FUN STUFF TO DO ON THE BUS AND IN K.I.D.S. CHURCH
THE "UH" GAME
Challenge to kids to talk for 30 seconds on a subject without saying "uh" or "um" or having a long pause. On slips of paper, write down the subjects, and put them in a paper bag. Have the child that voluteers to try it pick a subject out. The MUST use that subject, no matter what. Use subjects like:
cars - trucks - dolls - food - pizza - riding the bus - the Bible - your Sunday School teacher - your room - flowers - baking a cake....etc. You can make up your own
You can also play "Bible UH" where you use Bible characters on the slips instead of the objects above. Use very familiar people in the Bible so even the smaller kids can play.
If the kids says "UH", everyone on the bus says "AAHNNN" like a buzzing sound. Give small prize to kids that are successful.
COUNTING GAME
This game works well if you have a long bus route. Have the bus divided up, one team on left side of bus, one team on right side. As you are running the route, have the kids look for and count the designated items. One person in front of bus is the captain and keeps the score. The bus Captain is the judge. You can only count the items one time. In other words, if you go around the block or turn around, it can't be counted again. The team with the most counted wins. You can say you are going to count until you get to a certain place, (like the church) or for a specific time.
Here are some things we have counted:
Trucks - Red Trucks - VW Beelte bugs (punch bugs) - dogs - cats - yellow houses - anything like that.
During holidays, we count things that pertain to that holiday:
Halloween - real pumpkins (not paper) - etc
Christmas - manger scenes - angels - etc.
JESUS SEZ (SIMON SEZ)
Play the game just like Simon Sez, but use only motions that the kids can do sitting down: "Jesus says touch your nose...Jesus says pull your ear...stop touching your nose...YOUR OUT!!
The kids that you call out must stop playing until that round is over. Give a small prize to the winner and start over again. Make sure you go slow enough for the little kids!
STATUE GAME
The statue game is an old one that we have used many times. Tell the kids they are to be statues. Statues don't move. Statues don't blink. Statues don't talk. STATUES DON'T EVEN BREATH!! Tell the kids to wiggle real hard for 15 seconds and then stop. Start looking for kids that are statues. Call "out" those that you see move. If you are on the bus, do not count the movement of the bus against them. You will usually have 2 or 3 kids that will tie at the end. Give a small prize for the winners. Let them wiggle a while and start all over again!
COPY CAT
This is one that the kids love! We do this in K.I.D.S. church about every 6-8 weeks. While I am out of the room, my wife tells the kids they are going to play "Copy Cat" with me. When I come back in the room to get things started, I begin to talk in short choppy sentences. Whatever I say, the kids repeat. It goes something like this:
(remember, the kids are repeating everything I am saying below)
O.K. lets get started
What?
Wait a minute
Are you copying me?
Fuzzy, they're copying me
You need to stop!
I said stop!
Ok,
when I count to 3
you are going to stop.
one
two
(I'm throwing my fingers up as I am counting, then I throw the 3rd finger up without saying three and the kids will says "three".)
Three
(Then I turn my back away from the kids and say to myself, but they can hear, "man, I'm glad that's over"
Hey, I said it's over!!!!!
I'm the boss of this church!!!!
No I am!!!!
I am!!
That's it
I'll fix you
Copy this (then I will talk as fast as I can so the kids can't follow me and they are just blabbering)
You sound like this (then I put my finger between my lips and move them up and down like a baby would make a noise)
You're weird!!!!!!
No your're weird!!!!!!!
I'm not weird!!
You're weird!!!
We'll go like this for a couple of minutes.
My wife has to stop them because they WILL NOT STOP. She gives them the "time out" signal with a "T" motion of the hands. They have to agree to stop when she does that.
