Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Gathering Grain
Materials: popcorn kernels, tweezers or small spoons, bowls
Place a bowl with kernels on a table at one end of the game area. Place an empty bowl on a table at the other end of the game area. Guide kids to take turns moving the kernels to the empty bowl using tweezers or small spoons to carry the kernels. (If any kernels are dropped, kids must pick them up along the route.) Tell kids that someone in the Bible story today gathered grain.
Note: For a large group of kids, create teams and provide multiple bowls of kernels for transferring.
Live It Out
Game – Life-Sized Tic-Tac-Toe
Materials: masking tape, cloth strips or headbands in two different colors
Use the tape to make a large tic-tac-toe grid on the floor. (Each space should be large enough for a kid to stand or sit in it.) Group the kids into two teams. Give each team a set of strips or headbands. Ask Team 1 a review question. If the team answers correctly, they can choose a player (wearing the cloth strip around his arm or the head) to stand or sit in a space on the grid. Repeat with Team 2. Continue alternating questions between teams until the grid is filled or until a team gets three players in a row to win. Clear the board and play again. Talk about the Life Point. Ask kids to name ways they can help their families or ways their family members help them.
Craft – Glowing Hearts
Materials: black construction paper, chalk, heavy paper, scissors, cotton balls
Cut out heart shapes from the heavy paper to use as stencils. Give a kid black paper, chalk, and a stencil. Guide the kid to trace around the stencil with the chalk. He can hold the stencil in place and use a cotton ball to brush the chalk out and away from the shape. Tell him to pick up the stencil and move it to another place on his paper and repeat the process. Suggest he use different colors to create a “glowing” collage. Talk about the Life Point. Ask kids to name ways family members show love and help one another. Suggest kids write the Life Point on their paper with chalk.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Up and Down
Materials: Life Point poster
Display the Life Point. Read the Life Point together. Group the kids into two teams. Tell teams to stand and sit as they say each word of the Point. Tell Team 1 to stand on the first word and Team 2 to sit on the first word. Then Team 1 will sit on the second word and Team 2 will stand on the second word. Continue alternating standing and sitting as they say the words. Repeat a few times, increasing speed in saying the Point. Switch roles and do it again. Tell kids they will hear and think about another part of God’s plan for families.
Live It Out
Game – Cup Catch
Materials: plastic cups (one per kid), foil balls or paper balls
Show kids how to use a cup to toss a ball. (Place the ball in the cup; quickly jerk the cup in the direction you want it to go; the ball will fly from the cup.) Give kids cups and let them practice tossing and catching the balls with the cups. After a few minutes, guide kids to stand in a circle. Tell them they will toss and catch the ball around or across the circle, using only the cups. (They cannot toss or catch the ball with their hands.) Give a ball to one player to start. Kids can start tossing and catching the ball. After a few turns, call stop. Ask the one with the ball to answer a review question. Then start the tossing and catching again. Continue to stop randomly and ask review questions. After a while, ask the kid with the ball to say the Life Point.
Craft – “Stained Glass” Sign
Materials: waxed paper, permanent markers (black and other colors); tape (optional)
Give each preteen a length of waxed paper. Lead kids to write Love and Help in outline letters or bubble letters (with a black marker). Tell them to use the black marker to draw lines around the letters to create squares and triangles. Then they can use the other colors to create designs or fill in the shapes and letters. Tell kids they can post their stained glass signs as reminders to love and help their family members.
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