Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Temple Construction
Materials: plastic interlocking bricks, wooden blocks, small boxes, other building materials
Encourage kids to build the temple using the materials. They can build the temple from what they remember; or you can provide a picture of the temple for them to use as a guide. (For larger groups of kids, provide more than one building area.) Tell kids that the temple is a location in today’s Bible story.
Live It Out
Game – Dueling Cubes
Materials: two numbered cubes
Group the kids into two teams. Give a player on each team a numbered cube. The players roll the cubes. Ask a review question. The team with the higher roll gets to answer (and gets the same number of points if answered correctly.) If answered incorrectly, the other team can answer (for the point on its roll). If both teams roll the same number, both teams lose 1 point. If the teams roll double sixes, the group says the Life Point and both teams get 12 points.
Craft – Doorway Poster
Materials: paper, markers or crayons
Give a child a piece of paper. Help him fold each side of the paper to the middle, creating a page that looks like double doors opening. Lead him to write the Life Point on the outside of his card (on the “doors”). Inside, he can draw a picture of Jesus with the temple teachers. Talk about the Bible story and say the Weekly Verse. Pray and thank God for Jesus’ example.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Hide and Find Game
Materials: plastic interlocking mini figure or other small person figure
Choose a child to step outside the room and stand outside the door. (Make sure the child is visible to an adult at all times.) Set the figure somewhere in the room; the figure can be placed anywhere but should still at least partially visible. Ask the child to step back into the room and search for the figure. Other children can clap softly when the seeking child is far from the figure and clap more loudly when he is closer to the figure. When he finds the figure, choose another child to step outside the room while the first child places the figure. After the game, tell kids that people searched for someone today in the Bible story.
Live It Out
Game – Word Drop
Materials: craft sticks, different colored markers
Write the words of the Bible Verse on craft sticks, one or two words per stick. Make several sets (at least one for each team), using a different colored marker for each set. Mix all the words together. Group the kids into teams; assign a color to each team (coordinating with the word colors). Hold sticks together a couple of feet from the ground. Drop the sticks into a pile. Give a signal. Team members run to the pile of sticks and find the words of their color and move to the team’s area to assemble the verse in order. The first team to correctly assemble the verse is the winner. Say the verse together. Call attention to the words in the verse and talk about the different ways that Jesus grew. Say the Life Point.
Craft – Decorated Rulers
Materials: wooden rulers (or card stock strips made to look like rulers), permanent markers in various colors, washi tape, scissorsI
nvite a preteen to write the verse on the back of a ruler and then decorate the ruler with the markers and tape. Say the verse and ask kids to tell how that verse relates to the Bible story. Talk about the story and the Life Point. Note that Jesus was a baby and grew to a boy and then a man just like the preteens are doing. Stress that Jesus was fully God but also fully man.
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