The Armor of God
This game began with a set of stickers I found at a teacher store. The stickers showed the six symbols representing the Armor of God (Eph. 6:11-17). I knew there must be a game to use these neat stickers and learn about the pieces of God's Armor given to believers.
I thought of a game and made it. It has been given the OFFICIAL SEAL OF APPROVAL...I played the game with several children (9-16 years old) and they declared it "FUN!"
To Make:
I taped two green file folders together (using duct tape on the back side) to form a large square. I had also bought a shaped notepad of a knight in armor so I glued one sheet in the lower left hand corner of the playing board (this would be our START/FINISH place). Using black 3/4" circle stickers I created a large circular path around the board (A circular path is one that has the same beginning/ending space; it is not necessarily a perfect circle, ...my path was a very irregular circle, but an interesting path.) I put three stickers as an entrance from the notepad Knight to the circular path. So as players come around the board, they just pass this exit path, unless they have the cards they need to end the game. Also as part of the path, I placed one of each of the Armor stickers at intervals along the path. On about half of the black spaces, I added a smaller dot of green on top of the black one.
There are THREE sets of cards needed to play the game:
CARD SET ONE
I drew pictures of the six symbols of the Armor of God and I wrote the portion of the Bible verses (Eph. 6:11-17) that pertained to each one on the cards. Actually I grid out a pattern for cards on white paper and drew them and then I Xeroxed them onto gold bristol(heavier weight paper)....9 of each of the six cards (54 cards).
CARD SET TWO
Using cards half the size of the others (so I had 18 on a sheet), I made what I called the Green Cards ( simply because I printed them on green and used the green dots on the board to indicate the spaces where these cards would be drawn). On these cards I wrote fun things like:
Take an additional turn.
Move ahead 5 spaces.
Trade one Armor card with the player to your right.
Get one "Righteousness" card from the player to your left.
Give on Armor card to each player.
Move to "Peace" and collect an armor card.
Draw one Armor Card from the player to your right.
We play that when "trading" cards or told to "give" a card, the player chooses which card he will give up. When a player is told to "draw" a card, the other player must fan out his cards and let the player simply draw one (not seeing the faces of the cards.)
CARD SET THREE
These are the skill cards. They can be ANY skill that needs to be drilled (Bible, math, science, ...whatever). Since we were memorizing the Books of the Bible at the time I made the game, and I already had a set of cards with the names of each of the books on it, we used those cards. When we drew a card and read the name of a book, we had to name the book that followed it.
All the cards and the gameboard were covered with clear Contact paper to make them more durable.
To Play:
Before play begins, each of the three decks of cards is shuffled and placed face down in draw piles.
In turn, players draw a skill card and give their response. If correct, they shake a die and move their marker the indicated number of spaces. (We started on the notepad knight and entered the circular path.)
If they land on a black dot, their turn is over. If they land on a green dot, they draw a Green Card and follow the directions. If they land on or pass over a symbol sticker of the Armor of God, they draw an Armor Card. We play that if a player is sent backwards some spaces because of a Green Card and passes over an armor sticker, he collects another Armor Card and can collect ANOTHER one when he again passes over it when moving forward.
The OBJECT is to collect all six of the Armor of God symbols. When a player has one of each of the six, he tries to be the first one back to the Knight starting place. However, remember, because of the fun Green Cards he could lose one of the six cards he needs before he reaches the starting place.
The older children like this because there are some extra strategies...figuring out which card to give to a player, if ordered to. So players try to remember what cards they have received from players or already given to players, hoping to not complete the other players set of six.
Enjoy this fun play!!
