Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – It’s Okay
No materials needed.
Stand in front of the kids. Tell kids that they will play a game like “Simon Says.” They should follow your directions only when you begin with the word okay. Give directions like stand up, clap once, touch the ground, jump up and down, and so forth. Say okay in front of some of the directions but not in front of others. If a kid does the action when you do not say okay, instruct him to sit down for two turns. Comment that kids had to listen carefully to know what to do. Say that today you will talk about how a church should listen to God and obey Him.
Live It Out
Game – Toss & Do
Materials: muffin pans, paper, scissors, marker, table tennis balls
Cut paper to fit in the cups of the muffin pan. Print one of these words on each circle: question, verse, Life Point. Place the paper circles in the muffin pan. Set the muffin pan near a wall. Lead kids to take turns tossing or bouncing a table tennis ball into the muffin pan. If the ball lands on question, ask a review question for the child to answer. If the ball lands on verse, help the child say the Bible verse. If the ball lands on Life Point, say the Life Point with the child. Stress that Samuel listened to God and that people of the church must listen to God’s Word, too.
Craft – Bible Cover Wrap-Around
Materials: craft paper cut into 4-by-20-inch lengths, tape, crayons
Help a child fold paper over the front cover of his Bible (vertically). He can tape the paper to itself where it overlaps on the inside cover. Tell kids to close their Bibles with the paper still on their covers. Lead kids to print the Bible verse on the front of their cover wrap-arounds. They can draw designs or pictures of things they know from the Bible around the words of the verse. They can add designs on the inside part of the wrap-around if they choose. Tell kids that they (and other people at your church) hear and learn what God says by reading and studying the Bible. Say that the Bible is God’s Words of instruction to people.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Slap the Book Name
Materials: cards with names of the books of the Bible (some books or all books)
Lay the Bible book names on a table, face up. Guide kids to stand around the table. Call out: “Old Testament.” Kids can each slap a hand onto the name of an Old Testament book. Choose a child to call out the book she slapped. Continue the game by alternating calling New Testament or Old Testament. Ask a preteen to find the card with 1 Samuel. Tell kids that today’s Bible story is from this book and is about the man for whom the book is named.
Live It Out
Game – Ruler Racing
Materials: ruler or yardstick, clothespins (one per team), numbered cube
Make marks on the clothespins to differentiate them. Group the kids into two (or more) teams and assign each team to a clothespin. Alternate asking review questions to the teams. When a team answers a question correctly, the team can roll the numbered cube and move the clothespin along the ruler. (For the first correct answer, the team will clip the clothespin on the number rolled. After that, the team will move down the ruler the quantity rolled.) Continue until a team reaches the end of the ruler or yardstick. (If using a yardstick, you may want to roll two cubes instead of just one cube.) Say the Life Point together. Talk about how people of the church can hear God’s message for them. (in the Bible)
Craft – Hidden Life Point
Materials: paper plates (2 per preteen), markers, other art supplies, scissors, hole punch, brads (2 per child)
Hand out pairs of paper plates. Tell kids to write the Life Point in the middle of one of their plates. They can use fancy letters or add designs around it as they choose. Lead them to use the supplies to decorate the middle of their second plates. They can draw designs or a picture as they choose. Tell them that this plate will be cut in half (so they will not be surprised later when asked to cut their designs apart). Talk about the Bible story and what happened to Samuel. Tell kids to cut the designed plates in half (top to bottom). Show them how to lay the two halves on top of the Life Point plates, covering the Point. Punch two holes in both plates, one on either side of the cut line, and use brads to attach the plates together. Show kids how to pull the halves to open and see the Life Point on the bottom plate.
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