Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Build a Room
Materials: plastic interlocking blocks (or other building toys)
Challenge kids to use the interlocking blocks to build a room. Kids can all work together to build one room. Or create several different stations for smaller groups of kids to build different rooms. Tell kids that the couple in today’s Bible story built a room.
Live It Out
Game – Odd Man Out
No materials needed.
Group kids into pairs; if you have an even number of kids, enlist an adult to play the game, too. Guide each pair to stand back to back. Ask the kid who is left over to stand with the pairs. Say: “Switch!” Guide kids to stand back to back with a new partner. The individual child can move to stand with a partner. Each time there will be one player left over. Say switch several times for kids to continue to change partners. After a few turns, ask the “odd man out” a review question. He can answer it or ask a pair for help. Switch a few more times and ask another review question. Continue until you have reviewed the Bible story. Extend the game by asking the odd man out to choose a pair; tell the three kids to say the Weekly Verse together.
Craft – Thumbprint Heart Bookmark
Materials: red stamp pads, white paper strips, heavy colored paper, scissors, glue, markers
Show kids how to press a thumb in the stamp pad and make a thumbprint slightly angled to the left. Add a thumbprint slightly angled to the right, with bottom of the prints overlapping. The two prints will make a heart shape. Encourage kids to make several thumbprint hearts on their paper strips. Note that the thumbprints are different for each child. Talk about the Bible story and the Life Point. Kids can use markers to print the Life Point on their markers. Kids may want to cut colored paper slightly larger than the white strips and glue the white strips onto the heavier paper. Help kids think of ways they can show God’s love to their communities.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Acrostic
Materials: paper with the letters SERVE printed down the left side of the page (one per kid), pencils
Challenge kids to think of words or phrases about serving others that begin with each of the letters. Kids can work alone or with partners. After a few minutes, call on volunteers to share their words and phrases. Tell kids that today a couple served God’s prophet in a very tangible way.
Live It Out
Game – Cube Stack
Materials: wide craft sticks (one per kid), 6 numbered cubes, timer
Group the kids into two teams. Hand the 6 cubes to a team member on Team 1. Set the timer for 30 seconds. Guide the kid to hold the craft stick in her mouth and stack the cubes on the stick, one on the other. She can try to stack and hold the cubes until the timer sounds. When the timer sounds, tell her to take whatever cubes are on her stick and roll them. Add up the numbers. Ask the team a review question. If they answer correctly, the team is awarded the number of points she rolled. Repeat with Team 2. Alternate teams until all questions have been answered. Total the points for each team. Talk about the Life Point and how the couple helped Elisha.
Craft – Heart Suncatcher
Materials: clear contact plastic (cut into 6-inch squares), tissue paper (in shades of red, white, pink or any colors available), permanent marker, scissors
Talk about the Bible story. Say the Life Point. Comment that the couple helped the prophet by building a room. Comment that God helps by using other people today, too. Give kids pieces of contact plastic. They then can remove the backing from the contact plastic and lay it, sticky side UP, on a table. Tell them to arrange pieces tissue paper on the sticky plastic, covering as much as they choose. When they have completed sticking tissue paper on the plastic, they can remove the backing from another piece of clear contact plastic and stick over their design. Tell kids to use a permanent marker to draw a large heart shape over their design and cut out the heart shape to make a heart suncatcher. Press the cut edges to make sure the contact plastic seals. Suggest that kids print the Life Point on their heart shapes with permanent marker. Tell kids to tape the suncatcher to a window as a reminder of helping show God’s love to people in their communities.
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