Having a hard time engaging boys with your lesson? Take some tips from video games.
Video games engage boys. Boys will spend hours playing video games...so intensely that they forget about eating and sleeping at times.
Have you ever stopped to think about why boys love video games so much? Here's five reasons.
Video game content is usually masculine. A huge part of video games involves male dominated sports that emphasize power, strength, competition, and action.
Make sure your children's ministry is geared toward boys. If you come across as too "babyish" or "girlish," they will disengage. Don't talk down to them as little kids. They will pick up on it immediately and tune you out.
Ask yourself...would a 5th grade boy like this? Cool rolls downhill. Target your 5th grade boys and you will engage everyone.
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Video game advertising is aimed at boys. Most video game marketing features males. The content and layout appeals to boys. There are far more male characters in video games than female characters.
Include lots of boys in your advertising, videos, pictures, etc. Make sure you use colors that boys like. Use men as teachers. Use teenage boys to lead them in worship.
Use curriculum that appeals to boys with the way it is packaged and with the rhetoric it uses.
Video games draw boys because the active, fast-paced nature of the games appeal more to the learning styles of boys. Studies show that boys learn better when they are actively engaged in the task.
If you want to engage boys, then get them out of their seats and use active learning. Don't just tell them the Bible story...let them act it out. Replace lecturing with watching them work through an activity you just challenged them with.
Video games appeal to boys' sense of competition. Boys gain a sense of mastery when they conquer video games.
Bring games into your lessons. Games that emphasize the truth you are teaching...games that help them memorize the Bible verse...games that review what they've learned.
Every single week games are part of our lesson. We know if we play games...the boys will get involved....and they will learn as a result.
Video games provide an opportunity for boys to connect with their friends in a way that comes naturally to them. Whereas girls can more naturally talk and connect with just words, boys connect better through a common activity.
Men connect through activities such as fishing, ballgames, hunting, building something, or other hobbies. They are wired that way even as children.
If you want the boys in your ministry to build relationships with their leaders and each other...use icebreakers that center around an activity.
Wouldn't it be great next Sunday if the boys were as engaged in your lesson as they were with the video game they were playing at home on Friday? Incorporate these strategies into your lesson and they can be.
Okay. The floor is yours.
Why else do you think video games engage boys so well?
What are some activities or ideas we can use to incorporate these strategies?
What are some other strategies we can learn from video games that will help us engage boys in our lessons?
Share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.
