Martha Worked, Mary Listened: A Bible Story Game for elementary kids. This game will teach your kids that like Mary, they have choices to make. Mary made the better choice of spending time with Jesus. Will your kids make right choices?
Martha Worked, Mary Listened: A Bible Story Game uses the classic game of “Telephone” to teach the important story in the Bible of two sisters named Mary and Martha.
I know! I know! I can hear many of you say, “So, what’s wrong with working hard? Is it so bad that Martha wanted to make things nice for Jesus? I think Martha got a bum rap.”
Well, I can sympathize with those thoughts. But if you take a little closer look at the passage, you will see that Jesus did not put Martha down for working hard. He was just pointing out that Mary’s rest at His feet was the better choice to make at that time.
We all have choices to make – even our children are faced with different decisions to make. So, how do we get them to choose what’s best, like Mary did? Maybe the answer can be found in Mary’s devotion to Jesus. Jesus told Martha that she was “worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42) I believe Mary made the better choice, because she was devoted to her Savior. Our children need to learn this same kind of devotion to help them make the best choices for their lives.
In addition to giving you a Bible game to help your kids learn about this great story, I also want to give you access to a Bible story song I wrote about Mary and Martha. This song is from Martha’s point of view and it might bring a few giggles as they realize how hard Martha was working.
And finally, I thought it would be fun to give you a few great Bible pictures of Mary and Martha from the public domain. I always love these vintage pictures and they can add a nice visual component of telling the story.
Table of Contents
Bible Activity #1: Martha Worked, Mary Listened: A Bible Story Game
Have your group of children sit in a circle. Read the passage in the Bible as listed above about Mary and Martha. Talk about it for a bit, then say that everyone is going to have the opportunity to be just like Mary who made the better choice of sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to what He had to say. Tell the group that you are going to whisper a statement in the child’s ear sitting next to you. That child will then in turn whisper the same statement in the person’s ear sitting next to her. This will go around the circle. The last person in the circle will say the statement that was told to them and compare it with the original statement. Often, their ends up being funny discrepancies.
After the laughter dies down, say something like this: “The Bible says that Mary made the better choice. Let’s see if (Matthew) can make the best choice now.”
(Matthew) will be the last child in the circle to have said the statement. You will give him one of the scenarios and see if he makes the better choice.
Play the game all over again, but this time start and end with new people.
Choices to Make:
A. NEVER believe anything her brother says from this day forward.
B. Talk to her brother nicely and ask him why he lied to her, then forgive him.
A. Ignore God’s teaching and pout and kick when he doesn’t get what he wants.
B. Pray to God for help in this area of his life and find a family member or friend to share his frustrations with when he gets overwhelmed.
A. Obey his aunt and do as she asked.
B. Walk away with a grumbling and bitter attitude.
A. Assume that Mrs. Hubble forgot to put the sign in the window and play in the yard anyway.
B. Knock on Mrs. Hubble’s door to see if she is there and ask if they are allowed in her yard. If she doesn’t answer, they should assume that her yard is off limits for today.
A. Kelly and Katy could agree to take as much time as they need to decide on a color that both of them would like and have a willingness to compromise their tastes in color.
B. Kelly and Katy could choose to be stubborn about their desire of color and make each other feel miserable about each other’s choice.
A. Caleb could lie to his friend and say that he didn’t see them.
B. Caleb could reach into his pocket and give the 50 cents to his friend and apologize for taking something that didn’t belong to him and remember that Jesus does not want us to steal.
A. Haley could offer to help her brother clean up his picture and the floor so that they both could be a blessing to their mom, who loved them both.
B. Haley could make fun of her brother’s picture and make him feel bad.
A. Ben should just forget about studying for this math test. He’ll do better on the next one.
B. Ben should ask his brother for help and remember that Jesus would want him to try his best. If his brother teases him, Ben can tell his brother to stop and explain that his taunting makes him feel bad.
A. Emma could pray to God to help her deal with her anger and she could be honest and tell her dad how she really feels. If he won’t listen, she could speak to her mom or someone she feels comfortable talking to, to help her get rid of her angry thoughts and feelings.
B. Emma could ignore the angry thoughts in her mind and tell herself that it doesn’t really matter how her dad acts.
A. Jennifer could just keep on worrying and forget about all the lessons she had learned about trusting in God.
B. Jennifer could set an example for her family by praying that God would give her family peace as well as a new job for her dad.
Bible Activity #2: Martha is Busy: A Bible Story Song
Bible Activity #3: Bible Story Pictures for Mary and Martha
Here are four Bible story pictures found in the public domain that you can use to share the story of Mary and Martha. Just click on each link for the picture.
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