BIBLE STORY I am thankful for people who give me food. ELIJAH AND THE WIDOW 1 KINGS 17:7-16 MEMORY VERSE Always give thanks to God. Ephesians 5:20, NCV KEY QUESTION Who are you thankful for? BOTTOM LINE I am thankful for people who help me. 20 10 10 25 SOCIAL: Providing time for fun interaction. Play-Doh Play Let s Cook Moving Plates (Opening Activity) WORSHIP: Inviting people to respond to God. Hip Hip Hooray STORY: Communicating God s truth in engaging ways. Bottom Line Bible Story Prayer : Creating a safe place to connect. Snack and Memory Verse Bread Making Cup of Thankfulness Pray WHAT YOU DO 1. Go to myfreedom.org/kidsleaders to do the following: 1. Read through preschool leader guide several times throughout the week to familiarize yourself with what to say, how long it should take, and the order of activities. 2. Watch the Bible story video. 3. Preview the worship songs and get familiar with the motions to help lead your preschoolers in worship. 2. Arrive on time to tag in briefly with the team, set up activity materials, and connect with early arrivers. 3. Teach kids about God s Word with energy! WHAT YOU NEED (provided for you) -paper plates (1 per kid) -craft sticks (10 per kid) -water -masking tape -variety of stickers -eye droppers -Play-Doh -labels for cup -plastic tablecloths -plastic play-doh toys -markers and/or crayons -wet wipes -play kitchen center - Parent Note activity pages - Jar activity pages -play food -mini bowls (1 per kid) -Week 4 drive time cards -Bible -plastic spoons (1 per kid) -Week 4 DVD -flour -paper cup (1 per kid) -oil
SOCIAL Play-Doh Play Welcome kids as they enter your room with energy. Use the first 2 social activities during the social time as an option for kids to do as they check in. CUE: Play high energy music. -Give each child a lump of Play-Doh, and encourage them to create their favorite food. -Talk about different foods as they re shaping their dough, and ask them who gives them food. -When finished, let each child share their creation with the rest of the group. WHAT YOU SAY: Does everyone have some Play-Doh? (Pause.) Awesome! With your Play-Doh, I would like for you to create the shape of your favorite food. What is your favorite food? Who gives you food? Let s see if we can figure out what our friends are making. (Do activity.) Your food creations look amazing! Way to go, friends. I would guess that your mom or dad or maybe an older sister or brother help give you food. In our Bible story today, we ll hear about someone who helped by giving others food! 1 SOCIAL Let s Cook -Place the pretend food and the dishes in the kitchen center. -Encourage the children to work together and cook a pretend meal. -Sit down and pretend to eat the meal the children have cooked. WHAT YOU SAY: Let s get cooking! Work together and cook us all a meal. I am super- duper hungry! (Do activity.) WOW! This looks so yummy! I am very thankful that you have cooked us food! (Pretend to eat.) We are going to hear an awesome Bible story today about someone else who helps by giving a man food! 2
SOCIAL Moving Plates WHAT YOU SAY: Friends! It s time to clean up so I can show you something really cool! Let s work together to clean up and when you are finished come sit with me! CUE: Clean Up Song (on DVD) at 8:45/10:15/11:45. Give kids a few minutes to clean up and sit near you; challenge them to finish before the song is over! -Make a starting and a finish line with the floor tape about ten feet apart in the activity area. -Help the children make a single file line at the starting line. Give each child a plate. -Challenge the children to walk from the starting line to the finish line while balancing a plate on their head. -Repeat as desired. WHAT YOU SAY: We are going to move a plate of food from one side of the room to the other side using only our HEADS! Let s make a line behind the starting line. (Point and give each child a plate.) Place the plate on your head and try to walk to the finish line (point) without dropping the plate. Let s pretend there is food on the plate. Move the food from one side of the room to the other! (Do activity.) Great job! That was so much fun. Today we are going to hear a Bible story about someone who helps people by giving a man food. Are you ready to hear a TRUE story from the Bible? Let s go! 3 WORSHIP LEADER: Hello, hello, friends. It s so great to see you today! We get to have one more day of the Happy Helpers Club! I can t wait to sing with you, but before we do, tell me: Who are you thankful for? I am thankful for people who help me. Yes! I am thankful for people who help me. Let s sing our song! CUE: Hip Hip Hooray music video. 4
STORY Bible Story WHAT YOU SAY: If you re happy to be at church today, say, This place makes me happy! (This place makes me happy!) Me too! I LOVE to be here at church with you for sure. And today is a super special day because I have a totally true, super amazing story to tell you about a man named Elijah and a woman who helped him. Remember, everything you read in the Bible (hold up Bible) is TOTALLY true. So turn on those listening ears and catch a bubble in your mouth (kids fill mouth with air to help them get quiet). Let s find out what happens! CUE: Bible Story video. The woman was a happy helper for making bread for Elijah, and God gave her enough flour and oil to keep making bread. I know Elijah was SO thankful for the help he received from the woman. The same is true for me too! I am thankful for people who help me. Who are you thankful for? I am thankful for people who help me. The woman gave good to Elijah, and God took care of her too! I am thankful for people who help me. Let s pray. God, thank You for the woman who chose to help Elijah by giving him food even when she wasn t sure she would have enough. You helped her by providing more flour and oil so she could help Elijah! We are so thankful for people who help us. Thanks for reminding us today that You will help us be happy helpers too. You are awesome, God. In Jesus name we pray, amen. 5 Snack and Memory Verse -Transition kids to tables for snack. -Pass out hand sanitizer and ask a kid to pray for the snack. -Give each kid a pack of Mott s fruit gummy s. -Allow kids a minute for a break; use this time for bathroom breaks. -Introduce memory verse using the instructions below. WHAT YOU SAY: This month we have a Bible verse from Ephesians 5:20! I want to see if you can remember! Always (arms up around to side) give thanks (ASL thank you) to God. (both hands pointing up) Ephesians 5:20 (Open hands like a book.) 6
Bread Making -Cover the table(s) with tablecloths. -Place flour in bowls (1-2 bowls per table). -Pour oil in bowls (1 per table) and place eye droppers in the bowls of oil. -Pour water in bowls (1 per table). -Pass out a small bowl and plastic spoon to each child. -Encourage the children to scoop two or three spoonfuls of flour and then squeeze a little oil in their bowls. -Encourage children to place a spoonful of water in their bowls. -Children can use their spoons to begin mixing the ingredients together. -Once it becomes tacky/sticky, they can use their fingers. Then let them shape the dough into a loaf of bread. -When finished, collect all the bowls and squeeze bottles for clean up. Pass out wipes to clean hands or use a sink. WHAT YOU SAY: Today we heard about a woman who made bread to provide food as a way to help others. I thought it would be fun to make some bread of our own today! Give directions according to the ones outlined above one step at a time to help kids follow. Remember, you only need a little bit of oil and a little bit of water! How much oil and water? (Pause for responses.) That s right. Just a little or your bread dough will not come together. Look at all those yummy loaves. I m so glad the widow in our story chose to help Elijah by 7 providing bread for him to eat. I am thankful for people who help me, too. Cup of Thankfulness -Give each child a paper cup to decorate with stickers and makers/crayons. -Give each child a label to adhere to the front of the cup. -As the children are decorating their cups, review the Bible stories we ve covered this month. -Hand ten craft sticks to each child to place inside their cups. -Explain the sticks and how they will use them at home this week to thank God for people who have helped them. -When the children are finished, place their cups in the hallway (if possible) or near the door with a parent note for pick up. WHAT YOU SAY: Today we re going to create a Cup of Thankfulness to help us remember and pray for those who have helped us. Let s place one of these labels that says, I am thankful for people who help me, on the front of our cups. Then you can add stickers and use the markers/crayons to decorate your cup! (Do activity.) Let s review all of the stories we ve learned from the Bible about people who were happy helpers! First we learned about Tabitha. She made clothes to help others. Then we talked about Nehemiah. Nehemiah gathered a huge group of people who all helped rebuild the wall! Last week, we talked about the good Samaritan. Remember, he was the man who stopped to help the hurt man on the side of the road. And today we talked about the widow who used the last bit of flour and oil she had to make bread for Elijah, who was so hungry! All of these people chose to help others. 8
Pray WHAT YOU SAY: It s Prayer Group time. C mon friends! Follow me! (Lead group to specific area in the room.) Here we are! Let s sit down! 1, 2, 3, sit down with me! Today we are going to make a list of our favorite foods. YUM! When we re done, we will use our list to give thanks to God for the food we have. When I say your name, tell me one food you want to thank God for and I ll write it down. Here we go! (Say each child s name and write down what they say. Remember to print the names so the children can recognize their names and the letters.) This list is making me hungry! Would anyone like to pray before I pray? (Give each child who wants to pray the opportunity to do so.) Dear God, thank You for making so many yummy foods for us to eat. Thank You for foods like (read the list the children made). Thank You for making the people who help give us food to eat, like mommies and daddies, farmers and food truck drivers, grocery store clerks and people who work in restaurants. We are thankful for all of them! We love You, God. In Jesus name, amen. What a wonderful month learning how to be happy helpers! Make sure you re here next week because we are going to be learning from MOVIES all month in December! Let s get ready for check-out. 9 HOME Coloring Pages -Have kids sit at the tables or in your activity area. -Give each kid a coloring page and set out the crayons. -Write kids names on their coloring page. -Encourage kids to fill up their oil jars just like in the story today. -Encourage kids as they color. (Ex: You are doing a great job! I love how you used the blue! ) -While kids are coloring, greet parents at the door -Give each parent a Drive Time card to take home. -Make sure each parent tag matches the child tag. -Give each kid a piece of candy on their way out. Note: Make sure kids take home their cups of thankfulness! 10