Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Full Body Rock/Paper/Scissors
Materials: No supplies needed.
Show kids how to make rock, paper, and scissors with their whole bodies. Rock – crouch into a ball or lean over with hands on knees. Paper – stand straight with legs together and arms at sides. Scissors – stand with legs apart and arms away from sides. Practice jumping twice and then moving into rock position. Repeat jump twice and paper position. Repeat with scissors. Group kids into pairs. Pairs stand facing one another. Say: “Jump, jump, show.” Partners jump twice (on your words) and then show one of the positions. Repeat three times; best of three is the winner. Say: “Switch” and kids change for new partners. Repeat the cycle a few times. Say that people make choices about what to do. Tell them they will hear a story about someone who had to choose what to do.
Live It Out
Game – Pass the Scepter
Materials: long cardboard tube, music
Lead kids to sit in a circle. Show the cardboard tube and tell kids it is a scepter. Play music and hand the scepter to a child. Kids should hand the scepter around the circle while the music plays. Stop the music. Ask a review question. The kid holding the scepter should point it across the circle toward another kid to answer. Begin the music again and pass the scepter. After a few turns, change the game. The kid points the scepter at someone who says the Bible Verse or the Life Point.
Craft – Trust Wristband
Materials: cardboard tubes, colored tape, scissors, permanent markers
Cut a slit from one end of the tube to the other. Cut pieces of the tube that measure about 2-3 inches wide. Invite a kid to use the tape to cover a cardboard wristband. When the wristband is covered, lead kids to use tape pieces or permanent markers to spell out trust. Say the Life Point. Talk about the Bible story and how God helped Esther. Encourage kids to talk about difficulty times that people can trust God.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Easy or Hard?
Materials: masking tape
Make a masking tape line in the middle of the game area. Guide kids to stand on the masking tape, facing you (on one end of the game area). State a situation: “Reading a book to my little brother/sister.” Tell kids to step forward if it would be easy to do this or backward if it would be hard. Both answers are acceptable so encourage kids to make their own choices instead of stepping where they think they should. State another situation and wait for kids to step forward (easy) or backward (hard). (Examples: telling a friend you cannot play a certain video game; forgiving your brother/sister for losing your favorite toy; going to get ice cream with your family; riding in a car for 12 hours with your family; singing with your family in a talent show.) Tell kids that the Bible tells people to trust God. People can trust God even when difficult things happen. Tell kids that they will hear a Bible story about a difficult time and how someone had to trust God.
Live It Out
Game – Sliding Review
Materials: dry erase board with an eraser tray, marker, eraser
Write point values (10, 20, etc.) along the bottom of the board in regular intervals. Group the kids into two (or more) teams. Ask a team a review question. If the answer is correct, a team member can slide the eraser along the tray. (Start at the end with the lower numbers.) Award points equal to whichever number is closest to the eraser. If the eraser goes off the end of the tray, no points are awarded. Alternate play between teams. Encourage teams to repeat the Bible verse or Life Point and then slide for points, too.
Craft – Comic Strip Stories
Materials: paper, pencils, thin-line markers
Lead kids to draw 3 panels (square frames) on their papers. Then they can draw situations that show people trusting God in difficult times. Encourage drawing in comic-strip style, with each panel showing part of the situation/story. Encourage kids to show their strips and tell about the situations they depicted. Lead the kids to take turns praying, asking God to help them trust Him in all situations.
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