Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Spell Jesus
Materials: large pieces of paper; marker; tape; plastic plates (at least 10 plates each of 2 or more colors)
Print J, E, S, U, S on large pieces of paper. Mark off 5 large squares on the floor with tape; tape one letter in each square. Use tape to create a tossing line a few feet from the boxes. Group the kids into two (or more) teams. Give each team a stack of plates; each team should have different colored plates. On your signal, teams should take turns tossing the plates (like a flying disk) onto the letters. When all plates have been tossed, call “Stop.” Send a member from each team to gather any plates that are not on a letter. Start the tossing again. The first team to get one plate on each letter is the winning team. Tell kids they will hear a story about Jesus in which showed that all people are important to God.
Live It Out
Game – Yes or No?
Materials: 1 large YES sign and 1 large NO sign
Tape the two signs on opposite sides of the room. Guide kids to stand in the middle of the room or play area. Ask a yes/no review question about the Bible story. Tell kids to move to the answer they choose. Call on the group with the largest representation to answer. They should answer, “Yes and ___” telling one more thing about the story. Or they should answer, “No because ____” correcting the statement.
Craft – Paper T-shirt
Materials: paper cut into t-shirt shapes, stickers, markers, crayons, glitter pens, other art supplies
Lead kids to design t-shirts to help them remember the Life Point. They can create shirts with the words of the Life Point or with other messages and images that communicate that a;; people are important to God. As they work on their paper t-shirts, talk about how we know that people are important to God. Use the Bible story as a beginning point. Talk about other stories the kids know that show that Jesus cares about people. Encourage kids to show their t-shirts to the group and talk about what they designed.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Stand and Sit
No materials needed
Tell kids to sit in a circle. Make statements about Jesus; lead kids to stand if the statement is true and sit if the statement is false. Say things like: “Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Jesus never went to the temple. Jesus chose 5 disciples. Jesus calmed a storm. Jesus did not help people. Jesus rode a camel into Jerusalem. Jesus healed people. Jesus is God’s Son.” Tell kids that today they will learn about a time Jesus healed someone.
Live It Out
Game – Seated Volleyball
Materials: tape, beach ball
Use the tape to create a “net” in the middle of the play area. Mark the outside boundaries of the play area, too. Group kids into two teams. Guide each team to sit on each side of the play area. Play volleyball. Each team gets three hits to get the ball over the net (to the other side). If a team hits the ball more than three times, hits the ball out of bounds, or lets the ball hit the ground on its side, the other team wins a point. Ask that team a review question; a correct answer gains an additional point. Continue play until one team reaches 21 points.
Craft – Folder Book
Materials: file folders (one per kid), markers, colored pens and pencils, other appropriate art materials
Lead kids to create folder books. Open the folder. Fold the left edge of the folder to the middle; repeat with the right edge. Now you have a book that opens in the middle. When open, four sections are indicated by the folds. Guide kids to use the materials to create books about Jesus. They can draw pictures or write information about Jesus in the four sections. They can fold the front closed and create a cover for their books. Talk about the Bible story and the Life Point. Guide kids to write the Life Point on the backs of their books (if they did not write it inside the books).
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