Solomon Thought About Life 4pm: 1 st 4 th Grade Classroom Schedule Bible Passage: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 Main Point: God gives us purpose. Memory Verse: Proverbs 19:21 3:45 4:00 CHECK IN / SNACKS / GAMES: One teacher take control of sign-in: One tag will go on the child, another will go on the clipboard, and one will be used for checkout. Just place the Pick Up sticker on the clipboard to check the child out. If someone is new to the church or not in our database they can fill out a guest tag. Please make sure that you get their phone number in case we need to contact them and any special instructions for the care of their child. One teacher lead orderly free play. 4:00 4:10 ACTIVITY SHEET / ARRIVING ACTIVITY: Activity Sheet: Distribute activity pages and instruct the kids to complete the challenge. (On the back of the coloring sheet) INTRO ACTIVITY: Stump the Leader Challenge preschoolers to compete with their adult leaders in a game. Designate a leader to keep score. Explain to preschoolers that they will take turns coming up with questions and asking their adult leaders to answer. If the adult leader can answer the question, the adults get a point. If the adult leader cannot answer the question, the preschoolers the point. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. Say: You all had many questions! Today s Bible story has many questions too. King Solomon thought about life. He had many questions about how things work and why things happen. Solomon didn t learn the answer to all his questions, but he did learn what s most important. Let s find out what he learned. 4:10 4:15 CLEAN UP / GO OVER RULES & CONSEQUENCES: Rules are on the wall by the door 4:15 4:50 KIDS LIVE: Have the kids sit together. Keep an eye on them and the door for more kids. 4:50 5:00 CRAFT: Craft: Purpose clock. Items needed: piece of construction paper, clock, crayons, glue, scissors. Instructions: (1) Give each child a piece of construction paper and a printout of the clock. (2) Have the child cut the clock out and glue it on their piece of construction paper. (3) Have the child draw out the different seasons. They can draw activities they are able to due during the different seasons. (4) Have the child write the bible verse underneath their clock. Say: Things in life just don t make sense without God. Life has purpose only with God. When we understand that He is good, He loves us, and He is faithful, we can begin to understand that we can trust Him. God gives us purpose for every season of life. 5:00 5:10 BIBLE STORY REVIEW: Story: Read the Bible Story provided in the teacher aid bin. Say: King David wanted to build a temple for God, but God chose Solomon to build a temple. Solomon built a beautiful temple, but even better than its beauty, God s glory filled the temple in a cloud. Gospel Project Unit 12.1
5:10 5:20 REVIEW & APPLICATION QUESTIONS 4pm: 1 st 4 th Grade Classroom Schedule Review Questions: Family Feud Style Game (Items Needed: Buzzer) Divide the group into two teams and have one person from each team come to Check-In desk with the buzzer on it. Tell them to put their hands behind their back until you ask the question. The first person to hit the buzzer gets to answer the question. Award team 10 points if the person answers correctly, if incorrect then the other team can steal the points. Pick new people each question. Review Who wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes? (the Teacher, the son of David, Solomon) What does Solomon say about life at the beginning of the chapter? ( Everything is meaningless) What do you think meaningless means? (useless, unimportant, not successful, no purpose) Who gives life purpose? (Life only has purpose with God.) How many new things are there under the sun? (no new things) Why can we trust God? Everything God does is for His glory and our good. Say: God gives us purpose. Discussion Questions: Small Group Time The Goal is to get them talking about the lesson. Split the room up into 2 groups and each leader ask the questions giving time for a few kids to answer. 1. What did you learn about God from today s story? 2. What did you learn about people/yourself? 3. What is one thing you learned from this lesson that you can apply this week? Say: God gives us purpose. 5:20 5:25 UNIT MEMORY VERSE: Review with the entire group. *Use the Memory Verse sheet located in the teacher aid section of the bin. 5:25 ENDING ACTIVITY / PARENT ARRIVAL: As the parents arrive ACTIVITY: Nothing New Encourage the children to stand and spread out around the room. Instruct them to pose like a statue. Explain that you will hold your hand up in the air. While it is in the air, kids must strike a new pose. (If they repeat a pose or another child makes the same pose, they must sit down.) If a child is still moving when you put your hand down, he must sit down. If time allows, allow kids a chance to lead the game. Say: In our game you came up with a new pose each time the ball was in the air. The more we played, the more difficult it became to come up with new poses. In today s Bible story, Solomon discovered that there was nothing new under the sun. Everything has happened before. Gospel Project Unit 12.1
What s the Purpose? INSTRUCTIONS: Use the clues about different objects and their purposes to complete the crossword puzzle. DOWNLOAD THE TGP FAMILY APP KEY PASSAGE: Psalm 100:5 BIG PICTURE QUESTION: Why can we trust God? Everything God does is for His glory and our good. BIBLE STORY: SOLOMON THOUGHT ABOUT LIFE Sometimes life is confusing and hard to understand. Solomon was a wise king who thought a lot about life. Solomon recorded his thoughts in a book called Ecclesiastes. Life has purpose only with God. FAMILY DISCUSSION STARTERS: What are some things about life that you struggle to understand? How does it make you feel to know God is in control, even when life is confusing? What does God say is the purpose of our lives? FAMILY ACTIVITY: Do an art or woodworking project with your family. Talk to your kids about the different tools you use for different tasks. Explain to them that our purpose is to glorify God! Younger Kids Activity Pages Unit 12, Session 1 21
MAIN POINT: LIFE HAS PURPOSE ONLY WITH GOD. Solomon Thought About Life Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 22
List any questions you have about life, people, or God. Who knows how life works best? Who has a plan for your life? Do you trust Him? Solomon Thought About Life Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 FOLD MAIN POINT: LIFE HAS PURPOSE ONLY WITH GOD. FAMILY DISCUSSION STARTERS Solomon was the king of Israel. God gave Solomon wisdom, and Solomon shared his wisdom with others. Solomon wrote down his thoughts about life, and we can read them in the Book of Ecclesiastes. These are some of the words King Solomon wrote. Apart from God, everything is meaningless. Nothing has meaning. Apart from God, does anyone have anything to show for their hard work? People are born, and then they die. Nothing lasts forever. Apart from God, everything is so tiring. We keep looking and we keep listening, but we are not satisfied. Only God truly satisfies. Apart from God, nothing on earth is new. Apart from God, no one remembers the people who were born long ago. And even the people who haven t been born yet will not be remembered by the people who are born after them. Solomon thought about all of these things and he said, God knows everything and will judge the good and the bad. Respect and obey God. This is what life is all about. Christ Connection: Apart from God, life does not make sense. God created everything, and He gives everything a purpose. Jesus gives us purpose for living. Jesus came so that we might live for Him and have full, meaningful life. (John 10:10) What are some things about life that you struggle to understand? How does it make you feel to know God is in control, even when life is confusing? What does God say is the purpose of our lives? 21 2016 LifeWay
On Purpose Match the items that go together to figure out why the objects on the left exist. Solomon Crossword Solve the crossword puzzle. Then unscramble the circled letters to complete a very important message! 22 2016 LifeWay
The Gospel Project: 12.1 Elementary MC Guide Solomon Thought About Life Bible Passage: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 Main Point: God gives us purpose. Key Passage: Proverbs 19:21 Lesson: Go over Classroom Rules: Play the Intro-Video Timeline View: Remember all these stories in the Bible fit together to tell one big story the story of God rescuing sinners through Jesus Christ. And today is another piece in that giant story. We will talk about questions we sometimes have, like what is the meaning of life? or why am I really here? Main Point: That leads us to our main point: God gives us purpose! Show the MainPoint Everyone say that with me (Have them repeat the MAIN Point) Very interesting! Let s take a look at how we do this! Bible Story: Play the Bible Story Video: Wow, Solomon sure was wise. The Bible says that when Solomon was alive, he was the wisest man in the world! God led Solomon to share his wisdom with others by writing several books of the Bible. Solomon watched the people who worked, played, and struggled around him. He wrote what he saw. Solomon discovered that day after day, people who try to live life without God work really hard under the hot sun, but then they die and don t have anything to show for their hard work. The things on earth do not last. Only God lasts forever! If we want to have purpose in this life, we need to have a relationship with God. There is only one way that happens: through Jesus Christ. Jesus rescues sinners and brings them into a relationship with God. Life only has purpose with God. God created everything, and He knows how it works best. God gives everything a purpose. Jesus gives us purpose for living. Jesus came so that we might live for Him and have full, meaningful life. Our purpose is to give glory to God by loving and obeying Him. We can only love and obey Him because of what Jesus did for us. Show MainPoint (Have them repeat the MAIN Point!) Application: Let s watch our discussion starter video and see what it might have to do with our story.
Play the Discussion Starter Video: Things in life just don t make sense without God. Life has purpose only with God. When we understand that He is good, He loves us, and He is faithful, we can begin to understand that we can trust Him. Now we won t always have all the answers, but God does and He knows what He is doing. Why can we trust God? Everything God does is for His glory and our good. Unit Memory Verse: Show U12.1_MemoryVerse Repeat after me Proverbs 19:21 Show MainPoint Let s review our Main Point one more time. (Have them repeat the MAIN Point!) Dismiss kids to class:
Bible Story: Video Solomon Thought About Life Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 Solomon was the king of Israel, and he was very wise. God gave Solomon wisdom, and Solomon shared his wisdom with others. He made wise choices and spent a lot of time thinking about life. Sometimes Solomon thought that life did not make sense. Solomon wrote down his thoughts about life, and we can read them in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon thought about what life would be like if God did not exist. These are some of the words King Solomon wrote. Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. Apart from God, everything is meaningless. Nothing has meaning. People work so hard on earth, but what do they get? Apart from God, does anyone have anything to show for their hard work? People are born, and then they die. The world is still the same. Everything is temporary; nothing lasts forever. The sun comes up and goes down. It comes up again, and then goes down again right back to where it started. The wind blows to the south, and then to the north. The wind blows around and around. All of the rivers flow into the ocean, but the ocean never gets full. So the rivers keep flowing. There is always more work to do. Apart from God, everything is so tiring. We have nothing to say, and our eyes and ears can never see or hear enough. We keep looking and we keep listening, but we are not satisfied. Only God truly satisfies. If something happens, it has happened before. If something has been done, it will be done again. Apart from God, nothing on earth is new. There is nothing new under the sun. No one can say, Look! This is new! because it was already there, before we were even born. Apart from God, no one remembers the people who were born long ago. And even the people who haven t been born yet will not be remembered by the people who are born after them. They will be forgotten too. Solomon thought about all of these things and he said, God knows everything and will judge the good and the bad. Respect and obey God. This is what life is all about. Christ Connection: Apart from God, life does not make sense. God created everything, and He gives everything a purpose. Jesus gives us purpose for living. Jesus came so that we might live for Him and have full, meaningful life.