Page 1 of 20 God looks after me This is a complete term of playgroup storytime material. It is freely available for download from the following website: http://www.proclaimjesus.net/playgroup If you have received this material via email or from a friend, we would ask you to instead consider registering on the above website (for free) and checking to see whether the material has been updated. We are hoping that our material will be frequently improved and enhanced, as we receive feedback from other users, such as yourself! Thank you, and we hope that this material is useful in furthering Christ's kingdom in our communities.
Page 2 of 20 God looks after me This file contains the following: term outline weekly script song suggestion craft ideas sample pictures for wall display Term outline This unit focuses on how God cares for us. God provides everything that we, and our world, need. He wants to look after us. He wants everyone to be friends with him. The main way God looks after us is to give us Jesus. The appeal of the unit is planting with the children seeds are planted in the first week and then the children care for the plant as it grows. A visual demonstration of God caring for our world by growing us food with sunshine and water! Also, a simple and colourful wall display is added to each week. Week Story 1 God gives us rain and sunshine 2 God gives us food 3 God cares about us 4 God wants to protect us 5 God gives us Jesus 6 God wants to be friends with everyone
Page 3 of 20 7 God wants me to talk to him - he hears us! 8 God likes it when we ask for help 9 We can say thank you to God 10 We can say sorry to God Suggested song The chorus from The Old Black Crow, by Colin Buchanan, on his Remember the LORD CD, Wanaaring Road Music. There's a Lord who cares for the old black crow, the wombat, the gecko and the kangaroo And there's one thing sure, we are worth much more to the God who cares for me and you! Wave bird arms up and down Make digging hand actions Poke tongue out and wiggle fingers Make kangaroo paws and jump Hold up index finger Cuddle arms around yourself Point upwards Everyone point to lots of people around them. Sing through 3 times, getting faster each time.
Page 4 of 20 Sample finished wall display
Page 5 of 20 Week 1: God gives us rain and sunshine Craft suggestion Make a mobile with weather items. Use one coat hanger per child use strings to attach cloud-shaped cardboard pieces (with cotton wool glued on), some blue streamers for rain, a yellow cardboard sun. You could also attach other weather things, such as lightning. Storytime [Verse for this week: Psalm 147:8 God spreads clouds over the sky; he provides rain for the earth and makes grass grow on the hills. ] Who are some people that look after you? This term we're going to learn about how God looks after us. Something that is going to help us is this pot! What goes inside a pot like this? That's right we're going to plant something in the dirt! Show some seeds (I used radishes). What's going to happen to these seeds? How do they grow? What do they need? [Water, sunshine]. Have a piece of paper with a pre-drawn brown strip of dirt down the bottom. The Bible tells us that God [draw a crown] spreads clouds over the sky [draw clouds in the sky], he provides rain for the earth [draw raindrops], and makes grass grow on the hills [draw green grass growing up from the dirt]. Can we make it rain? Can we make the sun shine? Can we turn sunshine into food? No! God gives the plants what they need to grow! Let's plant our seeds! Plant seeds with children. Stick up wall display items: sun (cut out of yellow cardboard and laminated), rain (laminated cardboard) and grass (green cardboard strip). Remind everyone of the verse, using your drawing and then stick the laminated
Page 6 of 20 version up. Introduce the suggested song about God looking after the world he has made. Sample pictures:
Page 7 of 20 Week 2: God gives us food Craft suggestion: Have a variety of colours of crepe paper and tissue paper. Children cut or crumple up pieces and glue them on paper plates as food they like to eat. Examples are: pizza slices (brown triangles with assorted red, green and yellow little bits pasted on), peas, mashed potato, sausages etc. Storytime [Verse for this week: Psalm 147:9 God gives animals their food and feeds the young birds when they call. ] Check the plant. Remind everyone how amazing it is that the plants are growing remind everyone that last week they were just dry, dead, seeds. Talk about how God is looking after the plant and helping it to grow, from sunshine and water. What do we eat? Where does it come from? Have pictures of where some of our food comes from. For example, I drew a picture of bread, and got the children to guess where it came from. I then drew wheat to show them that bread comes from plants that God grows. I then drew jam on the bread, and talked about where jam comes from, and that God grows fruit for us to eat. Optional: Does anyone have pets? What do they eat? Have photos of different animals and get the kids to guess what they eat. I used a book of Australian animals. We talked about the echidna (eats ants and termites with its special long sticky tongue that God gave it), the quoll (eats meat with its special sharp teeth that God gave it) and the spoonbill bird (finds food using its special spoon-shaped bill). God gives each of these animals their food, and helps them to be able to catch and eat it well. Does anyone feed the animals? No God provides it for them! Read out the verse for the week: Psalm 147:9 God gives animals their food and feeds the young birds when they call. Stick up wall display items: animals and the food they eat. Eg cow and grass, koala and eucalyptus tree. Stick up the verse.
Page 8 of 20 Sing There's a Lord who cares... Sample pictures:
Page 9 of 20 Week 3: God cares about us Craft suggestion Have a heart-shaped doily available for each child. They can stick on a variety of stickers, silver foil hearts, etc. The verse from the storytime (Matthew 10:29-31) could also be pasted on. Storytime [Verse for this week: Matthew 10:29-31 God cares about all the tiny birds. But, he even knows how many hairs you have on your head. So don't worry about anything, because you are worth more than many sparrows. ] Draw some pictures of different types of hair. Get the kids to suggest different types. Have pre-drawn faces ready to go. Ask them how many hairs are on each head. Draw one head with only 1 or 2 hairs. That's easy to count! Get them to feel their own hair. Count each hair. Jesus taught his disciples about how much God cares for them. Read from a story Bible. How much does God love us? This little bit? (Open hands a tiny way) No! God loves us and cares for us a lot! (Stretch arms out wide). Stick up wall display items: 2 people, one with a few hairs and one with lots. Stick up the verse and read it out. Sample pictures:
Page 10 of 20 Week 4: God wants to protect us Craft suggestion Cut out small cardboard shields, or photocopy an outline of a shield onto paper. Each child covers their shield with ripped up pieces of foil. A handle can be stickytaped to the back. Storytime [Verse for this week: Psalm 91:4,14-16 God will cover you with his wings; you will be safe in his care; his faithfulness will protect and defend you. God says, I will save those who love me and will protect those who know me as LORD. When they call to me, I will answer them; when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honour them. I will reward them with long life; I will save them. ] Read a storybook about someone protecting someone else, eg Waddle Giggle Gargle Paddle Poodle. The mother was protecting her babies. Talk about which animals have wings. Show pictures of birds protecting their babies with their wings. God wants to protect his friends. He tells us about it in the Bible. Explain the verse for this week to the children, by drawing pictures and interacting with them about the concepts. Verse: [Draw a picture of us] 4 God [draw a gold crown above the people] will cover you with his wings [draw wings from the crown over the people]; you will be safe in his care; his faithfulness will protect and defend you. 14 God says, I will save [draw rescue cape] those who love me [draw a heart from the people towards the crown] and will protect those who know me as LORD. 15 When they call to me [draw voice clouds from the people], I will answer them [draw voice cloud from the crown]; when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honour them. 16 I will reward them with long life; I will save them. Psalm 91
Page 11 of 20 Good listening everyone! So God looks after us with the sun and rain, with food, he knows all about us, and he wants to protect us. Stick up wall display item: picture of mother bird protecting babies with wings. Sample pictures:
Page 12 of 20 Week 5: God gives us Jesus Craft suggestion Make a cross-shaped bookmark. Or, make a crown for each child which they decorate with pieces of cellophane. A cut-out J can be pasted to the front for Jesus. Storytime Read a story about someone being rescued eg Sam the Firehouse Cat. Last week we learned that God wants to protect us and save us. That's part of him looking after us. This week, we're learning about the main way that God looks after us, which is to give us Jesus. Main points for this week's story: Jesus is God's Son He came to take away the wrong things that we do Jesus' birth was very special He grew up to do amazing things He died on the cross to take away the wrong things that we do God sent Jesus because he loves the whole world so much Presentation ideas: IDEA 1 Go through a children's Bible. Ask questions about the following stories: The Christmas story [eg page 252, The Big Picture Bible] Who is this being born? Where was he born? What is this box called? What's it for? (p 254) God, the king of the universe, sent his son into the world! What is his life going to be like? Jesus healing the blind man [eg pages 326-334, The Big Picture Bible] What sort of things did Jesus do when he was on earth? What's wrong with this man? [blind] Do you know what Jesus did do him p 329?
Page 13 of 20 How did the man feel p331? God showed everyone that Jesus had been sent to do God's work Jesus raising Lazarus [eg pages 338-352, The Big Picture Bible] What other kinds of things did Jesus do when he was here? This girl's brother, Lazarus, had been very sick and he stopped working. Everyone was very sad p342. Even Jesus was very sad p347. Lazarus was in a tomb. Do you know what happened? Jesus called to Lazarus. Lazarus came alive again! What does everyone look like p352? Jesus' crucifixion [eg pages 368-373, The Big Picture Bible] All these things that Jesus did made some people very angry. They didn't believe that Jesus was God's forever king p362. So, they put Jesus on the cross p372. And he died. Everyone was very sad. Who is this next to the tomb p377? Jesus resurrection [eg pages 393-395, The Big Picture Bible] Here is one of Jesus' friends p384 She was sad. But then...what does her face look like p387? She ran to her friends. Do you know what she told them p389? Jesus' other friends ran to the tomb. They're confused! P391 Then, that night... Jesus came p393! He was alive again! Here is his with all his friends p394 So all these things show that God sent Jesus do you remember what we learned a long time ago at Playgroup? Jesus is our rescuer [make superman arm movements] and our King [make your hands into a crown above your head]! IDEA 2 Alternatively... if the age group of the children is very young, you could also simply read a story such as Baby Jesus and the Good News from the Read-aloud Bible stories Vol. 3 p.131. You could add a couple of drawings about when Jesus grew up, and that he died on the cross to take away people's badness - which is mentioned in the Baby Jesus story. It should also be reminded to the children that the wise men came, bringing kingly gifts the main points of the story are that Jesus is our rescuer (takes away our badness) and our King. I drew a simple picture about the gospel to
Page 14 of 20 conclude: the earth, with the cross on top, and a heart. -Conclusion: Do you remember what we learned about Jesus a long time ago in Playgroup? He is our rescuer [make superman arm movements] and our King [make your hands into a crown above your head]! Why did he come? Why did Jesus come to be our rescuer and our King? Because he loves us all very much. Verse: God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. 17God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! John 3 16 Stick up wall item: Cross with purple crown on the top and a heart (I cut these out of cardboard and laminated them together).
Page 15 of 20 Week 6: God wants to be friends with everyone Craft suggestion The children each make a hand collage: Have coloured paper pre-cut into hand shapes. The children stick them on a page. More capable children could draw a picture of themselves with their friends in the middle of the page, and then put the hands around as a border. Storytime [Verse for this week: 1 Timothy 2 God wants everyone to be saved and to know the whole truth. ] Read a book about friends eg Gossie and Friends lift-the-flap. When you're friends with someone, what are some things you like to do? [talk to them, play with them] Do you like having friends? God likes having friends, too. When we're friends with God, we want to talk to him, we want to listen to what he says to us, we like doing the things that he likes doing. What is this? [Draw a picture of a mouth] What do we do with our mouths? [Yawn, eat, TALK] When we are friends with God we like talking to him. What is this a picture of? [Draw some ears] What do we do with our ears? [We listen] When we're friends with God, we like to listen to him! How do we listen to God? [By reading the Bible]. God would love everyone to be friends with him. [Draw a gold crown]. Here are some people. God wants to be friends with them. They can be friends with God because of Jesus. [Draw a cross]. When Jesus was here, he had some friends, too. I'm going to read a story about Jesus meeting some friends. [Read a story about Jesus meeting the disciples. I used the story called Twelve Special Friends, from The Lion First Bible, p322-329. Another good one is Simon and his boat from Read-aloud Bible stories, Vol 2 p5.]. Jesus liked having friends. We can be friends with God because of Jesus! God wants to be our friend because he wants to look after us.
Page 16 of 20 Stick up wall item: Crown to represent God, holding hands with the 2 people already up there. Sample picture:
Page 17 of 20 Week 7: God wants me to talk to him - he hears us! Craft suggestion Home-made walkie-talkies. Connect two styrofoam cups together with string. Storytime The concepts for this week come from the following verses: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Matthew 6:5-15; Psalms 5:3. Using drawings, go through the Lord's Prayer. Dear God, Your name is very special [draw a gold crown up high]. Please be in charge of our world, just like you're in charge in heaven [draw the earth]. Please give us everything that we need [draw some food]. We're sorry for the wrong things we do [draw a sad face]. Please forgive us and help us to forgive other people. Thank you for forgiving the wrong things we do [draw happy face]. Please keep us safe and rescue us [draw rescue cape from the crown]. You are strong and you are in charge [draw muscle arms from the crown]. For ever and ever [envelope everything in a circle]. Amen. You can also talk to God when you're feeling happy about something, when you're feeling sad about something, when you'd like to ask him for something, when you'd like to be his friend. God wants to look after you and listen to anything you want to tell him! Stick up wall item: Put ears on the big crown. Sample picture:
Page 18 of 20 Week 8: God likes it when we ask for help Craft suggestion Cardboard or styrofoam rescue-rings (life preservers), with red texta stripes and string as the ropes. Storytime [Verse for this week: 1 Peter 5:7 God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him.] Read a story about someone calling for help, eg Look out little lion cub. Draw pictures of different situations when you need help. God likes us to ask him for help. Why does God want us to ask him for help? Because he cares about us and wants to look after us. Do you know who doesn't like asking for help? Grown-ups. I'm a grown-up, and it's hard for me to ask for help. I need to remember that God likes it when I ask him for help. I can talk to God about everything. Read out verse and stick up with the wall item: Life preserver. Sample picture:
Page 19 of 20 Week 9: We can say thank you to God Craft suggestion Kids draw pictures of what they are thankful for. Storytime [Verse for this week: Psalm 111:1 Shout praises to the LORD! With all my heart I will thank the LORD.] Draw a picture of a birthday party. The birthday person is given a present by another party person. What does the birthday person say? They say thank you! It's very rude if people don't say thank you when they're given something. Read the Bible story of the one leper who said Thank you to Jesus (Luke 17:1119). A very good version is in Read-aloud Bible stories, Vol 1, p 129 The man who said, Thank you. Main conclusion point = God looks after us, so we should all say thank you to him! Have a simple discussion with the kids about what they can be thankful to God for. Hear ideas from them, and then go through the wall display, explaining what everyone can be thankful for. If it seems appropriate, lead everyone in a simple prayer of thanks for what has been talked about. Read out the verse and put up on the display. Stick up wall item: Picture of a present
Page 20 of 20 Week 10: We can say sorry to God Craft suggestion Paper plate with a verse and a sad face. If you want you can do 2 together with a split pin and do a sad face and a happy face on the bottom plate with the top one cut out to reveal faces. Storytime [Verse for this week: 1 John 1:9 But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us. ] Read a story about someone who is feeling sorry, eg My Cat Maisie. Andrew, when he hugs the new cat gently, very gently, is saying sorry to her. Then Andrew feels happy again. We each do wrong things. I do wrong things. Some of the wrong things that I have done are: I've been angry, I've said nasty things. And the worse thing is, sometimes I have even not cared about God. Tell/read the Bible story about the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24) a very good version is in Read-aloud Bible stories Vol 2, p 37 The boy who went away. Conclusion: We can say sorry to God, and...he forgives us! I can say sorry to God for all the wrong things I do, and he forgives me. Because, God loves me and he looks after me. If there's time, do a quick recap of the whole unit. THE END!