11 Bible-Focused Icebreaker Games


Bibliaon Team
Bibliaon Team
Created and reviewed by our editors

Check out activities and games with Bible reflections for youth groups and small groups. These icebreaker activities help participants relax, get to know each other, and learn about the importance of the Bible. Give them a try!

1. Activity: Who Am I?

Biblical and moral application: Increase the group's knowledge of different Bible characters.

Materials needed: Stickers or paper that can be stuck on the forehead.

How to Play: Each person writes the name of a Bible character on a piece of paper and sticks it on their neighbor's forehead (without the neighbor seeing). One by one, participants ask yes-or-no questions to figure out who is on their own forehead. After everyone asks a question, the first person can ask another until someone guesses their character correctly to win.

Note: For those with limited Bible knowledge, it's important to choose well-known characters that are easy to identify.

2. Bible Characters for Charades

Biblical and moral application: Get to know Bible characters in a fun way.

Materials needed: Paper, box or bag, pen.

How to play: Put names of Bible characters in a box or bag and divide participants into two groups. Choose one person from each group to act out a character without speaking. Each group tries to guess the character being mimed. The first group to guess correctly wins the game.

Suggested characters: Jesus, Peter, Lazarus, Samson, Gideon, Jonah, Paul, Zacchaeus, Nebuchadnezzar, Joseph, Moses, David, Goliath, Paul.

3. Finding the Lost Sheep

Biblical and moral application: Connection with the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15) or Jesus' teaching about the good shepherd (John 10).

Materials needed: Sheep (drawing or toy).

How to play: Hide a small sheep figure somewhere. Participants then search for the sheep. The winner is the one who finds it.

Variation: Hide multiple sheep in different places. The winner is the one who finds the most sheep.

4. Which Bible Character Would You Be?

Biblical and moral application: Getting to know each other and Bible characters. Can lead to reflection on good (or bad) attributes.

Materials needed: Imagination.

How to play: Each participant has to say which Bible character they would be (or would like to be) and why.

Variation: The group decides which Bible character each member most resembles.

5. Imitating Christ

Biblical and moral application: The activity focuses on Paul's foundation to be imitators of Christ as he was. It emphasizes the importance of good leadership that inspires us to imitate Christ.

How to play: Have everyone hold hands in a circle. Designate a leader. The leader performs a movement - without speaking - and the entire group must imitate it as quickly as possible.

Suggested movements: Raise the right arm, left arm, put the arm forward, squat, take a step forward, jump.

6. Conversation in Heaven

Biblical and moral application: Getting to know more about biblical (and historical) figures; introduction to the story of a Bible character.

Materials needed: Imagination.

How to play: Each participant has to say a person from the Bible they would like to talk to in Heaven and why. If they have little knowledge of the Bible, it can be anyone from history.

7. Search in the Bible

Biblical and moral application: Increase participants' knowledge of the books of the Bible and where they are located. It can also introduce the main passage of a Bible study.

Materials needed: Paper Bibles.

How to play: Choose several verses or passages from the Bible. When you announce them, participants must find the reference in their Bibles. The winner is the first to find and read aloud the passage. The game can have multiple rounds and difficulty levels.

Variation: For larger groups (or groups with few Bibles), divide participants into teams.

Note: If playing with people with limited Bible knowledge, choose passages that are easy to find (searching for Nahum can take longer than you might think).

8. Activity: What if Today Were Your Last Day?

Biblical and moral application: Introduce various themes such as the end of the world, death, Christian life, and salvation.

Materials needed: Imagination.

How to play: Each participant must answer the question "If you knew that Jesus would return within 24 hours, how would you spend your last day?"

9 Learning the Ten Commandments (2 Variations)

Biblical and moral application: Learn the Ten Commandments.

Materials needed: Papers with the Ten Commandments written on them.

How to play: Write each of the Ten Commandments on individual pieces of paper, then mix them up. Participants must try to arrange them in the correct order.

Variation 1: To make it more challenging, include some other commandments that are not part of the Ten Commandments. In addition to ordering the commandments, participants will need to identify which ones are not part of the list.

Variation 2: Create two or more sets of commandments and divide the group into teams. The winner is the team that correctly arranges the most commandments (against the clock) or completes all sets first.

10. Guess the Scene

Biblical and moral application: Can be used to introduce a Bible study about a story from the Bible.

Materials needed: Imagination.

How to play: Secretly assign a well-known scene from the Bible to a participant, which they will have to act out through mime. They can make gestures but cannot speak. The rest of the group has to guess which Bible scene it is. The first person to guess correctly becomes the next to mime another Bible scene.

11. Building Strong!

Biblical and moral application: The tallest structures have the strongest foundations. Jesus is our firm foundation for a solid and growing life.

Materials needed: Deck of cards or set of wooden blocks.

How to play: Each participant tries to build the tallest structure with the cards or wooden blocks without it collapsing.

Variation: Divide participants into teams. The team that creates the tallest and most stable structure wins.

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Bibliaon Team
Bibliaon Team
Bibliaon's Editorial Team consists of mature Christians with several years of experience in Bible teaching and in writing, all with a genuine commitment to Jesus and the Word of God.