Bible games for youth can be a great opportunity for teens and young adults to play together while learning more about the Bible or their biblical knowledge. Planning for appropriate Bible games for youth events can seem daunting, especially if you’re going to have a large group.
Bible escape rooms can be a really fun way to encourage a friendly competition into solving puzzles and riddles while learning more about a Bible story or biblical character. If your group is really large, you can divide the group into many smaller groups to compete in an escape room activity. This encourages all the kids to participate, play, and enjoy the friendly competition.
Creating a Bible escape room doesn’t have to be difficult or elaborate to be a hit at your next youth group or small group. Bible games for youth can be a fun way to expand a Bible lesson and make planning easy for the youth leader or youth pastor to plan. When you have a great list of Bible games for youth all prepared and ready, it will make your small group activities much easier as a youth leader!
When you have a good Bible escape room game ready for your next event, it will be easy to integrate it in multiple settings and groups. You can also use a Bible escape room game in a small group Bible study setting. With printable materials in a digital download, you can create a unique experience and fun time playing religious games like a Bible escape game.
If you are a first time player of a Bible escape room game, you are in for a treat. An escape room game may have a list of questions, puzzles, and riddles to figure out and solve with other mysteries to unravel with your team members. As your team discovers the correct answer, you will move one challenge closer to the finish line and “escaping” the room or activity.
The winning team is the first group to finish all the challenges correctly within the time limit. You can play with a timer or simply play until the teams have all finished and then declare the winning team.
Your youth and adult players will be really glad you found this list of Bible escape room games and enjoy the biblical themes represented in each of these games.
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Bible Escape Room Games – Making the Bible Fun
If you have ever been tasked with finding something fun for a group of kids to do that is Bible-related, you may have hunted for a number of different Bible activities for youth. You were likely asked at the last minute and then you may have been scrambling to find a printable game or activity to use on short notice.
Bible games for youth can be challenging to come up with at the last minute! Even when you have time, it can be a big job to figure out exciting activities that will keep the kids engaged and busy. When you add in the component of learning, you may be throwing your hands in the air. Where can you find some Bible games for youth that they will enjoy and participate it?
Well you’ve come to the right place! This post will help you understand how a Bible escape room game works, give you some great suggestions for making your own escape room activity and give you a list of four awesome Bible escape room games that you can print and use as soon as the ink is dry from the printer!
No matter the size or age of your group, you can make Bible games for youth a fun way to engage your kids and help them along their journey to know more about God and the Bible.
Whenever you hunt for youth group ideas, you probably search for things like Bible puzzles, printable Bible puzzles for adults, Bible activities for youth, youth group activities for spiritual growth, or Bible-based escape room games. But what you really need is a game or activity you can print and use right now!
A fun game that will engage your in Bible study and learning a bit more about different biblical characters. Youth ministry games can be challenging to come up with something that everyone will enjoy, but your youth pastors and youth group leaders will be asking for more of these games when your youth are engaged, challenged, and having fun diving into Bible verses in the Old Testament and New Testament.
This is where a Bible escape room games come in! You can use Bible trivia questions to create your own challenges or escape room riddles or purchase a ready-made game.
What is a Bible Escape Room?
A Bible escape room is a game of different ciphers, puzzles and riddles. It can be played individually as solo players or in groups of 2 or more depending on the size of your group. Competition is the name of the game here. Each player or team is trying to solve the puzzles or riddles before their opponents do so that they can get the next puzzle or riddle.
Often, an escape room game includes trying to beat the clock to figure out an answer to a clue or series of clues. Players usually work in small groups or teams to decipher the code or figure out the puzzle together. The first team to find the solution can move on to the next challenge.
If you’re thinking about something different and challenging for your kids, this just might be the ticket for a fun activity. If you go to an venue that does escape room games, you will probably be “locked” in a room with a timer and the goal to get out before the timer goes off.
When planning your escape room activity, you may want to skip the locks and just have your game be a friendly competition or you can make it as elaborate as you’d like by using multiple rooms in your church or school and challenging teams to get through within in a certain time.
A Bible escape room game offers a learning opportunity to learn more about a Bible story or character along with solving puzzles or riddles. It is also a super fun Bible activity for youth for spiritual growth. Using a Bible character like Ruth, using a Bible Escape Room Game can really help your players dive into the Bible stories and apply the messages to their own lives.
You could set up the room to be physically locked and only allow players to leave once they have solved the puzzles and completed the Bible escape room, or you could forget about locking the physical room and just have each group work on completing the puzzles and trying to beat the clock or each other in timing.
There really is no right or wrong answer for how to plan for an awesome Bible escape room game! If you have grand plans, make it super tricky with different rooms, locks, and props. But, you can also make it simple and still have a lot of fun in the process!
How to Plan a Successful Bible Escape Room
The most important part of any Bible activities for youth for spiritual growth or creating a successful Bible escape room game is to be prepared. Make sure you have all of your pages printed out and ready for each group. This could be as simple as putting each puzzle in an envelope and labeling them numbers 1, 2, and so on. You could also use different colored envelopes for each team.
But it doesn’t even have to be this complicated. You could just have a stack of puzzle 1, and puzzle 2, and so on. Then as each person, or team, finishes one puzzle, they come to you for the next puzzle. Once you’ve checked their answers, they receive the next puzzle.
Think about how your players will navigate spaces. Will you all stay in the same room or will you move from one room to the next as you solve the puzzles? Will you need youth leaders or volunteers to be in multiple places to hand out the different puzzles and check answers or will you all stay in the same room. How will each group turn in their answers?
Will one person from each team be the one to bring the answers forward or will the whole team come up? This can pose some logistics challenges if all the group members come up for the next puzzle and you have three groups finish at the same time.
Another key part of making a successful escape room is to know the puzzles and answers. Most printable escape room puzzles or Bible escape room games will come with answers. Be sure you take a few minutes to solve the puzzles yourself to make sure you understand the game and what each puzzle is requiring for solving it.
It is also good for each of your leaders to know how to solve the puzzle and not just the answer. Pre-determine how many hints or how much help you will give to groups who are stuck. If you have a wide age range of kids, you may want to give the younger kids more hints than the older kids. When participants get stuck, decide how much you are going to help them.
Finally, in order to plan a successful escape room or Bible escape room game, you need to make sure you have all the tools and materials that the players will need. If you are using a printable escape room, you may want clipboards or other hard surfaces to put the puzzles on to fill them out. Your participants may also need pencils, a Bible, and perhaps a concordance.
You will also need to determine how big your groups will be. Usually a group with fewer people will provide the opportunity for everyone to be engaged and trying to solve the puzzles. If your groups are bigger than three or four people, you will likely have one or two people who solve all the puzzles and the others may be left out.
It is totally fine to have multiple small groups doing the game together at the same time as this adds an element of friendly competition to the activity.
Another way you can modify this for a large group of kids is to have one several groups begin in different rooms. They won’t necessarily know who finishes first and you could time the groups simultaneously to see who finishes all the puzzles in the shortest amount of time. If you are doing the activity this way, you will need several different rooms or spaces with leaders who can monitor and keep track in each space.
One more tip for planning a successful Bible escape room event is to decide if you’re creating your own escape room game or doing a printable one. If you’re doing a printable one, then you also need to think about the requirement for finishing each puzzle. If a team comes with just the answer and doesn’t have the puzzle solved, will you accept their answer or do you want them to solve the puzzle and provide the answer as well?
How to Use a Printable Bible Escape Room Game
Every Bible escape room game is different, so you will need to print out the pages and take some time to read through the directions and the process of the escape room game.
You will likely need to make copies for each player or each group of players so that they can solve the puzzles and riddles. It’s always a good idea for your youth group leaders to understand the game as well so that they can give hints or additional directions as needed.
These games can also be used for younger players, middle school students, or a family gathering where you may have varied ages who want to play. If you are playing the game as a whole family group, you can adjust as needed to encourage the younger kids to be part of the critical thinking and discovery in God’s Word.
Perhaps you give some additional hints or clues, or add some helpful tips on the pages for the younger kids. Some printable Bible escape room games like the ones linked in this post have varying levels of difficulty so that they are appropriate or easier for different age groups.
A printable escape room game is quite portable and can be easy to take along and have as a ready activity for your youth group, Sunday School, Bible study group, Vacation Bible School, classroom, printable party game, Pathfinder club, family get together, or any number of times and places when you have a group together.
Bible Games for Teens
Here are four of our favorite printable Bible escape room games that can be used as fun youth group games or Bible games for teens. These are also fun for adults to join in the game as well. These games are perfect for special events, Vacation Bible School, Sunday morning, Pathfinder groups, or even outdoor games for summer camp.
Each of these printable Bible escape room games are simple to set up and don’t need additional equipment or stacks of envelopes and elaborate locks. They are created around specific Bible characters and a biblical story.
You can, of course, add that level of creativity to your game, but you can also use these as they are – ready to print and play. They can be modified according the group size, the age of the participants (each of these games come with three difficulty levels) and leader directions with an answer key as well.
As you set up your equal teams for playing, you will give the first person from each team the directions and first puzzle and start the timer if you are doing this in a certain time. When the first team completes the first challenge and you have checked that they have the right answer, they will receive the next clue or challenge. Some of the challenges will be faster and easier to figure out and some will take a bit more thinking.
Each group will need a pencil or pen, an extra piece of paper, a set of the game pages that you will give to them as they complete the challenges and a Bible. Each group will choose a team leader who will be the one to bring their answers to the youth leader or youth pastor.
You can use hula hoops to define the space where each group will be working or let them spread out throughout the space that you have. The key is to work quietly in the group so the next group can’t overhear the answers.
Each of these hassle free youth group games will be fun Bible games to have on hand when you need something engaging and challenging for your kids for Bible class.
Life of Joseph
The story of Joseph has lots of twists and turns, but the ultimate lesson from the life of Joseph is that he trusted God even through difficult challenges. As this Bible escape room game unfolds and the adventures of Joseph come to play, Joseph is on his way to Egypt.
Through the challenges and Bible scavenger hunt for details, players will encounter some famous people from the Bible and see how forgiveness can be the key to building relationships that were severed.
This Bible escape room game about the life of Joseph has six challenges and follows with a life-changing decision page that is optional. This page allows players to make a commitment to follow God. It is intended to be a tool to encourage players to make a decision to follow Jesus.
It can be used as part of the game or in a larger group setting as you debrief after the game. You can also use some of the answers as Bible study questions to follow up after the game.
Story of Ruth
Ruth’s story is one of being and outsider and learning of God’s love. This Bible escape room game about Ruth will test your Bible knowledge and understanding as you form teams to puzzle through the challenges. This game covers one of the books of the Bible as well as a person since the book of Ruth is short and the whole story. Another easy game to prep for that will take time for your groups to work through as they read the Word of God.
This Bible escape room game has six challenges and follows with a life-changing decision page that is optional. This page allows players to make a commitment to follow God. It is intended to be a tool to encourage players to make a decision to follow Jesus. It can be used as part of the game or in a larger group setting as you debrief after the game.
Daniel’s Story
Daniel’s story begins as a captive and then someone who is called to help interpret dreams. Daniel’s experience in the lion’s den is further evidence that he is a faithful servant to God and God has great plans for Daniel. This game has an optional call to commitment page that can be used to encourage your players to commit to following God’s ways with a faithful heart just like Daniel did.
This Daniel’s Story Bible escape room game has five challenges and includes a life-changing decision page that is optional. This interactive way to engage with the life of Daniel could be perfect for your next youth group activity.
Joshua and the Promised Land
The story of Joshua doesn’t take up much space in the Bible as Moses, but Joshua’s trust and faith in God and God’s promises were used in a mighty way to lead God’s people into the Promised Land. Through six challenges, your team players will learn that God is always with them.
This game also includes an optional end of the game commitment for players to choose to trust in God. Youth leaders can use this optional commitment page as a resource during the game or in a debriefing time at a later time. Use this Joshua Bible Escape Room Game for your next family game night or with your homeschool co-op and enjoy a fun game experience that is perfect for learning.
Using Bible Escape Rooms as a Youth Group Activity for Spiritual Growth
Planning for spiritual growth opportunities for your youth group can be challenging. Will your kids enjoy what you planned? Will they be engaged? Depending on how you present the activity and connect it to real life, using a Bible escape room game can be a great way to connect learning, fun, and making a commitment at the end of the game.
Sometimes teens will begin to think that Bible studies are boring, but by using that as part of a game, they are searching the scriptures to find the answers all while reading through the biblical passages.
Players can have a great time working together to solve puzzles, find the answers in the Bible, and play with some friendly competition. Using creative Christian ideas and games to engage your youth group will keep them coming back for more.
Here are some ideas and ways that you can integrate Bible escape room games into your planning. Simple Bible games for youth can easily connect with what your goal is for learning and teaching for your kids. Adding a simple game to the program helps keep the kids interested and eager to learn.
- 1. Prepare for the Bible-based escape room by reading the biblical narrative or setting of the story. Encourage the players to come prepared by reading the chapters or context verses ahead of time, or taking some time to read the story before starting the game.
- 2. Invite the participants to think about how each of the characters or the main character dealt with challenges or difficulties. Talk about the situations the participants faced and how God used these situations to turn something difficult into something good. Then apply the concept to your own life. Share a story or situation of when you faced a difficult time and how God turned that into something good for His glory and your benefit.
- 3. Extend the learning after the Bible-based escape room is over. Prepare and understand what the point of the Bible escape room is and what the ultimate learning is that is planned. Use this as your springboard for your conclusion or worship thought. In the Life of Joseph Bible Escape Room, the ultimate result is finding out how God led in Joseph’s lie and how He can lead in your life too. You can take this theme and use it to focus your closing thoughts to make the concept stick.
Bible activities for youth and Bible escape room games are a great way to encourage the players to delve into the story while trying to solve the puzzles. Players will learn from the puzzles and the narrative and have fun in the process. Being engaged in the story is the often the best way to learn.
Each of these simple games to prepare for, can have a meaningful impact on the players. Playing games can often be a teens favorite thing about being together.
Planning good things and church activities to keep your teens and youth engaged doesn’t have to be difficult. As you prepare, make sure kids are focusing on the end goal of learning more about God. Connecting a great game with a memory verse or key text and then connecting all of that to real life will result in an impactful event.
Creating Your Own Bible Escape Room Game
Crafting your own escape room game can be a bit tricky, but if you’d like to try your hand at it there are some resources as well as some suggestions to create your escape game. You can make it as simple or as challenging as you’d like but be sure to test it first to make sure that all the clues and puzzles will work to the desired end goal.
The best place to begin with creating your own escape room game is to figure out what story or Bible character you want to be your theme. This is your setting. If you are going to place a fictional character into a biblical setting, you need to decide who or what that character is going to do or escape from.
Perhaps they need to escape from Pharoah’s tomb, or the get across the Dead Sea. Maybe you want them to learn a lesson or experience a challenge that will help them realize a Bible truth. There are lots of different ways you can position your game, but you need to have a good idea of where you are going.
The next step is to map out the steps you want your players to have to take to get to the end goal. I personally like to start with the beginning and end in mind and then the creativity can come into the planning of how to get from the start to the finish.
This Do It Yourself Escape Room Book can help you come up with the actual puzzles, riddles, or other challenges to give you an idea bank for creating each step of the escape game. If you’re really serious about creating escape room games, this fabulous escape room course comes with some fantastic templates that you can modify and make a whole bunch of Bible escape room games.
The fun thing about creating new games is that you can customize each escape room game for your specific situation. If you are planning for a youth group event and you’ve been studying about integrity in the Bible, you could create a good game around that theme for your group. If you have a small group that is eager to dive into the story of Jacob, you could create an amazing game around a section of the story.
Perhaps your Pathfinder club is memorizing passages of scripture, then an escape room game around that them could be super fun for them to practice their Bible knowledge and memory skills and see what they can figure out without using their Bibles!
Once you’ve crafted your puzzles and challenges, you need to test out each challenge to make sure it works. There is nothing more frustrating that trying to figure out a puzzle that has a typo or the letters aren’t aligned properly.
Exciting Bible Games for Youth
Whether you are a youth leader, Pathfinder director, youth pastor or summer camp program director, you are probably always on the look out for some great new Bible games for youth! Whether they are board games, outdoor activities, free games, complicated games, Bible escape room games or just for fun games, your kids will love it when you take the time to plan fun activities for them to enjoy together.
Think about your purpose for the game. Are you “killing time” or wanting to learn something specific or perhaps you’re having fun playing together. All of those reasons are great ones to find an awesome game! You will know you’ve found the right game when you kids ask to play again and are engaged while they are playing.
Here’s a couple more resources for you: Youth Group Games has a bunch of additional ideas.
You may also enjoy playing Names of Jesus Bingo and bringing fun prizes for the winners. Teens always love food and food can be a great prize!
This Bible bingo game based on 1 Corinthians 13 could be a great game for Valentine’s day or when you are studying God’s love. This game has several different Bible versions of the words used in the game.
You may also like these posts…
- Praying Moms – Using Scripture to Pray for Others
- Remain in Me – Lessons from John 15
- Joshua 1:9 Prayers for Courage
- Creating a Self-Care Life
- Praying Circles Around the Lives of Your Children
- 31 Bible Promises to Pray for Your Children
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