Week 3 Buck Denver Asks W H Y DO W E C A L L IT CHRISTMAS? Leader s Guide Overview 4 WEEK CONTENT OVERVIEW Week 1: The BIG Questions of Christmas Week 2: Jesus Birth & Serving Project Week 3: The Origins of Hanukkah & Small Group Celebration Week 4: Emmanuel & The Christmas Story LESSON SCHEDULE Video 1 / Team Time 1: The Origins of Hanukkah (10 Min) Video (3 Min) / Team Time (7 Min) Video 2 / Team Time 2: Small Group Celebration (35 Min) Video (0 Min) / Team Time (35 Min) Video 3 / Team Time 3: Christmas What s It? (20 Min) Video (4 Min) / Team Time (16 Min) EXTRAS! Video Outtakes Parent GO HOME Card Graphics Music LESSON OVERVIEW Today the children will learn about the tradition of Hanukkah (the holiday that Jesus celebrated) and experience a small group celebration. CURRICULUM OVERVIEW This Christmas curriculum is designed to introduce children to the Biblical story of Christmas found in Luke 2:1-20 and give them a larger context for the traditions of Christmas. The curriculum also includes practical ways for children to apply the Christmas story including a serving project and a small group celebration. SCHEDULE OVERVIEW The curriculum includes 3 Videos and 3 Team Time Activities. Each Video corresponds with a matching Team Time Activity. For example: Watch Video 1 with your group, then complete Team Time Activity 1 with the same group. Next watch Video 2 and complete Team Time Activity 2. The corresponding Team Time Activities encourage the children to respond immediately to what they ve heard and seen in the videos. Each Video and Team Time is approximately 20 minutes and the entire lesson runs approximately 60 minutes. TODAY S SCHEDULE VIDEO 1 TEAM TIME 1: The Origins of Hanukkah (10 Min) VIDEO 2 TEAM TIME 2: Small Group Celebration (35 Min) VIDEO 3 TEAM TIME 3: Christmas What s It? (10 Min) MAKE IT YOUR OWN What s In the Bible? gives you the freedom to customize your own curriculum. That means you have the ability to change, edit, remove or add anything you want to make this lesson a perfect fit for your children s ministry. This includes the SAY portions of the leader guides, please feel free to say it in your own words. If you have a template that you use every weekend, feel free to copy and paste the Leaders Guide into your template. WHAT S IN THE BIBLE? CHURCH EDITION SERIES What s in the Bible? Church Edition includes complete curriculum series designed for a children s ministry context within the church. Each curriculum package includes 4 weeks of creative, engaging, practical, Biblical lessons. See whatsinthebible.com to learn more! THIS WEEK S SUPPLY LIST Video 1 / Team Time 1: Video 1 Jellyfish Labs grants permission to churches, schools, and other licensees to edit Why Do We Call It Christmas? Church Edition materials to fit their requirements and needs. These resources are intended to be downloaded and printed for use by the subscribing entity only and may not be electronically transferred or duplicated by other non-subscribing entities. Any unauthorized reproduction of this material or incorporation into a new work is a direct violation of U.S. copyright laws. 2011 Jellyfish Labs. All rights reserved. Video 2 / Team Time 2: Game: Why Do We Call It Christmas? BINGO (1 Bingo Card Per Child, 1 Set of Character Cards, Bingo Markers), Music: Christmas Kazoo Choir (1 Straw Per Child, Scissors, Music CD), Art: Character Christmas Cards (Buck Denver Card, Chuck Waggin Card, Clive Card, Sunday School Lady Card: 1 Per Child, Scissors, Markers), Online Game: JellyTelly.com (Computers or ipads) Video 3 / Team Time 3: Video 3, GO HOME Cards (1 Per Child)
VIDEO 1 / TEAM TIME 1 Supplies: Video 1 Teacher Note: These questions are designed to help kids understand why we celebrate and remember the holiday. Consider dividing the children into smaller groups if you have additional leaders. This will encourage children to share their thoughts. If that is not possible, encourage the children to think about their answer and then turn to a friend to share their answers. SAY: Hanukkah is a celebration in which God s people remember the lamp oil that miraculously lasted 8 days instead of 1 day while they cleaned and rededicated the temple. Jewish people have a tradition of lighting candles in order to remember this. There are many ways that people remember what God did. 1. Why do you think it is important for God s people to remember what God has done? 2. Christmas is a time to remember that God came to us. What are some of your family s traditions that help you to remember that God came to us? 3. A great Christmas tradition is to pray and thank God for choosing to come to us. Let s take turns praying together thanking God for coming to us. SAY: Great job! Another way we like to celebrate is singing Christmas songs, so let s join Pastor Paul in his Christmas Carol Mash-up. PLAY Video 2.
VIDEO 2 / TEAM TIME 2 Supplies: See Supplies Below (For Specific Activities) or Create your Own Supplies (For Additional Small Group Activities) Teacher Note: Today s activity is a Small Group Celebration! We re thrilled to offer an opportunity for small groups to celebrate the Christmas holiday together. While we have provided several ideas for the celebration, consider adding your own activities as well! The goal is to have fun celebrating Jesus birth and build relationships with each other. SAY: Today we learned about a holiday that Jesus celebrated! Do you remember what that holiday is called? (Hanukkah) Why do the Jewish people today celebrate Hanukkah? It was important to stop and remember what God had done. Why do we celebrate Christmas? Because it s important for us to stop and remember what God has done for us through His Son Jesus. SAY: There are many ways to celebrate Christmas! We all have different traditions, or things we do every year to celebrate. What is one of your traditions? Do you eat candy canes, or open presents on Christmas Eve, or find little toys in your stocking? ENCOURAGE the children to talk about their Christmas traditions. SAY: Today we are going to celebrate Christmas together! We ll create some new traditions just for our group! We re going to have a small group Christmas party! SMALL GROUP CELEBRATION ACTIVITIES GAME: Why Do We Call It Christmas? BINGO Supplies: 1 Bingo Card (Per Child), Character Cards (1 Set) and Bingo Markers (Coins, Ink Blotters/Markers, or Buttons) Directions: Print off enough Bingo cards for all of the children. There are 20 versions, so spread the different versions out among the children. Give each child 1 Bingo Card and several Bingo Markers. Hold onto the Character/Item Cards (the last page of the Bingo print). Explain to the children that you will pick a Character/Item Card. If they have that square on their Bingo Card, then can mark it with a marker. The first person to get 5 in a row (horizontally or vertically) is the winner! Encourage the children to talk about their traditions as they are playing the game. For example: If you call, Buck Denver Christmas Wreath ask the children if their family places a wreath on the door at Christmastime. MUSIC: CHRISTMAS KAZOO CHOIR Supplies: 1 Straw (Per Child), Scissors, and Christmas Music (on CD, ipod, or ipad) Directions: Help the children create a straw kazoo. Give each child 1 straw. Bite down on one end to make it flat. Cut the flat end to make a V. Put the V in your mouth and blow to create a sound! For different sounds, poke holes in the middle of the straw, or make it a shorter length. Create a Christmas Choir by playing Christmas music on a CD, ipod or ipad. Encourage the children to play their kazoos along with the music. For Christmas songs from your favorite characters, go to www.whatsinthebible.com. ART: CHRISTMAS CARD Supplies: Character Christmas Cards (Buck Denver Card, Chuck Waggin Card, Clive Card, Sunday School Lady Card: 1 Per Child), Scissors and Markers Directions: Encourage the children to choose one Character Christmas Card (Buck Denver, Sunday School Lady, Clive or Chuck Waggin ). The children can decorate their cards using the markers and then cut out the character s mouth on the front panel of the card. When the card is complete, the children can stick their mouths into the cut out section of the card and pretend to talk like the character. For example: If a child has a Buck Denver card, he can say Breaking news, Buck Denver here wishing everyone a very merry Christmas. Encourage the children to have fun with the cards and to think about a person they give their cards to maybe someone who needs a little extra cheer this Christmas. ONLINE GAMES: Jelly Telly.com Supplies: Computers or ipads Directions: Pull up jellytelly.com on the computers or ipads and click on the Games Tab. Encourage children to work with a partner to have fun playing the games.
VIDEO 3 / TEAM TIME 3 Supplies: Video 3 and GO HOME Cards (1 Per Child) Teacher s Note: This activity is a set of review questions that will appear on the video. Take time to answer and discuss each question with your small group. At the end of this time, take prayer requests and lead a time of prayer with your group. SAY: Let s play Christmas What s It? I will divide you into 2 teams. You can work with your team to answer each question. The team who answers the most questions correctly, wins! QUESTIONS 1. True or False: Christmas is an older holiday than Hanukkah. 2. Hanukkah is a celebration of something that happened in which city? A. Jerusalem B. Bethlehem C. Nazareth D. Wheaton 3. Hanukkah celebrates something that happened how many years before Jesus was born? A. About 350 B. About 10 C. About 200 D. About 2000 ANSWERS False A. Jerusalem C. About 200 4. Turn to your neighbor and tell your favorite activity from Small Group Celebration today. 5. Antiochus IV Epiphanes was a Roman leader who did not like the Jewish people. What did he ban? A. Eating pig B. Their religion C. Lighting candles D. All of the above 6. The Maccabees were brothers who led a rebellion against Antiochus. How many brothers led the rebellion? A. 550 B. 50 C. 15 D. 5 7. There was enough oil in the lamp to last how many days? A. 1 B. 20 C. 5 D. 7 8. The miracle of Hanukkah is that the oil lasted days, while God s people cleaned and restored the temple. A. 80 B. 1 C. 8 D. 30 B. Their religion D. 5 A. 1 C. 8 SAY: A tradition is a great way to remember what God has done for His people. Today we celebrated Christmas together with a few new traditions! SAY: If you could create a new tradition for your family, what would it be? How would you want to remember what God did for us at Christmas? SAY: Let s pray together, asking God to help us remember Him each Christmas. PRAY with your children. Continued on next page
V I D EO 3 / T E A M TI M E 3 C O N TI N U E D PARENT WALK OUT TIME GIVE each family 1 GO HOME Card. GO HOME CARD Today your child learned about the tradition of Hanukkah (the holiday that Jesus celebrated) and experienced a small group celebration. A few discussion questions for the way home: Tell me about Hanukkah. What did you learn today about this holiday? Why do you think it s important to celebrate a holiday and remember what God has done? What did you do during your small group celebration? What are some traditions we have in our family? Are there any new traditions you d like us to celebrate together? BIG QUESTION: The miracle of Hanukkah is that the oil lasted days while God s people cleaned and restored the temple. Bible Memory Verse: Luke: 2:13-14 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.