10 Creative Ways to Bring Bible Truths into Your Family Game Night

This may be an oldie, but it's also a goodie. I've tried it with my own kids, and it was a big hit. You can go online and find Bible trivia games already created for board game fun, or download an Bible trivia app for your phone. Not into trivia? Try acting out various Bible stories, characters, and even animals! Even if you don't have a family game night, the Bible trivia is great for long car rides, and that is where a phone app with trivia auto-generating works famously!

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Okay, this is less of a game, but what child doesn't like the spotlight? Not to mention, it gives them a chance to actually think about what they heard and learned. You can also get creative and make a bit like a game, especially if you have more than two kiddos. Draw names and see who "wins" the chance to share. And in our family, my kids enjoyed pretending. We'd set up a "pulpit" and they'd take us to church!

It's a little bit like a chore chart, but better! And more rewarding! Because what kid wouldn't want to have a Fruit of the Spirit badge. You can also shake it up and make more interactive too. Assign a fruit to a specific fruit of the spirit—an apple to "patience," a peach to "self-control," and so on. If you make a few of each, you can put them in a container, and then the fun is that anyone in the family can "award" one or two fruits per family game night. Giving them a ration helps avoid a free-for-all handout, and also adds value to giving and receiving a badge.

Want to take it even further? Have a chart on the family wall, and each week the kiddos can Velcro or tape their badges to it and display the joy of honoring the Lord with their actions.

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Not unlike the ideas of trivia or charades, the same concept can be applied if your family is of the drawing bent. Even more fun is if you're not! Sometimes those pictures can be utterly laughable and create hours of fun and enjoyment that you may not have otherwise had.

And in case you're thinking, "Yes, yes, this isn't a new idea," here's a way to take the game and up the ante. Not only do participants need to guess what the drawing is of, but also where it is found in Scripture. And frankly, if it's something that can be found in multiple places, the fun will be in making sure the "guesser" is correct. You don't necessarily need one specific reference to an answer. For example, drawing a lion may result in someone mentioning the book of Daniel for Daniel in the Lion's den, and another may reference a passage that mentions the "Lion of Judah."

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Do you have a plethora of LEGO pieces at your disposal? Or building blocks? Tap into your creative or wishful talents and have a Build-A-Parable or a Build-A-Bible-Story challenge. Choose one parable or story and separate your family into teams of two, or three, or whatever works with the ratio of people in your home. Set the timer to a reasonable time that suits your family's needs and patience, then get to work building! Remember to consider the dynamics of ages. Ensuring they're evenly distributed between abilities is always a good idea.

Want to change it up a bit? You can also have each team draw a parable or a story. They don't have to build the exact same one. Sometimes the challenge doesn't need to be a contest—instead, just a fun time to bring the family together around building blocks.

This one is a great one for older children who can read, understand the concept of asking yes/no questions, and have a general idea of how to deduct a conclusion from answers given. It's easy! Tape the name of a Bible character to each person's forehead, and then players can ask yes/no questions to guess who they are. Add bonus points for sharing a life lesson from that character.

Do you have a large family and want to shake it up a bit? Give everyone a Bible character, let them read it, and then tuck it away so they don't share it with anyone else. Then give each person a sheet of paper and set them free to mix and mingle. Go around to each person and each player is responsible to ask only yes/no questions until they can identify what Bible character that person is. They cannot quit until they have guessed each person's identity. The first one to guess them all wins!

Does your family enjoy puzzles? For younger ones who can read, a fun game is to write a Bible verse on cardstock and cut it into puzzle pieces. Split into teams to see who can assemble it the fastest. Have older kids? You can go online and find larger puzzles that are Scriptural in nature. Maybe with these kids, it isn't a game of speed puzzles, so much as time to gather around a puzzle to see what Scripture verse is revealed. (Tip: hide the box cover and put it together without visual reference!)

Who doesn't like a game of "Would You Rather"? This is another fun one that translates well into car travel too! Take some time to create cards with silly but thoughtful prompts like, "Would you rather build an ark or wander the desert for 40 years?" If you're not up to creating them, go online and search for them. They're all over the Internet, and you can build a pile of them quickly. OR! Like with trivia, there are apps for your phone that can fill this role for you and act as a time saver.

Follow up with their answers, too! If my kids said they'd rather wander for 40 years than build an ark, I'd sure want to know what inspired them to want to wander! Have fun with it, and allow your kids the freedom to be honest with their reasoning, even if it doesn't make sense. This gives them the chance to also practice critical thinking, which is a very important skill to have for later in life when they really do need to make choices.

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Have older kids? Teenagers? Mad Libs is also a fun game and if you want to teach the lesson as to why we don't try to rewrite Scripture, play a few rounds of Mad Libs! It will have you howling and also recognizing how horribly misinterpretation of a biblical passage can change its meaning!

Rewrite a well-known Bible story with blanks for nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Have your family fill them in without knowing the context—then read the silly version aloud, followed by the real story and its lesson.

Is your family musical? Or even if they're not, do they enjoy worship music or Christian songs? It's a form of musical trivia, and with today's streaming music services, it's easy to build a playlist filled with songs!

Play short clips of worship or Christian songs, and then it's your chance to see who can name the title or artist fastest. Bonus: throw in songs from different decades. You can see if your kids even know a DC Talk song or one written by Michael W. Smith. They, in turn, can challenge you with the latest hits!

Just think! Family game night can be a fun and faith-filled experience. Why not try it and see how the kids respond? And don't be afraid to leave it there. You don't need to take the game results and turn it into a lesson. Allow the family to just play, but play with their eyes and hearts centered on the Lord.

In the end, it's a win-win for everyone!