3PK November 21-22, 2015 Luke 10:38-42; Matthew 6:33 First 10 minutes of the service hour: Engage kids in cooperative play activities to help them connect to other kids Next 5 minutes: Connect Time I m In: Paul We can follow Jesus no matter what. Do you have a kid who has trouble listening or obeying? Give them a job to do, like helping hand out snack, or turning off a light switch for Large Group. Some kids engage better when they have a bit of responsibility. Next 25 minutes: Large Group Last 25 minutes: Snack and Small Group Ask kids what they have in their story bag, and what the different pictures are about! Today s story is about Paul, and how he was willing to give up his life in order to follow Jesus. We may not be able to identify with Paul s persecution, but we can still relate to facing hardship as followers of Jesus.
GOAL: Connect time is all about engaging kids in a short, interactive game to prepare them for Large Group. Clean up! (10 minutes after the service start time, when you get the 5-minute warning from the presenter) Line kids up Have kids follow you as do some silly motions! Say: Can we follow Jesus when we before each of the following: o Hop and down o Wiggle our arms o Spin in a circle o Squat on the ground o Pretend to be a dog o Stand on one leg o Stand on the other leg o Make a silly face o Shake our hips side to side o Hug a friend o Do a silly dance o Pretend to be a bird o Feel sad (act sad) o Feel scared (act scared) o Feel really happy (smile and give a thumbs up) As you walk into Large Group, encourage kids to put on their listening ears! Remind them that HOPS will be showing us how we should act in Large Group, so we have to listen!
Goal: Kids will (1) retell the story of Paul and (2) recognize that we can follow Jesus no matter what happens. Why? Even kids as young as 3 or 4 years old can understand that we have to go through hard things that make us sad, angry, or scared. We want them to believe that no matter what hard things they have to do, they can follow Jesus. Tip: Preschoolers have very short attention spans, so do you best to redirect their attention every few minutes or so. REVIEW THE STORY 1. When Paul told people about Jesus, what not-so-fun things happened to him? (He went to jail, people hurt him, he got ship wrecked) 2. Why did Paul keep following Jesus, even though it was hard? (He loved Jesus with his whole heart) 3. Can we follow Jesus when we re sad? (Yes) 4. Can we follow Jesus when we re happy? (Yes) 5. How can you show your love for Jesus? (help kids come up with things like: talk to Jesus, sing songs to him, tell our friends about him, ask him to help us, be kind to others, obey our grown ups, share with others, etc.) ACTIVITY Hand each kid a Popsicle stick, and a paper strip with an angry Paul (before he followed Jesus) and a happy Paul (after he follows Jesus!) Let kids color their Pauls. Fold the strip so one side has angry Paul, and the other side has happy Paul (the Paul s should be back-to-back. Use a gluestick to secure the two Pauls on the Popsicle stick, so there s a face on both sides (like a double-sided puppet!) *Pray for kids before they leave. Ask God to help us share Jesus with our friends. Extra time? Have kids do a coloring sheet. After that, play the Connect Time line up game again! But this time, turn on music and have kids follow your actions without using any words. Whenever you pause the music, they have to freeze!
2 THIS PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY
1 Kids choices at this age may seem simple, like obeying their parents or sharing with friends, but they re still important choices. We re watching a video today about the a guy named Paul, and how he followed Jesus no matter how hard it was. Here s a link: https://vimeo.com/30378739 *Click to play intro music Hi Friends! Welcome to Kids Club. I'm and I'm really glad you're here today. Before we get started, I want you to meet my friend HOPS. She s going to remind us of the kind of choices we can make today in Kids Club. Video: HOPS: Put your listening ears on! (Fall theme) (Holding up the Bible for kids to see) This is God s story. Out of all the stories in the world, this story is the most important. Do you know what it s called? (Let kids respond the Bible.) That s right, the Bible! It s God s Rescue plan. In the beginning, God made the whole world and everything in it. And it was all GOOD. Give me a big thumbs up! (Let kids respond. Then change your tone.) But THEN, something bad happened. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and all the wrong things came into the world. Things like sadness and death. Show me your sad face. (Let kids respond.) Even though Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God loved them anyway! He planned a great rescue so that Adam and Eve and you and me could be close to God again! Do you know who the rescuer is? (Let kids say: Jesus!) That s right! Jesus! INTRO: PAUL After Jesus came to rescue us, there were lots of people who started to follow him! Can you give me a thumbs up? (Let kids respond.) But some people didn t follow Jesus. Can you give me a thumbs down and a sad face? (Let kids respond.) There was a man in the Bible named Paul. Can you say, Paul? (Let kids respond.) Good job! Paul didn t follow Jesus. He hurt people who followed Jesus. Can you pretend like you have a boo-boo on your elbow? Ouch! (Let kids respond.) Is it a good choice to hurt people? (Let kids respond, No ) That s right, we shouldn t hurt people. But guess what?
God loved Paul! God showed Paul that Jesus came here to rescue us. After that, Paul started following Jesus. Let s watch a video to see what happened to Paul when he started to follow Jesus. As you watch, try to figure out what Paul did after he started following God. VIDEO: God s Story / Paul Wow! Paul loved Jesus with his whole heart. He loved Jesus so much, that he wanted to tell everyone he knew about him! Let s all turn to a friend. Can you say to your friend, Jesus loves you? (Let kids respond.) Good job! We can tell our friends about Jesus just like Paul did. PAUL FOLLOWED JESUS NO MATTER WHAT Following Jesus isn t always easy. For Paul, it was really hard sometimes. Back in Bible times, you might get thrown in jail for following Jesus! That doesn t happen to us today, but it did happen to Paul. I bet Paul was really scared at first. But guess what? Paul knew that God was with him, so he didn t have to be afraid anymore! We can follow Jesus no matter what, too. If we let s stand up and wiggle our bodies! (Let kids respond.) Can we follow Jesus while we re wiggling? (Let kids say: Yes!) What if we make a funny face? (Respond along with kids.) Can we follow Jesus with a funny face? (Let kids say: Yes!) Okay, those things were kind of silly. Let s talk about some choices that aren t so silly. If our friends don t love Jesus, can we still follow him? (Let kids respond, Yes! ) Definitely! What if we have to do things that aren t fun or comfy? Can we still follow Jesus then? (Let kids respond, Yes! ) Absolutely. Let s stand and dance to this video about how we can trust Jesus no matter what. We don t have to be afraid of anything! See if you can do the motions. Music Video: I m Not Afraid (2:46) Wow! I m so glad that Jesus is always with us, so we never have to be afraid. He ll help us do things that are hard, or scary. PRAY (Break it down into small, repeatable phrases) Dear God. We love you. We ll follow you no matter what. Help us when we have to hard things. A-men! WORSHIP Let s sing some songs to Jesus, to show him how glad we are that he rescued us. Music Video: Jesus Loves Me Song: Be Strong (extra song if you have time left over)
Dismiss kids to small groups. (Be creative as you dismiss them. Ask them to come give you a high five first, or maybe tiptoe or hop to their groups.)
THIS PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY
Can we follow Jesus when we game. No supplies neeed. Per kid: coloring page, angry Paul/happy Paul paper strip Per group: Bible, markers, gluesticks Per Group: Bible 1. Song slide: for when kids enter the room (All that You Need instrumental; mp3 only; can be downloaded on website) 2. Video: HOPS Put your listening ears on! (Fall theme) (https://vimeo.com/99633582) 3. Video: God s Story / Paul (https://vimeo.com/30378739) 4. Music Video: I m Not Afraid (https://vimeo.com/121403086) 5. Music Video: Jesus Loves Me (hand motions)(https://vimeo.com/44164426) 6. Song: Be Strong Who was Paul? How can we follow Jesus?