People Build a Tower at Babel

Lesso 7 77 People Build a Tower at Babel Geesis 11:1-9 ive- ad six-year-olds are excited to lear how to do thigs by themselves. Despite F their growig idepedece, kids this age ca grasp that we eed God to help us grow ad lear ew thigs each day. Childre will ejoy ivitig God ito the details of their lives ad growth if they kow they ca. Use this lesso to help kids uderstad that God is here to help us every day ad we ca ask for God s help aytime, aywhere. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started about 10 mi. Welcomig Sog Sig or liste to sogs to welcome everyoe to church. CD player Teacher Pack: CD Bible Poit We eed God. Key Verse Love the Lord your God with all your heart ad with all your soul ad with all your stregth (Deuteroomy 6:5). 2 Key Verse Activity about 10 mi. The Whole Part Lear that God wats their whole hearts just as they wat a whole cracker. Bible, at least 1 cracker per child plus 1 extra, atibacterial gel (optioal) Weavig Faith Ito Life Childre will ask God for help i daily life. 3 Bible Exploratio about 15 mi. Theo s News Fid out what differet laguages have to do with the Bible. Bible Time: Tower of Babel Lear that we eed God, ad hear two block puppets talk about what happeed to the people of Babel. Surprise Box (ay box will do), Theo puppet, CD player, paper, pe Teacher Pack: CD Bible, CD player, box of blocks, 2 large blocks, tape, scissors, paper, table, glue sticks Teacher Pack: CD, wiggly eyes, The Tower of Babel poster (from the Big Bible Poster Pack) Write o a piece of paper Spaish: Necesitamos a Dios; Frech: Nous avos besoi de Dieu; Germa: Wir brauche Gott. Place the paper i the Surprise Box, ad hide the box where it s easily accessible. Make block puppets usig the 2 blocks ad the wiggly eyes from the Teacher Pack. Tur a table o its side for a simple puppet stage. Hide the box of blocks i the room. Prit or write the seteces used i Theo s News ad cut each word out. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 7

78 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP Ceter 1: Brick by Brick Try to follow orders they ca t uderstad. My Bible Playgroud, tape Remove the Lesso 7 pages from each My Bible Playgroud studet book. 4 Weavig Faith Ito Life about 20 mi. (Choose 2 ceters.) Ceter 2: Brick Stacki Sacks Make tower sacks. Ceter 3: What s That You Say? Play the game of Telephoe usig differet laguages. mii marshmallows, toothpicks, atibacterial gel (optioal) Ceter 4: A Name for God Watch God s ame appear as they try to make a ame for themselves. Daily Challeges Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. white crayo, cups of water, washable watercolor paits, 1 paitbrush ad 1 piece of white paper per child My Bible Playgroud Usig a white crayo, write God i large letters o a white piece of paper for each child. 5 Lastig Impressios about 10 mi. We Need God Prayer Draw a prayer list of thigs they eed help with. Weavig Faith at Home Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. idex cards, pecils Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 7 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6

79 People Build a Tower at Babel Geesis 11:1-9 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS People Tur Away From God Agai The patter cotiues. Just a few geeratios ad likely oly 100 to 200 years after the miraculous savig of Noah s family i the ark, the descedats of those ark dwellers tured away from God. After Noah came out of the ark, oe of God s commads to him was to fill the earth (Geesis 9:1). It appears that God wated people to spread out across the earth, but some people decided to group together i a city, makig a ame for themselves ad keepig themselves from beig scattered. They showed o cocer for glorifyig or obeyig God. Ad Noah lived to see all of this happe Geesis 9:28 tells us that Noah lived 350 years after the Flood! The people s itet i buildig a tower was ot to reach heave, as some have suggested, but to build somethig showy that would brig them recogitio. People from all aroud would see the tall tower that seemed to reach ito the heaves. Others would marvel at what they had doe, ad the builders would be proud. I essece, they tried to make themselves look more importat tha God. By selectively givig certai idividuals the same laguage, God could have directed which people clustered together, ad their gee pools could have resulted i races with very differet physical characteristics, such as exist today. Some aciet reports idicate that a ufiished tower stood perhaps for ceturies just outside the city of Babylo. God took somethig that evil people iteded as a moumet to themselves ad tured it ito a moumet to his power ad sovereigty. God wats us all to remember what he s doe for us ad how much we eed him! The Jesus Coectio I all our decisios ad experieces, we eed God. God meets our eeds through Jesus, who fulfills our greatest eeds for mercy, love, ad eteral life. Jesus is our everythig! How are you relyig o God? Pray ad ask God how your experieces ca be a testamet to his power ad sovereigty. You ca write your prayer here. The Tower Was Just the Begiig If these people were able to do such a self-servig, God-defyig thig as to build this tower, what other evil thigs were ext o the horizo? How log would it be before oe were left who hoored God? Out of cocer for keepig people from further evil, God put a stop to what was happeig by causig people to speak differet laguages. God s Still i Charge It s iterestig to thik about how God might have used this icidet to differetiate various races. Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 7

80 GETTING STARTED Welcomig Sog CD player Teacher Pack CD: It s Good to Have You (track 14), We Need God (track 18) Welcomig Sog Tip Cosistetly use the same sigal to aouce a trasitio to the ext activity. You could flip the lights off ad o, use a trai whistle, have a puppet rustlig iside a bag, or sig cleaup sogs. Keep it simple, cosistet, ad fu. As childre arrive, greet each child ad welcome him or her with a smile. Whe it s time to begi, use your sigal to brig the childre together i a circle. Lead the kids i doig the actios ad sigig It s Good to Have You (track 14 o the CD) to the tue of Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Goe? It s good to have you i church today. (od your head ad poit to everyoe i the room) Let s sig, (cup hads aroud mouth) let s lear, (poit to your head) ad let s pray. (make prayig hads) We ll make ew frieds, ad we ll have so much fu. (shake someoe s had) We re glad you ve joied us today! (hold hads i a circle ad swig hads back ad forth) (Repeat 2x.) Say: Today we ll lear that WE NEED GOD. God s always here to help us, aytime ad aywhere. Let s sig a sog about eedig God. Lead the kids i makig prayig hads ad sigig We Need God (track 18 o the CD) to the tue of This Old Ma. Thak you, God! This is true! We eed you i all we do. If it s ight or day; If we sleep or play We eed you i all we do. (Repeat.) Say: No matter where we are or what we re doig, WE NEED GOD. Whe we ask for God s help ad show God we eed him, we show God we love him with our whole hearts. Let s lear more about lovig God with all of us ot just part of us. Lesso 7 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6

81 2 KEY VERSE ACTIVITY The Whole Part Have childre clea their hads ad gather at a table. Ope your Bible to Deuteroomy 6:5, ad show childre the words. Tell kids the Bible is God s special book. Say: Our Key Verse from the Bible, Deuteroomy 6:5, says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart ad with all your soul ad with all your stregth (Deuteroomy 6:5). This meas that you ca love God with your whole heart. Let s say it together. Lead the childre i repeatig the simplified Key Verse with you: Love God with your whole heart (Deuteroomy 6:5). The Whole Part Bible at least 1 cracker per child plus 1 extra atibacterial gel (optioal)! ALLERGY ALERT The show kids a cracker, ad say: Who wats a bite of this cracker? Give the kids each a tiy crumb of the cracker, leavig most of it itact. Did t you just love that cracker? Start to put the cracker away. See if the kids complai that they got oly small crumbs. The say: Oh, you mea you wated the whole cracker? Lead childre i this discussio. What did you thik whe I gave you oly crumbs? Why did you wat a whole cracker? Brig out the cracker agai. Say: Just as you wated all of this cracker, God wats all your love. WE NEED GOD, ad the Bible says to love God with our whole hearts! Give each child a whole cracker to eat. What are ways you ca love God with your whole heart? Help childre with ideas as eeded. Whe kids have fiished eatig, lead them i sayig the simplified Key Verse oce more: Love God with your whole heart (Deuteroomy 6:5). 3 BIBLE EXPLORATION Theo s News Say: Frieds, it s time for Theo s News! Theo s News Surprise Box (ay box will do) Theo puppet CD player paper pe Teacher Pack CD: Here, Theo (track 5) Theo s News Easy Prep Write o a piece of paper Spaish: Necesitamos a Dios; Frech: Nous avos besoi de Dieu; Germa: Wir brauche Gott. Place the paper i the Surprise Box, ad hide the box where it s easily accessible. Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 7

82 Have the childre sit i a circle. The begi Here, Theo (track 5 o the CD). Whe the CD segmet eds, brig out the Surprise Box, ad put Theophilus the FaithRetriever puppet o your had. The follow alog with the script. Bible Time: Tower of Babel Bible CD player box of blocks 2 large blocks tape scissors paper table glue sticks Teacher Pack CD: Babblig Bricks (track 17) wiggly eyes The Tower of Babel poster (from the Big Bible Poster Pack) Bible Time: Tower of Babel Easy Prep Make block puppets usig the 2 blocks ad the wiggly eyes from the Teacher Pack. Tur a table o its side for a simple puppet stage. Hide the box of blocks i the room. Prit or write the seteces used i Theo s News ad cut each word out. Theo: Hi, everybody! Teacher: Hello, Theo! Tell us what iterestig ews you ve dug up about the Bible today. Theo: I hid it i the Surprise Box. Teacher: Let s look iside to see what Theo dug up for us today. (Ivite a child to ope the Surprise Box ad give you the foreig laguage sample to read aloud for the group. The seteces are proouced: Ness-es-ee-tah-mos ah Dee-os; News av-o bezh-wo deh Diy-uh; Veer brow-che Got. All mea We eed God. Give kids time to guess what they ll lear from the Bible today.) Teacher: Frieds, why do we eed laguages or words? (Pause for kids to aswer your questio.) Teacher: Theo, why did you hide this paper with foreig words o it i the Surprise Box? Theo: Well, it helps me uderstad aother laguage! Teacher: You re a smart dog, Theo! (Ask kids if they uderstood ay of the foreig words. Pause for kids to respod.) Teacher: We eed words to talk to each other but it s hard to uderstad a laguage you do t speak. Theo: That s right! I did t uderstad those laguages. Teacher: You kow what else we eed, Theo? WE NEED GOD. I the Bible today, we ll hear about some people who forgot they eeded God ad we ll fid out what happeed to their words! Theo: Have fu, boys ad girls! Teacher: Frieds, say goodbye to Theo. Ecourage childre to wave or say goodbye to Theo. The put Theo away i a safe place for ext week s use. Bible Time: Tower of Babel Ope your Bible to Geesis 11, ad show childre the words. Tell kids the Bible is God s special book. Say: Today the Bible tells us that WE NEED GOD. After the flood, Noah s childre grew up ad had childre, ad those childre grew up ad had childre, ad those childre grew up ad had childre. The world was gettig full of people agai! Let s liste to our brick puppets, Brickster ad Brick Brack, tell us about what happeed to the people i a place called Babel. Ivite two childre to cotrol the puppets while the CD plays. Play Babblig Bricks (track 17 o the CD). Pause the CD while the kids look for the box of blocks ad build a tower. The cotiue the track to its ed. Lesso 7 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6

83 Say: Wow! The people wated to build a tall tower, ad they believed they could do great thigs without God s help. They forgot about God! So God mixed up their laguages so they could t talk to each other. Set out The Tower of Babel poster, the pile of foreig words, ad several glue sticks. Say: Ca ay of you say somethig i a differet laguage? Let kids tell you a word or two they kow i aother laguage. Here s a pile of words from other laguages. Let s put these words oto the poster to show that everyoe was talkig i differet laguages. Say the words aloud ad have childre repeat the foreig words as they place them o the poster. The people forgot about God, so God mixed up their laguage ad made them scatter. That way they could t deped oly o each other. They leared everyoe eeds God. Have kids scatter aroud the room ad the shout together WE NEED GOD! The have childre sit i a circle. Lead childre i this discussio. What do you thik about the way the people of Babel forgot about God? What do you thik about God mixig up their words so they spoke ew laguages? Why do you thik the people thought they did t eed God? Whe do you eed God? Say: God created us to lear how to do all kids of thigs, but God also wats us to ask him to be part of what we do. The people of Babel got so busy buildig their tower that they forgot to ask God for help. WE NEED GOD to help us each day i everythig we do. 4 WEAVING FAITH INTO LIFE Choose at least two of the learig ceters to help reiforce today s Bible lesso. Gather the eeded materials, ad put the supplies i a out-of-sight area util you re ready for them. Allow the childre to choose which ceter they d like to explore first. The circulate amog the childre as they create ad explore. Ecourage them to make coectios betwee their activities ad the Bible by askig them the questios icluded with each ceter s descriptio. Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 7

84 CENTER 1: Brick by Brick Ceter 1: Brick by Brick My Bible Playgroud tape Ceter 1: Brick by Brick Easy Prep Remove the Lesso 7 pages from each My Bible Playgroud studet book. Help kids write their ames o their My Bible Playgroud pages. Say: The people of Babel made bricks ad stacked them up, up, up ito a tower, sayig, Let s make a tower so we ca be great ad make a ame for ourselves! They forgot that WE NEED GOD. Demostrate foldig the pages alog the dotted lies. Secure the sides with tape to form ope-eded bricks. (Be sure the bricks ca be reopeed later to see the Daily Challeges ad at-home activities.) The play a laguage game. Say: Let s use our imagiatios ad make up words to mea Pick up your bricks such as Mumbo zumbo. Make up your ew words. Now let s make up other words to mea Stack them up. After you ve made up your ew words, give your orders ad see if kids ca follow your directios ad build a tower out of their bricks. Lead childre i this discussio. What was easy or difficult about buildig a tower whe you heard the directios i a differet laguage? What ca you do whe you re havig trouble uderstadig thigs o your ow? What ca you do whe you re havig trouble uderstadig somethig about God? Say: The people forgot about God ad they wated to try to do great thigs by themselves, so God mixed up the people s laguage. God wated to remid them ad us that WE NEED GOD! We ca show God we kow we eed him by askig for his help. Ceter 2: Brick Stacki Sacks mii marshmallows toothpicks atibacterial gel (optioal)! ALLERGY ALERT CENTER 2: Brick Stacki Sacks Have childre clea their hads. The guide them i buildig small towers usig mii marshmallows coected by toothpicks. Say: As you stack your marshmallow creatios ad build your tower, tell about ways we eed God s help. Help kids as eeded i comig up with examples. Let s thak God for always beig here to help us ad also thak him for our sack. Lesso 7 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6

85 Pray: God, we eed you ad we thak you for always beig here to help us. Thak you for our yummy sack. I Jesus ame, ame. As childre eat their sack, lead them i this discussio. Tell about a time this past week you eeded help. What ca you do this week if you eed help? Say: I the Bible, the people of Babel forgot they eeded God. But WE NEED GOD always. We ca always pray to God ad ask for his help. CENTER 3: What s That You Say? Have the childre sit i a circle. Explai that you re goig to play the game of Telephoe. Say: I m goig to whisper somethig i the first perso s ear ad the that perso will whisper the same message to the ext perso, ad so o, util the message gets back to me. Whisper very quietly so oly the perso you re tellig the message to ca hear you. Usig a foreig laguage, whisper WE NEED GOD ito the first child s ear. You ca use Spaish: Necesitamos a Dios (Ness-es-ee-tah-mos ah Dee-os), Frech: Nous avos besoi de Dieu (News av-o bezh-wo deh Diy-uh), Germa: Wir brauche Gott (Veer brow-che Got), or a foreig laguage you re familiar with. Ecourage each child to pass the message o as best as he or she ca to the ext child i the circle. Whe the message gets back to you, ask the followig questios. Who ca tell me what the special message was? Why was it so hard for you to uderstad the message? Who would like to play agai ad hear our special message? Play the game agai, ad this time say WE NEED GOD i the childre s ow laguage. Lead childre i this discussio. Why was it easier the secod time to uderstad our special message? What are thigs i the Bible that are hard to uderstad? Who are people you ca talk to about the Bible ad God? Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 7

86 Say: The people of Babel forgot who was the most importat. They did t thik that they eeded God. Whe we remember that God is always most importat ad we ask for his help, we show him we re thakful ad that we kow WE NEED GOD. Ceter 4: A Name for God white crayo cups of water washable watercolor paits 1 paitbrush ad 1 piece of white paper per child Ceter 4: A Name for God Easy Prep Usig a white crayo, write God i large letters o a white piece of paper for each child. CENTER 4: A Name for God Have childre gather, ad help them pait their ames o their papers. Say: Whe the people of Babel built the tower, they wated to be great, ad they said, Let s make a ame for ourselves. Whe you try to make a ame for yourself, it meas that you wat to be famous. Have kids ame a few famous people. The people wated to be more famous tha God. They acted as if they did t eed God at all, but WE NEED GOD. God is most importat ad we eed his help. Ecourage kids to pait all over the papers util they see God s ame appear. Lead childre i this discussio. What ca you do with your paitig so you ll remember to ask God for help? What ca you do to show God that you eed him? Say: We ca ask for God s help aytime, aywhere, ad about aythig. WE NEED GOD. Ad God s always here for us! 5 LASTING IMPRESSIONS Daily Challeges My Bible Playgroud Daily Challeges After the childre have cleaed up the ceters, brig everyoe back to the circle area o the floor. Review the lesso activities ad the Bible Poit, ad the ecourage the childre to share what they remember about what they leared from the Bible today. Also use this time to challege kids i their faith. Ecourage them to choose a Daily Challege for applyig today s lesso to their lives this week. Use this challege for ecouragig your childre s growig relatioships with Jesus. Lesso 7 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6

87 Say: Today we leared that WE NEED GOD. I d like each of you to choose a way to ask God for help this week. Read these three ideas for childre to choose from: Ask your mom or dad to help you make a sack for your frieds. Ask God to help you make the sack super-yummy. Whe you re havig trouble uderstadig somethig this week, ask for God s help. If you re playig a sport this week, ask God to help you play your best. Have kids each whisper i your ear or tell you which idea they ve chose, ad the circle it o each child s My Bible Playgroud page. Make sure you choose a challege as well ad tell kids which challege you chose. Your commitmet will ispire childre ad will give them a opportuity to see God at work i your life as well as theirs! We Need God Prayer Give kids each a idex card ad a pecil, ad have them spread out aroud the room to a place where they wo t be distracted. We Need God Prayer idex cards pecils Say: WE NEED GOD i everythig we do. While the room is quiet, draw o your idex cards three thigs you eed God s help with. You ca draw aythig because we ca ask God s help for aythig. Allow kids three miutes to draw. Have kids gather back together, ad istruct everyoe to hold the idex cards betwee prayig hads. Pray: God, we kow we eed you ad we ask for your help with all of the thigs o our cards. Thak you for always beig here to help us whe we ask. I Jesus ame, ame. Say: Take your cards home ad tape them i a place where you ll see them this week to remember to keep askig for God s help. Weavig Faith at Home Have childre take home their My Bible Playgroud pages whether they worked o them or ot. Have the childre tell their parets the challege they committed to i the Daily Challeges activity. Ecourage the parets to help their kids fulfill this commitmet durig the week. By workig together ad focusig o the same goals, you ad parets ca help childre weave faith ito their lives! Talk to your Director about emailig the FREE FamilyCoect to all your church s families. Available at group.com/digital. Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 7