Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Four Corners
Materials: signs with Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; tape
Tape a sign in each corner of the room (or four different areas of the room). Choose a kid to be IT. Tell him to stand in the middle of the room with his eyes covered. Guide other kids to move around the room and stand near one of the signs while IT counts to 10. Then IT calls out one of the Gospels and a movement (hop, clap, jump, turn around). The kids in the named corner make that movement. Then IT begins to count again and kids move again. Change IT after 3 rounds. Tell kids that they will hear a story today that is in all four Gospels. This story tells why Jesus came to earth.
Live It Out
Game – Word Match
Materials: paper, marker, beanbags
Write words from the story on pieces of paper, one word per page: Jesus, Pilate, crucified, cross, dead, tomb, women, earthquake, angel, stone, resurrected, worshiped. Make two sets of each word. Mix the words and lay them, face down, in the game area. You can place the words in a grid or just randomly in a group. (Add or change words from the story as you choose.)
Group kids into two teams. Guide 2 players from Team 1 to each toss a beanbag on a word. Check to see if the words match. If not, turn them facedown again. If the words match, ask the team to tell the part of the story that uses that word. Move the match to one side. Team 2 now has a turn to toss and match words. After all the words have been matched, guide kids to use the words to retell the Bible story. Say the Life Point.
Craft – God’s Plan Mobile
Materials: construction paper, scissors, hole punches, markers, yarn
Talk about God’s plan for salvation. (See the inside cover of your leader guide or the Printables for information.) Guide kids to cut large shapes from the paper. Lead them to write the Life Point on the large shapes. Tell them to cut smaller shapes and write the words from God’s plan for salvation. (God rules. We sinned. God provided. Jesus gives. We respond.) They may want to write Scripture references or other words about salvation on shapes, too. Guide kids to punch holes along the bottom of the larger shapes and in the tops of the smaller ones. They can cut yarn and attach the shapes together to make mobiles. Tell kids to punch holes in the top of the larger shapes and add yarn loop hangers.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – What Do You Know?
Materials: large piece of paper, marker
Display the paper. Draw a vertical line down the middle of the paper. At the top of the left column, write Know and at the top of the right column write Want to Know. Guide kids to tell you things they know about Jesus’ last week on earth. Write their words and ideas in the left column. Lead kids to think about things they would like to know about Jesus’ last week on earth. List their ideas in the right column. Say: “We know that Jesus came to earth to be the Savior. We will learn more about what He did to be Savior.”
Live It Out
Game – Pass the Pen Relay
Materials: white board, dry erase markers
Group the kids into two teams. Tell teams to stand in single file lines. Give a marker to the first player on each team. Say the Bible verse together. On your signal, the first players run to the board, write the first word of the verse, and run back to teams to hand off the marker. The next players run to write the next word, and so on. If a player needs help, the team can tell him the next word. (To increase the difficulty, place a Bible by the board. Kids must look up the verse to find the next word if they do not remember it.) After teams complete the verse, talk about the Bible story. Erase the board, mix the teams, and play again.
Craft – Salvation Books
Materials: paper cut into 3-by-6-inch strips, markers, staplers with staples
Review the Bible story. Talk about Jesus and tell kids that Jesus is God’s plan for salvation. Use the information in the inside cover of our leader guide to talk about God’s plan for salvation. Guide kids to write statements about Jesus and about God’s plan for salvation. They can write different statements on strips and staple them together to make books. Suggest they look up and write the Scripture verses referenced in the plan you discussed. Help the preteens understand that Jesus willingly died to provide salvation and that Jesus’ death and resurrection make salvation possible.
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