First Look TM Curriculum for Preschoolers 4 s & 5 s rooms September 24, 2017 Bible Story Focus: When God is with me, I can be wise. Battle of Jericho Joshua 6:1-20 Memory Verse: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid... for the LORD your God goes with you. Deuteronomy 31:6, NIV Key Question: Who is always with you? Bottom Line: God is always with me. Basic Truth: God loves me. Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (s, 15 minutes) Prepare to offer one or more of the following activities as Your children arrive. Let one teacher lead activities in different areas of the room while another teacher greets parents and kids at the door. 1. Blow Your Horn Made to Move: An activity that uses a preschooler s natural desire to move to help them learn What You Need: No supplies needed Before the Activity: Let s march and blow our horns! During the Activity: Everyone line up in a straight line. We are going to march (demonstrate) and blow our horns (demonstrate by making a loose fist and hold it up to their mouths to be a horn and then make noises from their mouths as if they are blowing a horn) Are you ready? (Pause.) Awesome! Let s get started! After the Activity: You did a great job marching and blowing your horns. That is what God s people did in the story we are going to hear today! I cannot wait for you to hear our TRUE story from the Bible! Transition Idea: Move to Worship and Story by marching. Say, Awesome job marching! That was so fun I think we need to do it some more. Let s march to Large Group! I bet we are going to hear about some people who marched in today s Bible story! 1
2. Build a Wall What You Need: cardboard blocks Before the Activity: Let s work together to build a wall with these blocks. (Point.) Make sure to count them out loud as you build! Ready? (Pause.) Great! Let s build. During the Activity: Look at that wall. Great job, everyone. You can knock it down now, and let s build again! After the Activity: You did a great job building! I wonder what a wall has to do with our Bible story today. I m sure we will find out soon! 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! If you haven t taken attendance, please do so now. s: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (s, 25 minutes) These activities are designed to help preschoolers understand and remember today s Bible story and Bottom Line. 1. Build a Wall with Words Hear from God Memory Verse Review What You Need: September Memory Verse Words Activity Page, and 6 large cardboard blocks or shoeboxes BINS: Copy the September Memory Verse Words Activity Page onto cardstock and cut along the lines. Tape the verse word cards to the side of the blocks/boxes (one card per box/block) with masking tape. Before the Activity: Place the blocks/boxes on the floor in a line in verse order and lead the children to read the verse aloud. Do you see these blocks/boxes all in a row? (Point.) I see the words from our memory verse this month. Let s read the verse together. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid... for the LORD your God goes with you, Deuteronomy 31:6. Now let s stack our blocks/boxes to create a wall and then we ll read the verse again. Let s build! Repeat as interest and time allow. After the Activity: I love your wall! What awesome builders you are. We can be strong and courageous. We don t have to be afraid. Why? Because just as this verse reminds 2
us, [Bottom Line] God is always with me! Who is always with you? [Bottom Line] God is always with me. 2. Horn Talk About God Bible Story Review What You Need: Horn Activity Page, and clear tape Before the Activity: Our Bible story today was awesome! It was about SUPER JOSHUA! We are going to make horns today. We can pretend that they are the trumpets that Joshua and God s army used to win the battle! During the Activity: Help the children roll the Activity Page into a horn shape. One end of the horn should have a 1-inch opening and the other end should have a very large opening. Be sure the words on the page are on the outside of the horn. Secure with tape. WOW! Your horns are awesome! Now let s talk about our story from today. When I talk about Joshua and the army blowing their trumpets, you may use your horns just like this. (Demonstrate.) Are you ready? (Pause.) Joshua was in the city of Jericho with God s army. It was time to go into battle. God told Joshua not to use weapons to fight the battle but to only march around the city blowing on their trumpets. Can you blow your trumpets? (Pause.) Awesome! Joshua knew that he should be wise and always do what God told him to do, so he led his army around the city for seven days blowing their trumpets. Blow your horns again! (Pause.) Perfect! Joshua became SUPER JOSHUA and did what God said. He was wise, and they WON the battle! After the Activity: Great job blowing your horns, friends! Joshua knew that God was always with him and so he did what God said. God is always with us too! Who is always with you? [Bottom Line] God is always with me. 3. Super Kids Bingo Live for God Application Activity What You Need: Super Kids Bingo Card and Super Kids Bingo Pictures Activity Pages, construction paper BINS: Cut apart the Super Kids Bingo Pictures. Provide one set for each small group. Place the pictures in a stack. Cut the construction paper into one-inch squares to serve as bingo chips. You ll need 10 paper squares per child. 3
Before the Activity: Today we re going to play a SUPER fun game called Super Kids Bingo! During the Activity: Pass out the bingo cards and point out each image and picture using the explanation written below. First, there was Elijah the brave (hold up the Elijah card). He showed everyone that there was only ONE true God. The fire picture on your page reminds us how God sent fire from heaven. Second, there was Esther the strong (hold up the Esther card). She asked the king to help save her family, and she stood up to Haman. The picture of the crown reminds us of her story. Third, there was Rahab the courageous (hold up the Rahab card). She had the courage to hide the spies and then tie a piece of red rope to her window, like the one you see on your page. And finally, there was Joshua the wise (hold up the Joshua card). Joshua chose to listen to God even when his instructions seemed crazy! This wall reminds us of how God made the walls of Jericho fall down. (Stack the cards and shuffle them.) Cover your Super Kids space in the center with a paper square. That s a free space! Now, when I hold up a picture, if you have that picture on your card, I want you to cover that space with a paper square. Are you ready? When you get [three in a row or cover your entire card], call out, Bingo! (NOTE: You can play until a child gets three in a row or until the entire card is covered. It s your choice.) After the Activity: I LOVE bingo. Wasn t that a SUPER fun game? I m so glad that each of these men and women from the Bible chose to follow God and remembered that God was with them. You can be strong, courageous, brave, and wise when you have God on your side, because He is always with you. Who is always with you? [Bottom Line] God is always with me. 4. Dance to the Music Live for God Application Activity Made to Move: An activity that uses a preschooler s natural desire to move to help them learn 4
What You Need: Upbeat preschool music, CD player and a plastic party horn or noisemaker Before the Activity: I want us to have a SUPER cool dance party today! I ll play the music and I want you to dance, dance, dance! BUT when I blow this horn like this (blow horn), I want you to stop. Ready? Let s dance! (Do activity.) After the Activity: Wow. I had NO idea you had such SUPER AWESOME dance moves. And you did a great job stopping when you heard the horn. I m so glad that Joshua listened to God s crazy instructions when He told him to march around the city and blow those horns! It is always wise to listen to God and to remember that [Bottom Line] God is always with me! Who is always with you? [Bottom Line] God is always with me! 5. Journal and Prayer Pray to God Prayer Activity What You Need: Memory Verse Card paper clipped in your Bible at Deuteronomy 31:6, journal, fun-shaped pen, and reward stickers or a hand stamp What You Say: SMALL GROUP LEADER (SGL): Okay, SUPER kids! It s time for! Come sit with me. Who remembers what SUPER thing God helped Joshua do in our Bible story today? (Pause for response.) You were great listeners today! Yes! God helped Joshua be SUPER wise and do what God told him to do. Joshua knew that God would always be with him and that doing what God told him to do would be the best choice. Doing things God s way is always the best way! (Give two thumbs up.) You can be SUPER wise and do things God s way too, because God is always with you. Who is always with you? CHILDREN and SGL: [Bottom Line] God is always with me. SGL: Okey dokey. Guess what time it is! (Hold up the stickers/hand stamp.) It s time for YOU to say the Bible verse we ve been learning and for ME to give you a sticker/hand stamp for learning it. Sound fun? (Pause.) Great! First, we ll say the verse together, and then we can take turns saying it by ourselves. 5
(Open Bible.) Our verse says: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid... for the LORD your God goes with you, Deuteronomy 31:6. (Lay Bible down.) Stand up and we will say that together with the motions. CHILDREN and SGL: Be strong (put right forearm and wrist out in front of you, similar to Wonder Woman) and courageous! (Put left forearm and wrist out in front of you and hit wrists together.) Do not be afraid... (wind up in a crazy karate chop pose and chop down on the word afraid ), for the LORD (point your right hand up) your God (point your left hand up) goes with you (put both hands on hips in a strong pose), Deuteronomy 31:6 (hold out hands like a book). (Repeat several times.) SGL: You sound ready to me! Let s sit down. One, two, three, come sit with me! Now we can take turns saying our verse. Who wants to go first? (Give each child the opportunity to say the verse on his own. Have your stickers/hand stamp ready to give when they say it.) I am so SUPER proud of you! High-five, everyone! (Give each child a high-five.) Now it s time to write in our journal and pray. (Hold journal and fun-shaped pen.) Joshua knew doing things God s way is always the best way, even if he didn t understand or if it sounded strange, like when God told Joshua to go to battle with just a horn a horn! That was strange, but Joshua was SUPER wise and trusted what God said. Let s make a list of things we like to do. When we pray, we can ask God to help us be SUPER wise and do those things HIS way. So tell me, what are some things you like to do? (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.) Now that we have a list, 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 6
SGL: Dear God, every day is filled with so many choices. Please help us be SUPER wise and do things Your way. We know Your way is the best way, even when we don t understand. Thank You for always being with us so we can be SUPER brave, SUPER strong, SUPER courageous, and SUPER wise. You are the best! We love You, God. In Jesus name, amen. 7