Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Belly Laugh
Materials: none
Choose one child eo lie on her back. Then have another child lie with his head on the other child’s belly. Have the remaining kids lie down with their heads resting on another child’s belly and so forth until everyone is laying down with their head on another kid’s stomach. Choose one person to start the game by shouting, “Ha!” The next person will shout, “Ha, ha!” and each child continues to add a “ha” as they work around the group. Sooner or later the group will burst into laughter, with heads bouncing off bellies. You may also challenge kids to tell jokes or do other things that lead to laughter. Point out how contagious the laughter and joy was, but remind them that there is something else that is contagious: sin. In today’s lesson, kids will learn how contagious sin spread, but God was in control anyway.
Live It Out
Game – Table Tennis Advantage
Materials: table tennis balls, masking tape, index cards
Put a strip of masking tape across a table to divide it in half. Form two teams of kids, ensuring that one team has one or two more players than the other team. Give each team an equal number of table tennis balls (at least one per player) and give each player an index card. When you say go, teams should use their cards to fan the balls and move them across the table. The team with the fewest table tennis balls after one-minute wins. Play as time allows, then ask kids if any team had an advantage (the team with fewer players). Remind them that in this Bible story, people tried to cheat their way to God. They tried to make themselves equal with Him, but people can never do that, no matter how hard we try. Tell them that this is exactly what makes today’s Life Point true: The world follows God’s plan and purpose.
Craft – Make a Group Tower
Materials: foam cups, permanent markers
Give each kid a few cups and a marker to write on them with. Tell them to write their names and the following words on the cup: The world follows God’s plan and purpose. They can then decorate their cups however they like. When everyone is finished decorating the cups, gather everyone together and have kids strategize about how they can build the tallest tower with their cups. Allow them to play as long as time allows then grab their cups and gather together to discuss. Ask kids if they think they could build a tower that would reach God even if they had all the cups in the world. Remind them that reaching God is not something He made a way for us to do, and these cups can remind us that the world always follows God’s plan and purpose.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Play a Hymn
Materials: song and speakers (computer—option), dry erase board and marker
Find the song “O Praise the Lord, God Has a plan,” (Hymn: O praise the Lord, God has a plan (hymnal.net) and write the lyrics on the board before your group arrives. When everyone gets there, play the song and allow kids to read the lyrics while it plays. If your group knows the hymn already, feel free to sing along. After it is over, ask kids what words or phrases from the hymn stood out, and tell them they will be learning today about how the whole world eventually follows God’s amazing plan—even when we try not to.
Live It Out
Game – Make a Card Tower
Materials: 3-4 decks of cards
Create three to four groups of kids and give each group a deck of cards. Encourage them to work together to build the highest tower of cards. Play as long as time allows, and then ask kids the following questions.
Was it hard to build the tower, why?
Even if you have used every card would you have ever been able to reach the ceiling with your cards?
Remind kids that though the people thought they had all the right abilities and materials to reach heaven, they were wrong. The world follows the plan and purpose of our Sovereign God. Help kids understand that God is at work in creation, even when people disobey God, like the people who built the tower did.
Craft – Stained Glass Earth
Materials: paper plates, black construction paper, clear contact paper, blue and green tissue paper, scissors
Help kids trace a circle onto a piece of black construction paper using a plate as a stencil. Cut the circle out and then cut the center out to make what looks like the outline of a circle. Place the circle on the sticky back of a piece of contact paper. Start with the green tissue paper and stick on the contact paper to make the continents. Then add the blue tissue paper to make the oceans. Cut off the remaining contact paper. On the clear side of the paper, kids can use a black permanent marker to write the Weekly Verse.
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