Dear Parents, Have fun and enjoy the journey, Launch Children s Ministries

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1 Dear Parents, Over the past year, your child has been on a Chronological Journey through the Bible. Now, we would like to invite you to join in this journey with us. This is a packet of activities that you can do with your children that will reinforce the things we are learning in Kid s Church. We have just finished learning about Nehemiah. Your children were taught, through Nehemiah s desire to help rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that God calls us to help each other. During our second lesson on Nehemiah, the people of Jerusalem began rebuilding the walls; however, they faced challenges. Through this Bible story, your children learned that God WILL help us even when challenges come our way. Now matter how big the problem is, God is bigger. We will now dive into the New Testament starting with a four week unit on John the Baptist. As the forerunning to Jesus, John teaches us that choosing to follow God and His plan for our lives is the most important choice in life. Your children will learn that like John, they have a choice to make too. While studying these stories, your children will learn how to make their own choice to follow God not matter how difficult or uncertain His plan for their life may seem. Have fun and enjoy the journey, Launch Children s Ministries

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3 Session 1: The Genealogy of Christ Activity: Similar and Different Cut a pool noodle lengthwise and place the halves flat- side up as a race track. You may also choose to cut several paper towel rolls in half lengthwise and tape them together to form a track. Brace the top of the track on the edge of a table and allow it to run downhill. Give you kids small cars, marbles, and small round candies. Allow them to race the different items. Talk about what is similar and different about the racing objects. Talk about how everyone in a family has some similarities and some differences. Jesus is different from any other man. We all have things about us that are the same and things that are different. Jesus is a person just like you and me, but He is also very different from you and me. He is fully God AND fully man. He had an earthly family but he didn t really act like them because he is in God s family. Craft: Family Tree Invite the kids to color the outer circles green on the backs of small paper plates. Kids can either draw a picture of their family in the inner circle, or keep it open for them to paste a family photo. Demonstrate how to clip two spring-hinged clothespins onto the plate s edge and stand it up to create a family tree. If you want it to look more like a tree, invite the kids to paint or color the clothespins brown, wrap them with brown chenille stems, or cover them with brown tape. Jesus family was full of a lot of people (all the way back to Adam and Eve). Do you think that everyone in Jesus family was good and deserved to be in God s family? No. In Jesus family there were murderers, liars, and thieves. We all have a choice to follow Jesus. It does not matter what our family believes. Each and every person has to choose if they want to be a child of God.

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5 Session 2: John s Birth Was Predicted Activity: Silent Talking Invite kids to play a game of charades. Kids will take turns acting out anything that they want to tell the others. Remind actors that they may not speak while acting. The group should try to guess what the actor is doing. Kids may choose their own getting ready activities, but be prepared to offer suggestions (brushing teeth, combing hair, feeding a pet, tying shoes, eating, reading the Bible, praying, etc.). Ask kids to whisper their own ideas to you before they act them out. In this weeks Bible story, an angle appeared to Zachariah to tell him that his wife was going to have a baby boy. Zachariah laugh because he thought that they were too old to have a baby. Because of his choice not to believe Zachariah was made mute (he could not talk) until baby John was born. Just like God promised Zachariah that he would have a baby, God promises us thing. What are some of the promises of God? Allow answers and provide some of your own. God promises to do these things, but we have to choose whether or not to believe Him. Craft: It s a Boy! You can have you kids work individually or in a group. Give each group (or child) a large sheet of paper, markers, and other decorating supplies. Explain that parents often announce when they are expecting a baby. Invite each group to work together to design a baby announcement for John. Kids should include the baby s name and gender, the parents names, and some words that describe John. Lead your kids to refer to Luke 1:17 for a description of God s plan for John. Kids may wish to draw a picture of a baby boy and decorate the announcement with other embellishments. Who announced John s birth? The angel Gabriel told Zechariah that he would have a son. Zechariah did not believe the announcement, but that did not change the fact that baby John was going to be born. God knew that John would tell people about Jesus, and he had a plan for his birth.

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7 Session 3: Mary Visited Elizabeth Activity: Leap For Joy Use tape to mark a start line on the floor. Give each kid a sticky note. Provide markers for each kid to write his name on his dot. Instruct kids to stand behind the start line. They will take turns leaping past the start line as far as they can. Each kid should use his sticky note to mark where he lands. Recognize the kid who leaped the farthest. (If your kids are having fun, play again or play a variation of the game by seeing who can leap the highest. Kids should stand next to the wall and leap as high as they can to position their sticky note onto the wall.) Even before the babies were born, Elizabeth s baby was happy about Mary s baby. John leaped in Elizabeth s belly when he heard Mary s voice. What was special about Mary s baby? Jesus is God s Son. Craft: Celebrate God s Word Pair your kids up in groups of two (if you have an odd number you or another adult can play. Grab and soft object in your house that is not breakable and find a room (or outside) with a lot of space. Have the kids stand close to each other. This game is a version of the egg toss that is so popular at Easter parties. The twist is that every time a child throws the object he or she must say something about themselves (favorite book, best friend, grade, etc.) You may have to give the kids ideas. Keep playing as long as your kids are interested. You probably already knew most of what your brother/sister/friend told you; however, those are the types of things you talk about when you are getting to know someone. Mary and Elizabeth were not only friends they were cousins. When Mary walked into the room, the baby that Elizabeth was pregnant with jumped! John knew Jesus even before either of them was born. They didn t have to ask any of the questions that we asked!

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9 Session 4: John Was Born Activity: Hidden Name Write the phrase His name is John on a piece of paper. Chose a child who will leave the room while you and the other children hid the paper. When the child comes back in you and the other children will sit quietly. When the person looking gets close to the paper you can wave your hands excitedly, but when he walks about you must get still (explain this to the person looking so they know that you are giving them clues). In this week s lesson, we learned about the day that John was born. As we learned two weeks ago, John s dad Zechariah was not able to speak because he chose not to trust God. This week we learned that Zechariah was able to speak again when he wrote down that the babies name was John. Even though that was not a normal name at the time (because no one in the family was named John) Zechariah chose to obey God and name the baby John. Craft: Name It Provide each kid with a piece of construction paper and liquid glue. Invite the kids to use the glue like a pen, writing their names on the pieces of construction paper. Then give the kids something to place on the glue. You may choose glitter, colored sand, tissue squares, or small beads. You can also use food items like colorful cereals, macaroni, or rice. Encourage the kids to pour or place the items on top of the glue. (If this is too messy for you have the kids use crayons and markers to write out their name and decorate the page) In this week s Bible story, Zachariah named John. Just like you and me John had his own name because he had his own purpose in life. John s purpose was to tell the people to repent because Jesus was coming soon. He baptized people (explain baptism to your kids if they do not understand it) and prepared the way for Jesus. This is why John was given the nickname John the Baptist.

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