Build an Ark – Puzzle Ark Game

I had so much fun watching all the 3D arks in the Primary Facebook Group. They were so fun and a wonderful idea. However, in my typical style, I’m all about print-and-play! Thus, this Build an Ark Puzzle (printable!) was born!

You could certainly adapt the printables included here to use with a 3D ark design as well, if you’re up for the task of repurposing boxes!

Build an Ark Puzzle

*Downloads are available at the bottom of the post when signed in!*

Print out the puzzle pages (included at the bottom of this post) on a heavy cardstock. You’ll want them to be firm and not flop over like regular printer paper. You can also print on colored cardstock. A light brown, yellow, or orange would all work!

Then, prepare the ark before Primary by cutting off the margins, including the extra sides of the ark.

How to Assemble Build an Ark Puzzle

Sing through Build an Ark before introducing this activity.

Tell the children you want their help to build an ark this week in Primary! Bring out your puzzle pieces with the lyrics or have them hidden around the room.

You can show the children one of the pieces, as an example, and read the words with a beat rhythm – one clap per word. Note, that this pattern is different than the melody which sometimes holds some of the words. Following a beat pattern is a fun way to add in a beat and recite the words for emphasis.

After you have found or revealed a piece of the puzzle, have the children help you place it in the correct spot. You can outline your ark before Primary if you have time to help them place that first piece, or just put it up on the board, and work around it as you gather more pieces.

Continue adding pieces, repeating the words as you introduce a new puzzle piece, and then add them to the boat! As you add the pieces, or if you cut them into Tetris pieces, then when you’ve added 2-3 pieces, then sing through the song!

Extension Activities:

• Instead of singing all the words, sing only the words currently visible in the ark. In Junior Primary – just point to the boat whenever it’s their time to sing! Explain that will be the visual cues it’s time to sing.
• Cut the full-sized pages into smaller Tetris puzzle pieces. I would recommend just 2-3 pieces per page. You can leave them whole for Junior and then have a Primary leader cut into smaller pieces to be ready for Senior after you’ve finished the activity.
• Have the children bring a picture of themselves (4×6 size or smaller) to Primary with them. After the ark is complete, add all of their pictures to the boat!

Build an Ark
Printable Primary Ark Puzzle

It was hard to capture the size of this printable, but keep in mind that the ark is a total of 9 full size sheets of paper, with some minimal trimming at the edges. It’s a great size to be large and make a statement, but not so large that it’s difficult to print, organize, or store!

The printable included below includes an overview page of how to play with extension activities. It also includes a model page to help you setup the boat correctly, since it spans several pages.

Then, it includes 8 pages of words in single boxes and one additional page with an ark roof. You can also simply cut a piece of paper across diagonally from one corner to the other to make 2 triangles to form the roof, you don’t need to actually print the roof page it’s mostly to help you understand the cut direction.

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What other fun extension activities could you add to this singing time activity while building an ark?