As Children Arrive. Small-Group Activities That Teach. Bible Time

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2 Walking with Jesus This event outline provides ideas for a one-hour event based on the theme Walking with Jesus. It s perfect as a faith-encouragement opportunity or an outreach event for children ages 3 to 11 years old. It can also be adapted for your Sunday school classes or as a special event for your church s Bible club. The event includes a Bible lesson, snack and craft ideas, and games. Choose the activities you wish to use, taking into account the size of your group, the children s ages and interests, their background knowledge, their skill levels, and the time available to you. May God bless you as you share Jesus with the children in your care! 2

3 As Children Arrive Position group leaders throughout your welcome area and urge them to greet families warmly as they arrive. Arrange children in groups with four to six children per group. Aim for an even balance of younger and older children in each group. That way, experienced children can help the little ones. Assign one or two adult leaders to stay with each group throughout the event. Group leaders can prepare a tote bag (Item #WJE18TB) for each child by writing the child s name on the bag with a permanent marker. Encourage the children to use the bags to gather items from each of the event activities. As you wait for everyone to arrive, help children get excited about the event by starting conversations with them. To do this, enlarge the shoe pattern from the end of this guide on a poster board. Write Walking with Jesus as a title on the shoe. Ask children to complete this sentence and write their answers on the shoe: When I walk with Jesus, I know... Be prepared to suggest possible answers for the younger children. For example: I m protected. He s always listening. I m walking with my Friend. I am never alone. Save the poster board for the Large-Group Worship at the end of the event. After everyone arrives, it s time to begin the small-group activities. Get everyone s attention and explain that the groups will be moving from one activity to the next. Let them know that you will give a signal (ringing a bell, sounding a whistle, or playing traveling music ) every ten minutes to indicate that it s time to rotate. Small-Group Activities That Teach Bible Time Start with a riddle. Can you guess the answer to this riddle? If you turn around to look for me, you won t see me. If you look down, you won t see me. But watch out! If you drop your shoe, I ll grab it! Answer: Gravity Gravity is something that s always with us but we never see it! Today we ll be talking about this Bible promise Jesus gives us: I am with you always (Matthew 28:20). We ll find out more about who Jesus is, what he has done for us, and why it s important to remember that he is always with us. I have a real-life story for you: A few years ago, a group of sixth graders was celebrating at a swimming pool birthday party. In the midst of the celebration, some of them noticed that one of their friends was in trouble at the bottom of the pool. When they pulled him out, he didn t have a pulse and he wasn t breathing! 3

4 One of the friends, Skylar Berry, knew CPR. She started CPR and continued until he began to breathe on his own. Skylar saw her friend in trouble and saved his life! The reason I wanted you to hear that story today is because it helps us understand who Jesus is and what he has done for us. The Bible tells us, All have sinned (Romans 3:23). Our sin has very serious consequences. Unless someone takes our sin away, we would have to live apart from God, our loving heavenly Father, for now and forever! Just like the boy in the pool, we cannot rescue ourselves. But Skylar gives us a great picture of Jesus. Jesus rescued us! He loves us and he did what had to be done to save us! It was not CPR that we needed. We needed someone who could take away our sin and give us a whole new life. Jesus did that! Jesus is our Lifesaver! He lived a perfect life in our place and then he suffered and died on the cross in our place. He was punished instead of us. Jesus didn t stay dead, either. He rose from the grave and he is alive! One day, after he rose from the dead, he was with his disciples. He told them to go into the world and tell everyone the good news about Jesus the Savior so all believers could be disciples, too. And then he promised, I am with you always. Jesus promise is for each of you, too! Today we ll think about what that means. Please repeat this prayer after me: Dear Jesus,/ Thank you for being my Lifesaver!/ Thank you for your promise to be with me always./ I love you, Jesus./ Amen./ Snack Time Plan to serve snacks kids would enjoy with their friends. (Be sure to check for allergies!) Some ideas include... Fruit pieces, such as apple slices, orange segments, banana chunks, or grapes A veggie tray that includes cucumber slices, carrot sticks, and celery with ranch dip Snack crackers Trail mix While the children are eating, give each group of children a question to discuss. The questions are found on page 10 of this guide. Instruct each group s adult leader to read the question and answer it with details from his or her life. Then, open the discussion up for the children. Group leaders should keep the discussion moving and provide help for younger children wishing to share their thoughts. Crafts Here are some possibilities for craft time. Choose the craft that best fits your situation and the children at your event. 4

5 Beaded Cross Backpack Tag What You ll Need One kit for each child (Item #WJE18KT) What You ll Do 1. Fold the cord in half and secure a knot underneath a large loop, as shown on the back of the card. 2. String both ends of the cord through three beads. 3. Separating the ends of the cord, string each one through more beads, three on each side. Then secure each arm of the cross by looping the cord back, over the nearest bead but through the other two beads of the arm. 4. The two ends of the cord should now meet back in the middle. String both ends through the remaining five beads and secure with a knot. As the children work, remind them that Because Jesus, our Friend and Savior, died and came alive again, we can be sure that all of our sins are forgiven. He loves us and forgives us, and he promises to be with us always. Encourage them to hang the tag on their backpack or somewhere in their bedroom. Bouncy Ball What You ll Need ½ cup warm water 1 Tbsp Borax 1 Tbsp cornstarch 2 Tbsp white liquid glue Food coloring Small disposable containers (cups or bowls) Measuring cups Measuring spoons Plastic forks Small plastic bags What You ll Do Add the Borax to the warm water. In a separate small bowl, mix the cornstarch, glue, and food coloring. Stir the glue mixture into the Borax mixture. After about 20 seconds, when the glue mixture has hardened, use a fork to take it out of the water. If it s still sticky, squeeze it in your hands a few times and dip it in the water again, stirring it around. 5. Roll the mixture in your hands to make a ball. (The ball may flatten after sitting on a flat surface. If that happens, just roll it into a ball shape again.) 6. Let the children play with their bouncy balls. It s fun to bounce them on a wall and try to catch them! Say, It s not easy to stay with your ball as it bounces, and you may not bounce around quite this much. But remember, wherever you go, Jesus promises, I am with you always. 7. Provide the children with small plastic bags for storing their bouncy balls. Note: This recipe makes one large or two small balls. To keep things a bit cleaner and to save time, you could premeasure the ingredients in steps 1 and 2 so that the children start with step 3. 5

6 Framed Art What You ll Need A cardboard box lid for each child (shoebox lids work well) Craft paper or wrapping paper to cover the lids Scissors Glue or tape Copies of the Bible verse page from page 11 of this guide Markers, crayons, and other decorating supplies Yarn or string What You ll Do 1. Help the children cover their box lid with the craft paper or wrapping paper. 2. Give each child a Bible verse page and encourage him or her to decorate it. 3. Glue the Bible verse page to the inside of the box lid. 4. Fasten a loop of yarn or string to the back of the box lid for hanging. What You ll Say As the children work, talk with them about the verse. Remind them that walking with Jesus means he is always by their side. Jesus is always with us to love and help us. Encourage them to hang their framed art in a place where it will remind them of Jesus promise: I am with you always. Games and Fun Choose the game(s) below that will work best for your setting and the children attending your event. Before each game, the leader should explain the instructions. The leader should also explain how the game can help us think about what it s like to walk with Jesus. Race You There! Introduce the game by saying, Picture yourself walking somewhere with a friend. You re talking and having a great time. Suddenly, your friends says, Race you to that pole! And before you know it, you re both running as fast as you can! We are going to play a racing game like that. Show the children the start and finish lines. Set the distance so that it s appropriate for the age of the children present. As much as possible, match racers of similar age and ability. Proceed to have a race-off until you have only a few racers left. Congratulate the top runners. Then give everyone a Walking with Jesus Backpack Tag (Item #WJE18LT). Remind them: Walking with Jesus means that he s with you wherever you go. When you see this tag on your backpack, let it remind you that he is with you and that he helps you to be kind and share his love with the people around you. 6

7 Shoe Match Group the children in pairs (see the note below for adjusting group size). Give each pair one blindfold. One person in the pair should put on the blindfold and wait while the other person removes one shoe and puts in a pile with the shoes from the other pairs. Then, the person with the blindfold tries to find his or her partner s shoe, listening for the partner s directions. The first group to finish wins. You can repeat the game by reversing roles. Note: If you d rather have larger groups working together, you can assign one blindfolded person to each group, have him or her put a shoe in the pile, and have a certain number of children from the group also put one shoe in the pile. Then, the group provides instructions to help the blindfolded child find his or her own shoe. Say: When you were the blindfolded person, you tried to listen carefully for your partner s voice so you could follow the directions for getting the missing shoe back. Walking with Jesus also means listening carefully to him. How does he talk to us? He gives us his Word, the Bible. Give each child a Walking with Jesus Activity Book (Item #WJE18AB, for ages 7 11) or Gospel Fun for Little Ones (Item #WJE18GF, for ages 3 6) and explain that the book will help them learn more about the Bible and walking with Jesus. Who Is It? This is a game of observation. Have one child, the guesser, leave the room. While the child is out of the room, the other children should stand in a circle. Appoint one of them to be It. The child who is It starts a pattern of movement. The others follow, imitating the way It moves, but they do it in such a way that the guesser won t see them watching the child who is It. The child who is It will change up the pattern every 15 seconds or so, trying not to be caught by the guesser. Bring the guesser into the room and explain that he or she is supposed to guess who is leading the other children in the motions they re doing. When the guesser figures out who is It, then the person who was It leaves the room to become the next guesser. Then appoint a different child to be It. Allow a few minutes at the end of the game to talk about it. Have the children sit on the floor. Then ask the guessers what it felt like to be watching the other children. Close by saying, Walking with Jesus can also mean that we pay attention to the people around us. We notice when they might need help or extra care. Because we know about Jesus love, we can help them and tell them Jesus promise: I am with you always. Give everyone a glow-in-the-dark bracelet with shoe tag (Item #WJE18BT12P). Consider giving the children two gifts and encouraging them to save the second one to give to a friend. God s Word to Me Gather the children in an area large enough for throwing flying discs. Play the game all together or, if you have a large number of children, group them and have each group play the game in a specific area. Hand each group of students a flying disc (Item #WJE18FD). Establish a starting line and a finish line. Everyone begins at the starting line. You throw the disk to the first person on the left. When that child catches the disk, he or she reads the verse touching his or her hand and then tries to recite it eyes closed. 7

8 Scoring: The child can take three steps for reciting the verse and reference correctly or one step if only part of it was correct. The child then throws the disc to the next person. First person to the finish line wins! Send the children home with discs of their own so they can continue to learn God s Word. Say: Reading verses like these from the Bible, is a great way to get to know who Jesus is and learn about what he s done for you. Take this disc home and play the game with your neighborhood friends. Tell them what it s like to be walking with Jesus. Large-Group Worship As groups complete their last activity, have them return to the central meeting area where you began. As each group arrives, ask if they have more to add to the poster board you started when they arrived. Help them include ideas they learned during the event. When all of the groups have gathered together, read the Ministry Message titled Walking with Jesus from the Resource & Idea Center at Where you can, tie the children s responses, recorded on the poster board, to the message. Then lead the children in singing this song. (Tune: He s Got the Whole World in His Hands ) He ll be with me-e, all the time. He ll be with me-e, all the time. He ll be with me-e, all the time. Jesus he loves me! He ll be with you-u, all the time. He ll be with you-u, all the time. He ll be with you-u, all the time. Jesus loves you, too! If you haven t already given tote bags to the children (Item #WJE18TB), hand them out now. Students may put any completed projects, activity books, and informational papers inside the tote bag to take home. Involve parents in teaching the faith by sending home the Walking with Jesus Family Prayer Activity (Item #WJE18AK). It encourages children to pray for the people around them. After the event and cleanup, gather all the volunteers. Pray together for the children who attended and for their families. Ask that the Holy Spirit would lead each child to learn more about Jesus and to bless the Word he has already planted in their hearts CTA, Inc. Permission to make photocopies or reproduce by any other mechanical or electronic means is granted and is intended for use within a church or other Christian organization, but not for resale. #WJE18DCE Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 8

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10 What time of day do you most need to be reminded of Jesus words: I am with you always? Do you know of someone who is worried or afraid? How could you remind that person of Jesus words: I am with you always? Tell about the best thing that happened yesterday and the worst thing that happened yesterday. Looking back, how would those things have been different if you had remembered Jesus words: I am with you always? Think about the adults you know. Tell about how you ll remind one of them tomorrow of Jesus words: I am with you always. Looking ahead to the next day or two, when is a time you want to be sure to remember Jesus words: I am with you always? How can you remind yourself? Name three happy times when it s great to know Jesus is with you. Then name one difficult time when his promise comforts you: I am with you always.

11 Matthew 28:20 ESV Matthew 28:20 ESV