Lesso 6 65 The Israelites Worship a Golde Calf Exodus 32:1-25 Preschoolers have a atural sese of woder that sometimes borders o worship. But they re able to uderstad that God is the oe who created all those woderful thigs. Use this lesso to direct childre toward worshippig God aloe. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP Bible Poit Worship oly God. 1 Gettig Started about 5 mi. Welcome ad Celebrate Welcome each other, ad praise God through music. CD player Teacher Pack: CD, had clackers Key Verse You shall have o other gods before me (Exodus 20:3). 2 Key Verse Activity about 10 mi. 3 Bible Exploratio about 15 mi. Worship God Oly Play a game, ad sig about puttig God first. Puppy Poiters Hear how Theo likes to sig ad worship God. Bible Time: The Golde Calf Make a calf from modelig dough, ad the destroy it. Bible, CD player Teacher Pack: CD CD player, Theo puppet, lyrics page, tape Teacher Pack: CD Bible, modelig dough Prit a page of lyrics from the Iteret. Tape the lyrics page to Theo s paw. Weavig Faith Ito Life Childre will kow God is the oly God, ad they ll worship oly him. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 6
66 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP Ceter 1: Room Oly for God Make hearts with room for God aloe. My Bible Hugs, scissors, card stock, glue sticks, red crayos Remove the Lesso 6 pages from each My Bible Hugs studet book, ad write childre s ames o them. Cut oe cross from card stock for each child, about 2 iches by 3 iches. 4 Weavig Faith Ito Life about 20 mi. Ceter 2: Golde-Calf Sack Create ad eat golde calves. Ceter 3: Worship Ay Time Talk about worshippig God throughout the day. crispy-rice treats, atibacterial gel (optioal) scissors, paper fasteer Teacher Pack: Clock picture Follow the istructios o the Clock picture to make a clock. Ceter 4: Crayo Worship Drawigs Make crafts to remid them to worship oly God. cookig oil, cotto balls, hole puch, paper plates, yar, scissors, crayos For each child, puch a hole i a paper plate ad thread yar through the hole for hagig. Daily Challege Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. My Bible Hugs 5 Lastig Impressios about 10 mi. Actio Prayer Offer a prayer of worship. Weavig Faith at Home Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 6 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
67 The Israelites Worship a Golde Calf Exodus 32:1-25 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Out of Sight Moses was up o the moutai for a log time receivig all the laws from God almost six weeks (Exodus 24:18)! It s likely that the Israelites feared Moses had perished o the moutai. Sice he had bee their mai cotact with God, they may have reasoed that they had lost cotact with God, too. The Hebrews spet more tha 400 years seeig gods i Egypt, ad ow they d bee asked to serve ad follow a God they could t see. For the majority of the time they d kow God, he d had persoal relatioships with idividuals amog them. They may ot have realized God was iterested i each of them idividually ad as a etire commuity. They d bee camped i the same place for six weeks ad were likely gettig axious to move o. They could t eve see God s represetative, so they fell back o what they were familiar with ad asked for a god they could see who would cotiue to lead them. I talkig to Moses, Aaro tried to make it seem as if he had o choice ad that the fire itself had mysteriously shaped the calf. God s sparig of Aaro i this situatio was certaily a example of his mercy ad grace. The Jesus Coectio We are surrouded by thigs that promise to brig us immediate pleasure ad satisfactio. May of these promises are deceitful, leadig to destructio. But eve God s blessigs themselves ca distract us from our true callig of worshippig God. Jesus came to offer the oly thig that s truly worth havig. Take a momet to write a prayer revealig your heart s desire to follow God ad askig for his help i dislodgig some thigs that might be stealig your worship away from God. What Was Aaro Thikig? Aaro s willigess to go alog suggests that he, too, had some doubt about Moses retur. However, some believe that Aaro s request for gold earrigs was a attempt to avert the people s desire for a god. If they realized they had to give up thigs of value, they might decide they did t really wat a golde god after all. If that was Aaro s itet, his attempt failed. After makig the idol, Aaro s proclamatio was that there d be a festival to the Lord. The ame traslated Lord (Yahweh) is the ame by which God had aouced himself to Moses at the burig bush. Apparetly, Aaro thought that this idol could somehow represet the true God. Regardless of his motives, Aaro was wrog i makig the idol. He led the people i disobeyig God s secod commadmet (Exodus 20:4). Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 6
68 GETTING STARTED Welcome ad Celebrate CD player Teacher Pack CD: We re Glad (track 9), Praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6) (track 10) had clackers 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 We re Glad (track 9 o the CD). Ecourage childre to follow the motios i paretheses. We re glad to be at church. (make thumbs up ) We have such fu at church. (shake hads above head) We sig ad pray (make prayer hads) Ad lear God s way. (poit to head) We re glad to be at church today! (make thumbs up ) (Repeat 2x.) Say: At church we get to worship God. Ad that s what we re learig about today that we WORSHIP ONLY GOD. Let s worship God some more right ow. Lead childre i sigig Praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6) (track 10 o the CD). Have childre share the had clackers, takig turs makig joyful oises with them betwee stazas. Lead the other kids i clappig their hads or stompig their feet. Let everythig that moves, Ad everythig that breathes, From the risig of the su Til the time that it goes dow, Everybody, let s prai-ai-aise the Lord! Come o, let s prai-ai-aise the Lord. Let everythig that lives Sig praises to the Lord. Praise the Lord! Let everythig that walks, Ad everythig that rus, No matter where you are, No matter where you ve bee, Everybody, let s prai-ai-aise the Lord! Come o, let s prai-ai-aise the Lord. Lesso 6 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
69 Let everythig that lives Sig praises to the Lord. Praise the Lord! Everybody, let s prai-ai-aise the Lord! Come o, let s prai-ai-aise the Lord. Let everythig that lives Sig praises to the Lord. Praise the Lord! Let everythig that lives Sig praises to the Lord. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord (Psalm 150:6) by Jay Stocker. 2005 Group Publishig, Ic. All rights reserved. Say: Hallelujah is a fu word from the Bible. Say it with me: Hallelujah. Now shout it: Hallelujah! Hallelujah meas praise the Lord. Whe we say hallelujah, we re worshippig God. Today we ll lear that we WORSHIP ONLY GOD because he made everythig. 2 KEY VERSE ACTIVITY Worship Oly God Have childre form a circle ad sit dow. Ope your Bible to Exodus 20:3, ad show childre the words. Tell kids the Bible is God s special book. Say: Our Key Verse from the Bible says, You shall have o other gods before me (Exodus 20:3). This meas God is umber oe i our lives. Let s say our Key Verse together. Lead childre i sayig the secod part of the Key Verse with you: "Have o other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3). Worship Oly God Bible CD player Teacher Pack CD: Worship God Oly (track 15) Have two childre stad ad face each other with their hads together over their heads as i the game Lodo Bridge. Play Worship God Oly (track 15 o the CD) to the tue of Pop! Goes the Weasel. Direct the other childre to form a lie ad take turs walkig uder the bridge durig the sog. At the ed of each staza, have the childre playig the bridge drop their arms to choose a fried. The let childre switch roles. Have o other gods before me. This is what God tells us. God wats to be first i our lives. Worship God oly. (Repeat 2x.) Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 6
70 Say: God wats us to choose him just as you chose frieds durig our game. God tells us to love him more tha aythig. We must WORSHIP ONLY GOD. Today we ll hear how God s people leared this whe they made a mistake. 3 BIBLE EXPLORATION Puppy Poiters CD player Theo puppet lyrics page tape Teacher Pack CD: Here, Theo (track 3) Puppy Poiters Easy Prep Prit a page of lyrics from the Iteret. Tape the lyrics page 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 do you have there? Theo: I brought a sog I like to sig. Teacher: Did you wat to sig for us, Theo? Theo: Well, I heard you sigig ad I thought you might wat this sog to worship God. Teacher: Oh, thak you, Theo! We were sigig. Ad ow we re goig to hear about a differet way that people worshipped i the Bible. Theo: How s that? Teacher: Actually, they were bowig dow to a gold cow. Theo: Really? Do you mea like this? (Bows a few times.) Teacher: Yes, they were worshippig it, but God told them it was importat that they oly worship him, the real, true God. Frieds, let s tell Theo our Bible Poit for today. (Lead childre i sayig the Bible Poit for Theo: WORSHIP ONLY GOD.) Theo: Would you mid if I come sig with you ext time you worship God? Teacher: Good idea, Theo. We d love to have you. Theo: Great! I better go home ow. 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: What thigs do you love to do as much as Theo loves to sig? Explai whether you love those thigs more tha you love God. What ca you do to show God you love him most? Lesso 6 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
71 Say: Theo leared that we put God first. We ca love lots of thigs, but we WORSHIP ONLY GOD. Let's hear more about that. Bible Time: The Golde Calf Ope your Bible to Exodus 32, ad show childre the words. Tell childre that the Bible is God s special book. Bible Time: The Golde Calf Bible modelig dough Say: Today we ll lear what it meas to WORSHIP ONLY GOD. Give each child a lump of modelig dough. As you talk, have childre make jewelry such as rigs ad earrigs with the dough. Say: A leader amed Moses wet up the moutai to talk with God. He was goe for a really, really log time so log that God s people did t kow what happeed to Moses. They did t wat to wait for Moses aymore, so they asked his brother, Aaro, to make a ew god for them. Ivite each child to show off what he or she made. The say: Have you ever made aythig with your ow hads that had as much power as God? Well, either had Aaro or ay of the other Israelites. But Aaro told the Israelites to brig him all their gold jewelry. Have the childre pile all the jewelry together. Say: Aaro melted the gold jewelry. Ivite the childre to help you smash all the jewelry ito oe big blob. The he formed it ito the shape of a calf, which is a baby cow. Mold the clay ito a calf. The Israelites threw a big party for the golde calf, ad they worshipped it istead of God. Hold up the calf. The ivite the childre to explai whether they thik the calf you molded could help them. Say: God kew what the people did, ad he was agry. He let Moses go dow the moutai to talk to the Israelites. Moses was mad, too, because God had said to WORSHIP ONLY GOD. But the people were actig like the preted cow was better tha God! Moses put the golde calf ito a fire util it bured up. Let the childre take turs smashig the calf util it s flat. Make sure every child gets a tur to help. Say: Moses taught the people that the golde calf was t a real god. Our God is the oly real God, ad he made us ad always takes care of us. No oe ad othig ca take care of us like God does. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What did you thik of the golde calf? What s wrog with worshippig the calf? Why do you WORSHIP ONLY GOD? Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 6
72 Say: God made us. God made the world. God loves us ad cares for us like o oe else ca. No oe is more importat tha God. That s why we WORSHIP ONLY GOD. 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. Ceter 1: Room Oly for God My Bible Hugs scissors card stock glue sticks red crayos Ceter 1: Room Oly for God Easy Prep Remove the Lesso 6 pages from each My Bible Hugs studet book, ad write childre s ames o them. Cut oe cross from card stock for each child, about 2 iches by 3 iches. CENTER 1: Room Oly for God Give each child a Lesso 6 page from My Bible Hugs. Say: Today we re learig that we WORSHIP ONLY GOD. Ulike God s people did, we do t wat to worship a golde cow or aythig except the oe true God. Let s make somethig to remid us to worship God. Show the childre how to use glue sticks to glue the cross shapes iside the hearts o the My Bible Hugs pages. Give each child a red crayo. Have the childre each color the heart i completely, colorig over the cross as well. Cautio the childre to color lightly so they wo t move the cross from its place. Say: We do t kow what God looks like, so we ofte use a cross to show we are thikig of God. Whe we love God, it s as if God lives right iside our hearts. Right ow, the hearts o your papers are empty. Let s chage that ad show that we WORSHIP ONLY GOD. Show the childre how to carefully peel the crosses off the hearts. Whe childre have fiished, they ll have red hearts with white crosses iside. Lead childre i this discussio. Ask: What are some ways you ca show God he s iside your heart? Lesso 6 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
73 Say: We WORSHIP ONLY GOD because he made us, he loves us, ad he cares for us like o oe else ca! God deserves all our worship, love, ad thaks. Like the crosses iside our hearts o our My Bible Hugs pages, God is umber oe i our hearts. CENTER 2: Golde-Calf Sack Have childre clea their hads ad the sit dow for the sack. Say: God s people made a golde cow to worship. Give each child a crispy-rice treat or a graham cracker. Let the childre use their teeth to shape golde cows out of the bars. Eve though childre may ot be able to perfectly create cow shapes from the treats, they ll have fu ejoyig their sack while reviewig what happeed i the Bible. Ceter 2: Golde-Calf Sack crispy-rice treats atibacterial gel (optioal)! ALLERGY ALERT Ivite the childre to show the golde cows they created. The say: Remember, God wats us to worship o oe except him. Have the childre repeat the Key Verse with you: Have o gods before me (Exodus 20:3). Say: These crispy-rice cows are othig to worship. They re just food. Let the childre eat the rest of their treats. Say: Like we ate the rest of our crispy-rice cows, Moses destroyed the golde calf because the people were worshippig it. God tells us that we should WORSHIP ONLY GOD. Let s remember to WORSHIP ONLY GOD this week. CENTER 3: Worship Ay Time Say: Our Bible Poit tells us to WORSHIP ONLY GOD. But just because we oly worship God does t mea we ca t worship him i differet ways or at differet times. Let s play a game to lear some differet times we ca worship God. Usig the Clock picture, have childre take turs settig the clock s had to a differet time of day. First have childre idetify the settig, ad the have them share what they ca worship God for at that time. For example, at the park, childre ca worship God for creatig trees; at dier, childre ca worship God for providig food. Ceter 3: Worship Ay Time scissors paper fasteer Teacher Pack Clock picture Ceter 3: Worship Ay Time Easy Prep Follow the istructios o the Clock picture to make a clock. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 6
74 Ask: What are some ways you ll worship God this week? Say: God made everythig, is greater tha aythig or ayoe, ad ever does aythig wrog. Whe we look aroud, we see all the good thigs God has made. That s why we WORSHIP ONLY GOD. Ad we ca worship him aytime, aywhere. Ceter 4: Crayo Worship Drawigs cookig oil cotto balls hole puch paper plates yar scissors crayos Ceter 4: Crayo Worship Drawigs Easy Prep For each child, puch a hole i a paper plate ad thread yar through the hole for hagig. CENTER 4: Crayo Worship Drawigs Say: God wats us to worship oly him. We re goig to make some beautiful drawigs that you ca hag i your bedroom widows. As you create your picture, worship God ad tell him you love him ad will WORSHIP ONLY GOD. Ecourage your childre to draw freely, pressig hard with the differet colors of crayos o oe side of the paper plates. Ecourage them to fill i as much of the white areas as possible with the colors. As each child fiishes fillig his or her plate, put some cookig oil o a cotto ball for him or her. Show childre how to tur over their plates ad rub oil o the backsides util the crayo shies through. Have childre clea their hads ad the have them hold the plates up to a light. Say: The light shies through your plate, just as God s love shies through whe we WORSHIP ONLY GOD. Say: We ca WORSHIP ONLY GOD through everythig we do each day. There are lots of differet ways to worship God. We ca worship God whe we sig, ru ad play, or make thigs for others. Whe we worship oly God, it s beautiful, ad it shies through so others ca see God, too. Hag your plate i your room to remid you of this. Lesso 6 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4
75 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 WORSHIP ONLY GOD. I would like each of you to choose a way to worship God this week. Give kids these two challeges to choose from: Take turs blowig ad poppig bubbles with a fried or siblig. Each time you pop a bubble, praise God for somethig woderful he has doe i your life. Sig a worship sog to God. Say: If you wat to blow bubbles, circle the choice with oe dot. If you wat to sig, 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 Have childre stad i a circle, ad explai that they re to say We worship oly you after you say each lie of the followig prayer. God, you made everythig. (We worship oly you.) God, you are greater tha ayoe or aythig. (We worship oly you.) God, you care for us. (We worship oly you.) God, you are ever wrog. (We worship oly you.) God, you give us what we eed. (We worship oly you.) Thak you, God. (We worship oly you.) I Jesus ame, ame. Preschool/Ages 3 & 4 Lesso 6
76 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 6 Preschool/Ages 3 & 4