Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity—Scavenger Hunt
Materials: Items brought from home or already in the group space (i.e. box of crayons, stuffed animal, specific book, eraser, yellow pencil, red pen, etc.), timer
Create a list of items in your group space that you have hidden in different areas around the room and write that list where kids can see it. When everyone arrives, set the timer to five minutes and allow kids to search the room and find as many items on the list as they can. After time is up or all the items are found, gather kids together and tell them that though it was a secret where some of the items were hidden, God’s plan to save people from sin and death was not a secret plan. Tell the kids they will learn about how God used the prophets to give hope to His people and tell them the plan He had in place.
Live It Out
Game—Find It
Materials: Bibles
Gather kids together and give each child or pair of kids a Bible. Work together to find each one of these verses: Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:10, Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 9:6, Luke 4:18. Read the verse together. Ask these questions, encouraging kids to answer: “What prophecy was fulfilled in this verse? What does it mean for me that God fulfilled His promise here?”
Craft—Bible Book Mark
Materials: Cardstock, scissors, writing utensils, hole punch, yarn cut into 6 inch pieces
Precut the cardstock into 3-by-8-inch strips. Give each kid a strip. Write the Life Point on the board and encourage kids to copy it onto their bookmarks. They can then decorate it however they like. Punch a hole in the top center of the bookmark and show them how to tie the string like a tassel. Tell them they can place their bookmark in one of the Old Testament passages to remind them that God planned to send Jesus from the beginning of time.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity—Codes
Materials: Dry erase board and marker
Draw the following items on the board in this order: mountain, egg, strawberry, spider, ice cream cone, apple, hat. Tell kids that these pictures are a code for something and it’s their job to figure out what the code means. Give them about five minutes to work together to decode the word Messiah. (The first letter of each picture is a word in Messiah.) If you’d like to make the game even harder, mix photos up so that kids have to decode then unscramble the word. After the word is revealed, gather kids together and tell them that though the word they had to unscramble was a secret, God’s plan to save people from sin and death was not a secret plan. Today, kids will learn about how God used the prophets to give hope to His people and tell them the plan He had in place.
Live It Out
Game—Bible Drill
Materials: Bibles for each child
Make sure that each kid has a Bible and tell them that they will be doing Bible drills! You’ll give them a verse and the first kid to find it will read it aloud. Kids start sitting in their seats with one hand on the top of their Bibles and one on the bottom until you say the verse. Then the kids should find the verse and stand when it is found. Use the following verses or any others you know that foretell Jesus’ birth: Isaiah 7:14, Hosea 11:1, Isaiah 9:6, Numbers 24:17, Isaiah 11:1-5, Micah 5:2
Craft—Make a Scroll
Materials: Unsharpened pencils (two per kid), tape, lightweight white or tan paper, writing utensils, yarn cut into about six inch pieces
Hand out paper, utensils, dowels, and tape for each child. Give them a few minutes to write the Life Point in the middle of the paper and decorate as they please. Then show them how to tape the pencils to each end of the paper, roll up, and tie together with a small piece of yarn. Say the Life Point and talk about the Bible story as the kids work.
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