Here s what you ll be teaching in 3s 5s this week. Social (9:00,, 11:30) Post Office Playtime Snow Angels Bible (9:10, 10:25, 11:40) Bible History Presentation in the Sandbox Journaling (9:30, 10:45, 12:00) Small Group Time Prayer Groups (9:35, 10:50, 12:05) The Angel and Mary Pass the Gift Dismiss Parent CUE 1
Social (Introductory Activities, 10 minutes) Let one teacher lead activities in different areas of the room while another teacher greets parents and kids at the door. Post Office Playtime Made to Imagine: An activity that lets preschoolers pretend, imagine, and role play to enhance their learning What You Need: Several envelopes of different sizes, and a mailbox Before the Activity: Place the mailbox in an open area of your room. During the Activity: Point out the mailbox to the children. Select a few children to be postal workers. Encourage the postal workers to place the envelopes one at a time into the mailbox and say, Special delivery! as they place each envelope inside. Then call out the names of the remaining children to walk to the mailbox and pull out a letter as you say, [Child s name], I think you have a special delivery! Go find out what it is! Let the children continue delivering and receiving the mail as long as time and interest allow. Before the Activity: Raise your hand if you ever go with your mom or dad to get the mail from the mail box. (Pause.) Can someone raise your hand and tell me who brings the mail to your house? (Pause.) Yes, that s right! A postal worker delivers the mail. During the Activity: Do you see my mailbox here? (Point.) And what are these? (Hold up the letters.) That s right, letters. So first, I need some of you to be my postal workers to deliver these letters. (Select two or three children.) Each time you place a letter in the mailbox, you should say, Special delivery! Then I will call out your name if the letter is for you. So be sure and listen for your name to receive your letter! After the Activity: It s fun to receive letters in the mail, isn t it? In our Bible Truth today, we ll hear about a very special delivery, but this delivery was for everyone! I can t wait for you to hear it. Let s go! 2
Transition: Move to Large Group by calling out, Special delivery, and pretending to deliver mail. Utilize the travel rope as you travel from the classroom. Snow Angels Made to Move: An activity that uses a preschooler s natural desire to move to help them learn What You Need: Packing Peanut Angel set up. During the Activity: Line up the children at the end of the Angel set up. Let them take turns lying on their backs in the packing peanuts and moving their arms and legs simultaneously to create a snow angel from the packing peanuts. Encourage each child to stand up and admire his/her work, then quickly fluff the packing peanuts back into a pile for the next friend. Allow each child to have a turn and repeat as long as time and interest allow. Before the Activity: Have you ever made a snow angel, or have you ever seen a picture of a snow angel? (Pause.) To make a snow angel, you lie on the ground on your back in the snow and move your arms up and down and your legs in and out. (Demonstrate.) We don t have real snow in here, but these packing peanuts will work! (Point.) Let s line up here (point) and take turns making our own snow angels. After the Activity: That was super fun! In our Bible Truth today, we ll hear about a real angel that came to give a very important message. Let s go find out what the angel had to say! Transition: Move to Large Group time by instructing the children to grab a handle of the travel rope while you walk to the Sandbox. Bible (Large Group, 20 minutes) After children have participated in Social, gather them for a large group time that includes interactive worship, introductory sketch and Bible Truth. Place your We are in The Sandbox sign on the door as you leave. Travel to the Sandbox. 3
Journaling (Small Groups, 5 minutes) Journaling is designed to help preschoolers understand how the Bottom Line applies to them. They ll discuss real-life experiences and share prayer requests. Give each child a cup of Chex cereal to snack on while you take them through the following exercise. What you Need: Paperclip Memory Verse Card in your Bible at Isaiah 9:6. Journal and a fun-shaped pen. Reward stamps. SMALL GROUP LEADER (SGL): It s small group time! In today s Bible Truth, an angel delivered a very special message to Mary about a very special baby. Do you remember what the angel s special message was? (Pause for response.) Yes! The angel told Mary she was going to have a baby named Jesus and Jesus would be God s Son! Jesus was the special delivery from God! [Bottom Line] God gave us Jesus because He loves us. So when I ask you, How do we know God loves us? I want you to say, [Bottom Line] God gave us Jesus! Let s try it! How do we know God loves us? CHILDREN and SGL: [Bottom Line] God gave us Jesus! SGL: Again! How do we know God loves us? CHILDREN and SGL: [Bottom Line] God gave us Jesus! SGL: Perfect! And that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is celebrating that [Bottom Line] God gave us Jesus. Our new Bible verse will help us remember that. (Open Bible to verse.) Our new Bible verse says: God has given a son to us, Isaiah 9:6. 4
(Close Bible and lay it down.) And who did the angel say the Son is? (Pause.) You got it! Jesus is God s Son! Let s stand up and say that verse together with the motions. Just say what I say and do what I do. CHILDREN and SGL: God (point arms straight up) has given (cup both hands in front of you like you are giving something) a son (rock your arms like you re holding a baby) to us (point your thumbs to your chest), Isaiah 9:6. (Hold hands open like a book.) (Repeat several times.) SGL: You sound so good! If we keep practicing, we will know that verse by Christmas day and we can tell it to our family! What a great Christmas gift! Now it s time to write in our journal and pray. Let s sit down. (Hold journal and fun-shaped pen.) Since gifts are a big deal at Christmas, today we re going to make a list of gifts we want for Christmas. When I say your name, tell me one gift you want for Christmas. (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. Thank you for doing that. Do you know that even though all of these gifts would be super cool to get, Jesus is the most special gift anyone will ever give us? It s true! [Bottom Line] God gave us Jesus to be our friend forever, because God loves us. How do we know God loves us? CHILDREN and SGL: [Bottom Line] God gave us Jesus! SGL: You got it! So no matter what gifts you get for Christmas, God has already given you the BEST gift. God gave YOU Jesus! Let s close our eyes and put our hands together so we can pray. Would anyone like to pray before I pray? (Give each child who wants to pray the opportunity to do so.) Prayer SGL: Dear God, this time of year is so fun! We love getting and giving gifts. Thank You for things like (read the list the children made). But God, we know the very best, most special gift we will ever get comes from You, and that gift is your Son, Jesus. Thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Jesus to be our friend forever. You are so awesome, God, and we love You! In Jesus name, amen. 5
Groups (Application Activities, 25 minutes) These activities are designed to help preschoolers understand and remember today s Bible Truth and Bottom Line. The Angel and Mary Talk About God Bible Review Made to Create: An activity that allows preschoolers to review the Bible Truth, Bottom Line, or memory verse by creating a craft What You Need: Angel and Mary Activity Page and crayons Before the Activity: Place the crayons in the center of the table. During the Activity: Pass out the Angel and Mary Activity Pages to the children. Encourage the children to color the page and to trace the line from the angel to Mary. Before the Activity: Who appeared to Mary with a special message? (Pause.) Yes, the angel! During the Activity: Do you see the dotted line on your page? (Point.) It starts at the angel and runs all the way to Mary! Let s color the pictures and trace that line from the angel to Mary. After the Activity: God sent the angel to Mary with BIG news! Can anyone tell me what the news was? (Pause.) Mary would have a baby and his name would be what? (Pause.) Yes! Jesus! God told us He would give us Jesus. What a special gift. How do we know God loves us? [Bottom Line] God gave us Jesus. 6
Pass the Gift Live for God Application Activity Made to Move: An activity that uses a preschooler s natural desire to move to help them learn What You Need: A Christmas gift box During the Activity: Line up the children shoulder-to-shoulder in an open area of the room. Instruct the children to pass the gift box or bag from one friend to the next as they each say this month s Bottom Line. Repeat as long as time and interest allow. Before the Activity: What is this I m holding? (Hold gift box/bag.) That s right, a gift. In today s Bible Truth God told us He would give us the best gift ever: Jesus! Let s take turns passing this gift while we say the Bottom Line. After the Activity: As you passed this gift, you said something super important. You said that [Bottom Line] God gave us Jesus. God told us that He would give us the most awesome gift ever, and He did! God sent Jesus to us because He loves us. How do we know God loves us? Because [Bottom Line] God gave us Jesus. Get Ready to Dismiss 7