December 17 & 18, 2016 Week 3 - PDF Free Download

December 17 & 18, 2016 Week 3 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: The angels tell about Jesus. Shepherds Luke 2:6-18 Welcome Activity/Make It Fun Prepare the following activity as your children arrive. Let one or two teachers lead small groups of children in activities throughout the room while another teacher greets parents and kids at the door. At this age not all children will participate, but most will want to be part of the fun. Welcome Activity Place the Bow Place the Bow is an activity that that uses fine motor skills to introduce today s Bible story. What You Need: Large bag of ready-stick gift bows, large empty box, Christmas wrapping paper, clear tape, and scissors What You Do: Before the Activity: Wrap the box in the Christmas wrapping paper. Do not place any bows on the box. During the Activity: Place the wrapped box in the center of the activity area. Place the bows near the box. Encourage the children to stick all of the bows onto the wrapped box. After the Activity: Introduce the Bible story. What You Say: Before the Activity: There s a gift in our class today. (Point.) Hmm... but it seems to be missing something. It s missing Christmas bows! During the Activity Here are some bows that we can put on the gift. (Point.) Can you help me put on the bows? (Pause.) You re doing a great job! 2011 Orange. All rights reserved. www.whatisorange.org 15

After the Activity: That looks fantastic! It s fun to give gifts at Christmas. Today in our Bible story we will hear about some shepherds who got a message about a very SPECIAL gift! I cannot wait for you to find out what it was! Make It True Worship What You Need: CD player, this month s worship song, Away in a Manger 2016, downloaded from the Website, and the motions for the song LEADER: Hello, friends. Only one more week until Christmas! I m so excited to celebrate Jesus birthday! Why is Jesus special? [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. That s right! Let s sing our song. Lead children in singing Away in a Manger 2016. So good! I m so proud of how well you re learning this song. Great job, everyone. Now tell me one more time: Why is Jesus special? [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. Bible Story What You Need: Bible STORYTELLER: Hello, everyone! I m so happy to see so many friends here today, because today is a very special day! Today I want to tell you all about the night that Jesus was born. After all, that s why we celebrate Christmas, right? Because Christmas is Jesus birthday! Last week, we talked about how Jesus was born in a stable. Do you remember that? Well, on the night Jesus was born, there were some shepherds out in a field doing what they normally did: watching and caring for their sheep. The shepherds were just watching their sheep when all of the sudden an angel appeared to them. And they were REALLY scared! Go ahead, shepherds, show me some scared faces like this. (Make a scared face.) Whoa, you look very scared. But don t worry, my shepherding friends. I m going to tell you what the angel said in my special angel voice. 2011 Orange. All rights reserved. www.whatisorange.org 16

(Clear throat and speak with a booming voice.) Don t be afraid! I bring you GOOD news of GREAT joy! The baby has been born! God s Son! Go find Him in the manger! (Normal voice) Suddenly the WHOLE sky filled with angels, praising God and saying (sing): Glory to God in the highest! (Speak) Let s all sing that together with the angels! CHILDREN and STORYTELLER: (Sing) Glory to God in the highest! STORYTELLER: You make a beautiful angel choir. Nice job! After the angels left, the shepherds ran to find Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. I think the stable is over there. Let s go. (Guide the children to follow you to another part of the room.) Once they saw Jesus, they knew how special He was and they ran to tell EVERYONE that Jesus, God s Son, had been born. So let s go tell everyone! (Motion for the children to follow you as you walk around the room saying, Jesus is born! Jesus is God s Son! ) (When you re back at the Large Group area.) Awesome job, friends! You told everyone that Jesus is born and Jesus is God s Son! Way to go! Now, tell me again: Why is Jesus special? CHILDREN and STORYTELLER: [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! STORYTELLER: That s right! It was SUCH exciting news! The shepherds couldn t wait to tell everyone that Jesus had come. He came for me and for you for everyone! Why is Jesus special? CHILDREN and STORYTELLER: [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! STORYTELLER: Yes! Great job! [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! Let s pray. Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to us. We want to be just like the shepherds and tell everyone about Jesus. We want everyone to know that He is special, because Jesus is YOUR Son! Jesus is an awesome gift to us! Amen. 2011 Orange. All rights reserved. www.whatisorange.org 17

Make It Stick-(Craft) The following activity is designed to help make the Bottom Line stick. Craft/Activity In Order In Order is an activity that reviews this month s Bible stories while teaching the children sequencing and critical thinking skills. What You Need: Story Cards Activity Pages and white cardstock What You Do: ***Attention Craft Team- No craft Prep!!!!!! During the Activity: Retell all of the stories from this month. Then ask the children to help you put the pictures in order as they happened in the story. After the Activity: Ask the children the Key Question for this month and say the Bottom Line together. What You Say: Before the Activity: All of our stories this month have been AMAZING! Our stories are what we call the Christmas story, which is one of my favorite stories! During the Activity: An angel came to visit a young girl named Mary. He told her that she would have a very special baby named Jesus. [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! Mary and her husband Joseph had to take a trip. After the trip Mary was VERY tired. Joseph tried to find them a room, but they were all FULL! So they found a stable where animals lived to stay in and Jesus was born in the stable. Nearby in some fields, shepherds were watching their sheep when the sky became full of LIGHT! There were ANGELS! The angels came to tell them that God gave us the GREATEST gift of all: JESUS! These pictures are of our stories. Please tell me what you remember about the stories. Let s start with the picture of Mary and the angel first! Can you tell me what you remember about this story? Which picture is next? (Pause.) You got it! Jesus was born in the stable. Let s talk about what happened in that story. And the final picture is when the angels and the shepherds. (Hold up.) Tell me what happened when the shepherds saw the angels. After the Activity: I LOVE the Christmas story. I am so glad God gave us Jesus. Why is Jesus special? [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! 2011 Orange. All rights reserved. www.whatisorange.org 18

Get Ready to Dismiss Set any take-home creations where you or parents can get them easily. Greet parents at the door and tell them that this month preschoolers are learning that [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone. Dismissal- Loud or Soft Loud or Soft is an activity that allows the children to be the ones that deliver the message just like the angels did in the Bible story. What You Need: No supplies needed What You Do: Before the Activity: Have the children stand in front of you. Say the memory verse as a class. During the Activity: Say the verse several more times. Challenge the children to say the verse very softly, then loudly, and then VERY loudly. Repeat as desired. After the Activity: Say the Bottom Line together. What You Say: Before the Activity: Let s practice our memory verse for this month: I bring you good news of great joy, Luke 2:10. Nice job! During the Activity: Let s be like the angels in the story today! We can pretend to tell the Shepherds the GREAT NEWS! Are you ready? First, let s say it very softly. (Say the verse softly.) Awesome! Now let s say it loudly! (Say the verse loudly.) Great job! I bet you can say it even LOUDER! (Say the verse very loudly.) That was awesome! After the Activity: It s so much fun telling people about the greatest gift: JESUS! I bet the angels were so excited to tell the shepherds that Jesus was born. Why is Jesus special? [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! 2011 Orange. All rights reserved. www.whatisorange.org 19