By Rena Fish
Merrillville, IN
I just love ideas! I feel like I have discovered buried treasure when someone shares with me a new idea. I received some wonderful ideas for games on the bus from Phyllis Benton, a faithful and fun worker on one of Dr. and Mrs. Pete Cowling’s bus routes. Kids love to have fun and when you incorporate entertaining games in your classroom it will teach kids that you can have a blast while at church. If you have a drive of any distance from church to your first drop off in the afternoon, a game can leave your riders with one final and lingering memory of how much fun church can be.
Here are just a few of the ideas Phyllis shared with me. (By the way, some of these ideas we have already used on our bus route with great success!)
Butter Cookie Game
Give each rider a butter cookie (the kind with the hole in the middle and shaped like a flower). When you give the signal to start, each rider places the cookie on one of his fingers and attempts to nibble the cookie all the way around the finger. The object of the game is to see which rider has the smallest cookie remaining without causing it to break. This contest works best if a time limit is given. The bus captain then judges the smallest cookie.
Banana Peel Contest
The chosen contestants are each given a banana to eat. What makes this game fun is that the contestants can only use one hand to peel and eat the banana. The first contestant to finish his banana is declared the winner!
Twinkie Contest
In this game, the contestants are chosen in teams of two. Each team consists of a feeder and an eater. The feeder is blindfolded, and for added fun, the eater can also be blindfolded. The object of the game is to be the first team to successfully feed and eat the twinkie. Of course, this game is more fun the messier it gets!
Donut on a String
The bus captain or worker ties a donut on a string. (Powdered donuts are the most fun!) The worker then swings the donut back and forth as a pendulum while the contestant attempts to take a bite out of the donut. The object is to see which contestant can eat the most donut in the designated amount of time.
Over and Under Games
This game is one of the classic bus games. Each side of the bus is given a balloon or ball. It is passed from seat to seat by going over the first seat and under the next until it reaches the back of the bus. The first side to reach the back with their ball or balloon scores a point. The side with the most points at the end of the contest is declared the winner, the best side of the bus, etc.
Of course, this game is easily adapted to a boys vs. girls contest. It can also go along with a theme such as in passing a goldfish in a paper cup of water when you have goldfish promotion.
Toilet paper rolls make the contest a bit more difficult. In this variation, the roll of toilet paper must be sent back to the front if it breaks, forcing the team to start over.
