Lesso 11 129 Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho Joshua 2:1-24 Preschoolers are very trustig by ature ad will believe i God because you tell them God is real. Your words have a great impact o them. Use this lesso to help childre become cofidet i their faith i God. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP Bible Poit Believe i God. 1 Gettig Started about 15 mi. 2 Key Verse Activity about 5 mi. Welcome ad Celebrate Welcome each other, ad praise God through music. Strog Hads Decorate ad protect paper dolls. CD player Teacher Pack: CD Bible, scissors, markers, fa, Paper Doll page (at the ed of the lesso) Copy ad cut out the Paper Doll page, 1 per child. Key Verse Humble yourselves, therefore, uder God s mighty had, that he may lift you up i due time. Cast all your axiety o him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:6-7). 3 Bible Exploratio about 15 mi. Puppy Poiters Hear how Theo fids out that God cares for him. Bible Time: Rahab Hides Spies Hide with the spies while hearig how Rahab helped them. CD player, Theo puppet, strig or tape Teacher Pack: CD, straw Bible, card stock, scissors, glue, craft sticks, red yar, blaket Teacher Pack: spy mask patter, Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho poster (from the Big Bible Poster Pack) Tie or tape some straw to Theo s paw. Copy o card stock ad cut out the spy mask patter, 1 mask per child. Glue 1 edge of each mask to a craft stick so childre ca hold the masks over their eyes. Cut 6 iches of yar, ad cut a secod piece that s a few feet log. Weavig Faith Ito Life Childre will believe i God i daily life ad will express their belief to others. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 11
130 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP Ceter 1: Hide Like a Spy Make a picture of the spies hidig. My Bible Hugs, glue, red yar Teacher Pack: straw Remove the Lesso 11 pages from each My Bible Hugs studet book, ad write childre s ames o them. 4 Weavig Faith Ito Life about 20 mi. (Choose 2 ceters.) Ceter 2: Spy Sack Make a sack depictig the spies Rahab hid. Ceter 3: I Spy Preted to be spies ad look for thigs. tortillas, shredded wheat, bear-shaped crackers, apkis, atibacterial gel (optioal) spy masks from the Rahab Hides Spies activity Ceter 4: I Spy a Spy Make a craft to re-create the Bible passage. Daily Challeges Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. costructio paper, scissors, glue sticks, maskig tape, 2 large craft sticker per child, glue, 4 craft eyes per child, raffia My Bible Hugs Cut oe 6-ich square of costructio paper per child. 5 Lastig Impressios about 10 mi. Actio Prayer Tell God they believe i him. Weavig Faith at Home Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 11 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
131 Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho Joshua 2:1-24 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS A Differet Method The Jesus Coectio As Joshua prepared to sed spies ito the Promised Lad, o doubt he remembered the fiasco of 40 years earlier whe Moses set a large group of spies ito the lad. This time Joshua set oly two ad gave them a very specific missio: Ivestigate Jericho. He set them secretly, ot watig the Caaaites to kow what they were doig ad probably also to protect the Israelites from the distressful result of the first spy missio. Rahab s faith laded her amog Jesus acestors. Whe we veture forth with a small act of faith, God respods ad shows us his much larger faithfuless. I what areas of your life would you like to show more faithfuless to God? What are some ways you ve see God s faithfuless to you? You ca write your prayer askig God to use you to do big thigs. There s othig too big for the God of the uiverse who wats to lead ad guide your life. Good Gossip It may seem suspicious that the place the spies wet was to the home of a prostitute. However, it s likely that this was a place where gossip would aboud. I additio, the word most ofte traslated prostitute ca just as accurately be traslated ikeeper. Either way, it was a place where the spies were able to hear ad gauge how the people of Jericho felt about the Israelites who were camped just across the Jorda River. A Woma of Faith Rahab, though she lied about hidig the spies i her house, had apparetly become a believer i God through what she had heard about the Israelites experieces ad coquests. She hid the me at great persoal risk. She was commeded for her strog faith i the New Testamet i Hebrews 11:31. Note that God did ot commed her for lyig but for actig i faith ad hidig the spies. God blessed her for that faith. The ed of this evet lies beyod the scope of today s passage. Durig the victory over Jericho, Rahab ad her family were ideed spared from death (Joshua 6:17). Moreover, the New Testamet attests to her faithfuless ad icludes her i the lie of Kig David ad of Jesus (Matthew 1:5)! Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 11
132 GETTING STARTED Welcome ad Celebrate CD player Teacher Pack CD: Worship Our God (track 19), Believe i God (track 20) Welcome ad Celebrate Tip Cosistetly use the same sigal to aouce a trasitio to the ext activity. You could flip the lights off ad o, use a trai whistle, have a puppet rustlig iside a bag, or sig cleaup sogs. Keep it simple, cosistet, ad fu. As the childre arrive, greet each oe with a smile. Whe it s time to begi, use your sigal to gather the childre together i a circle o the floor. Lead childre i sigig Worship Our God (track 19 o the CD) to the tue of I ve Got the Joy. Ecourage childre to say What? as idicated i the lyrics below. Ecourage the childre to raise their hads, skip i place, or do some other actio to worship God whe their ames are sug. We re here at church to lear ad play ad worship our God. (What?) Worship our God. (What?) Worship our God. We re here at church to lear ad play ad worship our God, Worship our God today! We ll [After the first time, replace We ll with the ames of childre here.] worship our God. (What?) Worship our God. (What?) Worship our God. We ll worship our God. Worship our God today! (Repeat.) Say: We worship God because we BELIEVE IN GOD. Let s sig ad tell God we believe i him. Lead childre i sigig Believe i God (track 20 o the CD) to the tue of The Farmer i the Dell. Ecourage childre to follow the motios i paretheses. I believe i God. (poit to self ad the to the sky) I believe i God. (poit to self ad the to the sky) Childre who believe i God will give a little od. (od head) (Repeat 2x.) Say: Thak you for worshippig God with me today. God is so great ad woderful. Today we ll hear how he plaed to brig his people, the Israelites, ito a ew Lesso 11 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
133 place to live. Ad we ll lear that whe we BELIEVE IN GOD, we see him do great thigs. 2 KEY VERSE ACTIVITY Strog Hads Have childre form a circle ad sit dow. Ope your Bible to 1 Peter 5:6-7, ad show childre the words. Tell kids the Bible is God s special book. Say: Our Key Verse from the Bible says, Humble yourselves, therefore, uder God s mighty had, that he may lift you up i due time. Cast all your axiety o him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:6-7). This meas that God does t wat us to worry. He wats us to remember that he s strog ad always takes care of us. Let s say our Key Verse together. Lead childre i sayig the simplified Key Verse with you: God s mighty had cares for you (1 Peter 5:6-7). Say: Let s make somethig to help us thik about our Key Verse. Give each child a paper doll. Have childre ame their dolls ad decorate them with markers. Strog Hads Bible scissors markers fa Paper Doll page (at the ed of the lesso) Strog Hads Easy Prep Copy ad cut out the Paper Doll page, 1 per child. Say: Let s protect our paper dolls, kid of like our Key Verse says God protects us. Place a fa o the floor ad tur it o high. Explai to the childre that the fa will blow their dolls away uless they hold o tightly to them. After a miute, tur off the fa. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What was it like to protect your doll from beig blow away? Why do you like that God protects you with his strog hads? Say: God protects us so well. He s very strog ad ca always take care of us. He ca protect us eve better tha we protected our paper dolls. Today we ll hear how God protected some spies, ad we ll be remided to BELIEVE IN GOD ad trust him to take care of us. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 11
134 3 BIBLE EXPLORATION Puppy Poiters CD player Theo puppet strig or tape Teacher Pack CD: Here, Theo (track 3) straw Puppy Poiters Easy Prep Tie or tape some straw to Theo s paw. Puppy Poiters Say: Liste, everyoe, Theo s comig! He has somethig to show us. Let s fid out what it is. Play Here, Theo (track 3 o the CD), ad brig out Theophilus the FaithRetriever. Theo: Hi, everybody! Teacher: Hello, Theo! It s so good to see you at church with us today. What did you brig to show us? Theo: I brought some straw. Teacher: Straw? Why would you brig straw, Theo? Theo: I thik it s really fu to jump ito straw ad hide uder it. Teacher: That s so fuy, Theo. I bet that s lots of fu! Ad do you kow what? We re learig i the Bible today about some people who hid uder straw. Theo: Seriously? Were they playig? Teacher: No, they were t playig. They were really hidig from some people who might have hurt them. Theo: Oh, that s kid of scary. Teacher: Yeah, but they were safe because they believed i God. They kew God would take care of them. Actually, frieds, ca you tell Theo our Bible Poit for today? (Lead childre i sayig the Bible Poit for Theo: BELIEVE IN GOD.) Theo: I m glad God protected them uder the straw. Teacher: Me too, Theo. Are you ready to hear all about what happeed? Theo: Yes. But first I m goig to ru home to put my straw i my room. Teacher: Let s say goodbye to Theo. Ecourage the childre to wave or say goodbye to Theo. The put Theo away i a safe place for ext week s use. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: Where are some fu places you like to hide like Theo? Tell about a time you wated to hide because you were scared. What do you believe about God s protectio? Say: It s so fuy that Theo likes to hide uder straw, sice today we re learig about some people hidig uder straw. Sometimes we hide for fu, ad other times we might wat to hide because we re scared. But we ca remember that we BELIEVE IN GOD ad he ll always take care of us. Lesso 11 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
135 Bible Time: Rahab Hides Spies Ope your Bible to Joshua 2:1-24, ad show childre the words. Tell childre that the Bible is God s special book. Say: Today we re learig that we BELIEVE IN GOD. Ad we ll hear how God protected some of his people i a city called Jericho. Show the Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho poster. Say: Let s make some preted walls like Jericho had. Have childre help you arrage chairs i a circle to represet the walled city of Jericho. Say: Now let s preted to be spies like the people we re readig about i the Bible today. Give each child a spy mask, ad show childre how to use them. Say: It all started whe the spies were outside the walls of Jericho. Have childre sit outside Jericho. Say: God s people, the Israelites, had walked i the desert for a very, very log time whe God told them it was time for them to move ito the Promised Lad, Jericho. Poit to your preted Jericho. Joshua, the Israelites leader, wated to see what the lad was like ad who lived there. Have the childre put the masks i frot of their faces, ad the say: So Joshua set two spies to check it out. The city had huge stoe walls surroudig it, ad the people who lived i Jericho did t BELIEVE IN GOD. If the people of Jericho kew why the spies were there, they would t be very ice to the spies. So the spies had to be very careful ad seaky. Ivite childre to preted to seak aroud the city wall with their spy masks. The have them seak ito the ceter of the circle as if they re goig ito the city. Say: I Jericho, the spies stayed with a woma amed Rahab. Eve though Rahab was t a Israelite, she believed i God. Rahab kew that the spies were i dager, ad she wated to help them because they believed i God. So Rahab hid the spies by coverig them with flax, which is like tall grass or straw. Have the childre lie dow as if they re hidig. Partially cover them with a blaket. The make a loud kockig oise. Bible Time: Rahab Hides Spies Bible card stock scissors glue craft sticks red yar blaket Teacher Pack spy mask patter Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho poster (from the Big Bible Poster Pack) Bible Time: Rahab Hides Spies Easy Prep Copy o card stock ad cut out the spy mask patter, 1 mask per child. Glue 1 edge of each mask to a craft stick so childre ca hold the masks over their eyes. Cut 6 iches of yar, ad cut a secod piece that s a few feet log. Say: The kig set a message to Rahab, tellig her to brig the spies out of her house. Eve though Rahab believed i God, she was very scared. But because she believed i God, she said the spies had left. Take the blaket off the childre. The spies thaked Rahab for lettig them hide i her house. Before they left, they told her they would help her whe the Israelites came to Jericho. They told her to tie a red rope i her widow so all the Israelites would kow to help her. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 11
136 Say: The Rahab used a rope to help the me climb out of her widow, dow the walls of the city, ad back to safety. Hold oe ed of the log piece of red yar. Oe at a time, have the childre hold o to the other ed of the yar ad crawl betwee two chairs. As each child leaves Jericho, have him or her repeat, I believe i God. Whe all the childre are outside Jericho, tie the yar to oe of the chairs ad have childre remove their spy masks. Poit out the Joshua Seds Spies to Jericho poster. Let childre work together to glue the small piece of red yar to the cord hagig from the widow. Say: Rahab tied the red rope i her widow. Because she ad the spies believed i God, they helped each other. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What was it like to seak ad hide i our activity? What are some ways God protects you like he did the spies? What ca you do to show you BELIEVE IN GOD? Say: The spies ad Rahab were i dager, but they did the right thig because they believed i God. Whe we BELIEVE IN GOD, we ca do the right thig, too! We ca kow God will protect us ad take care of us like Rahab ad the spies. Ceter 1: Hide Like a Spy My Bible Hugs glue red yar Teacher Pack straw Ceter 1: Hide Like a Spy Easy Prep Remove the Lesso 11 pages from each My Bible Hugs studet book, ad write childre s ames o them. 4 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Choose at least two of the learig ceters to help reiforce today s Bible lesso. Gather the eeded materials, ad put the supplies i a out-of-sight area util you re ready for them. Allow the childre to choose which ceter they d like to explore first. The circulate amog the childre as they create ad explore. Ecourage them to make coectios betwee their activities ad the Bible by askig them the questios icluded with each ceter s descriptio. CENTER 1: Hide Like a Spy Give each child a Lesso 11 page from My Bible Hugs. Say: Today we heard how God protected Rahab ad the spies. They all believed i God, ad we BELIEVE IN GOD. Let s make somethig to remid us of this. Lesso 11 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
137 Have the childre preted to be Rahab ad hide the two spies with straw. Make sure each child gets a little bit of straw. Show kids how to dab glue o their pages ad the press dow the straw. Also have each child glue a piece of red yar to the widow i the picture. Say: The Bible says God s mighty had cares for us. Rahab ad the spies believed ad remembered God cared for them. You please God whe you BELIEVE IN GOD, too! CENTER 2: Spy Sack Have childre clea their hads ad the sit dow for the sack. Say: We BELIEVE IN GOD, ad so did Rahab. That s why she decided to hide the spies. Let s make a sack as we thik about how God always loves ad protects us. Give each child half a tortilla, a hadful of shredded wheat, ad a couple of bear-shaped crackers o a apki. Show childre how to place two bear-shaped crackers o their tortillas to represet the two spies. The hide the spies as Rahab did by crumblig a piece of shredded wheat over them. Fially, have childre roll up their tortillas ad eat the sack. Ceter 2: Spy Sack tortillas shredded wheat bear-shaped crackers apkis atibacterial gel (optioal)! ALLERGY ALERT Say: Rahab ad the spies did the right thig because they believed i God. We BELIEVE IN GOD, too. We ca do the right thig, ad God will help us like he helped Rahab ad the spies. Let s thak God for helpig us believe i him ad for providig our sack. Ivite a child to pray for the sack. CENTER 3: I Spy Say: Today we heard how God protected some spies. Let s put our spy masks o for a game of I Spy. Ceter 3: I Spy spy masks from the Rahab Hides Spies activity Have childre put the spy masks i frot of their faces. The explai the rules: Oe child should fid somethig i the room to spy ad the tell somethig about it. For example, if a child spies a clock, he or she could say, I spy somethig with umbers. The the rest of the childre should guess what the child spies. Cotiue util each child has a chace to spy somethig. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 11
138 Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What was it like spyig i this game? What are some ways you ca spy God i your life? Say: Just as you kow that all the thigs you spied i this room are real, you ca kow that God is real, too. You ca spy or see ways he helps you ad shows himself to you all the time. You ca BELIEVE IN GOD ad you ll see him do great thigs like he did for Rahab ad the spies. Ceter 4: I Spy a Spy costructio paper scissors maskig tape 2 large craft sticks per child glue sticks 4 craft eyes per child raffia CENTER 4: I Spy a Spy Say: Today we leared that Rahab hid the spies because she believed i God. Let s help Rahab hide the spies. Give each child a costructio paper square ad two craft sticks. Help childre glue two craft eyes to each craft stick. The have them glue the craft sticks to the costructio paper. Ceter 4: I Spy a Spy Easy Prep Cut oe 6-ich square of costructio paper per child. Say: These are the spies. They eed to hide so they do t get caught. Lay a 12- ich strip of maskig tape, sticky-side up, i frot of each child. The give each child a hadful of raffia, ad have each child stick oe ed of each piece of his or her raffia to the ceter of the tape, workig outward. The goal is to have most of the raffia i the ceter 6 iches so it partially hides the craft sticks. The help childre place their tape strips alog the bottom of the costructio paper squares so the raffia covers the spies. Wrap the eds of the tape aroud the back of the paper. Say: Just like Rahab, we BELIEVE IN GOD. Because she believed i God, God helped Rahab do the right thig. Lesso 11 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
139 5 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges After the childre have cleaed up their ceters, brig everyoe back to a circle area o the floor. Review the lesso activities ad the Bible Poit, ad the ecourage the childre to share what they remember about what they leared from the Bible today. Daily Challeges My Bible Hugs Also use this time to challege kids i their faith. Ecourage them to choose a Daily Challege for applyig today s lesso to their lives this week. Use this challege for ecouragig your childre s growig relatioships with Jesus. Say: Today we leared that we BELIEVE IN GOD. I would like each of you to choose a way to show you believe i God this week. Give kids these two challeges to choose from: Draw a picture of somethig that scares you. Give it to a fried, ad tell your fried that you do t eed to be afraid aymore because you ca trust ad believe i God to take care of you like he did Rahab ad the spies. Call your gradma or gradpa ad tell her or him about believig i Jesus. Say: If you wat to draw a picture, circle the choice with oe dot. If you wat to talk to your gradparets, circle the choice with two dots. Check that each child circled a choice o his or her My Bible Hugs page. Make sure you tell kids the challege you choose. Your commitmet will ispire childre ad will give them a opportuity to see God at work i your life as well as i theirs! Actio Prayer Form a stadig circle. Ivite childre to pray oe at a time. Ask them to isert the ame of somethig God created, such as the su, my fried, or the trees. Pray: Dear God, Whe I see [the su], I believe i you. I Jesus ame, ame. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 11
140 Weavig Faith at Home Have childre take home their My Bible Hugs pages whether they worked o them or ot. Have the childre tell their parets the challege they committed to i the Daily Challeges activity. Ecourage the parets to help their kids fulfill this commitmet durig the week. By workig together ad focusig o the same goals, you ad parets ca help childre weave faith ito their lives! Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Lesso 11 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
141 Paper Doll! OK TO COPY Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 11