Paper Ball Question Toss1. Crumple a sheet of scrap paper into a ball and sit in a circle.2. Ask a question about the lesson, then toss the ball underarm to a child.3. The catcher answers, or says "help" and chooses a friend to answer with them.4. The ball comes back to you for the next question. Go on until everyone has caught it once.Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 6 min. Props: one sheet of scrap paper.
The Still Small Voice1. Everyone stands in a space. On "wind", wave your arms. On "earthquake", shake from head to toe. On "fire", wiggle your fingers upward. All three are noisy.2. Drop your hand, and the room goes silent.3. In the smallest voice you have, give one instruction: touch your ear, sit down, point to the door. Only children who are quiet enough to hear it can do it.4. Read 1 Kings 19:11-12, which ends with “a still small voice”.Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: a Bible.
Walls of Water1. Read Exodus 14:22: the people went through the sea on dry ground, and the waters were “a wall to them on their right hand and on their left”.2. The class makes two lines facing each other, an arm's length apart. Those are the walls.3. The pair at one end walks down the middle and joins the far end, then the next pair, so the path creeps across the yard.4. Choose a tree as the far shore and count how many walks it takes the whole class to arrive.Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a Bible.
These no prep Sunday school games need only what a classroom has: a Bible, a board, scrap paper and the children. The review and memory verse games fit any lesson or verse, and every game gives the ages it suits.
Read the full guide
Kids Sunday school games for each part of the hour
After the story, a review game shows what the class took in. When the class has sat too long, the moving games fit a room with the chairs pushed back, and nearly all come with a passage to read aloud. A memory verse game such as Six Voices runs about five minutes and can stop the moment parents arrive.
A class of mixed ages
Peace, Be Still: Storm and Freeze suits ages 3 to 11, so the whole room plays at once. For a game that uses the board, pair each reader with a child who is not reading yet.
Quotations follow the World English Bible. Your class Bible may word a verse differently, so read from that.
Outside, set the boundary first and keep every hiding place where you can see it.
Questions and answers
What are easy games to play in Sunday school class?
Ones that reuse the lesson you just taught. Paper Ball Question Toss and Back to the Board review any story, and First Letters Only works with any memory verse. None needs more than a board, a chair or a sheet of paper.
Which games to play in Sunday school with small kids need no reading?
Every game in the preschool set. Rock or Sand, Lamp on a Stand and Follow the Cloud are call-and-move games from age three, and each takes about five minutes.
Do these free Sunday school games need printables?
No. Nothing is printed, cut out or bought. Each game lists its props: at most a Bible, a board and a marker, scrap paper and pencils, chairs, a clock, or stones from the yard.
Back to the Board1. One child sits on a chair facing the class, back to the board. 2. Write a word from today's lesson behind them: a person, a place or a thing. 3. The class gives clues without saying the word, and the child in the chair guesses. 4. After three words, that child chooses who sits next. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: a board, a marker and a chair.
Board Tic-Tac-Toe, a Question for Every Square1. Tic-tac-toe in which every square has to be earned. Draw the grid on the board and split the class into Xs and Os. 2. Ask the Xs a question about today's lesson. A right answer lets them choose a square. 3. A wrong answer passes the same question to the Os. 4. Three in a row wins. Play again, and the team that lost goes first. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: a board and a marker.
Class Against the Teacher, First to Ten1. Draw two columns on the board: Class and Teacher. 2. Ask a question about the lesson and choose a child with a raised hand. A right answer is a point for the class. 3. A wrong answer is a point for the teacher, and so is an answer called out of turn. 4. First to ten wins. On any three questions the class may huddle for ten seconds first. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a board and a marker.
Show all 40 games (37 more)
Review games for today's lesson, continued
The Class Writes the Quiz1. Hand out scrap paper. Each child writes one question about today's story and its answer. A child who is not writing yet whispers theirs to a helper. 2. Collect the slips and split the room into two teams. 3. Read the questions out, one for each team in turn. The child who wrote a question stays quiet for it. 4. Score a point for each right answer. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 12 min. Props: scrap paper and pencils.
Paper Ball Question Toss1. Crumple a sheet of scrap paper into a ball and sit in a circle. 2. Ask a question about the lesson, then toss the ball underarm to a child. 3. The catcher answers, or says "help" and chooses a friend to answer with them. 4. The ball comes back to you for the next question. Go on until everyone has caught it once. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 6 min. Props: one sheet of scrap paper.
Tell It Around the Circle, a Sentence Each1. Sit in a circle. The first child gives the first sentence of today's story. 2. Each child in turn adds the next thing that happened, in one sentence. 3. Anyone who thinks a part was skipped raises a hand and puts it in. 4. When the story reaches its end, tell it once more, starting with a different child and going the other way. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 3 to 16. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
Two Walls: It Happened, It Did Not1. Name one wall It Happened and the facing wall It Did Not. Everyone stands in the middle. 2. Say one sentence about today's story, true or made up. 3. Count to three, and everyone walks to a wall. Nobody waits to see where a friend goes. 4. Ask one child at the right wall what really happened. Ten sentences make a game. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
Which Moment Is This? Frozen Scenes1. Frozen pictures, with scenes from the lesson just taught. Groups of three or four choose one moment of today's story in secret. 2. Each group has two minutes to plan a still picture of it, with everyone in the picture. 3. Groups show their pictures in turn and hold still for a count of ten. 4. The class names the moment, then says what happened just before it and just after. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 6 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: none.
Memory verse games 8
A Picture for Every Phrase1. Break the verse into four or five short phrases. 2. For each phrase the class agrees on a quick picture, and a child draws it on the board: a lamp, two feet, a path. 3. Say the verse while you point along the pictures. 4. Rub out one picture at a time and keep saying the whole verse. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 3 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: a board and a marker.
Clap the Missing Word1. Say the verse together once. 2. Choose one word. Say the verse again and clap once in place of that word. 3. Each round a different child chooses one more word to turn into a clap. 4. Finish with the whole verse in claps, then say it once in words from memory. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
The Conductor's Hand1. Write the verse on the board. One child stands in front as the conductor. 2. The class says the verse over and over. A hand held high means loud, a hand held low means a whisper, and a closed fist means stop. 3. When the fist opens, the class carries on from the very next word. 4. Change conductors after three times through. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: a board and a marker.
First Letters Only1. Write this week's verse on the board and read it together twice. 2. Rub it out and write only the first letter of each word. For Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path”, the board reads Y w i a l t m f, a a l f m p. 3. The class says the verse from the letters. 4. Rub out three letters at a time until the board is bare. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: a board and a marker.
One Step a Word1. Everyone stands along one wall. 2. Say the verse together, taking one step for each word. 3. The aim is to arrive just short of the far wall on the last word, so a long verse needs tiny steps and a short one needs giant ones. 4. Turn around and say it back, a step a word, to finish exactly where you started. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 3 to 20. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
Row Against the Clock1. Seat the class in rows, or along the sides of the table. 2. Time the first row: each child in turn says the whole verse and its reference, and the next starts the moment the last one ends. 3. Write the time on the board. A word left out adds five seconds. 4. Each row tries to beat its own time, not another row's. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 8 min. Props: a board, a marker and a clock with a second hand.
Six Voices1. Write six voices on the board: mouse, giant, robot, slow motion, whisper, news reader. 2. A child points to one, and the class says the verse in that voice. Read the list aloud for children who are not reading yet. 3. The pointer chooses the next pointer. 4. End with each child saying the verse once in an ordinary voice to a partner. Ages: 4 to 11. Players: 2 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: a board and a marker.
Two Sides, Every Other Word1. Split the room down the middle. 2. The left side says the first word of the verse, the right side the second, and so on to the end. Everyone says the reference. 3. Swap, so that each side learns the other words. 4. Then play it in pairs: partners face each other and trade the words as fast as they can without a slip. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 4 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: none.
Moving games for a small room 8
Armor Touch: Belt, Shield, Helmet1. Read Ephesians 6:14-17 and agree on a move for each piece: hands on the waist for the belt of truth, hands on the chest for the breastplate, a stamp for the feet, an arm across the body for the shield of faith, hands on the head for the helmet and an arm held out for the sword of the Spirit. 2. Call the six pieces in order, slowly, and the class makes each move. 3. Call them out of order and faster. 4. Let a child do the calling. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 6 min. Props: a Bible.
Hold Up the Arms1. Everyone stands and holds both arms straight up. Time how long the class keeps them there. Arms come down as soon as they ache. 2. Make groups of three. The child in the middle sits on a chair with arms up, and a friend on each side holds one arm up at the elbow. 3. Time it again, for one minute at most, then change places. 4. Read Exodus 17:12: Moses' hands were heavy, so he sat on a stone, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 3 to 24. Time: 6 min. Props: a Bible, chairs and a clock with a second hand.
Old Sit, New Stand1. Open your class Bible at its contents page. That page is the answer key. 2. Call out the name of a book. If it is in the Old Testament, sit. If it is in the New Testament, stand. 3. Nobody is out. A child who went the wrong way comes up and calls the next book from the page. 4. Finish with five quick calls in a row. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: a Bible.
Peace, Be Still: Storm and Freeze1. The class is a storm at sea: sway, wave your arms and make the wind with your voices. The leader's arm shows the strength of the storm, and the noise rises with it. 2. When the leader says “Peace! Be still!” everyone freezes without a sound. 3. Hold the calm for a slow count of five. Whoever is stillest leads the next storm. 4. Read Mark 4:39: the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Ages: 3 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: a Bible.
Ship, Storm, Fish, Nineveh1. Name one wall the ship and the facing wall Nineveh. The middle of the room is the sea. 2. Call "ship" or "Nineveh", and everyone walks fast to that wall. On "storm", everyone sways on the spot. On "fish", everyone crouches in the sea and counts to three aloud. 3. Mix the calls and speed up. The last child to move helps you call the next three. 4. Afterward, read where each call comes from: the ship and the storm in Jonah 1:3-4, the fish in Jonah 1:17 and Nineveh in Jonah 3:3. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 3 to 24. Time: 6 min. Props: a Bible.
The Still Small Voice1. Everyone stands in a space. On "wind", wave your arms. On "earthquake", shake from head to toe. On "fire", wiggle your fingers upward. All three are noisy. 2. Drop your hand, and the room goes silent. 3. In the smallest voice you have, give one instruction: touch your ear, sit down, point to the door. Only children who are quiet enough to hear it can do it. 4. Read 1 Kings 19:11-12, which ends with “a still small voice”. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: a Bible.
Where You Go, I Will Go1. Read Ruth 1:16, where Ruth tells Naomi, “where you go, I will go”. 2. In pairs, one child is the leader and walks slowly around the room: a turn, a stop, a step sideways, a stretch. 3. The partner follows one step behind and copies every move like a shadow. Nobody runs and nobody touches. 4. On one clap, the pair swaps over. On two claps, everyone finds a new partner. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 4 to 24. Time: 5 min. Props: a Bible.
Zacchaeus, Come Down1. Everyone stands. On "crowd", stand on tiptoe and stretch to see over the people in front. On "tree", climb an invisible tree, hand over hand. 2. On “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down”, sit on the floor as fast as you can without a bump. 3. Mix the three calls. Now and then say only "Zacchaeus" and stop. Anyone who sits early climbs twice. 4. Read Luke 19:3-6: he was short, he climbed a sycamore tree, and he hurried down. Ages: 4 to 9. Players: 3 to 30. Time: 5 min. Props: a Bible.
Sunday school games for preschool 8
And It Was Good: Move Like What Was Made1. Open Genesis 1 and name something it says was made: the lights in the sky, fruit trees, sea creatures, birds, livestock, creeping things. 2. The children move like it: twinkle fingers for the stars, stand tall as trees, swim, flap, walk on all fours, crawl. 3. After each one, everyone stops and says together, "It was good." 4. Let a child choose the next one from your list. Ages: 3 to 5. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 5 min. Props: a Bible.
Follow the Cloud1. Hold a sheet of white paper high. That is the cloud. 2. Walk slowly around the room or the yard with the cloud up, and the children follow in a line. 3. Lower the cloud, and everyone sits down to camp where they are. Lift it, and everyone travels again. 4. Make some camps long and some very short. Then read Numbers 9:17: when the cloud was taken up the people traveled, and where it stayed they camped. Ages: 3 to 6. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 5 min. Props: a sheet of white paper and a Bible.
Good Morning Ball1. Sit in a circle with legs out wide, and crumple a sheet of paper into a ball. 2. Roll the ball to a child and say "Good morning" and the child's name. 3. That child rolls it to someone else and says the same with their name. Help with the names for the first few weeks. 4. When everyone has had the ball, send it around once more and whisper the names. Ages: 3 to 5. Players: 3 to 12. Time: 4 min. Props: one sheet of scrap paper.
Grow, Little Seed1. Everyone curls up on the floor, as small as a seed. 2. Count slowly to ten. The seeds grow a little on every number: kneeling, standing, arms out as branches, fingers spread as leaves. 3. On ten, half the class flies around as birds, and each bird comes to rest beside a tree. 4. Swap trees and birds. Then read Matthew 13:31-32, where a grain of mustard seed becomes a tree and the birds lodge in its branches. Ages: 3 to 5. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 5 min. Props: a Bible.
Lamp on a Stand1. Everyone crouches with both hands over their head. That is a lamp under a basket. 2. Say "under the basket" a few times in a low voice, and nobody moves. 3. Say "on a stand", and everyone jumps up with arms high and fingers spread, shining. 4. Let children take turns to call. Then read Matthew 5:15, where a lamp is put on a stand and “shines to all who are in the house”. Ages: 3 to 5. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 4 min. Props: a Bible.
Rock or Sand1. Read Matthew 7:24-27, or tell it in your own words: one house was built on the rock and one on the sand. 2. Everyone stands like a house, with arms making a roof overhead. Pat your knees for the rain and blow for the wind. 3. Call "rock", and the houses stand firm. Call "sand", and the houses wobble and sink slowly to the floor. 4. Play six calls and end on rock. Ages: 3 to 5. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 4 min. Props: a Bible.
Samuel, Here I Am1. Tell the start of 1 Samuel 3: Samuel was lying down when he heard his name called. 2. The children lie down on the floor with their eyes shut. 3. Softly call one child by name. That child gets up, tiptoes to you and says, “Here I am”. Send them back to lie down again, as Eli did. 4. Call until every child has come once, then call the whole class and let everyone answer together. Ages: 3 to 6. Players: 2 to 16. Time: 6 min. Props: a Bible.
Show Me the Story1. Tell today's story again with one big action for each part: rowing, sleeping, knocking, carrying. The children copy each action as you tell it. 2. Tell it a second time and stop before each action, so that the children show you what comes next. 3. The third time, do only the actions, in order and without a word, and let the children tell the story. Ages: 3 to 6. Players: 2 to 20. Time: 6 min. Props: none.
Sunday school games to play outside 8
Birds and Lilies: Look, Do Not Pick1. Read Matthew 6:26 and 6:28: “See the birds of the sky” and “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.” 2. In pairs, walk the yard for five minutes inside the boundary you set. Count every bird you see or hear and every different flower you find. 3. Nothing is picked and nothing is chased. 4. Back in the circle, each pair leads the class to one find. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 2 to 24. Time: 10 min. Props: a Bible.
Count Them If You Can1. Read Genesis 15:5: “Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” 2. Give each pair one minute to count something in the yard that looks countless: the leaves on one branch, the bricks in a wall, the blades of grass inside a hand span. 3. Pairs report their number and how far they got. 4. Ask which was hardest to count, and read the verse again. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 2 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a Bible.
The Emmaus Walk1. Read Luke 24:13-14: two people walked to a village named Emmaus and talked on the way about all that had happened. 2. Set a short loop of the yard. Pairs walk it side by side. 3. On the way out, one partner tells today's story from the start. On the way back, the other tells it again and adds anything that was left out. 4. Back with you, each pair says one thing the second telling added. Ages: 7 to 11. Players: 2 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a Bible.
Eyes on the Leader1. Read Matthew 14:29-30: Peter walked on the water toward Jesus, and when he saw that the wind was strong he began to sink. 2. Find a line on the ground: a painted line, the edge of a path, a crack between slabs. The leader stands at the far end. 3. One child at a time walks the line heel to toe and calls out the number of fingers the leader holds up, which keeps changing. 4. A child who looks down at their feet goes back two steps. Everyone reaches the leader in the end. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 2 to 16. Time: 8 min. Props: a Bible.
One Sheep Hides, the Flock Bleats1. Read Luke 15:4, the shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep to look for the one that was lost. 2. One child is the shepherd and shuts their eyes beside you. Another is the lost sheep and hides inside the boundary, where you can still see them. 3. The rest are the flock and stay in one place. They bleat softly while the shepherd is far from the sheep and loudly when the shepherd is close. 4. When the sheep is found, everyone cheers, as the neighbors are asked to in Luke 15:6. Choose a new shepherd and a new sheep. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 5 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a Bible.
Shout the Next Word Relay1. Say this week's verse together twice. Teams line up behind a start line, facing a fence or a wall. 2. The first runner runs to the fence, touches it, shouts the first word of the verse and runs back. 3. The next runner shouts the second word, and so on. A team may whisper help to its runner before they set off. 4. The first team to finish the verse and its reference sits down. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 6 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: none.
Twelve Stones to Remember1. Read Joshua 4:20-22, where twelve stones are set up so that children will ask, “What do these stones mean?” 2. In teams, gather twelve stones from the yard, each bigger than an egg. Stones are carried one at a time and never thrown. 3. Build them into one pile. 4. For each stone, a child touches it and names one thing from this term's lessons worth remembering. Put the stones back before you go in. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 3 to 24. Time: 12 min. Props: a Bible.
Walls of Water1. Read Exodus 14:22: the people went through the sea on dry ground, and the waters were “a wall to them on their right hand and on their left”. 2. The class makes two lines facing each other, an arm's length apart. Those are the walls. 3. The pair at one end walks down the middle and joins the far end, then the next pair, so the path creeps across the yard. 4. Choose a tree as the far shore and count how many walks it takes the whole class to arrive. Ages: 5 to 11. Players: 8 to 30. Time: 8 min. Props: a Bible.
How this list was compiled: Our suggestions, written for this site for a weekly Sunday school class of children aged 3 to 11. The wording is ours, and the ages, player counts and times are our estimates. No game needs anything bought, printed or cut out, nothing is eaten, and no child is asked about their own beliefs. Every Bible reference and quotation was checked on 2026-10-08 against the World English Bible, a public domain translation that prints the divine name as Yahweh, at https://ebible.org/eng-web/ (Genesis 1 and 15, Exodus 14 and 17, Numbers 9, Joshua 4, Ruth 1, 1 Samuel 3, 1 Kings 19, Psalm 119, Jonah 1 and 3, Matthew 5, 6, 7, 13 and 14, Mark 4, Luke 15, 19 and 24, and Ephesians 6). This page is unofficial and belongs to no church: read each passage from your own class Bible. Licence: own work