The Hats of Salvation Game {The Armor of God: Helmet of Salvation}

Teaching the Armor of God? You’ll definitely want to use the Hats of Salvation game for your lesson on the Helmet of Salvation! This high-energy activity is like a hands-on object lesson, because it gets your kids moving while simultaneously helping them remember Bible truths. Perfect for Sunday School, VBS, or any children’s ministry! Or use it with your own kids in your homeschool or family devotions. Scroll down now for game instructions.

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Taking the Helmet of Salvation is crucial

We each have a choice.

We can deliberately choose to “take” salvation–or we can choose not to.

Choosing not to take salvation results in an eternity apart from God.

So it’s crucial that our kids understand salvation and the importance of taking it.

And the Hats of Salvation game will help ensure that your kids truly do grasp what it means to “take” God’s offered salvation!

Overview: The Hats of Salvation Game for Kids

Kids will play a modified game of “freeze tag” that involves two key elements from “Lesson 5: The Helmet of Salvation.”

1. First, kids will be reminded that they must have the helmet of salvation in order to be freed.
2. Second, kids will be reminded that they must deliberately choose to “take” the helmet of salvation.

Hats of Salvation Game Instructions

Point out the playing area boundaries. Make sure the playing field is small enough to keep kids relatively close together (to make it easier on the “taggers”).

Designate several people as “taggers” – perhaps 1 tagger for every 6-8 kids playing. Explain that the taggers’ goal is to tag as many kids as possible. When a child is touched by a tagger, the child must sit down immediately, wherever he or she was tagged.

Give out hats to random kids. Explain that the kids with the “hats of salvation” (the “hatters”) can’t be touched by the taggers. The hatters’ job is to free kids who have been touched by the taggers and are sitting down.

Hatters offer the hats of salvation to kids who are sitting. Hatters run to kids who are sitting and ask, “Do you want a hat of salvation?”

The child who is seated can say, “No, thank you” OR “Yes, I’ll take it!”

If the seated child says, “No, thank you,” then the hatter can run to free another child.

If the seated kid says, “Yes, I’ll take it!” then the hatter must give his hat to the seated kid. The hatter (who is now hat-less, since he gave away his hat) must now try to avoid being touched by a tagger. The child who was sitting (who accepted the hat) now becomes a hatter. He or she must put on the hat and run to free someone else.

Gameplay can continue until you run out of time. Or, you can do several rounds to give other kids a chance to be taggers.

Optional Discussion Points for the Hats of Salvation Game

After the game, you can discuss the following points with your children:

• The meaning of salvation (see the lesson plan for the helmet of salvation for details about the meaning of salvation).
• The personal need to deliberately choose to take the salvation God offers.
• The fact that, if you choose not to take salvation, you are automatically saying “No, thank you” to God.

Challenge the children to truly consider whether they have chosen to accept or reject God’s salvation!