3PK August 30-31, 2014 Joshua 5-6 Jesus Storybook Bible (pp. 108-115) 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 Joshua and Jericho God always knows best. As kids come in and start coloring, tell them that they are coloring a city called Jericho. Point out the big and strong walls! Next 25 minutes: Large Group Last 25 minutes: Snack and Small Group Finish early? Repeat the activity! Kids this age learn through repetition. Or, check out the end of the activities section to find an idea for this week. As parents pick kids up, encourage them to ask kids the Connect Questions posted outside the door (show them where the questions are if they re unsure). We'll be talking about the Israelites and their march around Jericho. Even when doing what God says seems strange or difficult, we hope kids will remember that God always knows best.
GOAL: Connect time is all about engaging kids in a short, interactive game to prepare them for Large Group. Clean up! (when you get the 5-minute warning from the presenter) Line up. Tell kids that we re going to hear a story about something AMAZING God did to help his family. But first they had to obey. Play Simon Says to practice obedience: o Line the kids up in a row. o o o Stand a few feet away, facing them. Explain that you will give them a command. It should be fun and silly like touch your nose, spin around, jump on one foot, or quack like a duck. Before most commands, you will say, Simon Says. ( Simon says spin around! ) If Simon says it, the kids should OBEY. If the music hasn t started yet, remind kids that when their listening ears are on, their mouths should be closed tight. Then practice that together! For fun, hop into Large Group like HOPS.
Goal: Kids will (1) review the story and (2) reenact it together. Why? We want kids to engage in meaningful play, maybe without even knowing it! They think they re just having fun but they are actually learning today s story. Tip: When you go over the RELATE question, you could also play Simon Says again while they finish their snack. *Give kids a snack as you REVIEW and RELATE. REVIEW THE STORY 1. When the Israelites were waiting to get to their new home, what was blocking their way? (a great big city with thick walls) 2. What instructions did God give them to get through the walls? (March around the city one time for six days. On the seventh day, march around it seven times. Then blow ram s horn and make some noise!) 3. What happened after the Israelites obeyed? (the walls fell down!) 4. Who always knows what s best? (God so we can always obey him) RELATE TO THE STORY What are some ways we can obey God this week, just like Israelites? (brainstorm with the kids to come up with specific examples you can give them ideas like share, obey your parents, be nice to your brothers and sisters, or clean up your toys ) REENACT THE STORY Say: Joshua and the Israelites followed God, even though God gave them some silly instructions. Let s have some fun retelling this story with Play Dough! (Tell kids right away the Play Dough is NOT for them to take home.) Give each child some Play Dough. Instruct them to build a big wall like in the story. Then have them stand up from their seats and march in place while you count to six. Then make a ram s horn noise and SHOUT. (Continue on the following page)
2 With their fists, kids can smash* their walls down, like God did for the Israelites. (Before anybody smashes their Play Dough walls, remind them that they are only smashing their own wall, NOT their neighbor s!) Put the Play Dough away together. *Some kids may not want to smash their walls, and that s okay. The idea is that they remember the story in order to retell it to their friends and family. Make sure to remind them of the main point: We can always obey God, because he knows best! **Pray with the kids, thanking God that he always knows best and asking him to help us obey him this week. Extra time? In the room, use whatever blocks you have and construct a tall tower or wall. You can smash it together afterwards! If kids are getting tired of reenacting, throw an Animal Party. Make a circle. Choose one person to be the leader (be the leader first to show kids how it s done). The leader names an animal and then everybody imitates that animal! Be as loud and crazy as you want. Do sounds, movements, or both! To mix things up, limit animal choices per round. Ask kids to choose specific animals such as jungle animals, farm animals, birds, bugs, fish, etc.
1 The goal for today is that kids understand that we can always obey God, because he knows best. There s a lot of up and down today. This is to get kids moving and break up the story so that they it keeps their attention. Plus, it ll be great for our kinesthetic learners! So, even if it seems tiring, try incorporating all the movement. Presenter: Hi Friends! Welcome to Kid s 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 Kids Club. Video: HOPS 2 Obey Your Leaders (about 1 minute) REVIEW Presenter: (Hold 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. It s God s Rescue plan. Remember how God made the whole world and everything was good? The world was perfect! Give me a smile and a thumbs up! (Let kids respond. Then change your tone.) But THEN, something bad happened. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, and sadness and death came into the world Show me your sad face. (Let kids respond.) This was really sad. But even though Adam and Eve disobeyed God God loved them anyway! And He didn t want to leave them in a world filled with pain and sadness and wrong things. So God planned a great rescue so that Adam and Eve and you and me can be close to him again. The rescuer was God s very own son, Jesus. GOD RESCUES HIS FAMILY Well, long before Jesus came, we talked about how God s special family, the Israelites, got into a LOT of trouble. They were stuck as slaves in Egypt, and God sent a guy named Moses to rescue them! Then they had to wander in the desert for a long time, but eventually, God led them toward a wonderful new home. Remember, when they were almost to the new home, they realized they were blocked by a big river! But then, a guy named Joshua led them across the Jordan River. As soon as they began
crossing the river, God made a dry path right through the middle. They thanked God! Can you guys say thank you? (Let kids say, Thank You! ) Good job! JERICHO BLOCKS THE WAY But when they got through the river, guess what?? They still weren t home safe. A big CITY called Jericho was standing in their way. (Show the picture of Jericho blocking palm trees.) Can you guys say Jericho? (Let kids say: Jericho.) God s family knew that if they were going to get to the land God had promised, they had to knock down some big thick walls, and they had no idea how to do it. I mean, even regular walls are pretty strong. Everybody, stand up! (Let kids stand.) I want you to go over the closest wall (walk toward a wall yourself) and puuush with all your might! (Push with the kids.) Ugh, it won t move! OK, go ahead and sit down. (Let kids sit.) GOD GIVES SILLY INSTRUCTIONS Even though the walls of Jericho were much bigger and thicker than these walls, God had a plan to help his people get through the walls and into their new home. But they would have to obey Him. Obeying means doing what God or somebody else asks you to do. We can always obey God because he knows what s best. God said (use a booming voice in the microphone): March around the city and then make some noise! (Pause, then act confused.) Wait, what?? Does making noise knock down walls?? No! Those instructions sounded pretty silly. But should we do what God says, even if it sounds silly? (Let kids say: Yes!) Yes! And the Israelites knew they needed to obey. THE PEOPLE OBEY (Show the picture of the Israelites marching on one side of Jericho.) So everybody, stand up again! (Let kids stand.) We re going to act out what the Israelites are doing. God said to march around the city once a day for 6 days. Let s see what that feels like. (Lead the kids in marching back and forth across a space of your choice 6 times.) Whew! I m already tired and this room isn t NEARLY as big as a whole city! And look (refer to picture) the wall was still standing! Go ahead and sit down. (Let kids sit.) On the seventh day, God told the people to march around (count dramatically on your fingers) 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 times! And on the seventh time around, the priests, who were people who loved to talk to God, sounded a long blast on their ram s horns, which is an instrument, like this. (Take the ram s horn and also click to play the sound effect.) Can you guys do that? Make a ram s horn with your hand, like this (make a fist but stick your thumb up toward your mouth, like a microphone). Now say, Do-do-do-do! (Or whatever your best ram s horn noise sounds like!) Ready? 1-2-3 (play your fake ram s horns). Good job! And when God s family, heard that, they SHOUTED AS LOUD AS THEY COULD! And we re going to do that too! Stand up like the Israelites so I can REALLY hear you. (Let kids stand.) Ready? 1-2-3: SHOUTING NOISES! Wow, you guys sure are loud!
THE WALLS CRUMBLED Well, God did know best, because when they shouted, the walls began.to.crumble (reach up). Reach up with me! Those strong walls just crumbled to the ground! (Fall to the ground dramatically and have kids follow you so they are sitting again.) (Show the picture of the Israelites in the Promised Land.) Then the people were SO excited! They had finally made it into their new home. And just imagine how wonderful this perfect home was, with beautiful grass and flowers and lots of yummy foods to eat and delicious juices to drink. They could laugh and talk and play with their friends. It was the best! GOD KNOWS BEST But remember, the people had been really scared when they first saw that wall. And they probably thought it was pretty silly to just march around it. After all, marching usually doesn t make walls fall down! But they decided to obey God. And it s a good thing they did, because God always knows best. God knew that if the people obeyed him, he would make the walls fall down and the people would be free. So no matter what God says, we can always listen to him, because God knows best! Wow, let s thank God together right now. (Pray, breaking it into smaller, repeatable phrases.) Pray: Hi God! Thanks that your family obeyed you. Thank you for always knowing best. Help us to obey you too. In Jesus name, aaaa-men! WORSHIP Now let s sing to God to thank him. Song: Trust in the Lord Song: Be Strong and Courageous 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.)
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Simon Says game no supplies needed Coloring sheets: Jericho Playdough enough for each child (reuse across services) Jesus Storybook Bible (pp. 108-115) Toy ram s horn 1. Video: HOPS 2 Obey Your Leaders 2. The following Images scanned into Keynote from the Jesus Storybook Bible (PDF version) a. Pg 109 Jericho with grass and palm trees on the right b. Pg 110 Jericho from above, with Israelites walking to the left of the city 3. Sound bite: ram s horn: http://bit.ly/1lnemwi 4. The following image scanned into Keynote from the Jesus Storybook Bible: Pg. 115 God s family in the promised land 5. Song: Trust in the Lord 6. Song: Be Strong and Courageous Tell me about Joshua and Jericho. What instructions did God give the Israelites? Daily Talk Starters printed separately