Glow
in the Dark Party
This
is a great party to use as a Halloween alternative.
Theme:
Isaiah
60:1 "Arise shine, for your light has come and the glory
of the Lord has risen on you."
The world is in darkness
without Jesus. It's their sin that blinds them and keeps them
in darkness. Jesus said for us to be the light that shines in
their darkness so they can "see" Him, but if "we" as God's children sin, we are adding to their darkness.
Object Lessons:
1. You will need
a lamp. Tell the children to think of the lamp as a Christian
and to watch what happens to the Christian (lamp) when he sins.
Have the children take turns naming a sin. With each sin named,
add a covering of dark material over the lamp until, eventually, the
lamp has lost its light and has contributed to the darkness.
2. Use a lamp
that has a three-way bulb in it and show how God wants our lives to
shine brighter and brighter so the world can see Him.
3. You can also
use a glow-in-the-dark object like a star to demonstrate how we need
God's light in us in order for us to shine for Jesus. If you don't
put the star in the bright light before you want to use it, it won't
glow very bright. It is the same with people. We need to take time
to be with Jesus through prayer and Bible study. We need to be exposed
to God's light daily if we want to keep glowing for Jesus.
Games:
This Little Light of Mine
God creates the most amazing bugs! In North America, children have long chased Lightning Bugs (or fireflies), attracted by their blinking, glowing bodies as they fly in the night sky. Kids just seem to be naturally drawn to them.
The bright bodies of bumble bees may look scary, but without them we couldn't eat a plentiful variety of fruits and crops, all of which depend on the hard-working bee. Kids love their bright yellow and black bodies, which make them fun to draw. You can also make a fun game with it, though let the kids know to never actually wack our buzzing friends!
The Flashlight Finder
Young children love to play with flashlights, as well. It gives them power over darkness, and the beam seems magical as it bounces over the ceiling and walls. Use their love of flashlights to help teach the idea Jesus presents in Matthew 5:14-16, and have a great time doing it!
What you'll need:
- one flashlight per child
- a room free of clutter, with a wide, open space for playing
How to play:
- Children will shine lights in a darkened room for a count of five. Teacher/parent will say 'on' at the beginning of the time and 'off' at the end.
- When children turn their flashlights off, they can move up to five steps in the dark. Remind them to move carefully (no running) to keep from bumping into each other.
- With all lights off, teacher/parent tries to find someone. The person who is 'it' is also limited to five steps at a time.
- Repeat flashing like lightning bugs until someone is caught and becomes the new 'it'.
Discuss with the children how it was hard to find each other with only a blinking light. Remind them that Jesus said we are the light of the world, and that only doing good deeds part of the time is like trying to find someone using a blinking light in a dark room. We should be like a light on a hill, not a lightning bug!
This game was contributed by Chris Molnar, editor of Themeaparty.com. Click here for more fun games, food recipes and ideas for birthday parties. Chris has two daughters, and helped coordinate the Bumblebee Bash as part of an outdoor ladybug theme party, which all the kids loved!
Activities:
1. Bring in Lite
Brites and have the children spell out Jesus on it. Explain to the
children that we are to be a Lite Brite that shows "Jesus" to those in darkness.
2. Have all the
kids and teachers wear glow in the dark clothes, gloves, jewelry,
caps, hats, shoes, etc. Award prizes to the most unique boy,
girl & teachers that glows in the dark. If the children
don't have glow-in-the-dark clothes, you can tell them to wear old
clothes or clothes their parent don't mind them getting paint on and
have them paint them with glow-in-the-dark paint. (I found the paint
at Wal-mart). You can buy glow-in-the-dark necklaces, body glitter,
and bracelets from Oriental Trading Company.
 3. Have the children
paint wooden or cardboard stars with glow-in-the-dark paint. Punch
or drill a hole in them and hang them from the ceiling.
4.
Make "glow worms" from the lesson "God's
Light and Glow Worms" or use other crafts from that page.
Decorations:
1.
Glow-in-the-dark stars - Kathy wrote that she would glue glow-in-the-dark
stars on a cap and hang some with dark string from the cap so when
she moves it will look like the stars are moving through space.
You can buy glow-in-the-dark stars, moon and star curtains,
and footprints from Oriental Trading Company
I will have black
lights all around the room and you could also do a skit in the black
light and have black light puppets.
Prizes:
1. Glow-in-the-dark
wands. When you bend the wands they begin to glow. You
stick the ends together to make a loop. If you store them in a freezer
or refrigerator you can use them again. You can buy "Jesus is
the light" mini flashlight necklaces, wands, light sticks, cups,
balls, kaleidoscopes, slinkies, silly putty, and lizards from Oriental Trading Company.
Give your Trick or Treaters Sweet Treats for Their Souls
Memory Crosses are a great way to share the gospel this Halloween. Children enjoy folding and unfolding them while more of God's sweet words are revealed with each fold. They're hard to put down because they are so intriguing.
Stories:
1. Keys for Kids
www.keysforkids.org , "Shine Today for Jesus" - This story talks about
how sin in our lives is like having a piece of plastic between the
contacts of the battery to the flashlight. Our light can't shine
when we have sin in our lives
2. Keys for Kids, "April Birthday" www.keysforkids.org - This story devotion talks about
how sin hinders your light.
3. Keys for Kids, "A trip to Jewel Cave" www.keysforkids.org - Jesus is the light of
the world.
Songs:
1. Shine Jesus Shine, "This Little Light of Mine", "Jesus
Wants Me For a Sunbeam", "Give Me Oil in my Lamp" and
"God Is Light".
Comments:
Just a note to
thank you so much for the "Glow in the Dark" party idea
from your web site.
After I read
it on your site, I proposed, planned and implemented a Halloween alternative/community
outreach for October 31st. We had three centers (much like a VBS set
up) with games, crafts, and food. We started and ended with a 1/2
hour song/object lesson in the sanctuary. It ran from 6:30 to 9:00,
which was a little long on a weeknight, especially for the younger
kids, but it gave everyone a 1/2 hour at each station. We had three
groups (pre-K/K, 1-2-3rd grades, and 4-5-6 grades).
Games - I had glow in the dark beach balls, which we used for various relay
races. We also had a bean bag toss and a "break the balloon" dart game, for which the children (ages pre-K through 6) won prizes
(glow in the dark stuff from Oriental Trading Company). Pre-K/K group went last and instead of throwing
darts, we let them step on the balloons.
Food -
Pizza, hot dogs, cookies, and a cake decorated like a lighthouse with
the words: "Let your light shine". Glycol-colored punch
(mountain dew with blue punch to make an eerie color, lime sherbet)
was also a hit. If we keep it at 1/2 hour next year, we'll have some
games in there as well.
Crafts -
pumpkin face magnet craft we got through Oriental Trading Company. lso had glow in the dark/neon beads for
a bracelet, and a coloring paper with the jack o'lantern and a Christian
story around it.
We decorated
in orange and lime green, with orange, yellow, and green balloons,
and orange light strands in the games area. We advertised through
public service announcement in the paper and on the radio. Also sent
flyers home to the afterschool programs at the YMCA/YWCA and Salvation
Army. We charged a nominal $3.00 fee in order to get a better number
in advance; however, next year (we are repeating it!) it'll most likely
be free in order to get more children attending.
Worship - we sang great action songs, and included "Shine, Jesus, Shine"
and "This Little Light of Mine". Pastor read a Christian
book about the jack o'lantern and we handed out glow sticks to the
kids - we told them that just as you have to break the stick on the
inside in order for the light to shine, you need to be broken before
the holy spirit's and God's light can shine through you. The best
part was that the teens ran the worship service and the younger kids
(and visiting parents!) were able to feel and see the love and energy
from the teens. It was great even for the parent volunteers.
We normally have
15 kids on Wednesday night (our church runs about 100 families), and
we had nearly 40 for the party. Next year we'll have more pre-party
assistance (I did all of it myself this year) and I think I'll assign
different portions of the parties to different adult Sunday School
classes so that publicity can be improved.
We gave away
goody bags with various glow in the dark stuff and candy, but included
a bookmark with a lighthouse pin and the verse in John "I am
the Light of the World" (again, Oriental Trading Company). We also included a Halloween tract on "Masks".
Everyone was
very pleased with the party, and we look forward to doing it again
next year. We've had good community response and have had several
visitors to our service since.
Thanks again
for the idea! I do use your lessons each week (I teach 1st through
6th grades on Wednesday nights) and really like the way they work
with the kids.
Cheryl Gross
Elgin (IL) Church of the Nazarene
I had a Glow
In The Dark Party for my preschool Sunday school class this week.
I used some of the ideas from your site, but I added some of my own.
I ordered lots of glow stuff from Oriental Trading Company to use
for games and as prizes.
As the children arrived, we gave them all a glow necklace and their
goody bag for decorating. Me and my helpers also wore glow necklaces,
that way when the lights were turned off we could still see each other.
We ate first and then had a lesson, songs and games that we played
in the dark.
For my lesson, I used a light stick (the kind that you break and then
they glow). The light stick represented a person who does not know
Jesus. We then turned off the lights and let the darkness represent
the world that this person lived. The reason the world is so dark
is because of the sin in the persons life. We are all born into sin
and can only overcome the darkness of sin through Jesus Christ, the
light of the world. The person is invited to church and prays with
the minister during the altar call. (this is where you break the light
stick) The person has received the gift of salvation and his sins
are forgiven and washed away. When Jesus enters our heart, it is Him
that shines through us. The more we learn about Him, the closer we
get to Him. (shake the stick until it is bright) The closer we get
to Him, the more He shines through us. Next, we turn the lights back
on, give the children a light stick to put in their goody bags and
end the lesson with "The next time you see a light stick, remember
the light of Jesus and think about how brightly it is shining through
you!!"
We sang "This Little Light of Mine", "Jesus Wants Me
For a Sunbeam", "Give Me Oil in my Lamp" and "God
Is Light". The children really enjoyed the up-beat songs with
clapping and dancing.
We played games with glow items in the dark. My favorite game I titled "Following In Jesus' Footsteps". I purchased two dozen glow
footprints from Oriental Trading Company and placed them in a funny pattern around
the room, just far enough apart for the children to step in them.
We took off our shoes and took turns following in Jesus' footsteps
in the dark. The children did this game two or three times each.
We played glow ring toss, using glow sticks for the target and our
glow necklaces for rings.
We played a glow bouncing ball game, using glow balls that have bumps
all over them. These balls bounce all over the place and are hard
to make a goal with, but the children loved this game too!
In our other game, we used glow moons and stars in an "over-under
game". I stood at the front of the line and passed the person
behind me a star or moon. The stars were passed over the head and
the moons were passed under the legs. We played this game two or three
times too!
None of the games were competition games, so everyone received a glow
prize after each game. Before we went home, I high-lighted the lesson
again and we sang the songs again. This was really enjoyed by children
and parents. I have already been asked three times "Can we do
this again?" There is nothing more pleasing than to see my children
learn about Jesus and have so much fun doing so that they want to
do it again. Theresa Bostick
Most of the
ideas come from Kathy Foster, River of Praise Chruch in Tomball, Texas.
We did the Glow party at St. Johns Lutheran Church in Evansville
Wi. around Halloween. It was a hit. We prerecorded the Bible verse.
When we played it we lit sparklers in the kitchen. The kids really
had a good time.
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