Supplemental Activities for Children Family tree When a person asks Jesus into his heart to be his Lord and Savior, he becomes a member of God s family. On earth we have families we are born into and families we can join, like church families. Help the children understand families by creating a family tree for each child. Items needed: Red paper Green paper Brown paper Pencil Fine-tipped markers Scissors Glue stick Protective table covering Children will be sketching the trunk of a tree on the brown paper, a cloud-like shape on the green (to represent tree leaves) and apples in the shape of circles on the red paper. The circles will represent family members and should be large enough for names. If your group is very young or your time is limited, you may draw and cut out the shapes yourself before class time. Cover the table with newspaper or a cheap plastic tablecloth. Give each child a sheet of the brown, red and green paper. Give each child a pencil and a finetipped marker. Help the children draw the shapes described above and cut them out. Allow them to cut out as many apples as they have family members, writing names for grandparents, parents, siblings and others whom they may want to include on their family tree. Make sure they include themselves. After the shapes have been cut out and names written on the apples, help the children glue the leaves to the top of the trunk. Then help them glue the apples on the leaves as follows: Bottom grandparents Center parents Top themselves and their siblings Allow the children to describe their family trees and family members. Variation: Create a church family tree by placing a small branch off a tree in a pot with small rocks for support or by using a small, potted tree. Write down and cut out the names of people in your church. Poke or punch a small hole in each cutout. Thread a small piece of string through each cut-out and tie a knot so as to hang the names on your church family tree. Red Rover game In the spirit of sending, play the game Red Rover. This game has been around for many years. Use your judgment on whether this activity is appropriate for your group of children. Divide the group of children into two equal teams. Teams form two lines, facing each other and holding hands (hand-to-hand, not hand-to-wrist).
One side starts by choosing a person on the opposing team and loudly calling, Red Rover, Red Rover, send [child s name] right over! The child called then releases the hands of his teammates and begins a headlong rush for the other line. His goal is to break through the line by overpowering the children s hold on each other. If the runner breaks through, he chooses one person from the opposing team to join his team, and they both go back and join in the runner s line. If he fails to break through, he becomes part of the other team. Each team alternates calling people over until one team has all the people and is declared the winner. Note that since all the players are on the winning team at the end, there really are no losers in this game. Prayerwalk If your children are older in age, send them into the neighborhood surrounding your church along with adult leaders. Tell the children to visualize the families in each home and to pray for them. Pray that God would provide for each family and protect them. Pray that each family would always behave in a loving way toward other family members. Pray that if they don t know Jesus, they would be led to learn about and accept Him at your church, becoming part of your church family. If your children are younger in age, you may want to take them to pray within your church building for the families who attend your church. They may pray outside the Sunday School rooms, the nursery and the sanctuary for the families who attend your church. Pray that God would provide for each family and protect them. Pray that each family would always behave in a loving way toward other family members. Pray that their faith and trust in Jesus would be strong. missionaries in taking the gospel across the continent. Books are free. You pay only $5 for shipping per order. Go to nambstore.com to order. You may also download a PDF of the book and an answer key from namb.net/children. Also located there are supplemental lessons and activities on other Send Cities. Add a missional component to any children s discipleship class through these free downloads. Project In the video titled My Church, My Family, Mandy s car broke down, and she didn t have transportation to church. The church came together as a family and bought her a car. God wants families to help other family members. Identify a needy or struggling family among your own church family. What need do they have that your group of children can meet? Find a project your children can do without very much adult intervention so they can take ownership of it. Assign a child to be in charge. Encourage the children to notice the struggles of others and to seek ways they can come alongside them. Encourage the children to let others know they are not alone. Alternately, the children can think of the needs of one of their own family members. Ask the children to brainstorm some of the needs of someone in their family. Their assignment is to meet that need and give a report at your next meeting. San Diego word search and fun facts Print off the word search found in this document for children to complete. Share some of the fun facts about San Diego with the children. Send North America Activity Book for Children Learn more about San Diego and other North American Mission Board Send Cities through the Send North America Activity Book for Children. Games, puzzles, mazes and more help children learn the important roles of church planting and everyday Supplemental Activities for Children 2
San Diego Fun Facts 1. San Diego is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, approximately 120 miles south of Los Angeles and immediately adjacent to the border with Mexico. 2. San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest in California. 3. San Diego hosts the largest naval fleet in the world. 4. San Diego County has the largest number of farms (almost 7,000) in the U.S. and ranks first in the nation for value of floriculture, nursery, greenhouse and sod products. San Diego County also produces the most avocados of any region in the country. 1 5. The San Diego Zoo has more than 4,000 animals from 800 species! 2 6. The San Diego Zoo played home to the first baby panda born in the Western Hemisphere since 1990 with Hua Mei, born to a pair of giant pandas. The panda even got a café named after her in the zoo. 3 7. Water is a hot commodity in San Diego. The city imports an estimated 80 to 90 percent of its water, totaling 168 million gallons a day. 4 8. It s against the law to swim in any of the lakes in San Diego. But you re not missing out on much since they re all man-made. 5 9. The country s first drive-in restaurant, Oscar s, was opened in San Diego by Robert Oscar Peterson, who later founded the fast food chain Jack In The Box in 1951. 10. San Diego was home to everyone s favorite wacky children s author, Ted Geisel, more frequently referred to as Dr. Seuss. 11. LEGOLAND, San Diego s theme park, is located in Carlsbad, about 20 miles north of downtown San Diego. 6 1 blog.sandiego.org/2011/08/did-you-know-more-surprising-san-diego-trivia/ 2 blog.oldtown-inn.com/old-town-san-diego/san-diego-zoo 3 4 5 6 funtrivia.com/en/geography/san-diego/question29269_5e2640.html Supplemental Activities for Children 3
San Diego Word Search M I S S I O N A R Y Z X R P R V T M V N H S E N D A R L A N C Q W G X C T Y S U R X O B E A C H D S U Z L Y R T M W W Z H Q F A M I L Y P P C A L I F O R N I A N Y D W T N U O N R Z O O D J E S U S K G I V E O C E A N S Word Bank Flowers Beach Parks Zoo Sunny Vacation Missionary Church Family Jesus Ocean California Send Give Supplemental Activities for Children 4
San Diego Word Search ANSWERS M I S S I O N A R Y R V N H S E N D A N C W C U R O B E A C H S U L T H F A M I L Y P C A L I F O R N I A N R Z O O J E S U S K G I V E O C E A N S Word Bank Flowers Beach Parks Zoo Sunny Vacation Missionary Church Family Jesus Ocean California Send Give Supplemental Activities for Children 5