An A.M.O.K. Quick Tip and Multimedia Idea
Getting Youth in the Word During the Week:
The Game Show Approach
by Dave Weiss
Maybe you¹re like me, and sometimes you¹re convinced that your kids never pick up the Bible in between meetings. This is a real problem, but one that can be solved creatively. Figure out a week in advance what your next teaching topic will be and tell your kids to make sure that they study that passage before the next meeting because there is going to be a competition on it the following week. Over the course of the week create a game show for them to play. I usually try to format them after real game shows. Probably the most successful format so far was a ³Jeopardy² format game called ³The B.I.G. Picture.² I created five questions in varying degrees of difficulty from six or seven categories. Using my computer and printer, I printed each of the questions on the back of a piece of paper with a dollar value on it and tacked them to a bulletin board. The students take turns picking questions or they can ring in with a number of noise makers and they win or lose ³money² with right or wrong answers just like on Jeopardy. In the end the one with the most ³money² wins. I find that their competitive nature makes them read and study hard. After a while my hope is that this will become a regular habit whether or not we are playing ³The B.I.G. Picture².
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For extra added incentive, play the game as part of an evening service. In this way you will have a real ³studio audience.² Select the three players who do the best in the game at the meetings and have them play at the service, mixing old and new questions. This will accomplish a few things: The kids study the individual story in depth. It will get the kids more involved in the topic of the service, It will give people in the ³audience² crucial background information for the message and it will be an entertaining way to teach.
You could even set this up as an html file (get one of your multimedia people involved) and project it using a lap top computer and data projector to have a real game board. This is a fairly easy process for anyone who has even a minimum knowledge of web programming. You can also go to http://members.christhost.com/amok/bigpic.html to see a working model. Then just go to view page source and copy and paste the code into individual text files. Just be sure to copy the Graphics into the same file. Then all you have to do is fill in your questions and categories where indicated and open the file in a browser and project it. If this is too complicated, you can order the game board on CD ROM for $6.00 (to cover shipping and handling) contact Dave Weiss for more information.
An A.M.O.K. Resource
Arts Ministry Outreach for the Kingdom
copyright David Weiss/A.M.O.K. 2002