Feeding the 5000
Games
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Games Workshop
All materials are located in the classroom.
After class, clean up but keep all materials in room for next week.
All of the following information will be taught in chapel
but can be repeated/emphasized in workshops:
Topic: Feeding the 5000
Goals:
 Locate the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 in the Bible.
 Locate the Sea of Galilee on a map
 Be able to tell the story in their own words
 Identify different ways to understand how the Loaves and Fishes were multiplied
 Articulate ways to be sharing and generous in daily life
 Articulate ways in which God provides for us
Main Idea: While Jesus was teaching a crowd of 5,000 people, a young boy offered to
share the food (5 loaves of bread and 2 fish) he brought. Jesus blessed the food and
passed it to the hungry crowd. Miraculously, everyone was fed AND there were leftovers!
Jesus teaches us that a little can become a lot when we share what we have.
Bible Story: John 6:1-14
Memory Verse: “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how
far will they go among so many?”
There are several game options. Read through them all and pick the
ones you would like to lead for your group. Each activity lists the
grades that are most appropriate for each activity.
Activity #1: (Best: 2-3, Good: K-1, Okay: 4-6): A Fishy Find
**Materials needed: Copies of Fishy Find Puzzle, Red/Green/Blue crayons
Prep: Write coloring instructions on a white board. (fish=red, basket-green, bread=blue)
Instructions:
1. Invite children to sit at tables. Have out puzzle sheet to each child. Say, “We are
going to color this sheets following special instructions so that can find the
hidden message in the puzzle! Who can find a fish on the puzzle? Can you
find a basket? And a piece of bread? Allow time for all kids to find at least one
of each symbol.There is a word hiding in this puzzle, and you’ll find it by
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coloring with these rules. If you see a fish in a space, color it red. Of you
see a basket in a space, color it green. If you see a piece of bread in a
space, color it blue. I wonder what word you will find!
2. Allow time for kids to color the puzzles.
3. When they finish, as for a volunteer to tell you which word was hiding. Helper!
That’s right! Why do you think the word helper was hidden in our puzzle
today? (Because the boy helped Jesus, we are Jesus’ helper) That’s right, the
boy helped Jesus, and we are Jesus’ helpers too! We used the red crayon
to color the fish spaces so the word helper would be easy to see. We want
to remember to be Jesus’ helpers every day!
Activity #2: (Best: K-1 & 2-3, Okay: 4-6): It Will Take a
Miracle
**Materials needed: 4 bowls, birdseed, 12 small safety pins, 4 blindfolds, timer, several
brown grocery bags with one item in each (pipe cleaner, computer mouse, roll of tape,
rolling pin, etc)
Prep: Divide birdseed into 4 bowls. Hide 3 safety pins in each bowl (make sure pins are
CLOSED!).
Instructions:
1. Invite children to split up into 4 groups and sit at the 4 tables. Say, “Sometimes I
hear people say ‘That’s a miracle’ when someone accomplishes something very
difficult. Let’s see if we can accomplish some difficult but fun tasks in this game.
2. Give each group a blindfold and a bowl of birdseed with pin hidden inside. In this
bowl, there are 3 safety pins. Each person in the group will have 1 minute
to try to find them all while blindfolded!
3. Have each group pick a volunteer to go first. Put blindfold on. Ready, Set Go!
Set timer for 1 minute. Children should be digging through the birdseed and
looking for all 3 pins.
4. After one minute, yell, STOP. Ask children how many pins they found.
5. Direct children to mix their pins back into the birdseed. Repeat until everyone has
a chance.
6. Have students turn to face the center of the room (or move chairs in a circle, or
sit in circle on the floor). Now I have some bags with mystery items in them.
Your job will be to put your hand in the bag and describe what you have
without saying its name so that the other kids can guess what is in the bag.
Who would like to start?
7. Give the volunteer a bag, remind them not to peek, and have them describe the
item inside- by feel alone- to the others. If after a few minutes the group has not
guessed, have the volunteer take the item out of the bag to show others.
8. Ask for a new volunteer and continue until all items in the bags have been
guessed.
9. Say, These were fun games today, but they were kind of tricky. What did
you find difficult about them? Sometimes we have to do very difficult
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things in our lives, just like the disciples had the very difficult job of
feeding 5000 people! But if we try really hard, and ask for God’s help and
the help of other people, we can do almost anything!
Activity #3: (Best: 4-6, Okay: 2-3): Puzzling Pieces
**Materials needed: copies of puzzling pieces with pieces cut out, music to play in
background, set of blank fish for each student, coloring utensils
Instructions:
1. Invite children to split up into pairs and sit at tables together. Say, “Today we
have some puzzles to put together. I have a puzzle for you and your partner
to solve. (Give a set of puzzles to each pair). All the pieces are the same
shape and color. Your job is to put them into sentences and then put the
sentences in order of the story. You must use all the pieces, and the story
must make sense!
2. Allow time for students to complete their puzzles. Play music in background.
3. When most are done, invite pairs to read aloud their solutions. Some of them
might be different than others! The suggested solution is:
a. 5000 people sat in the grassy meadow by the lake.
b. Jesus blessed the five loaves of bread and two fish.
c. Jesus shared the food with all of the hungry people.
d. The people gathered the leftovers and filled 12 large baskets.
e. It was a day the 5000 people would never forget.
4. If time, hand out a set of blank fish to each student and invite students to come
up with their own puzzle- they may color and decorate the fish and write a word
on each fish that will form a sentence. Have students bring them home for
someone in their family to solve.
Closing: (for all ages)
After cleaning up, gather children together.
1. Say, “Today, we heard a story about how a young boy shared his lunch in order
to feed a hungry crowd. Bible stories like this one teach us about what kind of
people we can be. They also teach us about God and how God cares about us
and provides everything we need. Jesus taught us a prayer called the Lord’s
Prayer that reminds us of this. There’s even a part of the prayer that’s related to
our bible story. Anyone know what it is? (Give us This Day Our Daily Bread).
Daily bread is much more than just things to eat. Daily bread includes all the
things we need each day. Let’s pray the Lord’s Prayer together.
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.