Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Where Do You Stand?
Materials: masking tape or chalk
Create a line in your play space using masking tape if you’re inside or chalk if you have outside space. Direct kids to stand on the line behind one another. Stand in front of the line and call out two different things, pointing to the right and left of the line for each one. Kids decide which one they prefer and go to the side of those things. For example, if you call out “Peter Pan or The Lion King,” you would point to the right side for the line for Peter Pan and the left of the line for The Lion King. Use the following examples and come up with some of your own: cats or dogs, city or country, hot dogs or hamburgers, math or English, pink or blue, etc. Remind kids that God makes everyone different and everyone has different preferences and talents. God gave Barnabas the gift of being an encourager to people around them, and he used that to introduce people to Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Live It Out
Game – Pass the Bible
Materials: Bible
To begin, lead the kids to sit in a circle. Randomly give the Bible to a child and then ask her a review question while the Bible gets passed around the circle. If the Bible arrives back at the student before she answers she must sit in the middle of the circle. The Bible is then passed to the next person, and so on. If the next child does not get the answer correct, then ask the kids in the middle if they know the answer. If any child knows the answer, she may go back to the circle.
Craft – Draw Your Talent
Materials: white printer paper, crayons, markers, colored pencils
Give each kid a piece of paper and access to coloring utensils. Encourage kids to draw a picture of themselves doing something in which they are talented. It could be anything! When they are finished, encourage them to share their talent with the group and then discuss how God might use this talent for His Kingdom. Remind kids the Life Point: People can use their talents and abilities to do God’s work.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Never Have I Ever
Materials: chairs for all but one kid
Create a circle of chairs for everyone but one person playing the game. Each kid should sit in a chair with one person in the middle. The child in the middle says, “Never have I ever…” and then fills in something they have not done. If anyone sitting down has done that activity, she jumps up and runs to an empty chair of another child who has done it. For example, if a child says, “Never have I ever had brown hair,” all kids with brown hair get up and try to find an empty seat. The person left standing in the middle has to share something they have not done. At the end of the game, tell kids that they will be learning about Paul and Barnabas today. Remind them that God gives everyone different lives, experiences, abilities, and talents as they learned in the game today. God gave Barnabas the gift of being an encourager to people around them, and he used that to introduce people to Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Live It Out
Game – Act it Out
Materials: none
Create teams of three or four kids and challenge them to come up with a skit for the Weekly Verse, Colossians 3:17. Tell them to come up with a scene of kids sharing the gospel using their talents or gifts that God gave them. Encourage each group to show the others the skit.
Craft – Create a Card
Materials: colorful construction paper, crayons, markers, colored pencils, gel pens
Hand out paper and utensils for each child and encourage them to think of someone they know who might need encouragement. Kids can create a card for that person, drawing something kind on the front, and writing something kind in the inside of the card. Remind them that God gives people individual gifts and talents, and He made Barnabas an encourager. Maybe some of the kids in your group are encouragers, too! People can use their talents and abilities to do God’s work.
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