Whether working with tweens at Sunday School or keeping them busy at home, engaging tweens in religious education can be challenging.
But with the right activities, it can also be a lot of fun and deeply rewarding!
Here are five creative and effective ways to capture their interest and deepen their faith.
1- Bible-Themed Escape Room
The first way to engage tweens in religious education is through the increasingly popular escape room trend. This involves creating a themed room with clues and puzzles that the participants must solve in order to "escape" within a certain time limit.
For religious education, you can center the escape room around a specific Bible story or theme, such as Noah's Ark or the Ten Commandments. This will not only keep tweens engaged and excited but also help them learn important lessons from scripture.
The best thing about these home or church-based DIY escape rooms is that they can be as simple or complex as you want. And they're SO affordable!
Check out our Tween Bible Escape Room and see what I mean!
In this cute story the Garden of Virtue is quickly withering away, and the tweens solve nine different puzzles, each related to one of the virtues, to save the garden.
Depending on their skill level and focus, they should finish in about an hour.
You don't need any extra materials to play - just download, print, and give it to the kids!
2- Printable Bible Games
From crossword puzzles that reinforce scripture knowledge to word searches that highlight key biblical figures, printable games are great tools for learning.
They're easy to distribute and can be enjoyed alone or in groups, making them perfect for any setting.
Check out my growing ollection of printable Bible games here!
3- Create a Scripture Memory Challenge
Next, why not urn scripture memory into a fun competition? Set up a challenge with rewards for memorizing verses.
You could have weekly meetups where kids recite verses and discuss their meanings, or use apps that track progress and offer virtual badges for achievements.
4- Host a Bible Story Movie Day
Another fun idea is to organize a movie day featuring films based on Bible stories. This can be an excellent way for tweens to see the stories they read about come to life.
Discuss the movies afterward to address any questions and dive deeper into the lessons they portray.
5- Create a Bible-Themed Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are always a hit with kids, so why not make it educational? Hide items or clues around the church or neighborhood that relate to different Bible stories.
For example, you could hide a small toy lion for the story of Daniel in the lion's den or a jar of water for the story of Jesus turning water into wine.
This activity will engage their minds and get them thinking about these important stories in a creative way.
Which will you choose?
These five ideas are not only fun but also enrich tweens' religious education by making biblical teachings tangible and relevant. Whether they’re solving puzzles in an escape room or serving their community, they’re learning valuable lessons that will stick with them for life.