Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Can’t Touch This
No materials needed.
Group kids into pairs. Tell kids to face their partners. On your signal, tell kids to try to touch their partners on the knee; but they should try to keep the partner from touch their own knee. After a minute or so, call for kids to stop and switch partners. Start again with new partners. After a few rounds, call kids together. Tell them that in today’s story, Thomas wanted to see and touch someone for himself.
Live It Out
Game – End Zone
Materials: 21 pieces of paper, ball or cone, numbered cube
Lay the pieces of paper in a line on the floor (to make the gameboard). Place the ball or cone on the middle piece of paper. Group the kids into two teams; lead teams to sit at either end of the gameboard. Ask Team 1 a review question. If the team answers correctly, a player can roll the cube and move the ball toward the team’s end zone. Ask Team 2 a question and repeat, with that team moving the ball toward their end of the gameboard. Continue until one team moves the ball into their end zone.
Craft – Verse Collage
Materials: clear contact plastic, paper scraps, markers, scissors
Give each child a piece of contact plastic. He can remove the backing and lay the plastic sticky side up. He can write the words of the Bible verse on pieces of paper and stick the words on his plastic. He can cut the paper for words into whatever shapes he chooses. He can add other paper shapes to his design. When he had completed his collage, give him another piece of contact plastic. He can remove the backing and stick the plastic over his collage, sealing it. Help him trim the sticky sides of his collage. Talk about the verse and Bible story. Say the Life Point.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Full Body Musical Chairs
Materials: chairs in a circle, music CD
Guide kids to stand around the outside of the circle of chairs. Tell them you will play musical chairs, but with a slight change. When the music stops, you will call out a body part, kids must touch that body part to a chair. Play music and guide kids to walk around the circle of chairs. Stop the music and call: “Elbow.” All kids must touch their elbows to a chair. (More than one elbow can be on a chair.) If a kid cannot get to a chair, he must stand out for one round. Start the music. Kids walk again. Stop the music and call another body part. After a few rounds, remove a couple of chairs to make the game more challenging. As the game continues, modify the rules to create more challenge. (Touch with two body parts; touch two chairs instead of just one chair; etc.) Say: “Today we will hear a story about someone who wanted to see Jesus’ hands.”
Live It Out
Game – Q & A Match-Up
Materials: half sheets of paper, marker, bag
Write simple review questions on half sheets of paper. Write the answers to the questions on other half sheets of paper. Crumple all the questions and answers and place them in a bag.
Group kids at one end of the game area. Tell them that the questions and answers are on the crumpled paper. Step a few feet from the kids and dump the questions and answers onto the floor. On your signal, two kids run to the pile and choose paper. They uncrumple their paper and read it. If the two do not match, they move to the far end of the game area and wait. Another preteen runs to pick up a paper. He tries to match to the others. If no match, he waits with the first two. When kids find a question and answer match, they both run back to the starting point. Continue until all questions and answers are matched. Talk about the questions and answers. As time permits, crumple the questions and answers again, place them in the bag and mix them, and play the game again.
Craft – Illustrated Verse
Materials: white paper, chalk, pastels, colored pencils
Invite kids to use the materials to make an illustrated verse poster of the Bible verse. They can use a variety of letter styles, lines, and other flourishes on their poster. As they work, talk about the Bible story and the Life Point. Encourage kids to display the posters in their homes to remind them about Jesus the Savior.
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