JUNIOR HIGH GAME: ZIP-LINE SNOWMAN CHALLENGE
Your students are really creative – how else could they maximize their phone space to fit 5,000+ videos and photos?
Not all students will express themselves through music, art, or dance, but they are inherently creative because they were designed by a creative God.
And not only is God creative, but He always has a plan.
This fun game will challenge teams to work together, create a plan, and have a blast while they race to win.
Use this Christmas game to show your students that God was creative in how He sent Jesus to earth.
– Nick Diliberto, Junior High Ministry
JUNIOR HIGH GAME: ZIP-LINE SNOWMAN CHALLENGE
Bible: Galatians 4:4
Bottom Line: God was creative in how He sent Jesus to earth.
SUPPLIES
- 2, 15-foot lengths of jute twine
- 2 rolls of masking tape
- 4 rolls of toilet paper
- 2 sets of gloves
- 2 knit hats
- 2 scarves
- 2 orange triangles (for the snowman’s nose)
- 6 Christmas bows
- 2 empty tissue boxes
- 2 pairs of scissors
- Several pieces of jute twine, various lengths
GAME PREP
Separate game supplies into two equal stacks that will be given to each team.
Divide students into two teams of equal size and give them their supplies.
Because teams will be spread out 15 feet from end-to-end, you will need a large amount of space to play this game.
HOW TO PLAY THE GAME
Say: I believe we have a lot of creative people in this room – and that will definitely help you play this game.
You have been divided into two teams for this exciting Christmas race.
Choose two people on your team who will hold the long piece of twine each team has been given.
I need those two people from each team to spread out until the entire length of the twine is stretched tight – you will be standing about 15-feet apart.
Now, split the remaining number of people on your team in half and send each group to one end of your team’s twine – you will have half of your team on each end.
Give all of your team’s supplies to one end of your team.
When I say “GO,” the end of your team that has all of your supplies will begin to construct a device that will be used to carry all of your team’s supplies down the twine, like a zip line, and to the other end of your team.
Use your team’s tissue box as the main part of your device that will carry the supplies – you can also utilize the extra pieces of twine, scissors, and tape you have been given.
Your team will have 3 minutes to construct your device.
Set the timer for three minutes and then call “time’s up.”
Hopefully, you had enough time to create something that you can use for the remainder of the game.
This time when I say “GO,” you will use your creation to send items, one-at-a-time across your zip-line, to your other teammates.
Your teammates will use those supplies to decorate one person like a snowman.
The supplies they will use are: toilet paper, a scarf, gloves, and hat, Christmas bows, and the orange triangle (for a nose).
If one of your supplies falls off of your device as it’s being sent over, bring it back to the beginning of your team and send it again.
The first team to send all of their supplies over and use all of the supplies to construct a snowman – wins!
TEACH
Say: Your snowmen looked pretty amazing!
And the creative ways you put together your zip-line devices was genius.
Whether or not you realize it, each of you are really creative.
We definitely show our creativity in different ways, but all of us were designed and put together by God – the inventor of creativity.
Some of you excel in art or music, and others might enjoy coming up with ideas and inventions.
This time of year, our creativity is on display for the world to see.
We decorate trees, put Christmas lights on our houses, and try to come up with the perfect gift to give our loved ones – and sometimes that takes A LOT of creativity.
Retail stores capitalize on our need to buy something new that no one has ever seen before.
In fact, for the 2018 Christmas season, the retail chain, Target will introduce 2,500 new toys.
Now, I know you might be getting a little too old for “toys,” but some of you have younger siblings that have a Christmas list a mile long and they are looking forward to all of the new stuff.
It takes months for stores to plan for the Christmas season.
They have to rearrange space to make everything fit, hire extra employees, design and manufacture all of the new products, etc.
It takes a lot of careful planning and preparation.
So, I want to ask you a question: Have you ever stopped to think about everything that happened leading up to the birth of Jesus?
God’s creative plan to bring Jesus into the world was revealed through prophets for hundreds of years before He arrived as a baby.
And it was very specific: the place where Jesus was born, His name, even the time that He was to be born – no detail was left out of God’s plan.
Read Galatians 4:4.
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.
Mary and Joseph were engaged, not married.
Jesus was born in an animal stable.
Angels appeared to lowly shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus.
This creative plan of God was probably like nothing we would have considered the “right time.”
But God doesn’t see things the way we do.
Maybe in your own life, people don’t understand you or why you do the things you do – that’s okay.
You are unique and God’s plan for your life is not like any other person on the planet.
This Christmas as you think about Jesus’ birth, remember how creative God was in how He sent Jesus to earth – and realize your life was planned and designed by the same loving God.
Like this lesson? Check out this…
JUNIOR HIGH LESSON: CHRISTMAS EXPECTATIONS