Movie Night is always a hit in our house. Giant Nacho Night is also a favorite. Try-a-New-Game Night is good, too. But wouldn’t it be fun to make your weekly family night focus on God’s Word while still having a blast with your family?

Here are 3 super fun family nights that will also get your kids talking about God’s Word!

Pirate Scavenger Hunt

Lead your kids on a high-seas adventure to discover the treasure of God’s Word!

Supplies Needed:

• pirate costumes (bandanas, temporary tattoos, and eye patches)
• small items or stickers to give to kids at each scavenger hunt stop (see below)
• a treasure map for each child (a piece of paper or small journal)
• pirate accent (Cap’n Pete can help!)
• pirate snacks (see below) 

Activity:

Using the following Scriptures, lead your kids to five different locations in your house. You could make up a little riddle to help them find their way, draw a map of the rooms in your house or simply make them read the verse as a clue and guess the spot! 

When they discover each location, read the verse again, give your child the item to place in his/her pirate journal or on the treasure map, and briefly talk about the Scripture. 

Lights
Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.”

Item: sticker of a light bulb/sun/flashlight, tiny Christmas light bulb

Location: the attic where your Christmas lights are, your flashlight stash, etc.

Honey 

Psalm 119:103 “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”

Item: bumblebee sticker, Honey Nut Cheerio 

Location: the pantry or kitchen (make sure to let your kids taste some honey!)

Gold 

Psalm 119:72 “The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.”

Item: plastic gold doubloon, sparkly gold sticky craft foam

Location: jewelry box, piggy bank, etc.

Seed 

Luke 8:11, 15 “The seed is the word of God . . . the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.”

Item: sunflower seed, popcorn, peppercorn, etc.

Location: outside in the garden, near a birdhouse, etc.

Sword

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

Item: plastic sword food pick, sticker of a sword

Location: um . . . unless you have a sword cabinet, just anywhere!

End the night with some oranges to ward off scurvy and some chocolate coins (or any chocolate covered in gold foil) to celebrate the treasure of God’s Word!

Additional, optional ideas: Make Treasure Stones, read a God-centered Pirate Book or watch a fun Pirate Movie!

Big Kid idea: You could turn this into a photo scavenger hunt and drive them all over town trying to find locations to take a photo to go with each verse (the light section at Home Depot, an ice cream shop with honey-flavored ice cream, a garden, a bank or jewelry store, etc.). Then, print the pictures off and display them or put them in a journal!

The Great British Family Baking Show Night

Have a Baking Show cook-off to find out how important it is to follow God’s Word!

Supplies Needed:

• A familiar age-appropriate recipe and all the ingredients
• Aprons and maybe some chef hats for fun!

Set-up:

Rewrite the recipe with minimal instructions and have enough copies for every team. For example, list only the ingredients without amounts or don’t specify if the ingredient calls for tablespoons or teaspoons or cups.

Place all ingredients out along with the altered recipe. 

If desired, divide your family into teams with one adult (or responsible big kid) on each team.

Play:

The object of the game is to make the familiar food without the full recipe. Whichever team delivers the best food wins!

Discussion:

While you are feasting on your (hopefully delicious) food, read James 1:22, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” It’s not enough to think you know a recipe or read it just one time in your life, you have to follow it completely. Compare your experience to how we need to pay close attention to God’s Word and obey it carefully!

Additional, optional ideas: Read Proverbs 4 and compare this to following your recipe, watch Taste and See on Minno as you taste your own food, make a reusable paper cake and read a story to go with it!

Interrupted Movie Night

Watch part of a movie and see if your kids can guess the ending – and discover God’s plan for their own life.

Supplies: 

• a new-to-your-kids movie
• paper and pen for each family member
• small prize (candy, silly sticker, etc.)
• your favorite movie night accessories (fuzzy blankets, popcorn, etc.)

Settle down for your movie and at some point(s) during the movie (preferably a cliff-hanger, fork-in-the-road moment), stop the movie, turn on all the lights and ask your kids what they think will happen. Give each person a piece of paper and a pen. Let them write down what they think will happen next. You may need to give specific questions. For example, “Will Nemo touch the boat?” “Who will win the race?” Have everyone turn in their papers and then watch the rest of the movie. The people who guess correctly win a small prize!

Continue to do this as many times as appropriate for the movie and/or your kids. At the end of the movie read any or all of the following Scriptures about God’s will and plan for us: Proverbs 3:5-7, Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 8:14, Psalm 86:11

Discuss all the choices that the characters made, the plans they had, the adventures that were taken. Talk about how the characters would have behaved differently had they known what was coming ahead. Then think about how each person in your family is living in their own “movie” and discuss how they should live knowing God’s will and plan for them.

Additional, optional activities: Let your kids act out their own life movie (or their parent’s life!), make a Dream Jar for the future, turn movie night into a drive-in with these fun cars.

These family nights can be as elaborate or as simple as you’d like. Go with your kids’ interests and attention spans. But whatever you do, use it to point to God’s Word and His love for your children. They will remember the fun you had and God’s Word will be planted in their hearts to grow into a full harvest!