A Simple Game to Teach Patience to Kids

As a part of my character-building series, I want to provide you with a simple game to teach patience to kids. Teaching children the value of patience is so important, especially in our fast-paced world of instant gratification. Despite the world getting faster, patience is a virtue.

Want more lessons on patience? Check out these 20 ideas for how to teach patience to children.

A Simple Game to Teach Patience to Kids

Both kids and parents enjoy this game. Children love the patience game because it’s a game. Form anything as a game, and kids will often be all in. Even picking up a room can be a game if you do it right. We’ve all seen Mary Poppins. You might not have her magic, but add a little music, a positive attitude, manageable goals, and perhaps some competition, and even picking up can be fun.

Parents love this game because it is a quiet and calming activity for kids. If you need a little peace and quiet, this is the game to play. It might be a great patience-building activity before rest time or bedtime.

Character-Building Series for Kids

If you are new to my character development series, I welcome you. Let me tell you a little bit more about these lessons. If you check out my character development tab, you will discover 52 character traits we work on throughout the year, which equals one word per week to focus on with your kids.

Each character trait has 7-9 lessons, so if you want to work on character daily, this is an amazing resource.

This year, I want to focus on cleaning up my series by presenting the lessons to you by compiling all of my lessons on a particular week, this week focusing on patience. Here is a link to all my lessons about patience.

Note: This lesson was originally written in 2012, but it has been re-written for higher quality and re-published.

In this series, you will find a word, definition, scripture to memorize, book lists, and a number of activities and crafts related to the topic. I have also included links to other bloggers who have lessons on the trait. I hope you are inspired to work on character with your kids because being intentional in your parenting will help give great direction to both you and your children.

While I come from a Christian perspective and there are biblical elements, this character-building series is adaptable for anyone wanting to teach integrity to children.

Now on to today’s lesson.

Patience-Building Activity for Kids

Subject: Patience

Objective: Kids will play the patience game to explore the value and benefits of patience.

Bible Verse to Memorize During Patience Week: “And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” 1 Thessalonians 5:14 NIV

Ask:

How would you describe patience?
What are some situations where you have had to show patience?
What are the benefits of being patient?

Say:

Patience is a very important quality. In this world, we need to learn the value of waiting. Whether you are waiting in a line, waiting for a package to arrive, or waiting to get to a new milestone in life, having patience in the process is important.

Not only do we need to learn to have patience while waiting for certain events or things, but more importantly, we need to learn to have patience with other humans. We are all flawed and sinful people. Our heart is that people would be patient with us. Likewise, we need to have patience and understanding for others. You don’t know why someone responds the way they do. Their personality might be different. There are life experiences that happen to people that give them more challenges. Everyone is unique. Learning to be grace-filled and patient with others is a way to love them as Jesus does.

The Patience Game

Have you ever played the quiet game with your kids?

The first time I played the quiet game with my kids, I was shocked it worked. It was a car ride that seemed way too loud. We played the quiet game and the kids loved it. They actually initiated the game many times after our first go.

The patience game is almost exactly like the quiet game.

Kids need to learn that part of being patient is learning to be quiet and exhibiting self-control over their body and tongue.

The rule of the quiet game is you cannot make a noise. Beyond that, the kids are not to touch each other.

Have your children sit across from one another. If you are in a classroom setting, make sure everyone has a partner.

The goal of the game is to make the other person make a noise – laugh, snicker, talk, etc.

They can try and make the other person laugh, but they must stay absolutely silent in the process.

I had little gems (Amazon Affiliate link) I handed out as my kids played. If a person made a noise, the other player would receive a gem. The first person to five won. These little gems delight kids and are an inexpensive and fun reward system for kids.

When we played this game when the kids were little, my oldest, Abby, kept trying to make Kenzie laugh but would end up laughing herself. The longer they played (and they wanted to keep going) the better they got at just sitting there in silence, staring at each other. Do you see why I say it is a game loved by both kids and parents?

Teaching Kids that Patience is a Virtue

We need to continue to teach kids the value of taming our tongues. It’s part of the process of learning to be more patient. This article by Psychology Today talks about the value of delayed gratification. In a world where Amazon will deliver a package the next day, we – as parents, teachers, and caregivers – need to be more intentional about teaching patience to kids. This patience game is one activity to do just that.

I hope you will take some time to check out my other character-building lessons for kids.