Christmas Luke 2:8 20 Week 1. REMEMBER VERSE For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son. John 3:16. Ponder Point: Jesus is Born

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1 Christmas Luke 2:8 20 Week 1 REMEMBER VERSE For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son. John 3:16 Ponder Point: Jesus is Born SERVICE SCHEDULE Explore Welcome & Engage minutes Discover & Respond Large Group minutes Respond & Bless Small Group 25 minutes While the shepherds were watching their sheep at night, the sky lit up and an angel of the Lord appeared to them. The shepherds were terrified. The angel told them not to be afraid because he brought good news. The Savior had been born. The shepherds were amazed and went to see the baby Jesus for themselves. After the shepherds had seen Him, they told everyone what they had seen. The Promise they had been waiting for was finally here. 1

2 Lesson Overview: Luke 2:8-20 Experience Time Summary Supplies/Prepare EXPLORE Welcome & Engage min. Exploration stations create space for children to engage in hands-on activities as they begin their time of worship. Activity 1: Nativity Scene Nativity Scene of your choice DISCOVER Large Group Respond Large Group min. Facilitate interactive games, songs, and storytelling, allowing children to participate in discovering God s Word. Christmas Worship songs Mail Time/Remember Verse Hamilton s Treasure Box/ What s It: Sheep The Big God Story Today in the Big God Story we hear that Jesus is Born. Worship through response RESPOND Review/Bless/ Connect min. Further process the story through discussion and interaction with others and respond to God in worship through creative expression. Bless the children that they may experience God fully. Review Questions/Snack Connect: Activity 1: Baby Jesus Ornament small paper plate baby Jesus template hole punch string or pipe cleaner Bible verse label Activity 2: Christmas ball toss foam balls containers of various sizes Christmas wrapping paper Family First Parent Resource 2

3 Explore min. Activity 1: Nativity Scene Nativity Scene of your choice Kids love to play with Nativity Scenes. This is a great opportunity to interact with your kids about the Christmas Story. Help them talk about the story, characters, how Christmas makes them feel, the best part, Jesus is Born! Clean up/move to Large Group 5 min. A CD with clean up music will be played. At this time, please encourage and assist the kids with clean up and proceed to the large group programming area. Be sure to model for the kid s large group behavior. Please participate in all aspects of today s large group time. LARGE Group Discover: Children move into a large group setting and participate in discovering God s Word through storytelling, worship, and interactive experiences. Ponder Point Jesus is Born Week 1 Open Large Group-Rules (2 minutes) Each week children will begin their large group time with the rules of your preschool program. This is a time for simple reminders about how to be a part of a loving community by respecting each other. worship music (on cd) Welcome children as they re entering the large group meeting area. Direct the children to sit with their leaders in the designated area on the floor. Let s go over our today s rules so we can have fun and be safe as we celebrate God! Be Kind and be safe! Here is our special line, the teacher stays on this side of the line and the kids stay on that side of the line. Jesus made our hands to be kind to our friends, show me your hands (have kids wave their hands). Remember we can use our hands to clap and have fun, but never to hit or hurt our friends. Show me 3

4 your feet (have kids stomp their feet). We can use our feet to dance and have fun, but we never use or feet to kick or hurt our friends or our church. Another way we can be kind is when teacher is speaking, you are listening. Show me your ears (have kids wiggle their ears). We can listen with our ears and zip our lips when I m talking. Add any other rules that specifically work for your room. Preschoolers do better when they know their expectations. Mail Time (4 minutes) Each week children will receive mail in the mailbox you ve created. Written on the mail is the month s Remember Verse from the Bible. It s important for children to associate the message written on the mail as words from the Bible, so be sure to have a Bible visible for reference. Remember Verse printed on cardstock, put in mailbox Bibles (your personal or a large children s Bible) mailbox SET UP Invite a child to come up on the stage to help you open today s mail. Remember Verse Motions For God: Point up to God so loved: hug yourself the world then spread arms out in front of yourself He gave his only Son: rock a baby After the child opens the mailbox and retrieves the mail, ask your volunteer to be seated with their small group. The Storyteller will then read the enclosed Remember Verse. Talk about the meaning of the verse while interacting with the children and other leaders onstage with you. Define any unfamiliar words for the children. The Storyteller should lead the large group in reciting the Remember Verse several times together using a variety of engaging methods. Using the hand motions listed below, go over the verse two or three times with the kids. Use as much excitement and enthusiasm as you can! Treat this as a celebration an exciting time of introducing your children to God s Word. Applaud them for a job well done! Remember Verse Definition One of the joys of leading preschool is helping children build vocabulary and learn new concepts related to God. Don t feel like you have to use all the definitions every week. Instead, focus on one or two definitions at a time. You may be surprised at how much your children understand by the end of their four weeks with each Remember Verse. Remember Verse Motions (Teacher Tip: Take your time, go slowly, break it down and explain the words as you go ) John 3:16 4

5 Worship Song: B I B L E (that s the Book for me) (3 minutes) Storyteller Invite the kids to stand and sing with you, using motions Cue the worship song on the cd. Hamilton the Hedgehog Hamilton the Hedgehog is a fun puppet that you can use during your large group discover time. Every week Hamilton and the what s it will be hidden in the treasure box. It s also good to use Hamilton to help settle the kids. You can tell the kids, Hamilton is very shy so everyone needs be quiet and listen so he will come out of his house. You don t need to give Hamilton a voice, simply ask Hamilton questions and he can nod yes or no. Treasure Box with Hamilton the Hedgehog (5 minutes) The Treasure Box is a fun and interactive entrance point into God s story. Each week a new object called a What s It, which is connected to and sometimes used in The Big God Story, is hidden in the treasure box. What s It: Sheep : Treasure Chest Hamilton the Hedgehog What s It: Sheep Do you know who else likes to be a part of The Big God Story? That s right! Hamilton the Hedgehog! Shall we call him and ask him to join us? (The children will answer.) On the count of three, let s call him together. Are you ready? One, two, three. Hamilton, where are you? (Encourage kids to call for Hamilton.) Hmm I wonder what he is doing. Let s try again. Hamilton, where are you? (find Hamilton in the Treasure Box). Hi, Hamilton! Hamilton, do you have something to share from our treasure box today. (Have Hamilton whisper in the Storyteller s ear.) Friends, Hamilton gave me a clue to today s what s it. Let s see if you can guess what is in our treasure box. (Have Hamilton whisper in your ear and give you some clues.) You can come up with some easy clues to help the kids guess what is in the treasure box. Wow there was an sheep in our Treasure Box today. I wonder how this fits into today s portion of The Big God Story. I think it s time to find out because do you know what time it is? 5

6 The Big God Story (5 8 minutes) Jesus Is Born Week 1 Luke 2:8-20 Beginner Bible Felt Board and story pieces Okay, friends. Before we get started, let s all pray together and ask God to teach us. (Lead the kids in a Prayer of Release as you prepare to hear God s Word.) Prayer of Release A Prayer of Release is a prayer asking God to remove any distractions that would get in the way of hearing from and responding to Him. As we pray, we dedicate this time to the Lord and quiet ourselves, so that we might hear specifically from Him. In this way, we are consciously laying aside our worries, successes, and requests for the moment. We ask to be filled with knowledge and understanding from Him, giving God His rightful role as teacher. Then as we move into Respond, we can better create space to interact with His Holy Spirit. Give the kids a few seconds, as it feels appropriate, of silence. Mary and Joseph were going to have a baby boy. (Stable felt piece on board.) What were they going to name their baby? That s right Jesus. Jesus is God s Son. He is the special Promise that God had been telling His people about for a long time. Well, the night Jesus was born, there were lots and lots of beautiful stars in the sky. (Star felt piece on board.) And there were shepherds out in the fields taking care of their sheep. (Shepherd felt piece on board.) Friends, do you know what a shepherd is? A shepherd is someone who takes care of sheep. (Sheep felt piece on board.) Shepherds make sure that the sheep stay safe and that they get enough food to eat. Well, the night Jesus was born, there were shepherds watching their sheep eat grass. All of a sudden, there was a big light in the sky. It was very, very bright! The shepherds looked up and saw an angel. (Angel felt piece on board.) The shepherds were so scared. The angel of the Lord said, Do not be afraid! I bring you good news of great joy. It is for all the people! Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Jesus Christ, the Lord. The shepherds were not afraid anymore; they were so happy. The Promise they had been waiting for had come! Jesus was born. The angel told the shepherds to go and see the baby Jesus. They were so excited. But where could they find Jesus? Where do you think the shepherds found Jesus? That s right. The angel told them to look for a baby wrapped up in cloths and lying in a manger. A manger? What is a manger? Yes. A manger is a box where you can put food for the animals to eat. (Manger felt piece on board near stable.) Then the shepherds looked up in the sky, and it was filled with beautiful angels. They were singing a praise song to God because they were also glad that Jesus was born! (Multiple angels felt piece on board.) When the angels left, the shepherds went out to look for the baby Jesus. They did just what the angels told them to do and guess what! They found Him. He was lying in a manger wrapped in cloths, just like the angels said. (Baby Jesus felt piece on board.) Mary and Joseph were there too. (Mary and Joseph felt piece on board.) The shepherds were so excited to see baby Jesus. Do you think they went home to take a nap? No! Do you think they went back to brush their sheep? No! They went and told everyone: Jesus is born! Jesus is here! They wanted to tell everyone the good news! People were so happy. God s special Promise had finally come. Jesus was born! 6

7 Respond: Children have the opportunity to respond to God as they celebrate Him within the faith community. Songs of Celebration: He is Born (3 minutes) Jump for Joy (3 minutes) This Little Light of Mine (3 minutes) Cue the worship songs in the playlist Large Group Blessing: (2 minutes) Tell your group that you would like everyone to hold hands (you might suggest standing in a circle), once everyone is quiet, take your Bible and read this blessing over your kids. (Leaders will still want to do their blessing in small group.) Open a Bible and use the provided Blessing Card: Children, let us give glory to God for the special gift He gave us, Jesus. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. Luke 2:14 When Reviewing the Story: While using the Review pages, discuss what happened in the story with your group. Look at the pages and point out a few key sentences. Get your kids talking, too! Ask questions while you look at the pictures. Dismiss the kids to their small groups. Small Group Respond 20 min. Snack/Bible Story Review Questions (per small group) The Big God Story Review Pages Hand Sanitizer, Graham crackers Settle your kids back on the small group blanket; use hand sanitizer and pass out crackers. Say a prayer of thanks before eating. 7

8 Read the Review Pages provided in your small group bin. Discuss the following questions with the children. Questions are meant to prompt further conversation about what children have been experiencing. They also invite children to ponder this truth and dwell with the wonder of God. While the shepherds were watching their sheep at night, the sky lit up and an angel of the Lord appeared to them. The shepherds were terrified. The angel told them not to be afraid because he brought good news. The Savior had been born. The shepherds were amazed and went and to see the baby Jesus for themselves. After the shepherds had seen Him, they told everyone what they had seen. The Promise they had been waiting for was finally here. What special baby was born in this story? Who were in the fields watching their sheep when a big light appeared in the sky? What did the shepherds see when they looked at the light, a car or an angel? Did the shepherds keep quiet about what they saw or did they want to tell everyone the good news? Who can we tell the good news that Jesus is born? Bless: Open a Bible and use the provided Blessing Card: Children, let us give glory to God for the special gift He gave us, Jesus. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. Luke 2:14 Connect: Activity 1: Baby Jesus Ornament small paper plate baby Jesus template hole punch string or pipe cleaner Bible verse label PREPARE Cut paper plates in half (one half for each child). Punch hole in paper plate. 8

9 We are going to wrap a special gift. What gift did God give to us? Right, baby Jesus!! Give each child a baby Jesus face and glue it in the middle (top) of the paper plate (see sample). Next, help them fold over the ends of the paper plate to so it wraps like a blanket and add the sticker to seal the plate together. They can also color the paper plate. Add the string or pipe cleaner to hang the ornament. Activity 2: Christmas Ball Toss (Same activity as last week) foam balls containers of various sizes Christmas wrapping paper PREPARE Wrap various containers in Christmas wrapping paper. Encourage the kids to take turns trying to toss the balls into the containers from different distances. Each time a child hits the target, say together, Merry Christmas. Ongoing Connect Option Extra Activity/Remember Verse: If extra time allows, please play a quick game, do puzzles or coloring sheets until parents arrive. Please do not allow kids to return to playing with the toys. This is also a good time to review your Remember Verse. Pass out Family First cards to parents. Remember Verse Motions For God: Point up to God so loved: hug yourself the world then spread arms out in front of yourself He gave his only Son: rock a baby John 3:16 Family First Look Cards Be sure to hand out this week s Family First Look to the parents as they pick up their child. This resource will help parents review this week s lesson with their child and look ahead to next week s lesson. It also has this week s Blessing and the current Remember Verse their kids are learning. 9