Fish and Net Game

Use this game to reinforce your Bible lesson about Jesus miraculously providing the disciples with full nets of fish after they had fished all night without catching anything. After telling the Bible story, have the children sit in a large circle for this game. This is a variation of "Duck, Duck, Goose."


Choose one child to be the fisherman.  He begins walking around the outside of the circle, patting each child on the shoulder and saying "Empty net, empty net, empty net, fish!" The child who has been called a fish must chase the fisherman around the outside of the circle. If the fisherman is caught before he can reach the seat left empty by the "fish," the "fish" becomes the next fisherman. If the fisherman is not caught, then the fish must return to his seat in the circle. The fisherman chooses a new child to be the fisherman and sits in his now empty seat.


After the game, hand out goldfish crackers to the children. As they eat, explain that just as the fishermen obeyed Jesus and cast their nets into the water once more, God wants us to do what He tells us to do. God does not want us to read the Bible and then just ignore the things it says. Let the children name some specific things God tells us in the Bible that we should do. Remind them that all of our behaviors have consequences or results. Close in prayer, asking God to help each child make good choices.

Bible Game: Trust God's Word

Because people are not always trustworthy, it can be hard for children to understand that God always keeps His promises. Reinforce the absolute truth of God's Word to your students.

Hold an open Bible. Explain that this special book is God's Word and it is true. Say, "God always keeps His promises. People may try to keep their promises, but they are not always able to keep them. Often people break their promises. God is different. He always keeps His promises. What God says is always true. God's Words are found in the Bible, and they are true. Let's play a game to see how the words people say are not always trustworthy. We cannot always believe the words people say."

Think of some hard-to-say sentences such as:

1. Chester, the calico cat, chased chipmunks.

2. Susie sells seashells at the seashore.

3. There was a crooked man who went a crooked mile.

4. If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve been getting.

5. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

6. Big baby beluga whales blow water from their blow-holes.

Have the children sit in a circle. Explain that you’re going to whisper a sentence to the first child. He will whisper it to the next child and on around the circle to the end. The last person will say aloud what was heard. The leader will read the original sentence. Usually the sentence will be quite changed along the way.

Move to a new child in the circle and repeat the game with a new sentence and a new end person. Do a new sentence as often as time allows.

After the game say, "This game shows that we can’t always trust what we hear. The only words we can always trust are God’s Word, the Bible. Have a child read a Bible verse aloud from the Bible. Explain that God's words are always true."

(This game is taken from Bible Foundations Downloadable Curriculum for Early Elementary. To download an entire Bible Foundations lesson for preschool, early elementary, or late elementary ages, visit our Bible Foundations Samples Page.)