December 11, 2016 Basic Truth: Jesus wants to be my friend forever. Key Question: Why is Jesus special? Bottom Line: Jesus is God s Son. Memory Verse: I bring you good news of great joy. Luke 2:10, NLV Bible Story Focus: Not everyone knew Jesus is God s Son. Jesus Born in a Stable Luke 2:1-7 Make It Fun. 1. Animals Animals is an activity that allows the children to act out an element of the upcoming Bible story. What You Need: No supplies needed Before the Activity: Have the children stand in a circle. During the Activity: Call out the following animals: cow, sheep, lion, dog, cat, pig, horse, tiger, and chicken. Ask the children to make the sound that each of those animals make. After the Activity: Introduce the Bible story. Before the Activity: Can you sound like an animal? Let s give it a try! During the Activity: I m going to call out an animal and I want you try to make the sound that animal makes. Are you ready? (Pause.) Here we go! Cow! Can you make the sound that a cow makes? (Pause.) Great job! That did sound like a cow! Now let s try a sheep! Can you sound like a sheep? (Continue with activity.) After the Activity: You are all awesome animals! There are animals in our Bible story today. I wonder if any of the animals that we made sounds for are in the story? I cannot wait to find out! Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 1
2. Nativity Scene Play Nativity Scene Play is an activity that allows the children to interact with toy pieces of the upcoming Bible story. What You Need: Little People Nativity Playset Before the Activity: Place the nativity set in the activity area. During the Activity: Encourage the children to play with the nativity set together. After the Activity: Introduce the Bible story. Before the Activity: WOW! Look what we have here. (Hold up the stable.) It s a stable where animals live. Let s play with it! During the Activity: There are a lot of different pieces that we can play with. I see animals, an angel, a mommy and daddy, and a baby! (Encourage the children to play.) So many fun pieces here! After the Activity: That was so much fun! I love getting to play with our friends. Our Bible story today takes place in a stable just like what you were playing with. (Hold up stable.) Are you ready to go to Large Group and find out what happens? (Pause.) Me too! Make It Real Small Group Time What You Need: Paperclip Memory Verse Card (from the Week One Activity Pages on the Website) in your Bible at Luke 2:10. Provide a journal and a fun-shaped pen for each small group. SMALL GROUP LEADER (SGL): We re getting closer to the BIG day. Do you know what BIG day I m talking about? (Pause for response.) I m talking about Christmas day! Jesus birthday! The best day of the year! As awesome as Jesus birthday is, it s hard to believe that on that very first Christmas when Jesus was born, not everyone knew that [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. Remember how Jesus was born in a stable in our story today? It was just Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and of course the animals. All of the people living around that stable had no idea that God s Son had just been born! Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 2
Do you know there are still people living around us today who don t know how special Jesus is? I m so glad you know Jesus is special because [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. Why is Jesus special? CHILDREN and SGL: [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! SGL: Yes! Jesus is special because [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! (Open Bible to memory verse card.) SGL: And that is the good news we celebrate at Christmas! The Bible verse we re learning says that [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son, and that is good news and brings great joy! Let s practice saying our verse together with the motions. (Lay Bible down.) CHILDREN and SGL: I bring you (start with hands up and bring them in to chest like catching a football) good news (right arm up with jazz hand) of great joy! (left arm up with jazz hand), Luke 2:10. (Open your hands like a book.) (Repeat the verse with the motions several times together.) SGL: Do you remember the other good news we talked about last time? (Pause for response.) Jesus wants to be your friend forever! God s Son, JESUS, wants to be YOUR friend forever! Who wants to be your friend forever? CHILDREN and SGL: [Basic Truth] Jesus wants to be my friend forever! SGL: That is such good news and it does bring me great joy! Okay, it s time to write in our prayer journal. Since our story talked about how everyone doesn t know that [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son, let s make a list of people that might not know the good news. We can pray and ask God to help them hear the good news. (Open prayer journal and hold your fun pen.) SGL: When I say your name, I want you to tell me any person in the whole wide world that you want to hear the good news that [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. Ready? (Write each child s name and what they say beside their name. Remember to print the words they say so the children can recognize their names and the letters.) Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 3
SGL: This is a great list! Would anyone like to pray for their people on our list before I pray? (Give each child who wants to pray the opportunity to do so.) SGL: Now I will pray. Prayer SGL: Dear God, thank You for letting us hear the good news that Jesus is Your Son. Thank You for His birthday and Christmas and everything we love about this time of year. We want everyone to know that Jesus is Your Son. Please help (read the list the children made) hear the good news soon so they will know Jesus is Your Son and they can celebrate His birthday this Christmas. We love You, God. In Jesus name, amen. Make It Stick. 1. Let s Go for a Ride! (Whole Group) Let s Go for a Ride! is an activity that uses gross motor and memory skills to review this month s memory verse. What You Need: 2-3 empty or unopened gift-wrap tubes Before the Activity: Clear out a large open area of the room. During the Activity: Pass out the tubes. Children will pretend to ride a donkey in a small circle around the room as you say this month s memory verse. If you don t have giftwrap tubes, the children can pretend to ride a donkey without them. Remind the children that our donkeys don t run; they WALK. Before the Activity: In our Bible story today, we heard about how Mary and Joseph might have traveled to Bethlehem with what animal? (Pause for responses.) That s right a donkey! Let s move around the room like we re riding on the back of a donkey and say our memory verse together. Are you ready? Remember, our donkeys don t run, they walk. Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 4
During the Activity: Let s say our verse: I bring you good news of great joy, Luke 2:10. Great job! Let s say our verse a few more times as we ride our donkeys. (Continue the activity while saying the verse.) After the Activity: Whew! Riding a donkey is tiring work. Can you imagine how tiring it must have been for Mary and Joseph to travel ALL the way to Bethlehem? But something pretty amazing was about to happen once they got there. It really was good news of great joy! God sent us a special gift: Jesus! Why is Jesus special? [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! 2. Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus is an activity that uses fine motor skills and creativity to review today s Bible story. What You Need: Dot-to-Dot Manger Scene from the Activity Pages on the Website, dot markers, animal stickers, and white cardstock Before the Activity: Copy the Dot-to-Dot Manger Scene Activity Page onto the cardstock. Each child needs one copy. Set out the animal stickers and dot markers in the center of the tables. During the Activity: Pass out an Activity Page to each child. Show them how to use the dot markers to color in the dots around the manger. Then encourage them to choose a few animal stickers to place on their manger scene. During the Activity: Today, we learned about how Jesus was born. Was He born in a hospital? (Pause for responses.) No! Was He born in a hotel? (Pause for responses.) No! Where was Jesus born? That s right; Jesus was born in a stable surrounded by animals! Today I thought it would be fun to create our own manger scene picture. Let s use these markers to fill in the dots around the manger where Mary laid the baby Jesus. Then I want you to choose a few animal stickers to add to your pictures! After the Activity: Great job! I LOVE your manger scenes. Jesus was born in a stable with Mary and Joseph and the animals. What a crazy way to enter the world! But that was all part of God s special plan to send us the best gift ever! Why is Jesus special? [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. Awesome job! When you take these pictures home today, I want you to tell your parents about Jesus and God s special gift to us! Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 5