Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Old or New
Materials: index cards, marker
Before class write Old Testament on one card and New Testament on another one. Place them on the floor on one side of the room. On several other cards write the names of several books of the Bible, some Old and some New Testament. Place the Old Testament and New Testament cards on the floor on one side of the room and guide the kids to stand on the opposite the cards. Let each child choose a card and tell him to run to the correct Testament and place the book card there. Explain that the Holy Spirit guides people to learn about salvation. Say the Weekly Verse, Acts 2:38, with the kids.
Live It Out
Game – One Left Standing
Materials: chairs (one per child), music
Guide kids to get chairs and form a circle. Place chairs facing out from the middle of the circle. Tell kids to stand around the chairs. Remove one chair. Play music and tell kids to walk around the circle of chairs. Stop the music and tell kids to sit. When all are sitting but one, ask a review question; the standing child can answer or ask someone to help her answer. Lead all kids to stand and start the music again. Play several rounds to review the story. Remove another chair (or several). Play the music. When the music stops, ask those standing to repeat the Life Point together.
Craft – Praise Shaker
Materials: small plastic containers with lids, pony beads, popcorn kernels, rice, aquarium gravel, funnels, permanent markers, music
Invite kids to make shakers. They can decorate the outside of the containers with markers. Help them add some materials to their containers. (Offer only one kind of filler or several as you choose. Each kind of filler will make a slightly different sound in the shaker.) Say the Life Point as kids shake their shakers. Lead kids to print the Life Point along the outside of their shakers. Explain that people can praise God for the Holy Spirit and for God’s salvation. Play a praise song about Jesus; lead kids to sing and shake their shakers.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Blindfold Walking
Materials: several blindfolds
Form the kids into groups of three or four. Blindfold one child from each group. Instruct the other kids in the group to use verbal directions to guide the blindfolded child to walk around the room. Allow as many kids as possible to have turn as the blindfolded walker. Explain that the blindfolded child was being guided by the other kids even though he could not see them. Even though we can’t see him the Holy Spirit guides us to learn about God’s plan for salvation.
Live It Out
Game – Question/Answer Match
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 papers and read them. If the two do not match, they lay the papers on the floor above the crumpled papers and move to the far end of the game area to wait. Another preteen runs to pick up a paper. He tries to match to the others. If no match, he adds his paper to the other two and 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. Say the Life Point together.
Craft – Illustrated Verse
Materials: white paper, chalk, pastels, colored pencils
Invite kids to use the materials to make an illustrated verse poster of the Weekly 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.
Leave a Reply