Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Which Comes First?
Materials: none
Group the kids into two teams. Tell teams that you will name two things. The team should tell which came first. If the team member gets it correct, the team gets 20 points. If the answer is incorrect, the other team gets 10 points. Alternate asking members of each team to name which came first. (The correct answer is bold.)
- B or X?
- May or March?
- Genesis or Psalms?
- 12 or 22?
- Friday or Monday?
- Luke or Matthew?
- second grade or sixth grade?
- M or Q?
- Fall or Spring?
- chicken or egg?
Tell kids that today you will learn about Jesus’ teaching of what should come first.
Live It Out
Game – Mind Map
Materials: paper, markers, and tape
Print Live for God on a piece of paper and tape to the wall. Read the words on the paper on the wall. Talk about ways to show love to God and live for Him. Kids can write words and draw pictures about putting God first and attach the words and pictures around the title page to create a mind map. Encourage kids to look for ways to live for God throughout this week.
Craft – Life Point Quilt
Materials: variety of colored paper, markers, and tape (clear or colored masking tape)
Cut the paper into squares and other straight-edged shapes. Talk about the Bible story and emphasize the Life Point. Talk about what Jesus taught in the Sermon on thee Mount. Tell kids to write the words of the Life Point on paper shapes, one or two words per shape. Then they can tape the shapes together to make a patchwork design, like a quilt. Allow them to add other shapes to complete their quilts. Tell them that they can use the quilts as reminders to live for God.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Priority Toss
Materials: none
Guide kids to stand in a facing you or in a circle with you. Toss a foam ball or beanbag to a preteen. He names something that people think is a priority and tosses the ball back to you. Toss to another preteen and repeat. Keep tossing the ball back and forth as quickly as possible. Tell kids that you will learn about what Jesus said is a priority above all.
Live It Out
Game – Toss and Tell
Materials: muffin pan, paper, table tennis balls
Cut paper
circles to fit inside the cups of the muffin pan. On each circle, print a place
(such as home, school, the mall, friend’s house, sport field, etc.). Insert the
circles in the muffin pan; use tape to secure them. Set the muffin pan near a
wall.
Review the Bible content and Life Point. Give a table tennis ball to a preteen
and ask her to toss it into the muffin pan. Allow her three chances to get a
ball in the muffin pan. If she does not, her turn is over. If she gets a ball
in the pan, she can describe a situation in that place. The preteen behind her
can tell how to live for God in that situation. Then it’s his turn to toss a
ball in the pan.
Teaching Tips: Use two or three muffin pans, side by side, to create
more targets. Repeat some of the places in the muffin cups instead of trying to
think of so many different places.
Use teams to play. One team tosses and tells the situations. The other team
tells how to do the right thing. Then teams switch tasks.
Craft – Watch Reminder
Materials: paper, scissors, glue, and pencils
Talk about the priorities that preteens have and ways to make God the priority in their lives. Guide kids to make “watches” to remind them to live for God. Each preteen can cut a paper strip to fit around his wrist. He can cut a circle (or other shape) to be the “face” of the watch. On the face, he can write something to help him remember to make God the priority in his life. He can glue the face to the paper strip band. Then he can glue the ends of the strip together to complete the band. (Tape can be used to secure the band so it can be removed, too.)
Leave a Reply