Armor of God - Combined AP/YW Activity

VIDEO PRESENTATION: The Whole Armor of God. 

SCRIPTURES: Ephesians 6:13-17.

OBJECT LESSON

OUTSIDE GAMES (We had the youth divide into two equal teams with AP & YW on each team. We kept score, but you don't have to! Winners got their treat first as the losers cleaned up.)

 

1. Loins girt with truth:  Teams stand in a line single file line and send the person first in line to run 20 feet or so to a chair, put on an apron (to gird their loins), tie it, run around the chair, untie it, put it back on the chair and run back and tag the next person in line.  The first team to have everyone on their team complete the task wins.
2. Breastplate of righteousness:  Same as the first game except use a large men's button up shirt instead of an apron.  They have to have at least two buttons buttoned, run around the chair, unbutton it and place it on the chair before they can race back and tag the next person in line.  The first team to have everyone on their team complete the task wins.
3. Feet shod:  Each team sits down in a circle and takes off one shoe and puts it in the middle of the circle.  Then blindfolded them and mix up the shoes.  They have to find their correct shoe and put it back on while blindfolded.  The first team to complete this wins.
4. Helmet of salvation:  Each team lines up single-file and a hat is given to the first person in line.  They have to put the hat on their head and then without turning around, take off the hat and pass it back to the person behind them.  Then that person has to put the hat on, take if off and pass it back and so on.  When it gets to the end of the line, the person puts the hat on, takes it off and then passes it forward until it gets all the way back to the beginning of the line.  The first team to complete this wins.
5. Sword of the Spirit:  Purchase H20 Blasters 26 inch water blaster tubes from Dollar Tree (they usually sell them in the spring and summer).  You can just use squirt guns if you can't find these.  Put a large bucket or ice chest full of water between two team lines.  Make a poster for each team that says "Quench the Fiery Darts." Cut out several circles about 4" in diameter and tape yellow tissue paper to the back of the poster so that the tissue paper completely covers the holes.  On the front of the poster use yellow, orange and red markers (if you don't use permanent markers, the ink runs and it adds to the effect!) to draw flames coming from each hole so that they looked like yellow fire balls or something.  Tape the posters to a wall and let the teams "quench all the darts" by squirting the tissue paper until it disintegrates and there's a hole blown through the tissue.  The first person in line gets to fill their blaster and spray the poster until they run out of water. Then they pass it to the next person in line.  They continue to pass it through the line, starting over if needed until all their fiery darts have been quenched.  The first team to get all their fiery darts quenched wins.
6. Shield of faith:  At this point the losing team is given large oval styrofoam plates (Hefty brand, bought at Wal-Mart).  These are their shields.  They had to stand back to back in a tight circle facing outward.  The winning team is given one water balloon each and formed a circle facing the other team.  Upon your word, they get to throw their water balloons and the other team can try to protect themselves with their shields.  If the shield holders got wet at all, anywhere on their bodies, they are out and you count how many are remaining that do not get wet.  Then the teams just switch, and balloon throwers become shield holders.
   
   The team that has the most remaining dry people wins.
   
   *Note: This did not work quite as well as I had planned because we only had 7 people on each team, so the teams were very close to each other in order to form a complete circle and every single one of them in the middle got completely drenched!  It would probably work better if there were many more people on each team.  They didn't seem to mind though, it was fun for them to get wet.  After it was over, I thought of a different way we could have done it.  I thought the winning team could have been given their one water balloon and then formed two lines several feet apart and then had the losing team with their shields run through in a single file line and try to not get wet as the other team threw the balloons at them.  I don't know how well that would have worked either, but it's an idea. 

Posted by Becky, 1st Counselor in the YW presidency of the Cold Water Ward, Avondale, AZ.