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Grades 1–6: In the Beginning — Session 5: Joseph Loved His Brothers (August 30)

Grades 1-3

Introductory Activity – Carrying 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 Jacob’s family needed grain and traveled to Egypt.
Note: For a large group of kids, create teams and provide multiple bowls of kernels for transferring.

Live It Out

Game – Verse Pick-Up

Materials: table tennis balls, chopsticks, paper plates, permanent marker

Print the words of the Bible verse on the balls, one word per ball. If you want to play in teams, make more than one set, using different colors of marker. Mix the balls and place them on one or more paper plates. Set aside other plates as “home base.” (Create a home base for each team.)
Say the Bible verse with kids. Lead kids to take turns picking up the words of the verse in order, using the chopsticks. After kids have moved all the words in order, say the verse together again. Talk about the Bible story and how Joseph showed love and care for his brothers. Say the Life Point.
Variations: (1) Use spoons instead of chopsticks to move the balls. (2) Print words on paper squares. Wad each square into a ball. (Use different colors of paper to make multiple sets if you are playing in teams.) Kids can move the paper balls onto the home base, open up the paper balls, and put the words in order. (Since paper balls have more “give” than table tennis balls, they will be easier to move with chopsticks.)

Craft – Emoji Bookmark

Materials: yellow construction paper, scissors, clear tape, permanent markers, rulers, pencils

Invite kids to make corner bookmarks. They can measure along a paper side about two inches and then down about two inches to make an L shape. Connect the two ends of the L with a diagonal line to make a triangle. Lead kids to cut out their triangles, trace them on paper, and cut out a second matching triangle. Tell kids to stack their two triangles on top of one another. Then they can tape along the two sides, leaving the diagonal open. Invite kids to use the markers to draw emoji faces on their triangles. Show kids how to slide the open side of the bookmark over a page corner of a book or Bible to mark the page. As kids work, talk about the Bible story. Say the Life Point. Talk about possible emotions of Joseph, his brothers, and his father during different portions of the Bible story.

Grades 4-6

Introductory Activity – Fill-in-the-Blank Musical Chairs

Materials: chairs (one less than number of players), CD of music, index cards, markers, large piece of paper, tape

Print the words of the Life Point on cards, one word per card. Tape a large piece of paper on the wall and make nine blanks (one blank for word of the Life Point). Make a circle of chairs.
Start the music. Guide kids to march around the chairs as in the game “musical chairs.” When the music stops, everyone should try to be seated. The child left without a seat must choose an index card (with a word on it) and try to decide in which blank the word on his card belongs. Tell him if he is correct. If he is not correct, return the card to the floor and start the music again. If he is correct, tape the word in the blank. He may try to solve the puzzle (read the sentence). If he cannot solve the puzzle, leave the card on the board and start the music again. Continue until the puzzle is solved. Lead the children to read the Life Point together.

Live It Out

Game – True/False Toss

Materials: two dishpans, paper with True and False, beanbag or bath scrubber

Place one word in each dishpan. Set the dishpans in the middle of the game area. Ask a true/false question about the Bible story. Lead a preteen to toss the beanbag into the correct dishpan for an answer. Allow two tries, then pass the beanbag to another person. Award points for each correct answer. Say the Life Point.
For larger groups of kids, play in teams.

Craft – Heart Mini Poster

Materials; card stock (about 6 by 8 inches), different colors of decorative tape or thin colored masking tape, scissors, gel pens

Give a kid two pieces of card stock. Help him cut a heart shape in the middle of one of the cards. Then help him stack the two pieces of card stock together and trace the heart cutout onto the second piece of card stock. Set the cutout card aside and use strips of tape to cover the drawn heart; alternate colors or designs. After the heart is covered, the kid can tape the cutout back on top of the taped design. (The cutout heart will show the taped design.) Print the Life Point under the heart. Talk about the Bible story and the Life Point.

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