Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Letter Search
Materials: dishpan or larger shallow container with sand, letter tiles or heavyweight paper with letters (h, o, s, a, n, n, a), tablecloth or drop cloth
Hid the letters in the pan of sand. Set the pan on a tablecloth or drop cloth. Lead kids to find the letters in the sand. (You may want to have more than one set of letters.) After all letters are located, challenge kids to create a word with the letters. (Group the sets if you have more than one.) Tell kids that hosanna is a key word in today’s Bible story.
Live It Out
Game – Knock Down and Unscramble
Materials: cardboard tubes or empty plastic bottles, marker, ball or paper wad
Write these scrambled words on tubes or bottles: kodnye; mpla eelvas; sapire; seusJ; arsmuelJ; rocdw; siscedipl; shsMiae. (Words: donkey, palm leaves, praise, Jesus, Jerusalem, crowd, disciples, Messiah. Add other words from Bible story as you choose.) Set the scrambled words along a wall. Guide a kid to stand a few feet away and roll a ball (or toss a paper wad) to knock down a word. Kids can work to unscramble the word and talk about how that word relates to the Bible story. Talk about why God sent Jesus, to be the Messiah.
Craft – Praise Shakers
Materials: paper plates, markers, gravel or beans, ribbon or crepe paper, staplers with staples
Guide kids to draw designs on the backs of the plates. Encourage them to write the Life Point on the backs of the plates, too. Show kids how to staple lengths of ribbon along one side of the paper. (Staple ends of the ribbon to the front edge of the plate.) When a kid finishes his work, help him scoop a small handful of gravel and put on the front of the plate. He can fold the plate closed, enclosing the gravel inside. Help him staple along the plate edge to seal in the gravel. (Use several staples close together so gravel will not fall out through openings.) Sing praise songs and shake the shakers.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Step Carefully
Materials: paper, tape
Make a tape line on either end of the game area. Group the kids into groups of three. Give each group three pieces of paper. Lead the groups to stand along one of the tape lines. Tell groups that two kids should work to lay down paper for the third one to walk on. They should keep moving their pieces of paper to help the kid walk to the other tape line. When the group reaches that tape line, one of the other two kids becomes the “walker” and they help move that person back to the first line. Then the last person becomes the walker to move back to the other line. Comment that people laid things on the road in front of Jesus in today’s Bible story.
Live It Out
Game – Sticky Notes Game
Materials: sticky notes, numbered cube, game pieces (buttons, marker lids)
Group kids into two (or more) teams. Guide teams to take turns arranging sticky notes on a table to create a trail gameboard. Ask Team 1 a review question. If answered correctly, the team rolls the numbered cube; if the roll is 1-5, the team moves along the gameboard. If the team rolls a 6, they move 6 of the self-stick notes to change the path. After the team finishes moving the game piece (or rearranging the path), ask Team 2 a review question to continue the game.
Craft – Jesus Banner
Materials: construction paper, scissors, markers, tape, yarn or ribbon
Guide each preteen to cut 5 squares or triangles. The kids can draw pictures or write words about Jesus. Talk about the Bible story and other stories about Jesus as kids work. When a kid finishes, help her cut a length of yarn. (Choose whatever length works best for the shapes cut.) The kid can lay her five shapes face down and place the yarn along the tops of the pictures. She can tape the shapes to the yarn and tie loops at both ends. Say the Life Point. Tell kids they can hang their banners somewhere at home to remind them to thank God for Jesus, the Messiah.
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