The other day I was talking with Princess and discussing what activities you might do with the Fall of Man Story. I was telling her all about how I had a game for the first part, but I didn’t have a game for Cain and Abel. She jokingly replied, “Don’t kill your brother,” and I said, “That’s funny, but probably would be a bad idea.” Then I thought about that for a while, and tweaked it to a slightly less violent game, and came up with this Don’t Lose Your Temper Bible game, because that was the problem Cain struggled with in the Bible lesson.
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I thought this game was good for all of one story
Seriously, as I put it together I was thinking it’s so perfect for the Fall of Man. Cain is struggling to keep his temper, and that’s the point of this game.
Everyone is exposed to the exact same game board.
We all move at different paces through life, some will constantly spin that 4 and move quickly through the game.
Others will spin that 1 over and over and slowly move forward.
Some will land on every single opportunity to lose their temper, and others will fly on past and only land on the spaces that take away temper chips.
I was thinking it was such a great example of life and of the difference between Cain and Able.
But then I watched the first episode of Chosen seasons 2
Like many people I’m rather obsessed with the show, and if you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for?
The first episode had one of my favorite stories from the gospels, mainly because it reminds me of Freshman Bible with my Bible professor translating on the fly from his Greek New Testament.
This is my rough memory of how it went.
“Then James and John said to Jesus, “Let us call down lightning to zap that dude. He disrespected you, and should die for it.”
Yes, my Bible professor who spoke a good dozen languages and was translating ancient Greek on the fly used the words “zap” and “dude” in his translation.
I loved it.
Then to get to see that scene in The Chosen. Seriously, take the two minutes and watch the scene.
But I realized it’s not just Cain and Able who have temper problems
Do you know what’s great about this scene?
And if you didn’t take the time to click view, yes it’s a different scene from the one up above. It’s a few minutes later in the show.
First, it reminds John that he’s not the only one to lose his temper.
Next, it shows Jesus’ sense of humor as he gives example after example of people in the Bible losing their temper.
Finally, it’s a gentle correction. John feels corrected, but not discouraged, and that is hard to pull off.
Let’s play Don’t Lose Your Temper Bible game
I like quick games for Sunday School. In my experience, you usually only have 5-10 minutes to play a game.
But, I don’t want the games to just be endless variations on Go Fish. However, it still needs to be simple to play.
Don’t Lose Your Temper is easy to play. You just need some tokens for your players.
We all have random small toys in our house. You could use LEGO minifigs, or tokens scavenged from games.
I used chips from a game we hated to make our “anger chips,” but you could also use overhead chips or pennies.
I played through this game about a dozen times and each time there were different results. (If you don’t want to use the paper clip and pen to create a spinner, I love these transparent spinners)
Every single game someone lost their temper.
Every single game someone came out with only one or two chips.
It makes for a great chance to talk through how people respond to their anger.
Anger in and of itself isn’t bad. It’s how you respond to it.
Anger properly channeled can be passion. Anger properly managed wins wars.
Of course, anger poorly managed starts wars.
What you need to play Don’t Lose Your Temper game
Don’t Lose Your Temper printable Bible game, cardstock, paper clip and pen (or spinner), pawns (or scavenge your house), chips (again scavenging games and create a cache)
Here’s a shortlist of Bible lessons you could play this game with
I wonder how much of “temper” we are born with and how much we acquire watching others (such as family) dealing with their own anger and what is considered OK. Growing up, I didn’t see my parents getting angry often and, as a result, I tend to suppress my own anger and let it come in as tears…