File folder games are versatile, inexpensive and easily stored!  When I taught special education classes in school, we used MANY file folder activities for our students. File folder activities helped our students work independently on a variety of skills. In the Bible class setting, file folders make a perfect pre-class activity that can reinforce skills or review memory work. Children can work independently on skills of categorizing, sorting, and matching.

Here are some of the matching activities that I have my folders:

• Bible husbands with wives (e.g. Adam with Eve, Ananias with Sapphira, Zacharias with Elizabeth)
• Bible children with parents (e.g. Hannah with Samuel, Abraham with Isaac, Jacob with Joseph)
• Bible siblings (e.g. Cain & Abel, Isaac & Ishmael, Mary & Martha)
• People with their occupations (e.g. Paul-tent maker, Lydia-sold purple, David-shepherd)
• Bible events matched to book of the Bible (Flood-Genesis, 10 Plagues-Exodus, Beginning of the church-Acts)
• Bible verse matched to the reference
• Bible question matched to the correct answer

Activities can review memory work such as putting books of the Bible in order or categorizing the divisions of the Bible.  The possibilities are endless!

So what do you need to know to create these folders? Any pattern book or internet patterns can be used to create the folders.  I always run copies on card stock (colored card stock if appropriate). Otherwise, I color the card stock pieces with markers.

Make your folders colorful and attractive.  Use colored folders rather than the tan, drab, manila ones. Use bright, contrasting colors for your pattern and matching pieces.

Be sure that all your pieces are big enough and don’t over crowd your folder.  Approximately 10 things per folder are usually enough.

It is also VERY important to laminate everything!  By laminating you will dramatically increase the longevity of your folders. Use Velcro on each piece that will connect one piece to the other, i.e. matching the question and answer. If possible, make your activity self checking.  Since you don’t want children to “cheat”, you may want to have an answer guide waiting to give a child at the conclusion of the activity.

You can type the questions and answers on the picture pieces or write on them before laminating, but I prefer to leave everything blank when I create the folder. Then when you are ready to use them, you can write the questions and answers directly on the laminated pieces with a wet erase marker. These can be purchased at any store that sells markers, (I usually get mine at Walmart). These are made by Expo and known as Vis-a-Vis. By leaving the pieces blank, it allows flexibility to mix & match a variety of questions and answers.

If you’ve never used file folder activities, they are definitely something to try.  It does take awhile to prepare the folders, but if you laminate them and take care of them, they should last you for years to come.  It will be worth the time invested!