Trivia for Teens

[irishdawg]

I teach Confirmation at our Parish. I have found that playing games helps the Kids what they need to learn for their upcoming Confirmation. Are there any good - inexpensive trivia games out there specifically for Catholic Teens - OR are there any good websites. HELP!!!!

[Saintlucy]

Sorry to be a bore but none of the sacraments are trivial. At the time of their confimations these young people should have a serious understanding of their faith. They should be willing to "CONFIRM" it. Hopefully they have had enough catechesis to realize the importace of this wonderful sacrament. Tell them that this will never happen again in their lives. They will be sealed with chrism and made "soldiers of Christ".

[Dtmccameron]

Originally Posted by Saintlucy

Sorry to be a bore but none of the sacraments are trivial. At the time of their confimations these young people should have a serious understanding of their faith. They should be willing to "CONFIRM" it. Hopefully they have had enough catechesis to realize the importace of this wonderful sacrament. Tell them that this will never happen again in their lives. They will be sealed with chrism and made "soldiers of Christ".

Well, yes...Ma'am? The Sacrament is a very serious matter, but I see no reason why children shouldn't have fun learning them. At very least, at the younger ages. At the time of Confirmation, (or the year prior), they should already have a solid foundation in it.


Anyhow, Hangman was a favourite. All you need is a board, a marker (or piece of chalk) and an idea. Works well when introducing vocabulary.

Oooh, there was another one...I think they called it Around the World. The kids split up into teams, pick a category on the board, and you give them a question in the category, Jepordy style. They have a time limit to answer the question, and if they get it wrong, or time out, it goes to the other team. We had some discussion about whether or not the questions should alternate between turns or go to the team which answered correctly.

I think they learnt a bit from this one, though, they might've just been memorizing things . It's good to mix up the questions, and especially switch around the teams.

I frequently gave the kids a crossword puzzle which related to the required reading (in the Bible). Maybe not so much a game, but, they worked hard at it.

And what delightful fun it is to punish them by assigning them seats next to a student of the opposite gender!

"You better behave, Billy, or you're gonna end up sitting next to the girls!!!!



Good fun! Doesn't work with the older ones, though. Oh, well, that's not a game, but just an interesting observance. In my time, I appreciated sitting next to the girls because they didn't kick me.

Ah, well. It doesn't get much cheaper than these ideas here. Board, chalk, questions and answers.

[irishdawg]

THANK YOU!!!! I actually am working with 9th graders. The Jeopardy format works very well!!! They actually love it - even at this age I've taught just about every grade from 1-9, but I think I actually like working with the teens better - it is definately more of a challenge - but I am up to it. It just feels so good when I know the kids actually look forward to Faith formation class. I am amazed by the questions that the kids come up with to ask our Priest on his visits to class. That is how I know I am making headway with them. They wrote their letters to the Bishop last week, I was touched by what a lot of them wrote. I know my methods are maybe a bit unorthodox, but they work. If they kids have fun learning about their faith, they are much more apt to stay with it when away at College and as adults. I also always think about the beautiful black and white drawing that was in our Priest's office - he retired recently (an amazing man!!) -It was a picture of Jesus Laughing. I think that people forget - God has a sense of humor and fun - If he didn't, he wouldn't have given us one. Thanks again for your positive feedback!!!!!

[Dtmccameron]

Really? Intuitive questions? All my class could think of to ask was why the priest decided to forgo marriage.

"Yes, but don't you get lonely?!?!"

Rather embarrasing.

Anyhow, something we did, which isn't really a game, but educational regardless, was to have the kids post their questions on a ...what do you call them? Their little cards of paper....Notebook cards? Anyhow, they posted a question on them in regards to morals, the faith, etc, and the questions were answered anonymously. I think that worked because it allowed them to have the back and forth discussion needed, without being embarresed if their questions were, well, embarrasing.

For instance, you'll be hard pressed to get a kid talking about masturbation, and you probobly wont get the question on paper either. So, ah, in that particular, you'll probobly have to bring it up yourself.