PRELUDE SOCIAL STORY WORSHIP GROUPS HOME USER AGREEMENT. Used by permission of Biblica.

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1 Undercover Christmas: Make Others Your Mission WEEK CEO Reggie Joiner DIRECTOR OF MESSAGING Kristen Ivy DIRECTOR OF CHILDRENS STRATEGY Mike Clear CREATIVE TEAM Molly Bell Elloa Davis Elizabeth Hansen Brandon O Dell Greg Payne Phil Pierce Dan Scott Mike Tiemann Jon Williams TEAM WRITERS Jodi Blackwell Sharon Carey Bill Hughes Becky Jarrett Erin Mashaw Julie Tiemann Dana Wilkerson EDITORS Molly Bell Dana Wilkerson ORANGE SPECIALIST Abbey Carr Amy Fenton Leslie Galema Amy Grisham Barbara Graves Terri Jones Misty Phillips Stephanie Porter Annette Stickney Courtney Templeton Gay Tucciarone USER AGREEMENT Orange gladly grants permission to churches, schools, and other licensees to tailor 252 Kids materials to fit their unique leadership requirements, locale and format preferences, and physical environment needs. However, if you wish to edit the content substantively, including Bible stories, learning activities, scripts, and any other content in which biblical principles and concepts are presented, you are obligated to do so within the doctrinal guidelines we ve expressed in our Statement of Faith. These resources are intended to be downloaded and printed for use by the subscribing entity only and may not be electronically transferred to or duplicated by other non-subscribing entities. Any unauthorized reproduction of this material or incorporation into a new work is a direct violation of US copyright laws The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 252 Kids and the 252 Kids logo are trademarks of Orange and the rethink Group. Scripture marked NIrV is taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL READER S VERSION. Copyright 1996, 1998 Biblica. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of Biblica. Scripture marked NIV is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide The rethink Group. All rights reserved.

2 PRELUDE: Setting the tone for the experience For Leaders Only Create the Environment Monthly Overview 15 MIN 25 MIN 10 MIN 25 MIN SOCIAL: Providing time for fun interaction Early Arrivers Greatest Gifts STORY: Communicating God s truth in engaging ways Opener Bible Story Prayer Closer WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God Joy to the World from Jingle Jam: Songs for the Season Little Drummer Boy from Little Drummer Boy Single GROUPS: Creating a safe place to connect Draw the Story Shadow Charades Wrapping Paper Verse Relay Prayer HOME: Prompting action beyond the experience GodTime Parent Cue 2018 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 2

3 GETTING READY SOCIAL: PROVIDING TIME FOR FUN INTERACTION CHOOSE ONE OR BOTH OF THESE ACTIVITIES. EARLY ARRIVER IDEA Made to Explore: an activity that extends learning through hands on experimentation and discovery An offering container Six opaque plastic cups Small pieces of Christmas candy or prizes (small enough to easily fit under a cup); one for each kid GREATEST GIFTS Made to Connect: an activity that invites kids to share with others and build on their understanding Six to eight gift items, such as: toys, books, clothes, etc. Provide based on what you know about the kids in your children s environment. Bring items from home or ask volunteers to let you borrow them; you ll be returning them after the activity. Gift card with no dollar amount written on it (it should also be empty, though you will pretend otherwise) Paper Pencils GROUPS: CREATING A SAFE PLACE TO CONNECT CHOOSE AS MANY OF THESE ACTIVITIES AS YOU LIKE. * If you don t have time to do all these activities, be sure to do activity #2. 1. DRAW THE STORY [TALK ABOUT GOD REVIEW] Made to Create: an activity that explores spiritual ideas through the process of drawing, building, and designing 15-foot length of butcher paper Markers Bibles Wall tape (optional) * 2. SHADOW CHARADES [LIVE FOR GOD APPLICATION ACTIVITY] Made to Move: an activity that increases the oxygen in the brain and taps into the energy in the body Flashlights (from previous weeks); one for each kid 3. WRAPPING PAPER VERSE RELAY [HEAR FROM GOD ACTIVITY] Made to Play: an activity that encourages learning through following guidelines and working as a group Two different designs of light-colored Christmas wrapping paper; cut each into ten pieces (size can be your choice) Markers (Note: Choose markers that will write well on the type and colors of wrapping paper you re using.) Bibles PRAYER [PRAY TO GOD PRAYER ACTIVITY] Made to Reflect: an activity that creates space for personal understanding and application Wrapping paper pieces from the Wrapping Paper Verse Relay activity Markers ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Make copies on cardstock or this week s GodTime and Parent Cue cards. Tell parents about our additional family resources: Studio252.tv and the Parent Cue app The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 3

4 15 MINUTES EXPLORE an activity that extends learning through hands on experimentation and discovery Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience today s story. Before kids arrive, take a few moments to pray for them. Thank God for the wonderful gift of His Son, Jesus, and for making a way for us to have a relationship with Him. Pray for God to give kids some ideas for how to respond to God s amazing gift. Ask Him to bring to mind today some things they can do to give to others, even if they don t have a lot of resources or time. 1. EARLY ARRIVER IDEA Offering container, cups, Christmas candy/prizes Collect kids offerings as they arrive. Explain that you ll be playing a shell game with the cups and candy/prizes. Turn three cups upside down in front of you, and hold up a prize. Choose one kid to play first, and instruct him to sit facing you and the cups. Put a prize under one of the cups. Tell the kid to watch carefully while you mix up the cups. His job is to keep his eye on the cup with the prize in it. Scoot the cups around and mix them up as quickly as possible for seconds. Ask the kid to guess which cup the prize is under. If he s right, he gets to keep it. If he s wrong, he ll get to play again later. Continue playing, and allow kids who win to take turns moving around the other three cups, challenging their peers to find the cup with the prize. Play until every kid has won a prize The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 4

5 15 MINUTES CONNECT an activity that invites kids to share with others and build on their understanding 2. GREATEST GIFTS Gift items (including gift card), paper, pencils Scatter the gift items around in the center of your group. Give each kid a piece of paper and a pencil. Instruct kids to make a list of what they consider the greatest gift to the least great gift from the items provided. Then allow kids to share their greatest gifts with the group and explain why they chose what they did. Those are all great reasons for choosing those gifts. But do you know which of these gifts is the greatest? It s the gift card, because it has one hundred dollars on it! (Pause while kids react.) Ha. Not really. But it could have a hundred dollars, or even a thousand. The point is you don t know. If it really did have a ton of money on it, it would be hard to tell, right? It s not always easy to know what the greatest gift is until we know all the details. [Transition] Let s go to Large Group, where we ll hear about the absolute greatest gift ever. Lead your group to the Large Group area The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 5

6 25 MINUTES TALK ABOUT GOD REVIEW CREATE an activity that explores spiritual ideas through the process of drawing, building, and designing 1. DRAW THE STORY Butcher paper, markers, Bibles, tape (optional) Roll out the butcher paper and set out the markers. Use a marker to divide the paper into three equal sections. Label the sections: Luke 2:1-3 Luke 2:4-5 Luke 2:6-7 Divide kids into three groups, and assign a section of the Bible story to each group. Tell kids to read their verses and then draw what is happening. Give them several minutes to draw, and then ask them to show everyone else their pictures and tell what s happening. If possible, tape the paper on the wall for parents to see when they come to pick up. God gave us the greatest gift when He gave us Jesus. That was his ultimate act of compassion and care for us. Just like God cares for us and has met our greatest need, we are supposed to care for others and help meet their needs. God wants us to look around and see the very real and practical needs that other people have and then do something about those needs. (If you re doing Activity Two) We re going to get a chance right now to think about some of the ways we can meet others needs. (If you re not doing Activity Two) What are some things you can give to someone this week? Think beyond just physical objects to something you can t touch, like giving your time, energy, or attention to someone. (Allow kids to respond.) 2018 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 6

7 25 MINUTES LIVE FOR GOD APPLICATION ACTIVITY MOVE an activity that increases the oxygen in the brain and taps into the energy in the body * 2. SHADOW CHARADES Flashlights Ask kids to think of someone they can give something to this week and what they can give that person. Challenge them to think about more than just physical things they can give, but also time, attention, and so on. Hand out flashlights and dim or turn off the lights if possible. Ask one kid to share who his person is. (Note: Kids can be vague about who the person is, if they wish.) Ask another kid to stand a few feet away from the wall and shine his light on it. Challenge the other kid to use his hands (or entire body) to play shadow charades and act out the action or make the shape of the object they will give. (Note: Alternately, kids can use their fingers to spell out the word(s).) Allow other kids to guess what they re doing or making. Let each kid have a turn. Collect kids flashlights to use again at the end of the month. God gave us the greatest gift when He gave us Jesus. That was his ultimate act of compassion and care for us. This week is about putting compassion into action. It can be about giving gifts, or it can be giving your time, attention, affection, and friendship. Just like God cares for us and has met our greatest need, we are supposed to care for others and help meet their needs. You made a great start just now with your fantastic ideas of gifts you can give to someone this week. Don t forget to do it, and when you come back next week I d love to hear about the gift you gave and how the other person responded The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 7

8 25 MINUTES HEAR FROM GOD ACTIVITY PLAY an activity that encourages learning through following guidelines and working as a group 3. WRAPPING PAPER VERSE RELAY Wrapping paper pieces, markers, Bibles Divide the kids into two teams. Give each team a set of wrapping paper pieces, some markers, and some Bibles. Instruct each team to divide the verse up into ten phrases and write the phrases on the wrapping paper pieces. Then play a relay game: Set each team s pieces in a pile at one side of your space. Guide kids to line up on the opposite side. Instruct kids to relay to get the pieces. The first kid must grab the first phrase, the second kid must grab the second phrase, and so on. The first team to get the entire verse put in order is the winner. God s greatest give to us was Jesus. Everything God had been planning from the start was about Jesus and the plan to save the world. It s so cool that this verse tells us something that God had planned thousands of years before it even happened. It wasn t a spur of the moment thing. It was a well-thought-out gift from God to us. God gave us the greatest gift when He gave us Jesus The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 8

9 25 MINUTES PRAY TO GOD PRAYER ACTIVITY REFLECT an activity that creates space for personal understanding and application PRAY AND DISMISS Wrapping paper pieces from the Wrapping Paper Verse Relay activity, markers Give each kid a piece of wrapping paper and a marker. Instruct them to write a prayer thanking God for giving us the greatest gift. Close with the prayer below. God, thank You so much for sending Jesus to us. He is by far the greatest gift ever. We praise You for your compassion toward us, and we ask You help us show compassion to others and tell them about the great gift of Jesus. In His name we pray, amen. I want you to take your prayers home with you as a reminder to keep thanking God for giving us the greatest gift. As adults arrive to pick up, ask kids to use the butcher paper drawings to quickly tell them the Christmas story. Encourage parents to ask kids about the prayer they wrote on the wrapping paper The rethink Group. All rights reserved. 9