Leader Guide
Game
- Coins, one type (pennies, nickels, dimes, or quarters)—six coins per child, plus extras
- Six medium-size boxes or chairs
- Optional: painter’s tape or masking tape
- Two plastic bowls or containers
- Whiteboard and marker or chalkboard and chalk
- Bible or Superbook Bible app
- See Zacchaeus Change Game illustration
Tape a line or mark at one end of the room.
Place boxes or chairs in a pattern, as shown in the picture, with 6 feet between the first box and the line. The other boxes are spaced 6 feet apart.
Divide the coins in half and put half the coins in each bowl.
Put a dish of coins on the starting line—one for each team.
Write on the board:
Box #1: walk backward
Box #2: hop on one foot
Box #3: walk sideways
Return to team: skip
Change Brings Change: Play a game about Zacchaeus’s new life.
In Large Group, you were asked to watch and listen carefully for the name of another tax collector whose life was changed by Jesus. What is the answer? Matthew.
When Matthew became one of Jesus’ twelve disciples, his life was made new. Let’s say the SuperTruth together: “Jesus changes my life and makes it new.”
Divide the class into two equal teams; one child may need to play twice. Teams will make two separate lines behind the starting line or mark and next to a bowl.
God’s power changed Zacchaeus from a dishonest, greedy man into a thankful, caring, giving man. His new life had begun! He demonstrated his new beginnings by giving to the poor and to those he had cheated. That is what this game is about: change and change.
Hold up some coins.
Have a volunteer demonstrate as you explain the steps of the game. Point to the board for each step. Each of you will pretend to be Zacchaeus. Players will take three coins, which represent the tax money that he collected. Players will walk backward to the first box, which represents Zacchaeus’s home. You will place one coin on the box that Zacchaeus earned for being a tax collector. You will then hop on one foot to the second box and leave a coin. This box represents the poor.
Next, you will walk by sliding sideways to the third box and place a coin on it. This box represents the people who Zacchaeus cheated. Then, skip home because your new life filled with God’s love and joy has begun. The next players will then start.
For an added challenge, you must carefully stack the coins, one on top of another, before you travel to the next box. If a stack falls, you must restack it before moving on—so move fast but be careful! Each player will play twice; the first team to finish wins.
Variations:
1. If this proves to be too difficult for younger children, you may have the children just place the coins on top of the box instead of stacking them.
2. Tape a line about 3 feet in front of each box and have children toss their coins onto the boxes instead of stacking them.
Conclusion: No one thought that Zacchaeus would ever become an honest man. Imagine the freedom and joy he must have felt as he gave to the poor and returned the money he had dishonestly collected. Let’s learn more about Zacchaeus and everyone’s need for Jesus in our teaching time.