Circus Games
Weekly opening Activity
Lesson 5 - God Gives Everyone Different Gifts So We Can
Work Together!
Purpose:
This opening activity will introduce the children to the lesson of the day.
Description:
In this activity, the children will play one or more circus-themed games and will discover the Main
Point for the day. In Clown Car, the children will pretend to be clowns cramming into a car. In Ring
Masters, the children will race to move a hula hoop around the circle. In Elephant Walk Relay, the
children will race while swaying an elephant’s trunk through a set of cones. Play all three games each
week, or rotate them, playing one game each week.
Materials needed:
For this activity, you will need this Help Sheet, the “Main Point Cards Lesson 5” from the Lesson
Materials CD-ROM, and the supplies for the games you choose to play.
For Clown Car you will need a bucket for each Main Point Card, tape, a timer, paper wads, and a
bicycle horn.
For Ring Masters you will need a hula hoop for each team.
For Elephant Walk Relay you will need cones. For each team you will need tape, a pair of pantyhose
or a nylon stocking, and several bean bags.
To introduce the activity say:
1. Welcome to Under The Big Top!
2. We have some great circus games to test if you have the skills to join the circus.
3. As we play, we will discover what we are learning today!
For detailed instructions on how to lead the activity, see the Small Group Leader DVD.
Clown Car
Tape a simple shape of a car on the floor. Tape a starting line for each team. The teams will take timed
turns trying to cram as many players as possible into the space that is taped off as the clown car.
Determine how much time to give each turn, based on how many players are playing and the size of
the car shape you have taped off. Time should be between 20 to 90 seconds. One player at a time runs
to the car and stands in it. Once the player is in the car completely, honk a bicycle horn to signal that
the next clown can run for the car. Watch carefully to make sure no part of any player’s body touches
the ground outside the car. If that happens, the player who touched the ground and one additional
player must return to the line. When time is out, count the number of the players in the clown car and
allow them to each remove one paper wad from one of the Main Point buckets. When a team removes
all the paper wads from a bucket, they get the Main Point Card at the bottom. Play until all the
buckets are empty. The team that uncovers the most Main Point Cards is the winner.
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© 2011 Fellowship Church
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Circus Games
Weekly opening Activity
Lesson 5 - God Gives Everyone Different Gifts So We Can
Work Together!
Continued from Page 1
To lead the activity say:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Here is your chance to prove you have what it takes to be a clown!
Our Main Point Cards are buried under paper wads in these buckets.
Over here is the shape of a car taped on the ground. This is our clown car.
Each team will take turns trying to cram as many people in the car as possible before time
runs out.
5. The members of your team in the clown car when time runs out will get to remove one paper
wad from one of the Main Point buckets.
6. If your team removes all the paper wads from a bucket, you will get to keep the Main Point Card that you uncovered.
7. The team that uncovers the most Main Point Cards wins.
Ring Masters
Set up the Main Point Cards face down against a wall across from the teams. Have each team stand
in a circle. Choose a starting point in each circle and have a team member hang a hula hoop over his
or her shoulder. This team member will be called the Ring Master. Then, have all members hold hands
to make a ring. The teams will try, without letting go of each other’s hands, to pass the hula hoop all
the way around the ring, back to the Ring Master. When the hula hoop returns to the Ring Master, he
or she will leave the circle and run to grab a Main Point Card and bring it back to his or her team’s
ring. Once the Main Point Card is in the ring, the Ring Master will start the hula hoop going again.
Each time the hula hoop returns to the Ring Master, he or she will run for another Main Point Card. At
the end, the team with the most Main Point Cards in their ring wins.
To lead the activity say:
1. In this game, we will see which team can master the rings to become the Ring Masters!
2. Each team, form a circle, but don’t grab hands, yet.
3. One person on each team will start with a ring, the hula hoop, over your shoulder. That person
will be the Ring Master for your team.
4. When I say, “go,” you will grab hands and try to pass the hula hoop around your circle. It’s a ring,
traveling around a ring!
5. When the ring gets back to the Ring Master, he or she will run to grab one of the Main Point
Cards and put it in the middle of your circle.
6. Then, you will start again, passing the ring around. Each time you get the ring around to the Ring
Master, he or she will go get a Main Point Card.
7. The team with the most Main Point Cards at the end wins!
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© 2011 Fellowship Church
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Circus Games
Weekly opening Activity
Lesson 5 - God Gives Everyone Different Gifts So We Can
Work Together!
Continued from Page 2
Elephant Walk Relay
Cut off or tie off one leg of the pantyhose. Fill the foot of the other leg with bean bags to give it
weight. Use the cones to make a relay course for each team. The child running the relay will put the
pantyhose on his or her head so that the foot with the bean bags swings in front of his or her face.
The child must swing the “trunk” between the cones, not above them, while going down the course
and back to the start. Then, the next child will take the trunk and continue. The children cannot
touch the trunk with their hands. They must use their heads to swing their trunks from side to side.
If the runners touch the trunk with their hands or if the trunk touches a cone, they must return to
the start and begin again. The team with the most Main Point Cards at the end wins!
To lead the activity say:
1. In this relay race, we will see what it is like to be an elephant.
2. Each runner will have to wear this elephant trunk on his or her head.
3. You cannot touch the trunk with your hands. You must use your head to swing the trunk through
4.
5.
6.
7.
the cones as you follow the course. You cannot swing the trunk above the cones. It must swing
between the cones.
When you get to the end, you must turn around and come back the same way.
If you touch the trunk with your hands or if the trunk touches a cone, you have to start over.
Each elephant who makes it through the course gets a Main Point Card.
The team with the most Main Point Cards at the end wins!
After the activity say:
1. You are all bound to be fantastic circus performers!
2. Let’s put our Main Point Cards together and get them in the right order to see what we are
learning today.
3. Say the Main Point with me. God Gives Everyone Different Gifts So We Can Work Together!
4. Good job!
Closing Statement:
Let’s go into Large Group and learn more about the gifts that God has given us.
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© 2011 Fellowship Church