Grades 1–6: Celebrate Jesus Birth — Session 5: God Protected Jesus (December 29)

Grades 1-3

Introductory Activity – Scramble

Materials: index cards, marker, bag

Print the letters of the Life Point on cards, one letter per card. Mix the cards and place them in a bag. Guide kids to sit around a table or in a circle on the floor. Pour out the cards and guide kids to put the Life Point in order. After about 1 minute, call out: “Scramble!” Kids stand and move to another seat. They sit and continue to work. Call “Scramble” a couple of times during the activity. Read the completed Life Point. Say that kids will hear a story about how God protected Jesus so He could grow.

Live It Out

Game – Jump to Answer

Materials: tape line in the middle of the game area

Lead kids to line up on the tape line, facing you. Make a statement about the Bible story: “Men traveled from the east to find a new king.” Kids jump left off of the line if the statement is true and right off the line if the statement is false. Guide kids to move back to the line. Make another statement about the Bible story and wait for kids to jump left or right to answer it. Continue with statements about the story. Say the Life Point together with the kids after you have reviewed the story.

Craft – Sand Pictures

Materials: sand, cardboard or heavyweight paper, glue, pens, plastic box or dishpan

Give each child a piece of cardboard or paper. Guide the kids to use glue to make designs. They can sprinkle sand on top of the glue to make sand pictures. They can carefully hold their papers over the box or dishpan and tilt it to remove extraneous sand. As they work, talk about the Bible story. Mention that Joseph and Mary took Jesus across the sandy desert to Egypt. Talk about the Life Point and how it connects to the Bible story. Suggest kids write the Life Point, Life Verse, or a statement about the story on their sand pictures.

Grades 4-6

Introductory Activity – Card Roundup

Materials: variety of Christmas cards, two gift bags

Scatter the cards around the game area. Label one bag Biblical and the other bag Not Biblical. Set the two bags at one end of the game area. Guide kids to line up, one behind the other, near the bags. Tell kids that different kinds of pictures are on Christmas cards. Tell the first player to run to a card and examine the front of the card to decide if the front reflects the Biblical story of Christmas or not. Then the player will run back to the bags and drop the card in the corresponding bag. Then the next player will find another card to bring back. Examine the cards in the Biblical bag after the relay. Tell kids that the story today will tell more about God’s plan to send Jesus.

Live It Out

Game – Mystery Points

Materials: circle stickers in four colors (red, yellow, blue, green), large piece of paper with numbered columns

Before the session, print on a piece of paper each sticker color and a point amount. (Example: 10 point for every red circle, 20 points for a blue circle, 50 points for a yellow circle, and 100 points for a green circle) Set the point sheet aside and out of sight.
Group the kids into two or more teams. Show the stickers. Tell kids that each color is worth a different amount of points and you will tell them the amounts at the end of the game. Ask each team a review question. If the team answers correctly, they can choose a sticker and stick on the paper under their team number. Continue until each team has been asked at least 3 questions. Look at the sticker board and show the points list. Total points for each team. Talk about the Life Point. Play the game again but change the point values. (Note the new point values on a piece of paper before play begins.)

Craft – Window Clings

Materials: gallon ziplock freezer bags, glue, food color, toothpicks or coffee stirrers, scissors, hair dryers, paper, pencils

Guide kids to cut a large star shape (or other shape) from the paper. Help a kid slide the shape into a ziplock bag. Lead the kid to pour glue and spread it over the shape. She can add drops food coloring to the glue and swirl it around with toothpicks. Use hair dryers to help the glue dry. When the glue is dry, cut the shape from the ziplock bag. Tell kids that when they get home, they can peel the plastic from the back of the shape, moisten the back of the shape, and stick it to a window or mirror. (You may want to plan to set aside the clings to dry for the week and complete them next week.) Talk about how God helped protect baby Jesus and how Jesus grew as God planned. Say the Bible verse.