Grades 1-3
Introductory Activity – Doo You Know This Song?
Materials: paper strips with names of familiar songs
Print the titles of songs on paper strips: Happy Birthday, Mary Had a Little Lamb, God Is So Good, Jesus Loves Me, ABC Song, Bingo, Old MacDonald. (Use simple songs that will be familiar to your group of kids.)
Tell kids that some will sing a song and the others will need to guess the song. The singers will not sing the words. They will need to sing “Doo, doo, doo” to the tune. Choose two kids to start the game. Show the two kids a song title. They can start singing “Doo, doo, doo.” When kids guess the song, choose two other kids to sing the next song. Tell kids that in today’s Bible story, people sang.
Live It Out
Game – Build the Verse
Materials: interlocking plastic blocks, masking tape, permanent marker
Place a piece of tape on each block. Print the words of the verse on the tape on each block, one word per block. Make a set of blocks for each team.
Say the Bible Verse together. Group the kids into two (or more) teams. Give each team a set of blocks. Tell teams that, on your signal, they should build the verse in order, from bottom up. Lead kids to say the verse when it is completed. Take the verse apart and race to put it together again. After a few times, take the verse apart. Call out a word and tell kids to start with that word and finish the verse with the blocks.
Talk about the Bible story and how the people sang to worship God. Talk about times and songs your church sings to God.
Craft – Diptych
Materials: heavyweight paper, markers, crayons, other art supplies, wide colored tape
Give a child two pieces of paper. Tell him to draw a picture to represent today’s Bible story on one page and to draw a picture of your church singing and worshiping on the other page. When he has completed his work, help him lay the pages side by side, face down. Use tape to connect the two pieces of paper along a side. Fold the pages together to crease the tape. Open and stand the diptychs on a table. Say today’s Bible verse together.
Extend the activity: Provide third piece of paper for the kids to write the Life Point. They can add this third page with tape in a similar manner to create a triptych.
Grades 4-6
Introductory Activity – Makeshift Band
Materials: unsharpened pencils, rulers, clipboards, books, small boxes and cans, other items that could be drums or instruments; worship music
Play the worship music. Invite kids to gather one or more of the available items to create quick rhythm instruments. They can tap to the beat of the music with their instruments. As the song changes, kids should change to different instruments. Tell kids that people sang and worshiped God in today’s Bible story.
Live It Out
Game – Life-Sized Tic-Tac-Toe
Materials: masking tape, cloth strips or headbands in two different colors
Use the tape to make a large tic-tac-toe grid on the floor. (Each space should be large enough for a kid to stand or sit in it.)
Group the kids into two teams. Give each team a set of strips or headbands. Ask Team 1 a review question. If the team answers correctly, they can choose a player (wearing the cloth strip around his arm or the head) to stand or sit in a space on the grid. Repeat with Team 2. Continue alternating questions between teams until the grid is filled or until a team gets three players in a row to win. Talk about the Life Point and how your church sings and thanks God.
Craft – Embossed Verse
Materials: craft foam rectangles, aluminum tape, dull pencils or toothpicks
Lead kids to cover their rectangles of foam with aluminum tape. They can use the pencils or toothpicks to write the Bible Verse in the aluminum tape. Suggest they add frames or other designs around the words of the verse. Talk about the story and the Life Point as kids work. Tell kids they can place their verse plaques in their homes to remind them about singing and thanking God.
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