Thank you Coaches and Volunteers for serving!

Transcription

1 Thank you Coaches and Volunteers for serving!

2 Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (Small Groups, 15 minutes) Activities that encourage preschoolers to enter the classroom and begin engaging with peers and Small Group Leaders by providing age appropriate and hands on fun while introducing new concepts they will hear in the day s Bible story. Prepare to offer one or more of the following activities as your 3-, 4-, or 5-year-olds arrive. Let one or two teachers lead activities in different areas of the room while another teacher greets parents and kids at the door. 1. Blue Search Made to Move: an activity that uses a preschooler s natural desire to move to help them learn What You Need: Blue items from around the room What You Do: Before the Activity: Gather several blue items from around the room (blue dishes and foods from the play kitchen, blue paper, blue toys, etc.) and hide them in easily found places around the room. Count how many items you ve hidden so you can make sure the children find them all. During the Activity: Gather the children in an open area of the room. Explain that you ve hidden a certain number of blue items around the room for them to find. Once they find something blue, they should return to the center of the room with their item(s). What You Say: Before the Activity: Today we re going on a blue hunt! I ve hidden [number] blue things around the room. Do you think you can find them all? Let s work together and go on a blue search! After the Activity: Great job, friends! You found all the blue things on our blue search. I love the color blue, don t you? Today we ll hear about something blue in our Bible story. I can t wait!

3 2. Goin Fishin Made to Play: an activity that encourages preschoolers to follow guidelines while having fun and learning new concepts What You Need: fishing poles, magnetic fish, pool or bin, blue tissue paper What You Do: During the Activity: Set up the fishing set on the floor in an open area. Select four children to go first, giving each child a plastic fishing pole. Explain that their goal is to catch a fish with their pole and set it next to the pool. Give them time to catch a few fish, then select four more kids and have them switch out. Continue until everyone has had a turn. What You Say: Before the Activity: Today I thought it would be fun to do a little fishing! Raise your hand if you ve ever been fishing before. (Pause.) Awesome. In this game, you will have a fishing pole. You can put the end in our pretend water, and try to catch a fish. We ll work together to catch all the fish. Everybody ready? (Pause.) Okay, let s have four friends start us off. Don t worry everyone will have a turn! After the Activity: Great job, everyone! You are such great fishermen! Where do fish live? (Pause for responses.) Fish live in the sea! Today we re going to hear an AMAZING story about a sea that parted right down the middle. All the fish had to go to one side or the other. I can t wait for you to hear all about it. Transition: Move to Worship and Story by pretending to fish. Encourage the children to cast out their lines, wait patiently for a few seconds, and then you say, Oh, looks like you got one! Reel it in slowly! Encourage them to reel in the fish and then show just HOW BIG it is with their hands and then throw it back in the water and start over again.

4 Connecting: Making the Story Apply to Them (Small Groups, 25 minutes) Create a safe place to connect through activities that are written to reach every learning style while reinforcing the Bottom Line that was introduced during the Bible Story and applying it to real life experiences. In addition, these activities provide preschoolers with an opportunity to build relationships with their Small Group Leader. 1. Memory Verse Walk Hear from God Memory Verse Review Made to Move: An activity that uses a preschooler s natural desire to move to help them learn What You Need: Monthly memory verse card/motions, 4 pieces of blue cardstock, 1 piece of red cardstock or construction paper, and scissors What You Do: Before the Activity: Cut the four pieces of blue cardstock in half and lay seven of them out on the floor to form a path in an open area of the room. Cut a large heart out of the red paper and place it at the end of the path of blue pages. During the Activity: Review this month s memory verse together (Proverbs 3:5). Then encourage the children to take turns walking along the blue path as you say the words of the verse and end on the heart. What You Say: During the Activity: This month we re learning all about how God keeps His promises. And because God always keeps His promises, we can always trust Him. That s what our verse tells us this month. Trust the LORD with all your heart, Proverbs 3:5. Do you see this pathway here? (Point.) Let s take turns walking along the path as we say the words of the verse like this. (Demonstrate walking on the path.) Trust the LORD with all your heart. Proverbs 3:5. After the Activity: I m so glad to know that I can trust God with all my heart because God keeps His promises. Who keeps His promises? God keeps His promises!

5 2. Dance Across the Sea Live for God Application Activity Made to Move: An activity that uses a preschooler s natural desire to move to help them learn What You Need: Floor tape, CD player or other way to play music What You Do: Before the Activity: Use the tape to make a pathway across the floor of the activity area. You will need to make two parallel lines. During the Activity: Play the music and ask the children to dance along the pathway to celebrate that God keeps His promises. Repeat as desired. What You Say: Before the Activity: Moses and His people were safe because God parted the sea so they could get across safely. During the Activity: We are going to walk across our path (point) to celebrate that God always keeps His promises! Let s dance across! (Do activity.) After the Activity: Great dancing! We have a lot to celebrate since God ALWAYS keeps His promises. Who keeps His promises? God keeps His promises!

6 3. Water Parting Live for God Application Activity Made to Create: an activity that allows preschoolers to review the Bible story, bottom line, or memory verse by creating a craft to take home What You Need: Water Parting Activity Page, white cardstock, blue painter s tape, blue crayons and markers, and fish stickers What You Do: Before the Activity: Copy the Water Parting Activity Page onto cardstock. Provide one per child. Take the tape and place a piece vertically down the center of each page. You can do this right on the table at each child s spot so that the top and bottom of the tape hold the page in place. Set the crayons, markers and stickers around the tables within the children s reach. During the Activity: Encourage the children to sit or stand in front of a page on the table. Explain that this be will their picture of the sea. Encourage the children to use the blue crayons and markers to color all over the page (including the tape). Then carefully remove the tape to reveal the path down the center of the page. Encourage the children to place a few fish stickers in the water. What You Say: During the Activity: When Moses and the Israelites were facing the water in front of them and Pharaoh s army behind them, what did God do? (Pause.) Yes! God parted the water in the sea and made a way for them to cross on dry ground. I want you to use these dot markers to paint the sea all over your page. Remember, we need to share these, so as you finish be sure to pass the dot markers to another friend. I m going to come around and show you an amazing trick to reveal the DRY path they walked on. You can also add fish stickers to your pages. After the Activity: Wow! These look amazing! I ll admit the tape was a tricky way to make a path. But God made a path by His own power. God made a promise to rescue the Israelites and He did, because God keeps His promises. Who keeps His promises? God keeps His promises. I hope these pictures will remind you of that this week.

7 BIBLE STORY Choose an engaging adult to tell the Bible story. This person should be able to command the attention of preschoolers and control the group through animated storytelling. These scripts are written to be told and not read. Advanced preparation is necessary. WHAT YOU NEED: A Bible LEADER: I have an awesome TRUE story straight from the Bible (hold up Bible) and let me tell you, this true story is amazing! Our story starts with a man named Moses. Moses had just gone to Egypt to save God s people, the Israelites. They had been kept there by a very mean king, Pharaoh. He was scary, but God promised to save His people from him. So Moses came to speak to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh agreed to let the people go. Everyone say, Hooray! CHILDREN: Hooray! LEADER: God promised to rescue His people, the Israelites, and when God makes a promise, He always keeps it! God s promises are awesome. Later on, after saying he would let God s people go, Pharaoh the mean king changed his mind. He came running after them on his chariot with all of his army. Pharaoh s army chased the Israelites all the way to the sea! So let s pretend this is the sea. Oh NO! What are the Israelites going to do? They ve got the sea on this side. And Pharaoh s army is quickly moving in on the other! They can t go this way (put one hand out) or this way (put other hand out). They looked left. Everyone look left. (Children look left). They looked right. Everyone look right. (Children look right.) Then left again. (Children look left.) Then right again! (Children look right.) Then left again. (Children look left.) Then right again. (Children look right.) Then left, right, left, right. (Laugh.) Whoa! Everybody stop! The Israelites were so scared, but God promised to save them, right? Yes! And God keeps His promises. Get ready for the awesome part. So God told Moses to hold out his walking stick, and all of a sudden, the water started to move and make a path for God s people to walk on!

8 God parted the deep blue sea so His people could walk right through it! They were saved. How AWESOME and AMAZING is that? God moved an entire sea so Moses could lead His people through. God promised to save His people from the mean king Pharaoh and He kept His promise in the most AWESOME way ever! God s promises are AWESOME. Who keeps his promises? CHILDREN AND LEADER: God keeps His promises. LEADER: Yes, He does. Let s pray and thank God for always keeping His promises to us. PRAYER LEADER: Wow, God! You are amazing! Only You could part the waters of the Red Sea so that the people could walk right through and be saved. Thank You for Your promises. We can trust You to always keep Your promises because You love us. Help us to trust You every day. In Jesus name we pray, amen.