Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Practice Finding Bible Verses
Materials: Bible for each child
Give each child a Bible. Call out a verse for kids to find in their Bibles (consider using the verses provided below, all about strength that comes from God). Take time to teach book, chapter, and verse to any child who needs assistance. Kids can sit as they are looking for the verse, then quickly stand and read it aloud when it is found. Finish with this week’s weekly verse, Nehemiah 6:9, to lead into the lesson for the day. Remind kids that God gives us strength to do hard things, and He reminds us of that all throughout the Bible, including in the story they will learn about in this session.
Philippians 4:13
Isaiah 41:10
Deuteronomy 31:6
Ephesians 6:10
1 Chronicles 16:11
Nehemiah 6:9
Live It Out
Game – Snowball Build Up
Materials: plenty of newspaper, disposable wipes, masking tape
Form two groups. Divide your space into two equal-sized areas with a masking tape line. Give each group plenty of newspaper. When you say go, allow kids make “snowballs” by crumpling up newspaper and throwing them back and forth at the opposing team for a few minutes. At the end of time, the side with fewer “snowballs” wins! Point out that at times, it might have seemed as if the newspaper balls were building up too quickly. That’s kind of like sin. Remind kids that God is active in His creation because He is in charge of it. When sin took over, God intervened, and though He promised not to destroy the world again, He still works among all creation.
Craft – Make a Rainbow
Materials: white paper plates, scissors, markers (the colors of the rainbow), tacky glue, cotton balls, scissors
Give each child a paper plate to cut in half or cut paper plates in half before kids arrive. Show kids how to create a rainbow from their half-circle plate by using colored markers. Make sure some white space is left in the middle of the plate and encourage kids to write the life point in that space: God is in charge of all creation. At the bottom of the rainbow, kids can glue cotton balls to represent clouds. Tell kids they can take their rainbows home with them and use it as a reminder that God is in charge of everything!
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Put the Books of the Bible in Order
Materials: index cards, colored markers, Bible
Write the name of each book of the Bible on separate index cards. Consider color coding the names according to divisions. Mix up the cards. Invite kids to put the cards in order using the table of contents in a Bible. After kids finish, remind them that the Bible is one of the primary ways God speaks to us, so knowing it well is important. Tell them that today, they will be learning about someone who followed God’s words even when the world probably thought he was crazy!
Live It Out
Game – Balance Beam
Materials: painters tape
Create various lines, or balance beams, on the floor with painters tape. One might be a straight line, one may be a zig-zag line, one may be a dotted line. Line kids up behind the lines and give them challenges of how to walk the balance beam. Kids might need to hop on one foot, only go on their tiptoes, or any other creative challenges you can think of. After playing for a while, gather kids together and ask them how hard it was to keep their balance. Remind them that if they had chosen to not follow your direction while they were crossing the lines, they wouldn’t have been playing the game correctly. Like you as the leader were in charge of that game, God is in charge of all creation. He is in charge of everything!
Craft – Color a Rainbow
Materials: white copy paper, crayons of every color of the rainbow, black watercolor paint, paintbrushes, water
Encourage kids to draw a rainbow with crayons on their white copy paper. They can then paint over the picture with black watercolor paint. The paint will not stick to the crayon drawing of the rainbow. Tell kids that despite all the sin on the earth, God made a promise never to destroy the world again by flood. God is in charge of all creation.
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