Divide children into teams of four. Have each child draw one word from the team’s cup. If the word is path, the children must complete the obstacle course on all fours. If it is rocks, they must walk on their knees. If it is thorns, they must hold one arm behind their backs while crawling. And if it is good, they have no limitations. When the leader says, “Grow,” the first child on each team races through the course according to the word he or she drew, then tags the second person. The first team to have all team members finish the course wins.

Have children sit in a circle with their hands behind their backs. Choose one child to go to the center of the circle and close her eyes. Hand a seed to one of the children in the circle, then have the child in the center of the circle open her eyes. Have the children discreetly pass the seed from person to person. The person in the center guesses who has the seed. If she is correct, the person with the seed trades places with the person in the middle and the game continues. Remind children that as we hear and obey the word of God, we bear much fruit.

Divide children into two teams. Have teams line up facing one another in the center of the room. Identify one team as “rocks” and the other team as “thorns.” Explain that their respective bases are the walls behind their team. The leader will call “rocks” or “thorns.” If rocks are called, the thorns must turn and run to their base before being tagged by a rock (and vice versa). If someone is tagged, he must join the team who tagged them. Play continues until all children are on one team. Remind children that Jesus used a parable to explain that some people stop obeying God’s word when life gets difficult, thorny, and rocky.

Choose one child to stand in the middle of the room, to close her eyes, and to count down from ten. Have the remaining children choose a sign to stand by. On zero, with eyes still closed, the person in the middle calls out one of the four words. The children by that sign are out. Play continues until one person remains. Remind children that Jesus told a parable that compared different soils to how people respond to God’s word.