Family Night Ideas
A few "family night" ideas for teaching kids spiritual truth.
Below is a transcript from an unaired portion of our radio broadcast "Family Nights." Guests Jim Weidmann and Ron Wilson offer three fun ideas that parents can use to communicate biblical truths to their children.
Family Night Idea No. 1: "One Way to Heaven"
Jim: Family night is a time when the family comes together in a structured Bible study centered around a strong object lesson. Let me give an example. I wanted to teach my children the concept that says, "How do you get to heaven?" And so I went to the top of the stairs, sat on the top step and said, "I'm Jesus in heaven, and I would like you to be with me. However, you can't walk on the stairs, nor can you use the handrail." My kids came to me and said, "Dad, what kind of game is this?" I replied, "I want you to think about it."
Finally, Jacob, my 12-year-old son, said, "Okay, Dad, I'll play." Then he said, "Come here." I said, "Okay," and I walked down the stairs. He said, "Turn around." I turned around; he got on my back and said, "Now let's go upstairs." So I took him upstairs. I was impressed that he got it! And so, I hauled all my kids upstairs, and, obviously, I came back to him, and I made this point: "There's only one way to get to heaven, and that's through Jesus Christ. You cannot get there on your own." And so, that was a family night that expressed a concept of how you get to heaven.
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Family Night Idea No. 2: "Bug Safari"
Ron: One of the difficult things to help kids understand is the incarnation, and it's particularly important around Christmas time. So, I was thinking about how we could make that a lot of fun, and I said, "A bug safari, that'll work."
So we passed out flashlights to our two children. We took a plastic jar and said, "Okay, our job is to find a live bug in this house." Then we took off down the basement, and it was pitch black down there.
Then we found a bug, put him in our jar, took him back upstairs, and I said, "You know, if we were the bug and somebody really big put us in the jar, how would we feel?" "We'd be afraid, Daddy. We'd really be afraid." "Well, if we wanted to tell that bug that you didn't need to be afraid, what would we do?" "Well, I don't know, Daddy."
"Well, suppose we wanted to talk to Trudy, our dog. How would we talk to Trudy?" "Maybe we'd become a dog, Daddy." "Oh! Well, then, maybe we could tell the bug not to be afraid if we became a bug." "Oh, yeah. That's right." "Well, you know, there's a verse in 1 John 4:9 that says this is how God shows that he loves us, by sending his Son into the world." So we finished up and just simply said, "God became a man, so his love we'd understand." And that was it, and we had a great time down in the basement with the flashlights. The interesting thing is that we did this one two years in a row around Christmas, and so now it's become kind of a theme for us.
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Family Night Idea No. 3: "Road Map"
Ron: It was close to Christmas, and I was looking to try and recapture Christmas through another perspective. All of sudden, I just swerved off the road and went into the ditch. "I'm lost! I don't know how to get home!" I asked my daughter what we should do. "Well, if you had some directions, you could get home." "Oh. Well, where could we get some directions?" "Well, how about this map?" So I opened up the map and started to explain to her how maps work, and this is where we are, and this is where we need to go. "Well, we need to go down here and turn left and get on the freeway." So we started down the street, and she was young enough not to know her left from the right, so she said, "You need to turn left, Daddy." I said, "Which way is that?" She pointed the wrong way, and I said, "No, we need to go this way."
And so we kept on going, and we had a conversation on the way home that went something like this: "You know, directions are really important. Do you remember when we're baking? What do we use?" "Oh, we use a recipe." "Well, why do we do that?" "So the food won't taste bad." "And you remember when we bought your bike?" "Yeah." "Well, what did we do?" "Well, we looked at the directions." "Let's open the Bible right now. God gave the shepherds directions. He said, 'Go to the stable.' And you know what? God gave the wise men directions, and He gave them a star to follow. Directions are very important in life, Brianna."
Family Night Idea No. 1: "One Way to Heaven"
Jim: Family night is a time when the family comes together in a structured Bible study centered around a strong object lesson. Let me give an example. I wanted to teach my children the concept that says, "How do you get to heaven?" And so I went to the top of the stairs, sat on the top step and said, "I'm Jesus in heaven, and I would like you to be with me. However, you can't walk on the stairs, nor can you use the handrail." My kids came to me and said, "Dad, what kind of game is this?" I replied, "I want you to think about it."
Finally, Jacob, my 12-year-old son, said, "Okay, Dad, I'll play." Then he said, "Come here." I said, "Okay," and I walked down the stairs. He said, "Turn around." I turned around; he got on my back and said, "Now let's go upstairs." So I took him upstairs. I was impressed that he got it! And so, I hauled all my kids upstairs, and, obviously, I came back to him, and I made this point: "There's only one way to get to heaven, and that's through Jesus Christ. You cannot get there on your own." And so, that was a family night that expressed a concept of how you get to heaven.
*******
Family Night Idea No. 2: "Bug Safari"
Ron: One of the difficult things to help kids understand is the incarnation, and it's particularly important around Christmas time. So, I was thinking about how we could make that a lot of fun, and I said, "A bug safari, that'll work."
So we passed out flashlights to our two children. We took a plastic jar and said, "Okay, our job is to find a live bug in this house." Then we took off down the basement, and it was pitch black down there.
Then we found a bug, put him in our jar, took him back upstairs, and I said, "You know, if we were the bug and somebody really big put us in the jar, how would we feel?" "We'd be afraid, Daddy. We'd really be afraid." "Well, if we wanted to tell that bug that you didn't need to be afraid, what would we do?" "Well, I don't know, Daddy."
"Well, suppose we wanted to talk to Trudy, our dog. How would we talk to Trudy?" "Maybe we'd become a dog, Daddy." "Oh! Well, then, maybe we could tell the bug not to be afraid if we became a bug." "Oh, yeah. That's right." "Well, you know, there's a verse in 1 John 4:9 that says this is how God shows that he loves us, by sending his Son into the world." So we finished up and just simply said, "God became a man, so his love we'd understand." And that was it, and we had a great time down in the basement with the flashlights. The interesting thing is that we did this one two years in a row around Christmas, and so now it's become kind of a theme for us.
*******
Family Night Idea No. 3: "Road Map"
Ron: It was close to Christmas, and I was looking to try and recapture Christmas through another perspective. All of sudden, I just swerved off the road and went into the ditch. "I'm lost! I don't know how to get home!" I asked my daughter what we should do. "Well, if you had some directions, you could get home." "Oh. Well, where could we get some directions?" "Well, how about this map?" So I opened up the map and started to explain to her how maps work, and this is where we are, and this is where we need to go. "Well, we need to go down here and turn left and get on the freeway." So we started down the street, and she was young enough not to know her left from the right, so she said, "You need to turn left, Daddy." I said, "Which way is that?" She pointed the wrong way, and I said, "No, we need to go this way."
And so we kept on going, and we had a conversation on the way home that went something like this: "You know, directions are really important. Do you remember when we're baking? What do we use?" "Oh, we use a recipe." "Well, why do we do that?" "So the food won't taste bad." "And you remember when we bought your bike?" "Yeah." "Well, what did we do?" "Well, we looked at the directions." "Let's open the Bible right now. God gave the shepherds directions. He said, 'Go to the stable.' And you know what? God gave the wise men directions, and He gave them a star to follow. Directions are very important in life, Brianna."