These games are most rewarding if you obtain the currency for play by taking up a charitable collection and use the money for learning before it is gifted to a worthy cause. If any participant is caught pocketing the money, it’s a valuable opportunity for a moral or ethical discussion about need and looking after others.
1. Coin rubbings: Participants choose a handful of coins from the bag. They then place coins of different denominations under paper and make rubbings using crayons. Discuss which coins are worth the most and which the least. Whoever has the coins that add up to the least value on the paper is ‘the widow’ (winner).
Discussion: Does God care more about how much you give or how much your gift cost you?
Variation: Which is more valuable? Divide the money from a charitable collection into two piles, one for notes and one for coins. Ask participants which is more valuable. Then, put notes on the scales and weight them. Follow by weighing the coins. Which is heavier?
Discussion: Which is more valuable to God? Does God value the notes because they are worth more or the coins, because sometimes the cost of giving a small donation is heavier, if you do not have much to give.
2. Coin toss: The leader tosses a coin and then the participants toss their coin. The people whose coin lands in the same position as the leader are the ‘winners’. Continue until only one person is left.
Discussion: How did it feel when you ‘lost’? How do you think the widow felt when everyone else had more to give than her?
: Participants conduct a relay (a bit like an egg and spoon race). Divide the group into two teams. Participants stand in lines, with half their group at either end of an area. The first person in the line must carry the coin on the spoon to the other half of their group and pass it on to the next player using only the spoon. When runners are finished, they go to the end of the line and sit down. If you drop the coin, you must pick it up with the spoon. The first team with everyone sitting wins. Make it harder by expecting participants to move around obstacles on their journey.
Variation 2: Toss the coins into a box. Those who get the coins in the box win, those who miss are ‘out’. Keep moving the line that the participants throw from further back to increase the difficulty of the game.
Twist: Reward the ‘losers’. Just like the widow, they didn’t have much to give, but they gave it anyway.
Variation 3: Toss the coins into a box from your seat in the classroom. Those who get the coins in the box win, those who miss are ‘out’. Was it easier for some than others? Why/why not? You are all given a place to sit in the room, doesn’t that make you all equal? If it is easier for some, how can you make it fairer? What is equity? Does this discussion enhance your understanding of equity in any way?
3.
Treasure hunt: Hide some chocolate coins around an area and let participants go on a treasure hunt. Ask participants to bring their bounty back to the group, rather than eating it. See who collected the most coins.
Discussion: If you had lots of coins, how would you feel? What about those people who didn’t get many (or any) coins, how do you feel? Are the people who have lots of coins better, why/why not? How could we make everyone in the group feel happy? (Be mindful of allergies when using chocolate. If someone must have a different sweet to eat, it may be a good opportunity to discuss equity).
4.
Guess how many coins are in the jar: Take up a collection from the group for your local Church or a good cause. Participants then write on a slip of paper how much they thought was collected. The participant who guesses the highest value wins (but don’t let the participants know this or the game won’t work). The amount of coins equalling their guess (or as close as you can make it) are donated to the Church collection or charity. Any leftovers are for the winner to keep or to use as they see fit.
Discussion: What message does this activity send about generosity? If you had won the extra coins, what would you do with them and why? If there were no coins left over to be won, is that a good or a bad thing? Why?