Scripture Mastery Games: Scripture King

I got this idea from a student in my class who wanted a chance to wear a crown. That started the wheels turning in my head, and I came up with this game. It sounds simple, but they enjoyed it, and the simple part can't be beat! :)

I started out by explaining to the kids that in olden times the King had a seal that he used to put his approval on documents. In the movie "The Prince and the Pauper", the seal was a large metal object that the pauper used to crack nuts. Sometimes the seal was the King's ring. Once the King sealed the object, if the seal was found to be opened, then the person receiving the document would know it had been tampered with. In the scriptures, the imagery of a seal is often used. In the book of Revelation, we read about the 7 seals. In modern days, Joseph Smith found that part of the Book of Mormon had been sealed. I went on to explain how we would play the game.

I gave each person a 3x5 piece of paper. I told them that I was the King. (to make things simple, everyone was "king", no matter their gender. :) I would give a scripture clue, and whoever got it first would get my seal on their piece of paper. As soon as someone in the class got three seals, they would become the next King.

At the front of the class, I put a chair with a pillow on the seat, and a blanket thrown over it to represent a throne. Just behind it, on the chalkboard, I drew a crown. I thought about having an actual crown that each person could wear while they were king, but then I remembered that this is how lice is spread. :) So I just drew the crown in the approximate place above the chair where the person's head would be when they sat in the chair.

I began by giving them a phrase from one of the scripture mastery scriptures. This makes it harder to guess the scripture than you would think. I didn't give the easiest phrase, so it made them think and look. I just flipped through the scripture mastery cards and would read a phrase from a random scripture.

When the first person answered correctly, I used a marker to draw my seal on their paper. I decided that my seal would be my chinese name. They thought that was cool. :) One of the next people who became king decided she would draw a shield with CTR (for choose the right) inside it. Another person wrote I "heart" U. Another person just put their initials. As I think about it now, we could have used stickers that would have been more like a real seal.

Like I said, this is a simple game, but they really got in to it and enjoyed it. If you are looking for a last minute game, this is easy to throw together quickly!