Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Step Left, Step Right
Materials: masking tape
Make a tape line from the front of the play area to the back. Guide kids to stand on the line, facing front. Tell kids that you will ask a question about families. If the answer is “yes,” the kids will step left; if it is “no,” they step right. Ask questions like: “Do you have a brother? Do you have more than 4 people in your family? Do you live with your grandmother?” After a question, wait for kids to step left and right. Tell them to step back to the line and ask the next question. Ask several questions, increasing the speed between questions. Tell kids that you will talk about families today.
Live It Out
Game – Ball Toss
Materials: foam ball or paper wad ball
Guide kids to sit in a circle. Read the Weekly Verse, Romans 12:10, from the Bible. Lead the kids to say the verse together several times. Toss the ball to a child. Ask her say the first word of the verse. Then she can toss the ball to another child to say the second word. Continue tossing the ball and saying words until the verse is finished. The kids should not toss to someone who has already had a turn to answer. Make sure all kids receive the ball. The last child can toss the ball to you. Tell kids that you are going to toss the ball again, in the same order. Toss the ball to the same first child, she tosses to the same next child, and so on. Toss the ball in the same circuit again, repeating the Life Point as you toss it; encourage kids to speed up their tossing. Challenge kids to toss the ball in reverse order as you repeat the Life Point again.
Craft – Frame
Materials: paper plates, scissors, foam stickers, markers, other art materials
Give each child a paper plate. Guide kids to cut the centers from the plates, leaving the outside edge intact. They can use the materials to decorate the paper plate frame. Talk about the Life Point as kids work. Suggest they add the Bible Verse to their frames. Tell kids they can tape a family picture to the frame; this could be a photograph or a drawing. Pray, thanking God for each kid’s family.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – If You Really Knew Me
Allow kids to get into pairs. Encourage them to partner up with someone they don’t know very well. Set a timer for about two minutes. One kid can share things about his family. How many siblings does he have? What does his family do for fun? Where do his grandparents live? And so on. Then set the timer for two more minutes and allow the next kid to share. Afterward, kids will tell the whole group about each other starting with the phrase, “If you really knew [kid’s name], you’d know…” Feel free to switch the pairs up if time allows and play again! Say the Life Point together.
Live It Out
Game – Tennis Ball Bible Toss
Materials: tennis ball, poster board and marker, or dry erase board and marker
Write the Weekly Verse on a poster board or dry erase board at the front of your space. Lead the kids to read the Weekly Verse together. Invite the kids to sit in a circle and give one kid a tennis ball. She will say the first word of the key passage and then pass toss the ball to someone at least two people away. Each kid will say the next word while he holds the tennis ball, then pass the ball. Play until the passage is memorized and everyone has gotten the ball at least once. Then challenge volunteers to say the passage from memory.
Craft – Make a Question Bookmark
Materials: cardstock, markers, stickersCut sheets of cardstock into three pieces to create bookmarks. Make enough for each kid in your group. Provide crafts including markers and stickers to decorate the bookmarks, and instruct kids to print the following questions on index cards.
1. What can I do to honor my family today?
2. How am I showing kindness to my family this week?
3. Have I thanked God for my family lately?
As kids work, talk about how they can put these bookmarks in their Bibles to help remind them that God planned for people to live in families.
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