Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Letter Search
Materials: dishpan or larger shallow container with sand, letter tiles or heavyweight paper with letters (J, e, r, i, c, h, o), tablecloth or drop cloth
Hide the letters in the pan of sand. Set the pan on a tablecloth or drop cloth. Lead kids to find the letters in the sand. After all the letters are located, challenge kids to create a word with all the letters. Tell kids that Jericho is the place in today’s Bible story. Encourage them to listen to who in Jericho made a choice to respect God.
Live It Out
Game – Chair Walk
Materials: chairs (one per child), colored paper (one piece each of 6-8 colors), music
Place chairs in a circle. Place a colored piece of paper under about half of the chairs. (For small groups of kids, you will need fewer colors of paper.) Half (or more) of the chairs should have no paper underneath. Play music and guide kids to walk around the chairs. Stop the music and all kids should sit in a chair. Call out a color; the child in that chair can answer a review question. Tell kids to stand as you restart the music. Play the game several times. At some point in the game, call out “no color.” All kids with no color under their chairs can say the Bible verse together.
Craft – “I Spy” Bottles
Materials: clean clear plastic water bottles or soda bottles (one per child), sand or rice, funnels, scoops, index cards, pens, scissors
Talk about the Bible story. Say the Life Point. Say that Rahab believed and obeyed, showing that she respected God and His Word. Guide kids to say the Bible Verse with you. Say that people show their respect for God by the way they live. Distribute the bottles. Guide kids to use the funnels and scoops to fill bottles about half full with sand. They can write the words of the Life Point on index cards and cut the words apart. They can also write names or words from the Bible story on card pieces, too. Tell kids to drop the words into the bottles and seal the bottles with the lids. (Wrap with tape to secure further if you choose.) Shake the bottles to hide the words. Tell kids they can shake and move the bottles to find (spy) the words. Say that the bottles can help remind kids that God’s people respect Him.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Would You?
Materials: signs Yes, No, Maybe; tape
Tape the signs in three different areas of the room. (Write the words on paper to create simple signs). Ask kids simple questions and tell them to move to the sign that represents their answers. Sample questions: Would you eat hot peppers? Would you ride in a hot air balloon? Would you turn in a wallet with money that you found in the school hallway? Would you go bungee jumping? Would you walk to school from your house? Would you copy a friend’s homework? Would you work in a food bank with your family stacking food on the shelves? Would you ask a new kid to play a game with you?Pause after each question for kids to move to their answers. Talk about the choices they made. Tell them to think about why they chose certain answers. Say that today you will think about the choices that people make about God.
Live It Out
Game – No Talking Please
Materials: paper, marker
Write the words of the verse on paper, one word per page. Create a set of words for each team. Group the kids into teams. Mix a team’s words and hand one word per kid. Team members should hold their words facing their bodies. Tell the kids that their teams must put the words in order without speaking. On your signal, kids turn their words facing out; teams work together without speaking to put their words in order of the verse. When a team completes their verse, they hold the words over their heads to indicate they have finished. Say that the words of this verse tell people how they should choose to live to show respect for God. Talk about the Bible story and what Rahab did. As time permits, shuffle teams, hand out words, and play again.
Craft – Bag Tag Reminder
Materials: heavyweight paper, scissors, gel pens, hole punch, plastic lacing, clear contact plastic
Invite kids to use the materials to create tags for their backpacks or other bags. Tell kids to cut a shape from the paper. Lead them to print the Life Point on the tags. They can use the pens to add other details and cover the designs with clear contact plastic. They can punch holes to tie plastic lacing through the tags and hang these on their bags. If they choose, they could punch several holes along the sides of the tags and weave the lacing through the holes before making the ties for the bag tag. As they work, talk about the Bible story. Talk about how people today can show respect for God. Ask preteens to tell what kids their age can do to show respect for God.
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