WEEK 4: LOVE JESUS THE MOST Become Friends with Jesus The Man with Big Barns (Luke 12:13-21) To tell the story of the rich man who built bigger barns. To teach students that loving Jesus as their best friend is more important than having lots of things. To lead students to tell Jesus they love him. The society in which your youngsters have been born into is obsessed with things. From early on, money, toys and gadgets of all kinds are considered indispensable to raising children. As kids grow up, they realize they can ask for things -- and get things -- from such well meaning people as grandparents, teachers, aunts and uncles and especially parents. It follows naturally, then, that they could grow up to be very materialistic, even those who grow up in church. It is the climate of the culture in which they live. Is there any hope that they will learn that people, and especially God, are more important than things? Although the habits of their parents will play a key role in what they choose as adults, you have the opportunity to let them know what Jesus thinks. As they grow, our hope is that they choose him, instead of the short lasting treasures this world has to offer. Be simple but clear as you teach today. READ through lesson and Bible story as early as possible. PRAY and ask the Holy Spirit to help you prepare and teach. CHOOSE the activities appropriate for your group. Plan ahead. GATHER MATERIALS for all classroom activities. Is your room already supplied with glue, scissors, crayons, etc.? SET UP EARLY. Kids need your full attention when they arrive. Most of all, ENJOY sharing the love of God with your students! Through Jesus we are now God's friends. Romans 5:11b ICB 1997 Sylvia Foth
(10 min) PRE-OPENING ACTIVITY OPTIONS BARN BOX FAVORITE TOYS strips of red paper, large appliance box, glue or tape blank paper, scissors, pencils OPENING & SINGING A-HA! LE-LU-IA JESUS IS MY FRIEND TODAY LET EVERYBODY PRAISE THE LORD Donut Man "The Farmer" cassette tape and player, "Jesus is My Friend Today" song words (from Week 1) (20 min) BIBLE VERSE FUN BIBLE STORY 8-10 min ROMANS 5:11B DO YOU LOVE JESUS? THE MAN WITH BIG BARNS no materials Bible, lesson notes, flannel pieces (optional) lots of balloons, toy cutouts from pre-opening Dress Up: rich man clothes, toy hammer and nails PRAYER WORSHIP JESUS Prayer Basket with Prayer Cards (from Week 1), pencil COLORING OPTION A BIG BARN Story Paper Week 4, crayons, glue sticks, small red strips of paper, hay or straw (15 min) CRAFT OPTION SNACK CORN HEART BULLETIN BOARD CORN (POPPED CORN OR CORN CEREAL SNACK) green paper streamers, Corn Heart Sets, glue sticks, popcorn kernels, marker, stapler or sticky tack snacks, napkins, cups, water FREE PLAY JUMP IN "HAYSTACK" BUILD A BARN pile of sheets or towels blocks (25 min) GAME/ ACTIVITY CORN HUSKING real corn cobs (or pretend with cans and newspaper -- see details), buckets or baskets (5-10 min) PUPPETS SCRUFFY AND CLYDE puppet script, chopstick puppets, puppet stage CLEAN UP CLEAN UP helping hands! CLOSING OPTIONS FARM STICK GAMES READ A BOOK 40-50 craft sticks, bucket or bag a book about barns or buildings NOTE: Refer to appendices for student handouts, craft patterns, puppet scripts and other masters.
!"# $% &"' ((( %" )*'+ BARN BOX large appliance box (remove staples and sharp edges) red strips of paper (used on one side?) tape or glue Invite students to help you "paint" the barn. You apply lines of white glue to one side of the box. Students press paper strips onto glue until the side is covered. Enjoy playing inside the box as the project is finished. Jesus told a story about a barn. What did he say? Set up well before students arrive. Warmly welcome kids, guiding them to join an activity. Clean up several minutes before opening. FAVORITE TOYS blank paper pencils scissors Invite each child to draw a picture of a favorite toy. Roughly trim these. Write each student's name on the back. Save these for later. What things mean a lot to you? Why? (about 3-5 minutes) Donut Man "The Farmer" cassette tape and player "Jesus is My Friend Today" words (from Week 1) Officially welcome everyone, especially visitors! Tell kids about the fun activities planned (games, craft, stories, music). Love Jesus the most. Many things can be wonderful and important, but nothing is more wonderful than knowing Jesus as your best friend. Is he most important for you? A-ha! Le-lu-ia Jesus is My Friend Today (a cappella) Let Everybody Praise the Lord Thank Jesus for loving us so much. Ask him to help each child think about how important he is to them. (about 5 minutes) Through Jesus we are now God's friends. Romans 5:11b (Simply discuss the meaning of this verse together.) Through Jesus - Jesus came from heaven to show his love to us. He died on the cross to help us with the worst problem ever: sin. When we ask him to, he forgives us for sin. He does this because he loves us the most! No other person loves us more. we are now God friends - We can love Jesus, too. We can love him a little bit. Or we can love him a lot. Jesus wants us to learn to love him the most. He wants us to be his best friends. DO YOU LOVE JESUS? Repeat the verse together. Ask, "Do you love Jesus?" Invite students to answer, "Yes!" Repeat the verse again. Ask the question again. Repeat the sequence again, giving several students turns to ask the question. Seat students in story area. Most preschoolers will have to say they love their parents more than Jesus. This is natural. It is not permanent. As you teach today, focus on helping kids love Jesus more than THINGS, not more than PEOPLE. It is a lesson better saved until they are older, needing to make choices about peer pressure. $, -." /0
!" # $$$!" %&!' This outline is designed to help YOU make the story come alive for your students. Avoid reading word for word. Main points and discussion questions are in bold, suggested Bible readings in bold italics. Refer to your Bible for key verses. For more on optional flannel storytelling, see page xii in Teacher's Handbook. Bible and your lesson notes lots of balloons toy cutouts (from pre-opening) rich man clothes toy hammer and nails ( )* man, farm products, barn, bigger barn, farm setting (Read and think about this before class.) Luke 12:13-21 To tell the story of the rich man who built bigger barns. To teach students that loving Jesus as their best friend is more important than having lots of things. To lead students to tell Jesus they love him. Are you using flannel pieces? Hand out one piece to each student. Allow kids to place their pieces on the board when you come to the appropriate point in the story. It is amazing how well most kids listen for their cue. Ask for one volunteer. Invite the child to hold as many balloons as possible. Add one at a time to his or her arms. He or she will become uncomfortable as he or she must hold too many balloons. Why can't he hold all these balloons? There are too many. How can we fix the problem? Get bigger arms, or keep fewer balloons. Today's story is about a man who wanted too much of the wrong things. (Dress up one student to act as the farmer. Invite other children to be corn stalks, others to be cows, some to form a barn, others to form a bigger barn, etc.) A. A rich man had lots of good things. 1. He owned property where he grew crops. What grows on a farm? Peas, carrots, wheat, hay, corn, etc. 2. His barns were full of the crops. 3. He was not happy, even though his barns were full. He did not love Jesus the most. What kinds of things do you love? B. The man wanted more things. 1. In order to keep more things, he needed bigger barns. (Arrange students into a barn shape. Pretend to tear it down and try to build a bigger barn.) 2. He tore down the old barns to make bigger barns. 3. After his new barns were full, he planned to retire, to take life easy, to be happy. What makes you happy? What do you like to do on vacation? C. God was not happy with the man. 1. The man died. 2. The man could not keep his things after he died. They were unimportant. 3. He had not become friends with God. 4. The man let things be more important than God. Jesus said this was wrong. (Read Luke 12:21) )+,, -
!"# $ % &!#'# ((( %! )'* What kinds of things are important to you? Show the toy cutouts. Ask students to guess who drew several of these. Are toys fun? Sure they are. Should toys be more important than Jesus? No! How can you learn to always love Jesus the most? Learn about him from the Bible, pray to him as a friend, go to church and worship him with other Jesus friends. Prayer Basket with Prayer Cards (from Week 1), pencil WORSHIP JESUS There are many wonderful things to love about Jesus. When we tell him we love these things, it is called worship. He loves us to worship. Read today's prayer phrase. On the back of the card, list things to love about Jesus (he is great; he is good; he forgives us, he saves us, etc.). Ask students to help you clap and celebrate each. Close by thanking Jesus for being so wonderful. Ask him to help each of your students love him the most, always. A BIG BARN Story Paper Week 4 crayons, glue sticks small red paper strips, hay or straw Discuss today's lesson as you guide students to color the drawing. Or, in addition to coloring, glue red paper strips to the barn and hay or straw to the haystack. Allow to dry. CORN HEART BULLETIN BOARD Corn Hearts set on yellow paper (Teaching Resources Week 4) two 14" green paper streamers glue sticks green paper streamers popcorn kernels stapler or sticky tack marker Copy patterns and trim to shape. Cut streamers to length. Gather other materials. Make a sample. 1. Give each student two streamers and a Corn Heart pattern. Write student names in the blank heart. 2. Place streamers next to each other. Glue pattern in the center. 3. Twist the top ends and then the bottom ends of the streamers together around the corn pattern. 4. To make a bulletin board, mount each cob at the top of a green streamer stalk. Add a heading with today's theme. Do you love Jesus the most? How well do your students pray? Will they speak out at all? Group prayers, like today's suggestion, may help some break their silence. Choose options that fit your group, your interests and your time. Continue to reinforce today's theme and story as you enjoy the activities. Use every opportunity to teach and love. QUICKER CRAFT NOTES Cut 14" lengths of green twisted craft paper. Untwist. Add pattern. Twist top and bottom edges together to form a corn cob shape. Skip the bulletin board. Allow students to take crafts home today. CORN popped corn or corn cereal snack water, napkins, paper cups Thank God for the food before eating. Give a generous handful to each student. While eating the snack, discuss crops which the rich man might have stored in his barns. What was most important to the man? Who is most important to you? $ +,! -.
During play time, take interested children to the restroom. Watch your ratio of teachers to students as you move in and out of class. (Suggest that kids play in ways related to today's story.) pile of sheets or towels building blocks Place sheets in a heap on the floor. Assign a number to each student. When you call that number, the corresponding student may jump into the pile of sheets. Play again and again, sometimes calling two numbers at once. Allow students to build a barn with blocks. How big can they build it? Tumble the building and begin again. CORN HUSKING real, unhusked, corn cob or wrapped cans (see below) basket or bucket (If corn is not available or too expensive, make pretend cobs by wrapping carrots or cans each in one large piece of newspaper. Secure with masking tape.) Divide the group into two teams. Give each team member a corn cob. One at a time, students open their cobs and run to place it in a "harvest" basket. The first team to finish, wins. Let both teams finish. (Allow them take home corn cobs, if possible.) What is important to you? Is Jesus most important?!" SCRUFFY AND CLYDE Puppet Script Week 4 (see appendix) Chopstick Puppets (from Week 1) Puppet Stage (from Week 1) Before class, practice moving puppets as indicated while reading the script. Add your own special effects and fun details to bring Scruffy the pig and Clyde the horse to life for your kids. Discuss the questions found at the end with your students. Prepare kids to go home, helping them gather papers, coats, Bibles, etc. Remember to send home Story Paper Week 4. Leave the room looking as neat as you found it with children's help. As you clean up, let kids know how much you enjoyed them today! IF YOU HAVE EXTRA TIME... FARM STICK GAMES 40-50 craft sticks in a small bucket or bag Allow each student to earn a craft stick by correctly answering a question about today's story or about Jesus. One by one, guide students to create a barn shape on the floor, with lots of craft sticks for barn boards. Who is most important to you? ABOUT BARNS OR BUILDING Read a book that tells about building a barn or building. Remember today's story as you read. Read and think about next week's lesson and Bible story early. Coordinate with others to gather and prepare unusual items. How are classroom supplies? Do cupboards need straightening? Keep working to make your classroom comfortable and functional.!# $% & %