Church Fall Festival Games Ideas for Kids

Church fall festivals provide a safe and wholesome alternative to secular Halloween activities. Instead of dressing up as ghosts and goblins, children dress as Bible characters or come without costumes in order to take part in fall food, games and family fun. Deciding on the right games for your church's fall harvest festival will help to ensure that the kids have a blast and look forward to attending every year.

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Set up several carnival game booths in your church's parking lot. You might have a ring toss where children toss rings around the stems of large pumpkins. There might be a needle in the haystack game, where packages of candy or small stickers are hidden in hay, or a game where kids toss balls to try to knock over gourds. Give away prizes to winners, such as kids' Bibles, stuffed animals or bags of candy.

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Recruit teens or young adults to do face painting for the younger children. Teach them how to paint pumpkins, corn and other fall designs. Designs might be accented with glitter for extra fun. The younger kids can wait in line and choose the design they would like on their faces.

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If the kids come dressed as Bible characters for your church's fall festival, then hold a costume contest. Take a picture of each contest and then have the kids show of their costumes in front of the crowd. Judges or the crowd vote on the best costume and the winner gets to wear a special crown for the remainder of the festival. Each year, the prior year's winner can present the crown to the new winner.

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Relay races are an ideal way to help kids burn off their energy after enjoying a bag of candy or other fall treats. Host a pumpkin roll, where kids are given large pumpkins that they try to roll from point "A" to point "B" as quickly as possible. Potato sack races are another classic that the children are sure to enjoy. The younger kids might enjoy a fall themed follow the leader game, where the leader is dressed as a pumpkin or scarecrow and that march through a fall-themed maze or hallway in your church.