An Active Game That Teaches Children to Use Time Wisely

Children learn by doing — and this relay game makes them feel the difference between wise time and wasted time. They’ll want to play it again. Target age: 6–12

What You’ll Need

• Open space (indoors or outdoors)
• Simple relay stations labelled with tasks (e.g., “Pray & Go,” “Help a Friend,” “Read God’s Word”)
• A set of “Time Waster” cards (written on index cards — see examples below)
• A small prize for the winning team (stickers work great)

How to Play

1. Set up your teams and stations: Divide the children into two teams. Lay out a simple relay course with stations at each stop.

2. Run the relay: Each player runs to a station and completes a quick God-pleasing task before tagging the next player. Task ideas:

• Say a short Bible verse
• Stack blocks to “build the church”
• High-five every person on your team

3. Draw a Time Waster card: Every few turns, the leader draws a “Time Waster” card and the whole team must freeze and act it out for a set number of seconds. Examples:

• “Argue for 10 seconds”
• “Pretend to scroll your phone”
• “Say ‘I’m too tired’ and sit down”

While they freeze, say: “See how wasting time slows us all down — and it doesn’t please the Lord Jesus either!”

First team to finish wins — The team that completes all stations with the least wasted time wins. Prize them with a small reward, such as stickers labelled “Time Steward.”

Debrief Questions

Gather the group and ask:

• “How did wasting time affect your team?”
• “What can we do instead to make the Lord Jesus happy with our time?”

This game fits perfectly into a Sunday school session or Good News Club — no specialist equipment, easy to adapt for your space.

(Image:AI Generated Nano Banana)