2 year olds Curriculum for Preschoolers 20, 2013 We want preschoolers to take a first look at who God is and understand... GOD MADE ME GOD LOVES ME JESUS WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND FOREVER Editor in Chief: Kathy Hill Editor: Kristen Brady Copy Editor: Dana Wilkerson Curriculum Writers: Autumn Ward, Ashley Hiers Illustrator: Jodi Blackwell Graphic Designer: David Hill FL Creative Team: Sue Miller, Lois Pallansch, Kathy Hill, Kendra Fleming, Autumn Ward, Ashley Hiers, Donna High, Abbey Carr, Danielle Schneller Chief Executive Officer: Reggie Joiner Chief Operating Officer: Reggie Goodin Executive Director: Sue Miller Technical and Web Support: Hadley Brandt Partner Support: Deb Springer Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. These resources are intended to be downloaded and printed for use by the subscribing entity only and may not be electronically transferred to or duplicated by other non-subscribing entities. Any unauthorized reproduction of this material or incorporation into a new work is a direct violation of US copyright laws. 2013 First Look. All rights reserved. STATEMENT OF FAITH USER AGREEMENT The rethink Group, Inc. gladly grants permission to churches, schools, and other licensees to tailor First LookTM materials to fit their unique leadership requirements, locale and format preferences, and physical environment needs. However, if you wish to edit the content substantively, including Bible stories, learning activities, scripts, and any other content in which biblical principles and concepts are presented, you are obligated to do so within the doctrinal guidelines we ve expressed in our Statement of Faith.
2 year olds 20, 2013 BASIC TRUTHS God Loves Me. KEY QUESTION: BOTTOM LINE: MEMORY VERSE: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord, your God goes with you. BIBLE STORY: Here s an overview of what you ll be teaching in 2s this week. Make It Fun (Choose one or all of these activities) Parachute Play Hide the Spies Hidden Make It True Worship Bible Story Make It Stick (Choose as many of these activities as you like) Like a Spy Rahab In the Red Red Rope Dismiss 2
Key Question: Bottom Line: Memory Verse: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord, your God goes with you. Bible Story: Prepare to offer one or more of the following activities as your 2-yearolds 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. Make it Fun 1. Parachute Play Parachute Play is an activity that allows free and directed play with the parachute while introducing the idea of hiding under something a concept in the Bible story. What You Need: A parachute Play with the parachute as long as there s interest. What You Say: Come shake the parachute with me! Grab a handle and let s shake it really high. (Guide kids to raise their arms and shake the parachute.) That s super high! Now shake it really low. (Guide them to drop their arms and shake the parachute.) Super job! Shake it high now and go under it. Let s do it again. Shake the parachute really fast and up really high. Now go under again. (Talk in a whisper voice.) Do you think anyone can see us under here? Today, we ll hear about two good guys that hid under something just like we are! (Play as long as there s interest.) 2. Hide the Spies Hide the Spies is an activity that uses cognitive and critical thinking skills as children search for something that is hidden. What You Need: Spies from the Activity Pages found on the Website, white cardstock, and painter s tape. Before the activity: Make several copies of Spies from the Activity Pages onto the white cardstock, cut them out, and tape them in different spots around the room that are easy to locate such as under a table, under a toy, etc. During the activity: Children will search for the pictures of the spies hidden around the room. What You Say: During the activity: There are some pictures hidden around the room. They look like this. (Hold up the picture.) Can you help me find them? (Give hints if needed.) At the end of the activity: Wow! You found all the pictures! Super job finding them! In our Bible story today, we ll hear about two spies that were hiding just like these guys! 3
Make it Fun 3. Hidden Hidden is an activity that engages children in a sensory center guided activity of hide and seek. Children will try to identify objects in the bin, trying to locate the two Little People. What You Need: Plastic tub, shredded paper, two Little People, a crayon, toy fruit, and plastic animals. Before the activity: Place all the items in the tub and cover with the paper shreds. During the activity: Encourage kids to find the two Little People and identify all the items that are discovered. Continue as long as there s interest. What You Say: In this box there are some items that are hiding. I need you to find the two Little People. Do you think you can do that? (Pause.) Reach in and feel around. What did you find? (Identify the different objects as the children pull them out.) Wow! You found all sorts of things! How many people did you find? (Pause.) Two! Today in our Bible story we are going to hear about two good guys who were spies! 4
Key Question: Bottom Line: Memory Verse: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord, your God goes with you. Bible Story: After children have participated in Make It Fun, tell the Bible story and then encourage the kids to have fun singing with you. When sharing the Bible story, guide kids to gather around you on the floor. Some kids (especially the younger ones) may wander. That s OK. They re still listening and learning! Make it True Worship What You Need: CD player, this month s worship song, My God Is Number One, downloaded from the Website, and the motions for the song. LEADER: Look at you! I m so happy to see your bright and smiling faces today! Are you ready to sing with me? (Pause.) Let s sing a fun song about how I can always count on God. Lead children in singing My God Is Number One. LEADER: Thanks for singing with me! I m so glad that God loves me and God loves you too. That s why I can always count on God and you can count on Him too. Let s get ready to for our Bible story. It s gonna be a SUPER one! Bible Story What You Need: A Bible, Rahab Picture from the Bible Story Picture folder on the Website copied onto white cardstock, a crown, and tape. LEADER: Come sit with me! It s story time! Yay for story time! Our story comes from this very special book the Bible! (Hold up Bible, give it a big hug, and lay it down.) We love the Bible because it has God s stories in it. Today s story is about a girl named Rahab. (Hold up Rahab Picture. ) I call her Rahab the Courageous! Can you say Rahab the Courageous? (Repeat Rahab the Courageous with the children a few times.) That s a big word! Good job! Tape the Rahab Picture to the wall down at the children s eye level next to the Elijah the Brave and Esther the Strong pictures from the previous weeks. Keep these pictures up all month. (Open Bible.) The Bible says a woman named Rahab lived in the city of Jericho. Everyone in Jericho was SO scared, because they heard that God s people, the Israelites, were coming. And sure enough, late one night, two Israelite spies snuck into Jericho! The spies were super sneaky. But guess who saw them? Who were we just talking about? (Pause.) Right! Rahab. She knew that God was with the Israelites! She wanted to help them, so she let them stay at her house. Soon, the king heard about the spies. (Put on a crown and speak like a king.) Soldiers! Go to Rahab s house and catch those spies! Oh, no! The spies were in trouble. But Rahab did something SO smart. She took the spies up to the roof and made them lie down. Then she spread some long leaves on top to hide them! The king s soldiers didn t find the spies. But then they shut the city gate, so the spies were trapped inside! They couldn t get out! Rahab went to the spies and said, I know that your God is the one true God, and I know that we can count on Him. I m going to help you get away. But when you come back to take over the city, promise you ll keep me and my family safe! 5
Make it True Do you think the spies made that promise? (Pause.) Yes! They told Rahab to take a red rope and hang it out of her window so that when they came back, their friends would know to keep her safe. Pretty soon, the whole Israelite army came marching back to take over Jericho! They knocked down the walls and ran right into the city. Rahab trusted that God would keep her safe! She knew that she could count on God, so she tied that red rope to her window. Soon, the spies came back and found Rahab! They took her and her whole family out of the city and kept them safe. Wow. Rahab sure knew that she could count on God after that. And I can always count on God, too! (Close Bible.) I have another poem to share with you. Can you guess who it s about? (Pause.) Yes! Rahab! It goes like this: Rahab was super because she trusted God with all her heart, She believed that God would do His part. God sent help and saved the day! God used Rahab to show HIS super ways! That is AWESOME! God used Rahab to do something SUPER! Rahab trusted God. That gave her courage! When we trust God, we can be courageous and be SUPER kids! WOW! And guess what else! You can always count on God to help you do SUPER things. CHILDREN and LEADER: I can always count on God! LEADER: You got it! Let s pray and talk to God. God, help us to grow up trusting You. We want to have courage so You can use us to do SUPER things! In Jesus name, Amen. 6
Key Question: Bottom Line: Memory Verse: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord, your God goes with you. Bible Story: Choose two or more of the following activities to help make the Bottom Line stick. Lead the activities with small groups of children. Encourage children to play on their own if they do not wish to take part in an activity. Make it Stick 1. Like a Spy Like a Spy is an activity that helps children learn the Memory Verse and tie in the Bible story focus while acting as spies to spy music. What You Need: Music player and The Pink Panther Theme by Henry Mancini (can be purchased on itunes ). Play the music as kids sneak around the room. Stop the music and loudly shout the Memory Verse. Repeat as many times as desired. What You Say: During the activity: We have some fun music to help us say our Memory Verse today! (Start the music.) That sounds like SPY music to me! Can you sneak around the room with me? (Demonstrate.) Shhh! We re spies! (Pause the music and shout.) Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord, your God goes with you, Deuteronomy 31:6. (Repeat as many times as desired.) At the end of the activity: You were great spies, and that music was so fun! I can always count on God to help me be strong and courageous. Who can you count on? (Pause.) 2. Rahab Rahab is an activity that retells the Bible story and helps children gain a better understanding of the story through interaction and role-play. What You Need: Brick from the Activity Pages found on the Website, white cardstock, markers, six Little People (five males and one female), a piece of yellow construction paper, scissors, red yarn, and tape. Before the activity: Copy Brick from the Activity Pages onto white cardstock and tape it to the wall in the area where you will be leading this activity. During the activity: Retell the Bible story using the Little People and other props. What You Say: What an awesome Bible story we heard today about Rahab the Courageous! (Bring out the female toy.) Say hello to Rahab. (Pause.) Rahab trusted in God and kept a secret. She helped hide these two good spies. (Bring out two of the male toys, place them next to Rahab, and cover them with the yellow paper.) She hid the good spies from the bad guys! (Use the remaining male toys and have them walk around looking for the spies. Then put them in your lap.) Once it was safe, Rahab helped the good spies get away. (Put them in your lap.) But because Rahab was courageous and helped the good guys, they told her to hang a red rope from her window and God would keep her safe. (Tape the red yarn to the brick wall.). And because Rahab trusted God, God kept her safe! Rahab knew she could always count on God. (Pause.) I can always count on God. 7
Make it Stick 3. In the Red In the Red is an activity that uses children s gross motor skills through dance while reintroducing the Bible story focus. What You Need: Red scarves, music player, and this month s worship song from the Music Resources tab on the Website. Dance and wave the red scarves. What You Say: During the activity: Today we learned how Rahab was courageous and trusted God. Do you remember what Rahab hung from her window? (Pause.) A red rope! Can you be courageous like Rahab? (Pause.) Yes, we can, because you and I can always count on God! Let s dance around with these red scarves to show that we can count on God just like Rahab did. (Continue as long as there s interest.) At the end of the activity: That was so much fun! (Pause.) 4. Red Rope Red Rope is an activity that will utilize children s fine motor skills while making their own wall and red rope like the one in the Bible story. What You Need: Brick from the Activity Pages found on the Website, white paper, scissors, crayons, a marker, tape, and red yarn. Before the activity: Copy Brick from the Activity Pages onto white paper for each child. Then cut a 6-inch length of yarn for each child. During the activity: Children will color the bricks on the page and tape the yarn to the paper as you talk about the Bible story. What You Say: Who was courageous in our Bible story that we learned about today? (Pause.) Rahab! Rahab was courageous because she trusted God. She helped to keep a secret and hide the good spies! Color in the bricks on your paper like this. (Demonstrate.) You are all great artists! Because Rahab helped the good spies, they told her to do something to keep her safe. Do you remember what she did? (Pause.) Rahab hung a red rope out of her window and God kept her safe! Can you tape the yarn to the wall? (Assist the children in getting the yarn taped to their paper.) Good job! Rahab counted on God to save the day. (Pause.) I can always count on God. One more time! (Pause.) I can always count on God. 8
Key Question: Bottom Line: Memory Verse: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, for the Lord, your God goes with you. Bible Story: 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 I can always count on God. Encourage parents to repeat the Bottom Line at home and help their child understand that Have this month s Parent CUE available for parents to pick up or send it in a monthly email. Encourage parents to use the activities found in Parent CUE to reinforce this month s Bottom Line: 9