First Look TM Curriculum for Preschoolers - Rooms E, F (4 s & 5 s) February 5, 2017 Basic Truth: Jesus wants to be my friend forever. Key Question: Who loves you? Bottom Line: Jesus loves me. Memory Verse: How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. Ephesians 3:18, NIV Bible Story Focus: Jesus wants to spend time with me. Mary and Martha Luke 10:38-42 Make It Fun (Introductory Activities, 10 minutes) Prepare to offer one or more of the following activities as your children arrive. Let one teacher lead activities while another teacher greets parents and kids at the door. 1. Stop and Listen Stop and Listen is an activity that uses listening and gross motor movements to introduce today s Bible story. What You Need: An upbeat worship CD, CD player, and a smartphone Before the Activity: Find some animal sounds from the Internet to play on a smartphone. Freesoundeffects.com has good choices. Search by animal on the left side of the screen. Good options are Elephant 2 (under elephant), bark (under dog), Wolf howl 9 (under wolf), Panther 1 (under panther), Humpback 1 (under whale), Rattlesnake 3 (under snake). During the Activity: Today I want us to play a game called Stop and Listen. I m going to play some music and I ll tell you what to do while the music plays. But when the music stops, you must freeze. Let s try it. Okay, friends, run in place. (Play music and stop after 10 seconds.) Now freeze! What do you hear? (Play an animal sound.) That s right! I hear a lion. Okay, let s do it again! (Repeat as time and interest allow. Other 1
actions - march, jumping jacks, hop like a frog, hop on 1 leg, pat your legs, clap hands...) After the Activity: Wow! You did a great job stopping and listening. Today in our Bible story, we ll hear about a woman who stopped and listened too. We ll hear her story in just a little bit! 2. Big or Little Big or Little is an activity that teaches sorting by size while introducing this month s theme. What You Need: 6 child-sized shoes and 6 adult-sized shoes Before the Activity:Place all of the shoes in the middle of the play area. Wow! Look at all of the shoes! (Point.) During the Activity: I see BIG shoes (point to big shoes) and I see LITTLE shoes (point to little shoes). Can you work together and make a pile for the BIG shoes and a separate pile for the LITTLE shoes? (Pause.) Awesome! Let s get started! After the Activity: Nice work! You did a great job sorting the BIG shoes from the LITTLE shoes. All month long we re going to be hearing about how Jesus love for us is SO BIG. I can t wait! 3. Set the Table Set the Table is an activity that uses shape recognition, following directions, and roleplay to introduce today s Bible story. What You Need: Placemat Activity Page, small (6 ) paper plates, cups, napkins, plastic spoons, and plastic forks (you will need enough for one place setting per child involved in the activity) During the Activity: Set the paper plates, cups, napkins, and plastic silverware in the center of the tables. 2
I have a question for you. Have you ever helped your mom or dad set the table for dinner? Today I have these special placemats to help us see where to put each of these items. Let s see, here is the spot for a plate. (Point.) And here is the spot for a cup. (Point.) And you put the napkin here and the fork and spoon right here. (Point.) Let s use our special placemats to set the table today! After the Activity: Look at our table! Everything is in its place. Great job, everyone. Today, we ll hear about a woman in our Bible story that was busy setting a table. Let s go find out what happens! Large Group (9:15 9:35/ 11:00 11:20) - Bring children to room H for singing, offering and story. Remember that you are responsible for crowd control, so seat your children strategically! Make It Stick (Application Activities, 35 minutes) These activities are designed to help preschoolers understand and remember today s Bible story and Bottom Line. 1. Memory Verse with Motions Memory Verse with Motions is an activity that uses repetition and movement to teach this month s memory verse. What You Need: No supplies needed Before the Activity: We have a new memory verse this month. It is: How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, Ephesians 3:18. Now let s say it together! (Repeat twice.) Nice job! During the Activity: Now I am going to teach you some motions that we can do while we say our verse. Watch me and do what I do! How wide (hold your arms out wide) and long (hold your arms out vertically) and high (jump as high as you can) and deep (pretend to dig with a shovel) is the love (hug yourself) of Christ (point up), Ephesians 3:18. (Open your hands like a book.) Awesome! Again! (Repeat as desired.) After the Activity: Our memory verse tells us that Jesus loves us SO much that it cannot be measured! WOW! He loves us A LOT! Who loves you? [Bottom Line] Jesus loves me! 3
2. Act It Out Act It Out is an activity that uses gross motor movement and role-play to review today s Bible story. What You Need: Plastic bowls, cups, napkins, and utensils; and an apron During the Activity: Place the plastic dinnerware items in the center of the table. Who did Jesus go to visit in our Bible story today? (Pause for responses.) That s right: Mary and Martha! I want us to pretend that we were all there that day. Let s see, why don t you play our Martha? (Select a child to play Martha.) Here s an apron for your to wear. Now while Jesus was there, what was Martha doing? Was she listening to Jesus or was she too busy working? (Pause.) Yes, she was working. Martha, why don t you head over there and set the table with the cups and plates and such? (Point to table.) Now, Mary was there too! Let s see, why don t you play Mary? (Select a child to play Mary.) Friends, while Jesus was teaching, what was Mary doing? (Pause for responses.) Yes, she was sitting and listening to Jesus. (Have child playing Mary sit at your feet). Martha didn t like that her sister wasn t helping, so she complained to Jesus. Martha, come over here and show us how frustrated you are that your sister isn t helping you. (Pause as Martha follows directions.) But Jesus told her that Mary had made the better choice, because Jesus wanted to spend time with Mary and Martha! That s why He came to visit. And Jesus wants to spend time with us too. Jesus wants to be your friend forever. Tell me: Who loves you? [Bottom Line] Jesus loves me. (Select two more volunteers to play Mary/ Martha and repeat as time and interest allow.) After the Activity: Great job acting out our story from today, friends! Just like Mary and Martha spent time with Jesus, Jesus wants us to spend time with Him too. He wants to be our friend FOREVER, because He loves us. Who loves you? [Bottom Line] Jesus loves me. 3. Parachute Play Parachute Play is an activity that uses gross motor movement and listening skills to review this month s theme. 4
What You Need: A parachute During the Activity: Everyone grab the parachute with both hands and let s stand up. (Pause as children follow directions.) Now let s lift our arms to make our parachute SO BIG! (Pause.) Now let s lower our arms and walk carefully to the center. Look, now our parachute is so small! Let s move out and make it SO BIG again! After the Activity: That was fun making our parachute big and small. All month long, we re talking about how Jesus love for us is SO BIG! He loves you and you and you and you and you and you (point to children) and me (point to self) SO much. Who loves you? [Bottom Line] Jesus loves me. 4. Drops of Love Drops of Love is an activity that uses fine motor skills and color recognition to complete a craft. What You Need: Heart Activity Page, dot markers, coffee filters, yarn, plastic tablecloth, and hole-punch BINS: cut yarn into 1 foot sections, cut out hearts and punch hole in top Before the Activity: Let s make a beautiful craft to remind us that Jesus loves us! During the Activity: We are going to make a sun catcher. A sun catcher is something that you hang by a window and when the sun catches it, it shines with a lot of color. (Give each child a filter and a dot marker). We are going to put dots of color onto the coffee filters. The color goes on the filter and then look what happens. It spreads! This is going to look awesome once it s full of color! Finish with the markers and punch a hole in the coffee filter. String the yarn through the heart and filter to make a hanger and tie a knot. After the Activity: Wonderful job! Now your sun catchers are ready to hang in the window at your homes! Your sun catcher says Jesus loves me on it. When you are looking at the beautiful colors on your sun catcher, you will remember that Jesus loves you! Who loves you? [Bottom Line] Jesus loves me! 5
Make It Real (Small Groups, 5 minutes) Make It Real is designed to help preschoolers understand how the Bottom Line applies to them. They ll discuss real-life experiences and share prayer requests. Small Group Time What You Need: Paperclip Memory Verse Card (from the Week One Activity Pages on the Website) in your Bible at Ephesians 3:18. Provide a journal and a fun-shaped pen for each small group. SMALL GROUP LEADER (SGL): Jesus wanted to spend time with Mary and Martha in today s Bible story. Do you remember why Jesus wanted to spend time with Mary and Martha? (Pause.) Yes! Because they were His friends and He loved them. Jesus wants to spend time with you too because He loves you! Who loves you? CHILDREN and SGL: [Bottom Line] Jesus loves me! SGL: Yes! Jesus does love you! And He wants to be your friend forever. Forever is some big love! Would you like to know how big? Listen to our new memory verse. (Open Bible to memory verse card.) SGL: (Read verse from the Bible) How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, Ephesians 3:18. (Lay Bible down.) SGL: Christ is another name we call Jesus. This verse is saying that nothing is wider or longer or higher or deeper than the love of Jesus! Wow! Jesus love really is SO big! It s SO big that there s nothing bigger! Let s say this verse together with the motions. I don t want us to ever forget this one! CHILDREN and SGL: How wide (hold arms out wide) and long (hold arms out vertically) and high (jump as high as you can) and deep (pretend to dig with a shovel) is the love (hug yourself) of Christ (point up), Ephesians 3:18. (Open hands like a book.) (Repeat several times.) 6
SGL: Yay! (clap hands) You said it! And we ll keep saying this verse all month long until we know it. I hope we never forget that Jesus love for us is SO big! Who loves you? CHILDREN and SGL: [Bottom Line] Jesus loves me! SGL: Jesus spent time with Mary and Martha in their house. I want us to think about our favorite place to spend time with Jesus. It can be anywhere we want because Jesus is always with us. All we have to do is talk to Him and He s right there ready to listen. I ll write everyone s name in our prayer journal. When I say your name, I want you to tell me your favorite place and I ll write it beside your name. We can use the list we make when we pray. (Open prayer journal and hold your fun pen. 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.) This is a great list! Let s use it to thank God for giving us Jesus and for wanting to spend time with us. Would anyone like to pray before I pray? (Give each child who wants to pray the opportunity to do so.) Now I will pray. Prayer SGL: Dear God, thank You for giving us Jesus to be our friend forever. Thank You that He loves us and wants to spend time with us. Thank You that Jesus is always with us and we can spend time with Him when we re at (name the places listed). I pray that (name each child) will choose to spend time with Jesus so they can be the best of friends. We love You, God. In Jesus name, amen. 7