3 pieces of non-Awana game equipment every game box should have

Ping Pong Balls

Found at: Wal-Mart, most sporting goods stores, ~$0.50 each, starting in packs of 6

Blow them, bat them, balance them, toss them in buckets, or some combination thereof. These come in many colors and can be used for many games.

Pearl Dive can use ping pong balls or golf balls.
Leaders can play, too!

Game 1: Pearl Dive

Materials Needed:

• An odd number of ping pong balls
• 1 blindfold per team
• 1 bucket or bag per team
• 1 player per team
• Game Square or other square or rectangle playing area

Players are blindfolded, spun around, and placed by Game Director somewhere in the Game Square. Then ping pong balls are spread around on the ground inside the Game Square. At the whistle, blindfolded players drop to hands and knees and search for the ping pong balls. Teams can help by giving players directions to the balls. However, teammates must remain behind their team line. Once all the ping pong balls are picked up, player with the most wins. Because the ping pong balls are so light, players may bump into them and not feel them. For easier game play, use golf balls (easier to feel).

Game 2: Air Golf

Materials Needed:

• 1 ping pong ball per team
• 1 box for the center of the circle (note, if running on alleys, have 1 box per team)
• 1 player per team
• Game Square or other flat playing area

To prep, cut a 1 ½in. -2 in. square out of each side of the box—big enough for a ping pong ball to roll through. Place the box in the center of the Game Square with each hole straddling a colored diagonal. Give the players from each team a ping pong ball. Have them start on hands and knees at the corner where their team’s colored line and colored diagonal intersect. At the whistle, players must blow their ping pong ball up their diagonal and into the box. The first person to blow their ping pong ball into the hole on her color diagonal and have it stay in the box wins. Players may not use their hands. For a more difficult race, have players blow ¼ the way around the circle to the next colored diagonal. For variety, players may use a straw or balloon to blow the ping pong ball instead.

Car Sponges

Car sponges are great for any age. Even Cubbies enjoy
squishing them onto leaders or each other.

Found at: Most auto stores ~$1-3 each

There are sponges, and then there are sponges! These 9in.x5in.x3in. sponges absorb tons of water and are great for the hot outdoor game nights. Kids love sloshing them against their leaders and peers. Towels and changes of clothes are recommended for club nights when these are involved.

Game 1: Over-Under

Materials Needed:

• Car Sponges
• 1 five-gallon bucket of water (half full) for each team
• Whole teams
• Outdoor alleyway or relay area.

To prep, place at least one car sponge in each team’s bucket. Squish all the air out and soak up as much water as possible. Leave the full sponge in the water. Starting players stand facing the bucket and teammates line up behind. At the whistle, the starting players grab the full sponge and pass it over their heads to the second players. The second players pass the sponges under their legs to the third players. Third players pass the sponge over their heads to the fourth players. The pattern continues until the last players have the sponge. They race to the bucket, fill their sponges, and take player 1’s spot, pushing everyone back one space. The first team whose starting player returns to the start wins. For more wetness or faster gameplay, teams may have more than one sponge going at a time.

Game 2: Dodge Sponge

Materials Needed:

• Minimum 4 car sponges
• 1 five-gallon bucket of water (half full, may need refilled periodically) for each team
• 2 teams (if you normally have 3 or 4 teams, you may need to split or combine)
• Square or rectangle outdoor field or lot divided down the middle with cones, rope, or visual landmarks

To prep, evenly divide sponges into buckets. Squeeze air out and fill with water. Leave the filled sponges in the water. At the whistle, players grab the sponges from their team buckets and throw them across the divide at their opponents. Sponges must be refilled before they are thrown again. If a thrower hits an opponent, the hit player is out. If the opponent catches the sponge before it hits the ground, the thrower is out. Throws will not count if thrower steps into opponent’s zone. Play continues until all members of a team are out. For longer game play, if a player catches a sponge before it hits the ground, one team member may reenter the match.

Combats

Found at: usgames.com $129.99/pair

These foam-filled, nylon-covered cylinders stand about four feet tall and have two handles on one side. They can be used as pins on Big Night, pillows for sleepovers, pillars for dodging on an obstacle course, or golf clubs for batting footballs, just to name a few.

Game 1: Combats

Materials needed:

• Combats
• 1 Player from each team
• Inner Game Square or other small playing area

The players each receive a combat and stand in the small square. At the whistle, players try to push their opponents outside the small square. A player is out if both feet leave the area—players are allowed to have one foot out as long as the other is in. Players may only push with the Combats: no headshots, stomach shots, foot shots, or smacking of any sort.

*Players with glasses should give their glasses to their leader during their turn.

Three Sparks ride their horse together
Might be able to fit four!

Game 2: Horse

Materials Needed:

• Combats
• Scoring Pin and Beanbag 
• 3 players from each team
• Game circle or relay area

The starting players from each team begin at their team’s colored diagonal. They must straddle the combat and hold one of the handles, like riding a stick horse. At the whistle, the players “ride” their “horses” around the circle to the passing zone (the space between their colored diagonal and the colored diagonal immediately clockwise). When they enter the passing zone, player 2 also gets on the horse and grabs the second strap. Both Players 1 and 2 go around the circle again to their passing zone. Then Player 3 gets on the horse, holding the second strap. Player 2 is now in the middle with no strap. All three players go around the circle and cross their colored diagonal. Once all three are across, Player three drops the strap and runs in for the scoring pin or beanbag. If riders fall off their horses, their team must stop and wait until all riders are back on.

For more information about Awana Clubs International, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.

Short Notice

My favorite time for God to tell me about His plans for me is well in advance of when they will happen, like when I attended Summit in April of 2009. Six months prior, the leaders for our regional team showed a Summit promotional video at West Coast Honor Camp. I’ll never forget how clear God’s voice was, telling me that 2009 was my year to go. Summit 2009 was where I met my husband for the first time.


I knew six months before Summit that I was supposed to go.
That's where I met my husband.

But from my experience, it seems that God’s favorite time to show us His plans is after they’re already in motion. Two years after my call to Summit, I attended the same camp for my first time as a counselor (apparently God likes talking to me in the pines surrounded by teenagers). I was paired with another first-time counselor, and we were going to lead a full cabin of 10 junior high girls.

My family went up a day early to help with setup. When we got there, the camp director told me that my co-counselor couldn’t make it because of health issues. God, now you want me to lead these 10 junior high girls by myself? You want me to review their daily lessons, chase them down to do their daily verses, make sure they get to the right activity at the right time, and lead them in nightly devotionals? By myself? You realize this is my first time leading teenagers, right? And You do know I forgot my counselor handbook at home, right?

As the campers arrived the next day, the director came by and said, “You have an empty bunk. Here’s another junior high camper.”

Most incredible Camp week ever. And that week was when God called me to teach junior high as a regular ministry.

God called Peter to be a disciple in a similar way. Peter and the other fisherman had been fishing all night and caught nothing. They had just docked the boats and were washing their nets when Jesus told Peter to go out and try one more time (Luke 5:1-11). You want me to do what? But, Lord, You realize we’ve been out all night and didn’t catch a thing, right?

They never caught more fish in their life than that last trip into the lake. We’re told they needed to call the other fishermen to help bring the nets, which were breaking, back into the boat, which started sinking. That was the day Jesus called Peter to be a fisher of men.

Some of the hardest times to receive God’s notice are when it comes after you already started working toward a long-term vision. Especially when it’s a call to give up that vision for an unknown future.

About 13 years ago, my parents bought some property in Spring Creek, Nev., just down from our church of 6 years. On that property, they built their dream home — the home they planned to retire in. Mom and Dad created the blueprint from scratch, figuring out the details for a long-term residency. The house was one story so they could, in their eventual old age, not have to deal with stairs. The house also had extra-wide doorframes and hallways to fit wheelchairs for anyone who became wheelchair-bound by age or other reasons.

There was even a panoramic window in the front room and a sliding door at the back, each with a clear view of the surrounding mountains and our future landscaping. We took great care in planning the landscape; even I helped. Then we borrowed a trench-digger to dig the trenches to lay the irrigation for sod. Mom spent countless hours on hands and knees using a hard plastic cup to remove the remaining loose dirt from the trenches to make them deep enough.

We spent three years in the house, tailoring it to fit our vision of the future. But through it all, God warned us of change, though we didn’t see it or understand it. Twice Mom spent a day or two digging out the trenches in the front yard, only to have high winds—unusual for Spring Creek — fill them back up. When we finally went to get the sod, the transporting truck broke down. 

We later dug trenches in the backyard, and they filled with torrential rain — also unusual for Spring Creek.

The trees didn’t fare much better. We planted one tree in the front yard our first year there. It remained healthy for two years before dying without explanation. In the back yard, another tree, also planted our first year there, remained healthy for two years before dying without explanation. When we replaced it, the replacement grew for a couple weeks before snapping off at the base during another wind storm.

Soon after the tree snapped, God called us to Carson City, Nev.

Now we better understand how Abraham must have felt when God called him. “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you” (Gen. 12:1, NASB). Abraham was told to leave his home and family, and he wasn’t even given a destination — just “the land which I will show you.”

Rebekah was much the same way. In Genesis 24:15-61, we find she was called to go and marry a man she had never met and knew little about.

From 2 new counselors and 10 campers to
1 new counselor and 11 campers over night.

God gives us a promise in Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope” (NASB). It’s frustrating when God doesn’t consult us before pushing us. But He knows what He’s doing. In each situation, something better came from going than from staying. Because Rebekah listened, she became a founder of Israel. Because Abraham listened, he became the father of Israel. Because Peter listened, he became one of the twelve. Because my family listened, I learned about and began attending West Coast Honor Camp.

I wonder what plans He’ll show me next in the trees surrounded by teenagers this year.

For more information about Awana Clubs International, visit the Awana Homepage.
To find a club in your area visit the Club Locator.