Kindergarten-2. September 21-22, Esther. Esther (Pg Adventure Bible for Early Readers, NIrV) God Has A Plan for us

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1 Kindergarten-2 September 21-22, 2013 Esther (Pg Adventure Bible for Early Readers, NIrV) Hang out with kids (10 minutes): Ask kids about their week. Get kids into groups and play games together. Large Group (30 minutes): Model what it looks like to be engaged in large group. And don t be afraid to redirect kids who aren t! nd Esther God Has A Plan for us Esther is a really cool story, but we can t cover all the details in one week. Read the book in the Bible (between Nehemiah and Job) this week so you can be prepared to talk about it with them and tip them off that they should ask their parents to read it to them at home! Small Group (20-30 minutes): Keep kids in small groups until parents arrive. If you all have extra time at the end, you can review the video and songs together. As kids leave, remind them to tell their parents why they made a crown. Today, we re talking about how God had a very special plan for Esther and how he has a very special plan for us!

2 Goal: to help kids review today s story and personalize God s love for them Why? This story reminds us of how God has a plan for each of us. We want kids to start personalizing that at a young age! Tip: Not all kids like to draw and color; let them use the tactile materials to create their crown. Affirm each kid s artistic choice. CONNECT 1. Share your name and one word to describe the best part of your week (if you ve already connected before large group, move directly to question #2). 2. If you could make up ONE law, what would it be? REVIEW THE STORY / DIG DEEPER 3. What law did the king make for Esther? (a law that saved God s family) 4. Why did Esther want to make that law? (because Haman had made a law to kill God s family) 5. What was God s special plan for Esther? (to make her the queen so she could talk to the king and save God s special family) 6. Who else does God have a plan for? (make sure kids know it includes all of them) 7. What kind of a plan do you think God has for you? (If you want re-read Jeremiah 29:11. Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans I have for you, announces the LORD. I want you to enjoy success. I do not plan to harm you. I will give you hope for the years to come. But let kids speculate too and take this question wherever they want) ACTIVITY We re going to make crowns to remind us of Queen Esther s story. But WE get to wear these crowns to remind us that God has a plan for US just like he had a plan for Queen Esther. Give each kid a crown Let them color/decorate it with markers, stickers, strings, etc. o Help kids keep the materials orderly; please don t dump them out anywhere Let them show off their handiwork (Continued on the following page)

3 As kids work, keep reminding them that God had a plan for Queen Esther and God has a plan for them! *Pray together and thank God that he has a plan for everyone. Extra time? Have kids draw their favorite part of the story and share it with the group (they can draw it on the back of their crowns or on a separate sheet of paper), or let kids get into pairs and act out their favorite part of the story.

4 Each section has an interactive component. Feel free to add/adapt interactive elements to fit your group! Make sure you use lots of eye contact and muster as much energy as possible as you present. Kids love it when you act silly and over-the-top, so go for it. They'll love it and it will help the lesson to stick. Hi Kids! Welcome to Kids Club! I m so happy to see you all here today. I can t wait to tell you about today s story. It s about a girl who was part of God s family and a special part of God s story! But before we get started, let s talk about the LAW. What s a law? (Show the picture of law on a scroll and let kids say: a rule, something you have to obey.) Yep, and I have a question for all of you. If you were king or queen for a day and you could make ONE law that EVERYONE had to obey, what would it be? Turn and tell a friend which law you would make if you could be king or queen for a day. (Let kids turn and tell a friend. Then ask 3-5 kids to share with the whole group.) Well, guess what? The girl in today s story got to be the queen. And she wasn t nearly as powerful as the king, who really got to make all the laws, but she did get to ask him to make ONE very important law. And God used that law to save his family. Let s see what happened! INTRO: ESTHER The girl in today s story was named Esther. (Show picture of Persia.) Esther was just a girl growing up in a place called Persia. Look at this picture and just imagine what it would have felt like to grow up here. It probably got pretty hot (fan your face). It was dry and dusty. (Pretend to cough.) But it was Esther s home. Esther didn t have any fancy stuff. She wasn t rich or special. When Esther was little, she probably never in a million years imagined she would be queen! In fact, Esther s life wasn t easy. Her parents died when she was a kid, so she grew up with her cousin, a guy named Mordecai. Can you guys say, Mordecai? (Let kids say: Mordecai.) Good job! Mordecai and Esther were both part of God s special family.

5 ESTHER BECOMES QUEEN They were both living a normal life when, all of a sudden, the King of Persia needed a new wife. To find his wife, he compared all the pretty single ladies in Persia and decided which one he liked the best. Can anybody guess who he liked best? (Let kids say: Esther.) Yes, Esther! He liked her the best so he married her! And just like that, Esther was the queen. She didn t live in a regular house anymore (refer to the picture); she lived in the palace (show picture of the palace). GOD S FAMILY GETS IN TROUBLE Now just about the time Esther became the queen, God s family got into trouble. A guy who worked for the king, named Haman, made a law that everybody had to bow down to him, like this (show kids bowing) whenever they saw him. It s a way that everybody could show him how important he was! But Esther s cousin Mordecai said NO WAY would he bow to Haman! He only bowed down to God, because GOD was most important to him. So he just stood and treated Haman like a regular man. This made Haman RAGING mad!! Everybody make your meanest, scariest face. (Lead kids in a scowling; add a grrrr. ) Haman knew Mordecai was in God s family, so he made a new law that everybody in God s family would have to die. Everybody say, Oh no! (Let kids say: Oh no!) That meant Mordecai and Queen Esther and lots of other people would be killed. When Mordecai heard the news, he got on his knees and cried. He sat in ashes and tore his clothes, because that s what people did to show they were sad back then. GOD HAS A PLAN FOR ESTHER The good news is God had a plan. And Esther got to be a part of it! Mordecai stopped crying and told Esther that as the queen, she might be able to save God s family! In fact, he said God might have had a plan for her to become queen just so she could save his family from Haman! But the problem is, the king was scary. He had killed the queen before Esther. He wasn t a nice man. And Esther knew that if she asked him to make a law that he didn t want to make, he might kill her. But if she didn t go talk to him, many people in God s family would die! And she d probably die too So what do you guys think Esther decided to do? Do you think she went to talk to the king even though he could kill her instantly or got too scared? (Let kids vote.) Well, those of you who said you thought she talked to the king are right. SAVES HIS FAMILY Esther had a careful plan in place. She didn t ask the king to make a new law yet. First, she just invited him and Haman to a lovely feast (show picture of a feast). The King and Haman ate dinner with her.

6 While they were at dinner, the king asked Esther what she wanted. All she did was invite them to another fancy dinner. Why do you think she did that? (Let kids share guesses.) Well, it worked because at the next dinner, the king asked Esther what she wanted and she finally told him about the law Haman had made that meant she and Mordecai and many others in God s family would die. That made the king FURIOUS! This time, he was so mad that he ordered that Haman be killed for making up such a law. Then the king made a NEW law that would save God s family! They were free! Everybody say, Hooray! (Let kids say: hooray!) GOD HAS A PLAN FOR US TOO Esther s story is exciting because she was just a normal girl who became a part of God s story. And we are all just regular people who can be a part of God s story too. In fact, Jeremiah 29:11 says God has plans for EACH of us: SLIDE: Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans I have for you, announces the LORD. I want you to enjoy success. I do not plan to harm you. I will give you hope for the years to come. When Esther was a little girl with Mordecai, did she know she would be queen? (Let kids say: no!) NO! And when she first became queen, did she know God would use her to save his special family? (Let kids say: NO!) No, but God had a plan, and all she had to do was follow God and trust him. And we can follow God and trust him too! WORSHIP Now let s stand up! (Let kids stand.) Let s dance and sing to thank God for having a plan for us. Our first song will remind us to be strong and courageous, just like Esther. Song: Bravery Song: Who I Am PRAY Ask somebody to come thank God that he has a plan for each of us.

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9 Coloring pages: Leaf Markers 1 crown per kid: OT:IN-57/6026 An assortment of stickers (anything to decorate) Glue sticks Paper shapes Strings or pipe cleaners (they can attach to the crowns) Adventure Bible for Early Readers (Pg ) 1. Image: Law (jpeg in curriculum folder) 2. Image: Persia (jpeg in curriculum folder) 3. Image: palace (jpeg in curriculum folder) 4. Image: feast (jpeg in curriculum folder) 5. SLIDE: Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans I have for you, announces the LORD. I want you to enjoy success. I do not plan to harm you. I will give you hope for the years to come. 6. Song: Bravery 7. Song: Who I Am None needed Tell me about Esther. What was God s plan for Esther? In Esther s story, we see how God puts us in the right places at the right times because he has a very special plan for each of us! Ask your kid about it. Also, there are some pretty cool twists in this story that we didn t have time to go into today. Find out what they are by reading the book of Esther (in the Bible) as a family this week.