Leader Guide
Game
- Bible or the Superbook Bible App
- Small boxes: one for each team of about five children
- Courage Blocks Pattern
- Scissors
For each team, make one copy of the Courage Blocks Pattern.
Cut the blocks on each page apart, keeping each set separate.
Fold the blocks in half so the printed side doesn’t show, then fold in half again.
In each box, place a set of the eight blocks and scramble them.
Place the boxes in a row at one end of the room, as far apart from each other as possible.
On the opposite side of the room, mark a starting line about 15–20 feet from the boxes.
If possible, play this game in a large classroom, a gym, or outside. Have a sixth grade helper or another volunteer play the “bully,” who will try to tag children as they do the relay race. If the classroom is small, you may simply play the game as a relay race without the “bully.”
Divide the class into teams of about five children. You may adjust the number of teams and the number of children on each team to suit your class size; however, if a team has more than seven children, not everyone may have a chance to play. Be sure each team has its own box containing a set of the eight paper blocks. Have all teams line up behind the start line across from their own team’s box.
How did Joy show courage in the video?
How did Esther show courage?
Where did Esther get the courage to do the right thing? From God.
Let’s say our SuperTruth together: “God gives me courage to do the right thing.”
Today we are going to play a relay game. Each box contains folded paper blocks that spell a secret word 7 letters long—but one of the paper blocks is blank! Each team must retrieve each letter block needed to spell the secret word. To do this, each team will send one player at a time to run to your team’s own box and get one folded block of paper without opening it. Run back to your team, open the block, and the next player runs to the box while the rest of the team tries to put the letters together to spell the secret word. The first team to get all seven letters and figure out the secret word wins the relay race.
Optional: If you have a small classroom, you may omit this part of the game.
That doesn’t sound hard, does it? The only problem is that you will have to have to face a “bully” to run this relay. As you run toward your box, the bully will try to tag you. If you are tagged, you must stand “frozen” until another player from any team taps you on the hand to free you. But if you make it to your box and get a paper block, you can’t be tagged on the way back to your team. You can, however, help “free” any tagged player on any team. If you see someone who has been tagged but you’re tempted just to keep running as fast as you can, remember what Mordecai told Esther. He said that if she didn’t save her people, she herself may not escape the coming trouble. So, if you free someone who has been tagged by the bully, you will get a bravery point for your team—and the team with the most points wins the bravery challenge!
Start the game. Be prepared to help any children with special needs. If the “bully” is tagging too many children, have him or her hop on one foot. The first team to get all seven letters and unscramble the secret word courage wins the relay, while the team with the most points is declared the bravest.