8 Great Contests to Start the Year

Contests are good motivators and can be used throughout the year to get kids on track.

Contests are good for Sparks age and higher. If you do have a Sparks contest, make it simple and with easy-to-obtain (and many) prizes. With older kids, you can extend the contests for several weeks or even for the entire club year.

Here are some contest ideas.

Flying Flyer Fling

To start the year with some great fun, plan a Flying Flyer Fling. Parents and clubbers are invited to your kick-off night. Everyone is given paper and asked to make a paper airplane. (You could also provide markers for families to decorate their planes) Conclude with a flying tournament – whose plane is most detailed or whose plane can fly the furthest. Give prizes for the parent/child combination in each category. Then take the opportunity to encourage the parents to work with their child during the coming year.

Entrance Book Kick-Off Contest

All of the Awana programs start with a required entrance booklet. To get kids off to a good start, announce a contest on the very first night of club – for those who complete their entrance booklet within three weeks. The reward can be anything. We had great success in Trek by promising tacos to those who reached their goal. (I don’t remember anyone NOT making it.)

T&T girls respond well to “Make Over Your Leader Night” for those who have completed their entrance booklet. For health reasons, ask leaders to bring their own old makeup, brush, comb, hair clips, etc. for the girls to use.

T&T boys respond to things such as the director dying his hair some wild color for the night.

Get the Scoop Contest

Plan an ice-cream contest. Use paper ones and scoops in different colors to chart the clubbers’ progress. For each section the clubbers say during the month, they receive one scoop of ice cream on their cone. Clubbers can “trade” some of their scoops for toppings on party night. (You could give those without many points a single scoop with no toppings so they don’t have to sit there and watch everyone eat.)

Tic-Tac-Toe Contest

Design a large tic-tac-toe grid. Divide your clubbers into two teams. Designate one team the “X’s” and the other team the “O’s.” Clubbers get points for sections, bringing friends, bringing their Bible, etc. At the end of the night the winning team is allowed to put their X or O on the grid. Play for several weeks until one team gets “tic-tac-toe.” Winners could receive a special treat or individual small prizes (such as a fancy pencil or small toy).

Board Games

Paint a three foot by two foot board. Put 30 nails on the board and number 1-30. Punch a hold at the top of 30 index cards (one for each nail). On the back of each card, write a prize – five extra shares, a candy bar, silly putty, etc. Have one or two larger prizes on the board, too. When clubbers say a certain amount of sections, they are able to choose a card and receive the corresponding prize.

Challenge the Leader Contest

This contest is great because it motivates both the clubbers and the leaders. Leaders challenge the clubbers in saying sections.. Design a chart with spaces for both leaders and clubbers to keep track of their sections. Every time a section is said – the leader or the clubber fills in the appropriate space. At the end of a predetermined amount of weeks, whichever group has said the most sections must serve the other team pizza or some other snack. (Of course, the church would not expect the clubbers to pay for the pizza.)

Warning – leaders need to say their sections sometime when it doesn’t cut into the time that they are supposed to be working with the clubbers.

Nickel for Your Thoughts Night

(or maybe a dime – depending on the size of your club)
For every section said, the clubber receives a nickel which he then puts in a central jar. When enough nickels have been collected, the money is used to buy pizza for the group.

March Madness with a Twist

Organize a March Madness (or any time) books of the Bible tournament. You will need two sets of 66 wooden blocks. (Do you have a retired carpenter in your church or someone who enjoys working with wood? Perhaps they’d be willing to make these for you. Make sure the wood is well-sanded and has no sharp corners.) Or, if you have old sets of encyclopedias that no one uses anymore (thanks to the internet) you could label them with the individual books. If possible, also have two small bookcases for the “books” to go in.

Write a book of the Bible on each of the 66 pieces of wood – so you will have two complete sets of books.

About a month before, begin the hype. Pair up clubbers to be a tournament team – making the teams as fair as possible. (A clubber who has said the books of the Bible sections in their books and someone who hasn’t.) Get as close to 64 teams as you can. (If not 64 – 32 or 16). Post the teams.

To begin: the books are scrambled in front of each bookcase. To make sure the competition is absolutely fair, scramble the books in exactly the same order. (This takes time, but is necessary, so don’t skip the step.)

The participating teams are given 10 seconds to review the scrambled books. At the timer, clubbers must put the books in the bookcase in the correct order. You can set a time limit if necessary. (You might need to spread the first round over two or three weeks.) Each week the competition is narrowed down until you have 16, then 8 teams left, etc. Make a big deal out of the final round. Award trophies to the winners (these can be serious or silly). Not only is this fun, it helps kids learn the books.