Fun Activities To Keep Kids Engaged in the Bible During the Summer

Even though the Awana Clubs ministry year is over for your kids, their education about Christ shouldn’t end. You can support their growth with these fun activities  — some of them suggested by Awana leaders via the Awana Ministry Director’s Facebook page – that will keep kids in the Word, help them retain what you taught them and encourage them to experience God in new ways. You may even want to use these activities as a way to stay connected with your fellow leaders and volunteers!

Josh Winstead says his church “offers a weekly summer program at the same time slot … that focuses on memorization and missionary stories.”

DeAnn Ross Williams suggests a scavenger hunt for items associated with Bible stories. Consider having kids send you a photo of the items they found.

Organize a Scripture walk. Set up a path at church or another convenient location, with stations along the way that feature various Bible verses and directions for meditating on those verses.

Search the Verse. Place around your church a designated number of signs with verse references on them, one verse per sign. (Tell kids where to find the signs, give them hints to find the signs or let them discover the sighs – it’s up to you.) Then ask your kids to find the signs and email you with the verses that go with the references. Reward points or a small prize for getting all of them correct. Change up the signs throughout the summer for more fun.

Who Am I? Send an email to your church kids with a description of a Bible character. Have them email you with the character they think it is. (Award points or a small prize.) To make it more challenging, send clues to the character one at a time and award points according to how quickly a person guessed the right character.

Who Said This? Follow the same idea as Who Am I, but use verses to describe a Bible character.

Amy Lynn says, “In June we will start our summer drop-off program using brite [Awana discipleship program].”

“We do a lot with our middle and high school students. We have Bible studies all summer long. We have hangouts. We do family checks with the younger clubs, but have less events for them as their families are usually doing lots of stuff already.” Jennifer Van Vleck

Theme of the week: Choose a theme such as courage, pray or “friend” and ask kids to email you as many verses as they can find on the particular theme.

Host a movie night. Choose a film about a story from the Bible or a film in which a biblical theme or Scripture is spoken. Discuss the movie afterward and ask the kids what verses or biblical themes were addressed.

Picture Your Verse. Have kids choose a Bible verse (and write it out) and take a picture with their camera of an item or draw a picture that exemplifies that verse. As an alternative, suggest a theme on which their verse must be based.

Creatively Scriptural. Have kids write poems, songs or skits that relate to Scripture that can be performed for a parent event in the fall.

This idea from Tammy Bledsoe: “We go to a local neighborhood, where most of our ‘church van’ kids live and host Backyard VBS every Wednesday until school starts.”

Teri McVey says they memorize a chapter over the summer. “Sometimes everyone is working through the same chapter; sometimes there is a choice of options.”

Live it Out. Give kids challenges each week related to Scripture and Christian living.  Or give them the entire summer to do them and share with you the results.

Send some love. Write a neighbor or friend  who could use some encouragement and share a Bible verse with them.

Heidi Maxted: “I provide Bible reading plans and suggest activities families can do over the summer.”

Read and Write: Ask kids choose a book to read – a book in the Bible or a book that includes Bible stories or exemplifies Scripture – and have them write in a few paragaphs what the book is about and what verse(s) it refers to.

Prayer journal. Ask kids to journal their prayers throughout the summer and have them use Scripture as the basis of their prayer. (Have them note the Scripture reference, if you want.)

Have them do review lessons in their handbook if they haven’t yet done them.

Scripture Recall. Create flash cards with key Bible verses they can/want to memorize

Acting Up. Host a talent show in which kids show off their Bible-related talent: sing Christian songs, act out a Bible character or story, explain how to make a recipe that refers to something in the Bible (animal cookies for Noah’s Ark, for example), etc.

Other ways. mission trips, Bible camps, serving opportunities, practice sharing the Gospel

With some brainstorming, a little bit of preparation and a vision for offering Bible activities that are fun, there are  many ways to keep kids engaged in Scripture throughout the summer. How do you keep the kids in your church engaged in Scripture between the Awana Clubs ministry year? Tell us in the comments.