Grades 1–3
Introductory Activity—Stop, Go, Stop, Go
Materials: no materials needed
Line kids up on one side of your space. Pick one volunteer to stand on the opposite side of the space. That volunteer should face away from the others and say “Go.” Kids can start moving toward her. When she says “Stop,” she should turn around and everyone else should freeze. If she catches a kid moving, he goes back to the beginning of the line. The first kid to reach the volunteer gets to yell out “Stop” and “Go” in the next round. After playing for several minutes, tell the kids that today they will hear a story about a time that it looked like Jesus had stopped, but really, it was just the beginning of His plan to keep going forever.
Live It Out
Game—Move to Answer
Materials: One large YES sign and one 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. You may revise the provided review question or come up with some on your own! Tell kids to move to the correct answer. 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. Pray and ask God to help each kid and adult to tell people that Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection were part of God’s plan for salvation.
Craft—Light out of Darkness Cross
Materials: heavy black paper, paper crosses cut out of construction paper, colorful chalk, tape
Have kids roll tape into a loop to create double-sided tape. They can tape the cross onto the black construction paper. Give kids colorful chalk options, and tell them to color all over the paper, being sure not to get the chalk under the cross they taped on. Afterward, help kids carefully remove the cross from the black paper to reveal the black cross underneath the colorful explosion of chalk around it. Help kids remember that though the day Jesus died on the cross was a dark day, God brought light by raising Jesus from the dead!
Grades 4–6
Introductory Activity—Who Am I?
Materials: index cards, tape, permanent marker
Print the names of different famous people that kids in your context would know on separate index cards. People could even be people in your community like your pastor or well-known fictional characters. As each kid arrives, tape a card with a name on his back. Each kid can ask the others yes or no questions about what person is on his back. When everyone has guessed her person, tell kids that today they will hear the story that should be the most famous of all time: Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection.
Live It Out
Game—Up and Down Review
Materials: sticky notes, pencil
Print these point values on the backs of self-stick notes (fronts will be blank): +1 (make several notes); +2 (make several notes); +4 (make 1-2 notes); +5 (make one note); -1 (make several notes); -3 (make several notes). Stick the notes on a wall or white board.
Group the kids into two teams. Alternate asking the teams review questions about the Bible story. When a team answers correctly, a member of the team takes a note (without looking at the back first). Designate a place for each team to place their points notes. After all review questions are asked, add and subtract to total the points for each team.
Mix and return the notes to the wall to play the game again. (Note: Winning team could be the one with the lesser number of points. If so, add at least one larger number of points to subtract.)
Craft—Fingerprint Cross
Materials: white paper with blank cross printed onto it, various colors of acrylic paint, cups of water for rinsing, paper towels, writing utensils, paper plates
Give each kid a piece of paper with a blank cross printed onto it. Underneath the cross, tell kids to write the Life Point. Give each child a paper plate, and help him squirt a quarter sized amount of each color paint he would like to use onto the plate. Using their fingerprints, kids can create dots all over their crosses. They should rinse and wipe off their hands in between each color to keep colors from mixing together. Use this time to talk about making a decision to follow Christ as Savior.
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