set of the Old Testament cards, ‘OT-2’ on the back of the second, then ‘NT or NT-2’ for the New Testament for easier sorting after class. Best if they are laminated.
Use different colors to coordinate the different sections. Such as…

• Old Testament
  o (Green) Pentateuch/Torah
  • Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
  
  o (Orange) History
  • Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther
  
  o (Blue) Poetry & Wisdom
  • Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon
  
  o (Red) Prophets
  • Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel
  • Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obediah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
  
  
• New Testament
  o History
  o (Red) Gospels
  • Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
  
  o (Orange) Acts
  
  o (Yellow) The Letters
  • Romans, I&II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I&II Thessalonians, I&II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I&II Peter, I, II, &III John, Jude
  
  o (Green) Revelations – an Apocalypse

Put a ‘color’ border around those books that have been written by the same person. (Authors taken from the “Quest Study Bible - NIV” from Zondervan) – Example: The main, inside color for John is red (Gospel) and I John is yellow (The Letters) with a blue border signifying John wrote both.

• (Orange) Moses, - wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
• David, king, is connected to 73 of the psalms – other writers Asaph, Sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses and others
• (Green) Solomon, wise king – wrote Proverbs (along with Agur & Lemuel), probably Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon,
• Isaiah, prophet – wrote Isaiah,
• (Yellow) Jeremiah, priest & prophet – wrote Jeremiah, Lamentations,
• Ezekiel, a priest, taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon – wrote Ezekiel,
• Daniel, was taken captive to Babylon - wrote Daniel
• Hosea, a prophet – wrote Hosea,
• Joel, a prophet – wrote Joel,
• Amos, a shepherd – wrote Amos,
• Obadiah, a prophet – wrote Obadiah,
• Jonah, a prophet – wrote Jonah
• Micah, a prophet – wrote Micah
• Nahum, a prophet – wrote Nahum
• Habakkuk, a prophet – wrote Habakkuk
• Zephaniah, a prophet – wrote Zephaniah
• Haggai, - wrote Haggai
• Zechariah, a prophet & priest, born in exile – wrote Zechariah
• Matthew, tax collector, one of twelve disciple – wrote Matthew,
• John Mark, son of a Jerusalem widow whose home was a meeting place for early believers, most likely recorded the events heard firsthand from the disciple Peter – wrote Mark,
• (Green) Luke, companion of Paul the apostle, probably a Gentile and medical doctor – wrote Luke, Acts,
• (Blue) John, the apostle, one of the twelve disciples – wrote John, I, II & III John, probably Revelations
• (Red) Paul, an apostle – wrote Romans, I&II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I&II Thessalonians, I&II Timothy, Titus, Philemon,
• (Orange) Peter, the apostle – wrote I&II Peter
• Jude, Half brother of Jesus – wrote Jude
• Unknown
  o Joshua (? Joshua, Eleazar & Phinehas), Judges (? Samuel), Ruth (? Samuel), I&II Samuel, I&II Kings (? Jeremiah), I&II Chronicles (? Ezra), Ezra (? Ezra), Nehemiah (? Ezra), Esther (? Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordecai), Malachi (? Malachi or another prophet)
  o Hebrews (? Paul, Barnabas, Luke or Apollos), James (? James, Jesus’ half brother)
• Philippians – written while under house arrest, Paul wrote to believers in the city of Philippi, in northeastern Greece
• Colossians – written while under house arrest, Paul wrote to believers in the town of Colosse, in southwest interior of Turkey.
• I&II Thessalonians – Paul wrote to the believers in the church at Thessalonica.
• I&II Timothy – Paul wrote to Timothy with advice on how to better lead the church at Ephesus.
• Titus – Paul wrote to Titus, a close friend, after his first release from a Roman prison.
• Philemon – While in prison, Paul wrote to Philemon, a wealthy Christian in the church at Colosse

A lesson written by Rachel Haugland

Reference: Big Book of Bible Facts and Fun – 2005 Gospel Light, 52 Games that Teach the Bible – Rainbow Publishers 2007

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

Younger Children Bible Game Activities:

• “Can You Find?” – Have kids find 4 or 5 Old Testament books, then 4 or 5 New Testament books.
• “Old or New?” - Use the set of books of Bible cards. Turn over card and call out name. Kids respond with Old or New, depending on whether the book is from the Old Testament or New Testament.
• “Musical Bible” – Play music while kids pass Bible around circle. When music stops child quickly names any book of the Bible. If correct, child stays in game. If incorrect child is out. Continue until one child left. Make the game more challenging by determining just Old Testament books, or just New Testament books.
• "Beanbag Toss" – Write the books of the Bible on a large piece of posterboard. Color code the books and make up cards to match the poster. For example, if Genesis is on a red square, make a red card with Genesis on it. Make a set of cards for each team. Teams take turns throwing a beanbag onto the posterboard, which has been laid on the ground. If the bag lands on a square with a book of the Bible that the team doesn’t already have, the child who tossed the beanbag gets to pick the matching card for the team. First team to get a complete set of cards wins. Make the game more challenging by requiring the teams to put the cards in the correct order that the books appear in the Bible in order to win.

Written by Linda Norem

Game Ideas

I have a number of games I use to teach the Books of the Bible. Feel free to use them.

Before and After
Make a card for every book in the Bible. Shuffle them thoroughly. Divide the kids into 2 or 3 teams. Hold up a card and say "Before," "After," or "Before AND After." The teams compete to name the book coming before, after, or before AND after the book shown on the card. The winning team is the one with the most cards.

Divisions of the Bible Memory
Make a set of cards for a memory (concentration) game. One card will have the Bible division (Law, History, etc.). The matching card will have a list of books in that division. (Example: the card that goes with "Law" would list Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.)

Tic-Tac-Toe
Divide the kids into 2 teams and play tic-tac-toe, using the following questions or ones you make up yourself:

1. Name the 5 books of the law.
   Answer: Gen., Ex., Lev., Num., Deut.
2. Name 2 books of OT history.
   Answer: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Sam., 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chron., Ezra, Neh. Est.
3. Name 2 books of poetry.
   Answer: Job, Ps., Prov., Eccl., Song of Songs
4. Name 2 major prophets.
   Answer: Isa., Jer., Ez., Dan.
5. Name 2 minor prophets.
   Answer: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Oba., Jonah, Micah, Nah., Hab., Zeph., Hag., Zech., Mal.
6. Name the 4 gospels.
   Answer: Matt., Mark, Luke, John
7. Name the only book of history in the New Testament.
   Answer: Acts
8. Name 2 books written by the Apostle Paul.
   Answer: Rom., 1 & 2 Cor., Gal., Eph., Phil., Col., 1 & 2 Thess., 1 & 2 Tim., Tit., Phil.
9. Name 2 books written by people other than Paul.
   Answer: Heb., James, 1 & 2 Pet., 1, 2 & 3 John, Jude
10. Name the only book of prophecy in the Bible.
    Answer: Revelation
11. How many books are there in the Old Testament?
    Answer: 39
12. How many books are there in the New Testament?
    Answer: 27
13. How many books are there in the Old Testament and New Testament combined?
    Answer: 66

Books of the Bible Bingo
Make a set of bingo cards, and a set of call cards. This game will give the kids familiarity with the Books of the Bible.

Books of the Bible Scramble
Make one or more sets of cards, one for each book of the Bible. Shuffle them and lay them face down on the table. The object is to see how fast the kids can put the cards in order. If your class is small, use one set. If your class is larger, use 2 or 3 sets.

Obstacle Course Chart

In the Obstacle Course activity, the students had a chart/table to place stamps in the 4 boxes of the table. Here are the 4 statements that went into the boxes:The Bible ………….

helps us know how to live a Godly life

tells us about God and His love for us!

helps lead us to our Savior, Jesus Christ

shows God’s plan for us—everyone who believes in Jesus will be in heaven with Him one day

Variation

Another variation for putting the Books of the Bible in Order. I made cards (one for each book of the Bible) out of 4 X 6"index cards, cut in half, and punched a hole in the center of the top of each card. I wrote one book of the Bible on each card. Then using two large foam poster boards (one white and one yellow) I wrote "Old Testament" on one and "New Testament" on the other. Then I put sticky hooks (the picture hanging hooks that are on white sticky canvas material) spaced out on the board in neat rows...one for each book of the testament (27 for New Testament and 39 for the Old Testament). When we were working on the Old Testament books in order, I would mix up the cards and deal them out to the children. We would sit in a semi-circle around the Old Testament Board, and I would time them on how quickly they could get the cards put in the board in order. I would say Genesis, then whomever had Genesis would come up and place that card on the first hook; then Exodus would place their card on the second hook, etc. I had a poster on the wall that would help them know what book was coming up next. I kept their fastest time on the chalkboard, and the next time we played the game, that was the time to beat. It got the children motivated to learn the books in order...they even got to the point where they would order the books that they had in their hand so that they didn't have to keep looking through all their cards. We still occasionally play with these even though we are no longer on the topic of the Books of the Bible.

Compiled posts from Misc.

Jaymie DerdenBoard Member a Supporting Member!

Free printable pdf

Bible Timeline Card Game

The website that created and hosted this game is defunct, but we saved the PDF here at Rotation.org and its copyright allows us to freely share this great resource.

The PDF has two versions of the game, an easy and a harder version.

Books of the Bible "Flashlight" Scavenger Hunt Game

Summary: Students select a Bible Book Card from a bowl, then hunt for it's match using a flashlight in a dark sanctuary (cards have been scattered among pew seats), then they must match that card again, to already correctly ordered bible book cards on a table in another room and the fun continues until all cards have been found and placed correctly. It is always a hit!

In our case we always do this at our annual Blacklight Night, but blacklights are not required.

Supplies:

• Print 2 sets of small bible book cards and laminate.
  I used these free printable cards at https://www.sundayschoolsources.com/books-bible-flashcards.htm  (Note: these cards combine all numbered books, so for example 1 & 2 Samuel are on a single card).
• Print 1 set of a different card set, than above, and laminate (ours were larger than the above cards and each included a few book details), a suggestion would be these free printable cards found at https://ministryspark.com/books-of-the-bible-kids/ just scroll down to 4 Books of the Bible Card Games and click on Bible Book download.

Note: In my case for the larger cards I used two older card games, the "New Testament Bible Memory Game" (blue box) and the "Old Testament Bible Memory Game" (pink box), unfortunately both are no longer available. Pictured to the right is the NT game, in case anyone happens to have these in their game supply closet.

• Small flashlights (1 per student) – Dollar Tree
• 2 Bowls or baskets
• Signs: "Books of the Bible Flashlight Scavenger Hunt", "Old Testament Books", and "New Testaments Books".
• Room with a large table (here you will  place the larger set of bible book cards in order).
  [Instead of a table we use a Large Magnetic Bulletin Board located in our hall, 70 Magnets strong enough to hold two laminated cards, plus a Magnetic Mesh Caddy to hold cast off cards.]
• A dark room (in our case we used the sanctuary at night, as the pews were a great spot to scatter a set of Bible Book Cards.)

Game Set-Up:

1. Outside sanctuary (dark room) entrance place a table and on it put:
   • a bowl with 1 set of the mixed up smaller Bible Book Cards.
   • small flashlights (1 per student).
2. In sanctuary (dark room) take a set of the smaller Bible Book Cards and scatter on the pew seats – face up.
3. In another room, on a large table, place:
   • the larger Bible Book Cards, in order, Old Testament on the left and New Testament Cards on the right.
     [Ours were placed on a large magnetic board as pictured below.]
     
     
     
   • a basket, a place to put one of their matching cards [in our case we had a couple Magnetic Mesh Caddies on the board] .
     
     
4. Sanctuary (dark room) lights off. [Our sanctuary was upstairs, so we had just the stairwell lights on.]
5. Table room, you can choose to leave lights on, or if off, they can use their flashlights here as well.

Game Directions:

Have an adult by dark room entrance. They can give directions, as needed, or take the hand of any child nervous to enter the room. Have another adult in the other room where you have laid out the Books of the Bible on a table or magnetic board. Tip: A good idea is to pair a younger student with an older student. We found some younger students were hesitant about entering the dark room, but often when they came back with their second card they were no longer nervous. (I have only done this game with ages 6-12.)

We always start our Black Light event playing this game, as students can join in as they arrive.

Start gathered at table (or wall) of cards and explain game play. Also, point out that bible book cards with a 1, 2 or 3 in front of it found on the table (wall) will only have one card to match, as they will be combined, example: the card will say--1&2 Samuel, so just to place that card over 1 Samuel. Do the same with other numbered books.

1. Students are to go table outside darkened room (sanctuary) where they are to take a flashlight and ONE Bible Book Card from the bowl (watch them some will try to take more than one card).
2. Next they enter the dark room (sanctuary) and using their flashlight find a their card match.
   Cards have both the bible book name and a picture, so younger children will find it helpful to look for a card with a matching picture.
3. Once they find the matching card, bring both cards back to the Bible Book table (or magnetic board).
4. Place one of their matching cards into the bowl/basket provided (or Magnetic Mesh Caddy).
5. Then look at the order Bible Book Cards, on the table (or magnetic wall), for the matching Bible Book name, and when they find it place their card on top of it,
6. They can now head back to the entrance of the dark room to collect another card.
7. Game continues until all cards have been found and matched to table/wall of Bible Book Cards.

Below are photos from our Blacklight Night which was held this past Monday evening, as we played the Books of the Bible "Flashlight" Scavenger Hunt Game.

1) Below, searching pews, in the dark, for the matching Bible Book Card.

2) Below, they place one of their two matching cards into a magnetic caddy, then look for their matching book card name on the wall, when they find it they place their card on top of it.

Picture above: The Old Testament Memory Set showed under the blacklight, but they must have used a different paper for the New Testament cards as they did not. The smaller card sets I printed on regular white paper and laminated showed up nicely, as seen placed over the other cards.

Additional ideas:

• Kids can be asked to read the book name out loud, on the card they pull from the bowl, leader at station can help with pronunciation. They can say the name again to leader when they arrive at card table and when they find it's match read any information provided on the larger card.
• Sit down afterwards and talk about how the bible came to be.
• Do a quiz on the books of the bible.
• Give them scriptures to look up.
• Hand out Books of the Bible Bookmarks.