December 18, 2016 Basic Truth: Jesus wants to be my friend forever. Key Question: Why is Jesus special? Bottom Line: Jesus is God s Son. Memory Verse: I bring you good news of great joy. Luke 2:10, NLV Bible Story Focus: The angels tell about Jesus. Shepherds Luke 2:6-18 Make It Fun (Introductory Activities, 10 minutes) 1. Color Sheet 2. Monthly Theme Activity: Nativity Nativity is an activity that teaches social and sharing skills while preparing the children for the upcoming Bible story. What You Need: Fisher+Price Little People Nativity, Nativity Story Books What You Do: Before the Activity: Set the nativity sets and books out on the theme table. During the Activity: Allow the children to play freely with the nativity sets. Allow the children to play in groups and only interfere if a child seems frustrated or needs help. Let the children look at the Nativity Story books and/or read them to the children individually or in a group as What You Say: We are going to play together today. I have some nativity sets that you will get to use with your friends and books we can read about the birth of Jesus. We will be learning all month about the true story of Christmas and God sending Jesus to be our friend forever! Lead Children in saying the Bottom Line after you say the Key Question as they play and read. Leader: Why is Jesus special Children: Jesus is God s Son! During the Activity: (Allow the children to play.) Remember to share and play nice with your friends. After the Activity: You all did such a great job sharing and being sweet friends. Let s get ready to hear our true story from the Bible! 3. Outside Time-See Playground Safety Guidelines Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 1
Make It True (Large Group, 15 minutes) After children have participated in Make It Fun, gather them on a rug or in the corner of a room for a large group time that includes worship and Bible Story. Use the three songs Away in a Manger, Jingle Jam and Silent Night to lead your preschoolers in worship and then settle them for the memory verse and Bible story. These three songs will be sung at our Jingle Jam celebration on December 20 th. These scripts are written to be told and not read. Advanced preparation is necessary. First Look offers weekly introductory sketches and Bible stories on the DVD titled Wonder, Look at God s Story. What You Need: Paperclip Memory Verse Card (from the Week One Activity Pages on the Website) in your Bible at Luke 2:10. You will also need a CD player and this month s worship songs, which you will need to download from the Website. You will also need a Bible. LEADER: Yay! I m so glad to see you today! It s so much fun to sing with you. It s almost our very special day. Only one more week until we celebrate Jesus birthday on Christmas! Why is Jesus special? CHILDREN and LEADER: [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. LEADER: Great job! Let s sing this month s songs. Lead children in singing this month s worship songs. Great singing, my friends. Remember, [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. Why is Jesus special? CHILDREN and LEADER: [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. LEADER: Exactly. [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. It s time to practice our memory verse. Are you ready? I bring you (start with hands up and bring them in to chest like catching a football) good news (right arm up with jazz hand) of great joy (left arm up with jazz hand), Luke 2:10 (NLV). (Open your hands like a book.) Let s try that together. Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 2
CHILDREN and LEADER: I bring you (start with hands up and bring them in to chest like catching a football) good news (right arm up with jazz hand) of great joy (left arm up with jazz hand), Luke 2:10. (Open your hands like a book.) (Repeat several times.) LEADER: You are all AMAZING at that verse! Have you shown your parents yet? How about your brother and sister? How about all your good friends? Make sure you show them today! Today I want to tell you all about the night that Jesus was born. After all, that s why we celebrate Christmas, right? Because Christmas is Jesus birthday! You probably remember that last week we talked about how Jesus was born in a stable. Do you remember that? Well, on the night Jesus was born, there were some shepherds out in a field doing what they normally did watching and caring for their sheep. The shepherds were just watching their sheep when all of a sudden an angel appeared to them. And they were terrified! Can you show me some scared faces like this. (Make a scared face.) Whoa, you look very scared. But don t worry, my shepherding friends! Here s what the angel said in my special angel voice. (Clear throat and speak with a booming voice.) Don t be afraid! I bring you GOOD news of GREAT joy! The baby has been born! He s God s Son! Go find Him in the manger! Suddenly the WHOLE sky filled with angels, praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest! Let s all sing that together with the angels! Glory to God in the highest! One more time! Glory to God in the highest! Great job guys! After the angels left, the shepherds took off and found Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. It was TRUE! Jesus was here! Once they saw Jesus, they knew how special He was and they ran to tell EVERYONE that Jesus, God s Son, had been born. Why is Jesus special? CHILDREN and LEADER: [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! LEADER: That s right! It was SUCH exciting news! The shepherds couldn t wait to tell everyone that Jesus had come. He came for me and for you for everyone! Why is Jesus special? CHILDREN and LEADER: [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! LEADER: Yes! Great job! [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s son! Let s pray. Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 3
Dear God, thank You for sending Jesus to us. We want to be just like the shepherds and tell everyone about Jesus. We want everyone to know that He is special because Jesus is YOUR Son! What an awesome gift You gave us when You sent Jesus to us. We love You. Amen. Make It Stick (Application Activities, 15 minutes) 1. Greatest News! Greatest News! is an activity that uses repetition and a prop to teach the memory verse. What You Need: Verse Label from the Activity Pages on the Website, Avery labels #5160 or equivalent, cotton candy cones, and Christmas stickers Note: If you do not have access to cotton candy cones, you may consider using any color of cardstock and rolling it into a cone shape. Secure the cone with clear tape. What You Do: Before the Activity: Copy the Verse Labels Activity page onto the labels so each child will have one. During the Activity: Give each child a cone and let them decorate it with the Christmas stickers. Help each child place the label onto the cone. Encourage the children to speak into the cone and say the verse. After the Activity: Say the Bottom Line together. What You Say: Before the Activity: We are going to make a megaphone today that will allow us to say our memory verse super-duper loud! During the Activity: (Give each child a cone.) First, we need to decorate our megaphone. Use the stickers to make your megaphone beautiful! (Allow the children to work and add the label.) Great job! Now, hold the megaphone to your mouth (demonstrate) and let s say our memory verse together. Are you ready? (Pause.) Here we go! I bring you good news of great joy, Luke 2:10. Awesome! Let s say it again! (Repeat several times.) After the Activity: Jesus birth is GREAT NEWS! God sent Jesus because He loves us so much! Let s say our verse into our megaphone one more time. Let s be super loud! I bring you good news of great joy, Luke 2:10. Great job, everyone. Why is Jesus special? [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son! Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 4
2. Roll the Christmas Dice Roll the Christmas Dice is an activity that uses memory and ordering skills to review today s Bible Story. What You Need: Christmas Cube Activity Page, white cardstock, scissors, square tissue box, and clear tape What You Do: Before the Activity: Copy the Christmas Cube Activity Page onto white cardstock. Cut out the squares. Tape one square to each side of the square tissue box to create a die. During the Activity: Gather the children around a table or sit in a circle on the floor. Roll the cube in the center of the group. When it lands, look at the picture shown and talk about that part of the story. Let the children take turns rolling the cube to review this month s Bible stories as long as time and interest allow. What You Say: During the Activity: Today, I thought it would be fun to review what we have learned in Large Group this month by using this special cube. On it, you ll see pictures from all the stories this month. Let s take turns rolling the cube and talking about our Bible stories as we look at the picture. Are you ready? (You can ask the following questions to help the children if they need it.) Who do you see in this picture? What happened to him/ her in our Bible story today? What did this person (or animal) do when they heard the best news ever? After the Activity: Great job, everyone! You were really listening in Large Group this month. I can only imagine how excited those shepherds were to hear about the best gift ever and to actually SEE Jesus on the night He was born. What a special gift. Why is Jesus special? [Bottom Line] Jesus is God s Son. 3. Wonder DVD If you have time you may show the Wonder! Look at God s Story DVD to reinforce the lesson. Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 5