August 20-21, 2016 Extreme Earth Unit: Joseph Genesis 37-48, Lamentations 3:22-23 God is always with us. Connect Time (15 minutes): Five minutes after the service begins, split kids into groups and begin their activity. Large Group (30 minutes): Begin 20 minutes after the service starts. Model what it looks like to be engaged in large group. Small Group (15 minutes): Keep kids in small groups until parents arrive. If you all have extra time at the end, you can review the video and songs together. You ll have lots of different personality types in your room some will be extroverted, and some will be introverted! So don t approach every kid the same way. Some will feel comfortable talking and playing right away, and some might just need a little quiet time, or space to adjust at first. As kids leave, ask them about the ups and downs they drew in Small Group! Joseph s story is a long one, but throughout all the incredible events of his life, there was one constant: God was always with him!
GOAL: Connect Time is all about engaging kids in an activity that allows them to connect with each other right away while simultaneously piquing their curiosity for Large Group and preparing their minds for what they re going to hear. GUESS WHAT? You can keep kids in one large group, or divide them into small groups. Give each kid 1/2 piece of paper and a marker. Tell kids to write down the name of an object on their paper. It could be a banana, a cat, a motorcycle, a pencil, etc. Tell kids to hide their paper and try not to let others see what they wrote. Now pass out a piece of tape to each kid and tell them to: Find a partner, and don t let them see what you wrote down. Tape your paper to your partner s back, and let your partner tape their paper to your back. That way you don t know what object is taped to your own back. Sit down Once everyone is sitting down, explain the rules of the game: Each partner will take turns guessing what is on their back. To guess what s on your back, you can ask your partner yes or no questions like, Is it a food?, Is it an animal?, Is it yellow?, etc. Keep asking questions and guessing until you guess what s on your back! If you re having trouble guessing, though, your partner can give you clues (For example, It s yellow, or You use it at school, etc. If kids finish quickly, they can get their paper back from their partner, and then go find someone new to play the game with! Just tape it to your new partner s back, and repeat the game. TALK ABOUT IT What did you prefer giving clues...or getting clues and trying to guess? Have you ever predicted something would happen, and then it did? What was it like? Before you go to Large Group, you can ask kids how their week went. You can also remind kids of the expectations for Large Group behavior: (1) be kind, (2) listen when somebody speaks, and (3) follow the leader s instructions.
Goal: Kids will (1) understand that God was with Joseph during good and bad times, (2) recognize that we all experience goodness and hardship alike, and (3) identify how God is ALWAYS with us, no matter what happens. Why? Kids go through incredibly difficult, maybe even traumatic, experiences. It s important to show them that no matter what happens, God is always with them. Tip: Be ready and listening for kids to open up to you about difficult things they go through. REVIEW THE STORY 1. In what ways was God with Joseph during the easy AND difficult times in his life? (He took care of Joseph, and when something bad happened, he provided for Joseph and gave him what he needed. God even elevated Joseph, and gave him special gifts, like interpreting dreams.) 2. When has it been easy to follow God? When has it been hard? 3. Why do you think bad things happen? (This is a tough one, but the story begs the question. You can discuss how we live in an imperfect world, and it won t always be perfect or easy. But God has a rescue plan for us, and is always with us.) 4. In what specific ways has God been with you through good times, or hard times? MAKE IT PERSONAL Lay out a large sheet of tear off paper and markers. Tell kids to imagine what a roller coaster looks like. It goes up and down and has high points, and low points! We re each going to draw a line that looks like a roller coaster (demonstrate for kids and draw a line that looks like this): Let kids draw their lines, and as they do, tell them to label the ups and downs of Joseph s life on their squiggly line. Remind kids of the following parts of Joseph s story, so they can draw/write them: Being his father s favorite son and having dreams (up) Getting thrown in a pit and sold into slavery (down) (Continued on next page.)
Becoming the head of the household (up) Getting thrown in jail (down) Being put in charge of the jail (up) Telling Pharaoh what his dream meant, and being put in charge of all the country s food and resources (up) Having his brothers show up and ask for help (up/down) Forgiving his brothers (up) Now give kids their own sheet of paper and have them draw another roller coaster line. One it, have them put examples from their own life; both ups and downs. Ask kids to share ways that God has been with THEM. *Some kids might have really tough downs, if they re not sure where God was in a situation, don t try to sugarcoat it. It can be hard to see God at work in the storms, so encourage them to go to God and ask him where he was or ask him to reveal himself. Extra time? Have kids play some prediction games: Rip up some paper into little pieces, hold them behind your back, and have kids guess how many pieces you have. Tell kids to guess the least amount of steps they can take to reach the opposite side of the room in, and then count how many steps they can actually do! Have kids guess how many seconds they can stand on their tippy toes for, and then time them! To make it harder, have them stand on their tippy toes on only one foot!
Today s lesson has 3 separate videos. In order to go through each of them at a good pace, pay attention to the amount of time you have between videos. Here are links to today s videos: God s Story / Joseph: https://vimeo.com/66760375 Take a Minute / Trust: https://vimeo.com/119476883 WELCOME AND INTRO Main Goal: Review Connect Time and introduce the lesson. *Click to play intro music. Welcome: Hi everybody! Welcome to Kids Club, we re so glad to have you here! Say: I hope you had fun figuring out what was taped to your back in that Connect Time game! Ask: How many people were able to guess what was on your back? (Let kids respond.) Nice job! What did you have to do to guess what the object was? (Let kids respond.) Yep, you had to ask questions, or your partners had to give you clues, so that you could figure out the answer. Say: We have to guess things in real life all the time. Maybe you re taking a test at school, and you re not sure of an answer, you might have to guess what it is! Has anybody ever had to do that? (Let kids respond.) Ask: Does anybody know what the difference is between a guess and a prediction? (Let kids speculate. They may not know what prediction means yet.) Great answers! Say: A guess is something you might make even if you have no idea what the answer is, and there s nothing to help you make it! Say: A prediction is different though. A prediction is something you think will happen in the future based on clues that you have now. So today, we kind of made predictions instead of guesses, didn t we? (Let kids respond.)
REAL LIFE PREDICTIONS Main Goal: Understand what predictions are, and we use them in real life. INTRO: JOSEPH Main Goal: Introduce Joseph and understand that he went through a lot of ups and downs in his life! (Click to show image of twizzlers.) Let s all make another prediction right now! We re going to try and predict the number of twizzlers in this pile, and your only clue is looking at it! Everybody decide on a number in your head right now. (Give kids a few seconds.) What are your guesses? (Let kids guess.) Say: Okay, ready to hear the real number? (Build suspense before you click to show the number.) (Click to show image of number 120.) There s 120 twizzlers in that picture! (Let kids respond.) Good job! Say: Now let s switch gears a little and talk about something else that people like to predict a lot..storms! We re going to watch a video about storms right now, and I want you to pay attention to WHY you think people would want to know when they re going to happen! Video: Edge of Stability Say: Storms can be really cool.but they re also really dangerous, and can cause harm. Why would people want to be able to predict when a storm is going to happen? (Let kids respond.) Yep, so you can warn people, and they can get inside and take shelter. As cool as storms can be, you don t want to be stuck outside during one! Say: You guys might be wondering why we re talking so much about predicting when storms will happen. Well today we re going to learn about a guy who could NEVER have predicted what God was going to do with his life. He probably thought his life was going to go one way, but it ended up going in a totally different direction! (Click to show image of Joseph.) Ask: Has anyone heard of Joseph before? (Let kids respond.) Yeah, you ve maybe heard about his colorful coat. Well there s a lot more to his story than that! Say: Joseph had a lot of ups and downs in his life. Remember how we talked about those storms, and how people can t always predict when they will happen? Well Joseph definitely had some storms in his life, but not real ones. He went through hard things that he probably wished he could prepare for. He also went through things that he had no idea would happen, bad AND good! Say: Let s watch a video about his life right now. As you watch, pay attention to WHEN God is with Joseph.
INTRO: JOSEPH Video: God s Story / Joseph Say: So when do you think God was with Joseph during that story? (Let kids respond with varying answers.) Yep, he was with Joseph through EVERYTHING. Whether times were good, or bad, God was always there. JOSEPH S GOOD TIMES Main Goal: Understand specific ways that God was with Joseph during good times in his life. Ask: When the story first starts, was Joseph going through good times, or bad times? (Let kids respond.) Say: Yep, he was having a pretty good time! He was his dad s favorite son, and he even got an amazing gift! Then he had a dream that he would one day rule over his brothers, which must have felt pretty awesome. How would you all like to rule over your siblings? (Let kids respond.) Ask: How was God with Joseph during this good time? How was he taking care of Joseph? (Let kids speculate.) Say: I think you re right. God was making sure that Joseph had a dad who loved him, and God provided Joseph with what he needed! Do you think Joseph felt close to God then? (Let kids respond.) Yep, he probably did! Ask: Do you feel close to God when you re going through a really good time in life? How does that feel? (Let kids respond with varying answers.) Say: Yeah, when we re going through something good, life is easier! We probably feel happy, and it s easy to see how God is taking care of us. JOSEPH S BAD TIMES Main Goal: Understand specific ways that God was with Joseph during bad times in his life. Ask: Now who can remember the first thing that happened in the story that was NOT so good? (Let kids respond.) Say: Yep, Joseph s brothers were jealous of Joseph, and angry at him for thinking he would one day rule over them! So they threw him into a pit, and then sold him as a slave. This was NOT a very good time for Joseph. Say: Now, we ve talked about how God was with Joseph during a good time. But now Joseph is going through something really hard. He doesn t have his dad anymore, and it probably seems like things will never be good again! Ask: Was God still with Joseph during this time? (Let kids respond.) Yes, He was! Even though Joseph might have felt sad, or lonely, and he didn t have good things all around him, God was still there. So, how do we know that God was with him? (Continued on next page.)
WE ALL GO THROUGH HARD TIMES Main Goal: Recognize that we all experience difficulty, but God is still with us. JOSEPH S LIFE WENT UP AND DOWN Main Goal: Review the later events of Joseph s life. Say: Yep, even though Joseph seemed to be in a horrible position, God was still taking care of him. While Joseph was serving a man named Potiphar, what did Potiphar do for Joseph? (Let kids respond.) Yep, he put Joseph in charge of his whole house! Ask: What other ways do you think God was with Joseph during this hard time? (Let kids respond.) Say: Great answers! Maybe when Joseph felt sad or lonely, God comforted him. When Joseph was working as a servant, God made sure he still had a roof over his head and food to eat. Say: Is God with US too, even during hard times? (Let kids respond.) Absolutely. We talked about how it s probably easy to feel like God is with us during happy times. But is it always easy to feel God with us during the stormy times? (Let kids respond.) No, not always. It can be really tough. Say: The thing is, when we re going through a hard time, that s when we need God the most. It s when we have to rely on Him, because we can t do everything on our own! Even if it feels like things aren t going the way we want them to, that s when we need to keep obeying God, and following him no matter what. We can trust He s with us. Say: Throughout Joseph s life, he went through good times and bad times over and over again. It almost feels like a roller coaster, and he went up and down, up and down! I m going to say some of the other things that happened to Joseph, and if it was a good time, give me a thumbs up. If it was a bad time, thumbs down! After becoming the head servant, he got accused of something he didn t do, and thrown in jail! (Down.) In jail, the guard put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners! (Up.) Joseph helped Pharaoh figure out what his dream meant. Then Pharaoh put Joseph in charge of all the country s food! (Up.) Joseph s brothers came to him for help, and he forgave them for what they did. (Up or down.) Say: Good job guys! As you can see, Joseph s life didn t always stay the same.
TRUSTING GOD Main Goal: Understand that Joseph had to trust that God was with him, and so do we! Say: Even though Joseph could predict what might happen in the future, because God helped him figure out people s dreams, he couldn t predict EVERYTHING that would happen in his own life. There was no way to know if the storms he went through would get better. Say: The thing is, there was one thing that never changed throughout all that time. One thing that always stayed the same. What was it? (Let kids respond.) Yep, it was God! No matter how good or bad things got, God was always with Joseph. Say: We may not have the same things happen to us that happened to Joseph, but we still go through some really tough stuff. We all feel lonely, sad or angry sometimes. Maybe someone mistreats us, or we don t feel safe. Ask: Who s the one person we can count on to always be with us, no matter how hard things get? (Let kids respond.) Yep, God. RESPONSE TIME Main Goal: Give kids a chance to actively respond to God. Say: We re going to watch a video that s all about trusting God, and believing that he will be here for us no matter what happens. As you watch, think about the things we go through that are hard, scary or lonely. During the video, we ll have a chance to hand those things over to God, and trust that he s always going to be with us. Video: Take a Minute / Trust WRAP UP AND WORSHIP Main Goal: Close the lesson with prayer and worship. Say: Now let s look at our verse this month, which tells us that God s love for us NEVER ends. He will be with us no matter what we go through, good or bad. Slide: Lamentations 3:22-23 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. Pray: God, thank you for being faithful, and showing us how much you love us no matter what happens. Thank you for ALWAYS being with us. Amen! Set up worship: Since God is always with us, I think that s reason to celebrate! Let s stand and sing loud to Him through worship, and show him how much we love him! Music Video: All That You Need Music Video: Because You Love Me
Per kid: ½ sheet of 8.5x11 white paper, 1 piece of scotch tape Per group: markers Per group: Bible, markers, 1 large tear off sheet of paper Per kid: 1 sheet of white paper Per Group: Bible 1. Summer Series Extreme Earth Unit song slide: for when kids enter the room (All that You Need instrumental; mp3 only; can be downloaded on website) 2. Image: Twizzlers 3. Slide: 120 (type this number in a very large font so it takes up the whole slide) 4. Video: Edge of Stablility (0:24-1:01; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qnsrxubsk4) 5. Image: Joseph 6. Video: God s Story / Joseph (https://vimeo.com/66760375) 7. Video: Take a Minute / Trust (https://vimeo.com/119476883) 8. Slide: Lamentations 3:22-23 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. 9. Music Video: All That You Need (https://vimeo.com/114901552) 10. Music Video: Because You Love Me (https://vimeo.com/49923930) Tell me about Joseph. When was God with Joseph?