We finish the Sunday school year with a congregational picnic following a Sunday-school-led worship service (end of June to coincide with the end of the Canadian school year).  All of the hymns, readings, prayers, etc. are ones we used in Sunday school that year.  We try and have at least one thing from every rotation.  The message portion of the service connects directly to one of the lessons used, frequently a dramatic presentation of some sort.  When possible, leadership for the service comes from our Sunday school kids.  We have a couple of weeks of Sunday school where our focus with the older children is planning the service, which also serves as a review of the different rotations we did over the year.  They tell us which stories and/or lessons were most important/memorable for them and we go from there.  When the weather cooperates, we hold the service outside.

This spring at the United Church of Los Alamos New Mexico, we had our kids dress up as their favorite Bible characters from the year's lessons, create a presentation board, and answer questions from members of the congregation who visited them. Questions were planned in advance.

Member Chris Epstein asked for "year end" suggestions in our Teachers Lounge. She wanted something "a little more active" that the usual Jeopardy-style quiz review.

Member Neil MacQueen responded with the following:

Hey Chris,

Have you ever played "Cranium"?  It's one of those many variations on family trivia games you can buy. I've borrowed Cranium's four different ways of asking/answering a question and adapted them for our content.

I created about 15 content questions based on the year's lessons in one of the following Cranium answer formats:

Creative Cat: A player helps their teammates answer by drawing it, sculpting it in clay, or drawing it with his or her eyes closed. 

Data Head: A variety of trivia questions. Straight forward "what's the answer?"  If they could answer without a hint: double points, 1 hint half the points, 2 hints 1 point.

Word Worm: Players unscramble words, spell challenging words, guess definitions, identify words with letters left out, or spell words backward.   "Capernaum" for example, or "Jerusalem."

Star Performer: players impersonate a character, or act out the answer -- like charades.

All of these are timed answers. Everyone gets a turn.You can play in teams or as a group. Points are random and sometimes silly (like someone does an especially hilarious impersonation, etc.)

Member "Journey-er" posted the following suggestions from her experience...

Giant Jeopardy with Dart Board Points

At the end of the Sunday School year, we often play Giant Jeopardy. I make up questions from each of the rotation stories we have done throughout the year.  Some are simple, some are hard. To keep it from being a "who's the smartest kid" game, we alter the way we compose teams and play.

• Each team is made up of a variety of ages from Kindergarten to 6th grade.
• I write "point values" in rows and columns on a bulletin board (1 pt, 3 pts, 5 pts) and then cover each point value with a balloon that I tape over it. When a team answers the question correctly they get 2 tries to pop a balloon with a dart (youngest children go first). If they pop the ballon then their team gets the points for the question. If they don't pop a balloon they are simply awarded 1 point.  (Throwing darts for points "evens" the playing field so to speak, not letting certain players with good memories automatically propel their team to victory.)
• On another board or wall, tape the questions like a Jeopardy game with the Stories listed at the top of the columns and questions taped below them face down.  (The questions don't have point values. That's determined by the dart throwing.)
• Each team has a Bible to use for help.
• Each time an answer is correct, let different children on the team throw the darts so each child gets a few chances.
• If the team doesn't get the answer to the question it goes to the next team to answer.
• Create a couple of "daily double" questions that must be ACTED OUT or DRAWN.

Tip: If you have an exceptionally smart kid or one with an excellent memory, invite them to be your co-host, rather than have them dominate a team or the entire game. 

RELAY and WATER GAMES

1. One year we did "water-themed" games because we had taught several rotations that featured water in their storylines.
2. Another year we re-played some of our favorite games from that year's Bible Games Workshops.
3. I've also created a GIANT RELAY GAME where each station or activity in the game was based on a story that we covered.

The children have really enjoyed these. I have also asked individual families to plan the games for us. I help with the theme and the family comes up with games and helps to set up and lead us in the games.