First Look 3- through 5-year-olds, November, Week 1

First Look 3- through 5-year-olds, November, Week 1 November 5, 2017 Bible Focus: I am thankful for God s commandments. Ten Commandments Exodus 20 Memory Verse: I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart. Psalm 111:1, ESV Key Question: Who can you thank for everything? Bottom Line: I can thank God for everything. Basic Truth: God made me. Social (Introductory Activities, 10 minutes) Let one teacher lead activities in different areas of the room while another teacher greets parents and kids at the door. 9:00 & 11:30 Mother, May I? Made to Move: An activity that uses a preschooler s natural desire to move to help them learn What You Need: No supplies needed What You Do: During the Activity: Gather the children in an open area of the room. Ask them to stand up and put their arms out from their sides to make sure they aren t standing close to another friend. Give the children a series of commands to follow (using the list below). Explain to the children that when you give a command, they must say, Mother, may I? and then you will respond with, Yes, you may! before they can follow through with the command. Example: Leader: Pat your legs! Children: Mother, may I? Leader: Yes, you may! (Children begin patting their legs.) Commands: Pat your head Hug a friend March in place Sit down Clap your hands Stomp your feet Stand up Sing Jesus Loves Me Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2017 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 2

What You Say: Before the Activity: Today I want to play a game called Mother, May I? Raise your hand if you ve played this game before. (Pause.) Great! You can put your hands down. If you haven t played before, here s how it works. I will call out a command like clap your hands, but BEFORE you can start clapping, you must ask, Mother, may I? Then I will say, Yes, you may! You have to wait until you hear me say, Yes, you may! before you can clap. Are you ready? After the Activity: Great job, friends! The rules were a little tricky. When I first gave a command, I know you were tempted to start doing it right away! But you had to follow the rules and ask, Mother, may I? and then wait for me to answer. In our Bible Truth today, we ll hear about some important rules that God gave to a group of people. They were very important rules. Transition: Move to Worship and Bible by playing a simpler version of Mother, May I in line. The leader will give a command, and children must ask, Mother, may I? The leader responds with, Yes, you may! and then the children complete the command. Make sure you give commands that can be completed while holding onto the handle on the walking rope. (Suggestions: blink your eyes, rub your tummy, tap your shoulders, etc.) 10:15 Blueberry Pancakes Made to Play: An activity that encourages preschoolers to follow guidelines while having fun and learning new concepts What You Need: Pancakes Activity Page, cookie sheet, mixing bowl, and 55 mini blue pom-poms What You Do: Before the Activity: Place the pancakes in a single layer on the cookie sheet. Place all of the pom-poms in the mixing bowl, and place it next to the cookie sheet. During the Activity: Challenge the children to place the blueberries (pom-poms) on each of the pancakes. Point to the first pancake and ask the children to place one blueberry onto the pancake. Then point to the next pancake and ask the children to place two blueberries onto the pancake. Continue the activity by asking the children to place 3-10 blueberries on the remaining pancakes. What You Say: Before the Activity: Yummy! I love pancakes! During the Activity: We are going to pretend to make blueberry pancakes while we practice our counting! (Point to first pancake.) Place one blueberry (point to bowl of pom-poms) on top of this pancake. (Pause.) Great job! Now let s put two blueberries 3

onto this pancake (point to second pancake). You are really good at making pancakes! (Continue with the remaining pancakes.) After the Activity: Way to go! You did a great job counting while we made our blueberry pancakes. We counted to 10! We are going to hear a Bible Truth today about 10 special rules from God. Transition: Move to Worship and Bible by saying, Let s count to 10 while we walk to our The Sandbox area to hear our TRUTH from the Bible! I can t wait for you to hear today s truth about 10 special rules! Bible (Large Group, 20 minutes) After children have participated in Social, gather them for a large group time that includes interactive worship, introductory sketch and Bible Truth. Place your We are in The Sandbox sign on the door as you leave. Travel to the Sandbox. 4

November 5, 2017 Bible Focus: I am thankful for God s commandments. Ten Commandments Exodus 20 Memory Verse: I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart. Psalm 111:1, ESV Key Question: Who can you thank for everything? Bottom Line: I can thank God for everything. Basic Truth: God made me. Journaling (Small Groups, 5 minutes) Journaling is designed to help preschoolers understand how the Bottom Line applies to them. They ll discuss real-life experiences and share prayer requests. Give each child a cup of Chex cereal to snack on while you take them through the following exercise. What you Need: Paperclip Memory Verse Card in your Bible at Psalm 111:1. Journal and a fun-shaped pen. Reward stamps. SGL: You sound amazing! You can teach it to your family and friends after you learn it. Yay! Give me a high-five! (Give each child a high-five.) Let s sit down now and get ready to write in our journal and pray. (Hold journal and fun-shaped pen.) Today I want us to pray that God will help us do what He says, because His rules help us do what s best for us. When I say your name, tell me one of God s rules to write in our journal. When we pray we can use our list and ask God to help us do what He says. (Note: You may have to help the children think of some rules (tell the truth, share, love our neighbor, obey our parents, help others, be kind, forgive, say I m sorry, etc.) (Write each child s name and what they say beside their name. Remember to print the words they say so the children can recognize their names and the letters.) This is a great list! Thank you for doing that. Let s close our eyes and put our hands together so we can pray. Would anyone like to pray before I pray? (Give each child who wants to pray the opportunity to do so.) Prayer SGL: Dear God, thank You for loving us and wanting to help us do what is best. Thank You for giving us the Ten Commandments and other rules to help us know what to do 5

and not do. Please help us do what You say and (read the list the children made). We know Your way is always best, and we want to follow You. We love You, God. In Jesus name, amen. 6

November 5, 2017 Bible Focus: I am thankful for God s commandments. Ten Commandments Exodus 20 Memory Verse: I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart. Psalm 111:1, ESV Key Question: Who can you thank for everything? Bottom Line: I can thank God for everything. Basic Truth: God made me. Groups (Application Activities, 25 minutes) These activities are designed to help preschoolers understand and remember today s Bible Truth and Bottom Line. 9:00 & 11:30 Ice Cream Cone Rules Talk About God Bible Review Made to Create: An activity that allows preschoolers to review the Bible Truth, Bottom Line, or memory verse by creating a craft What You Need: Ice Cream Cone and Ice Cream Scoops Activity Pages What You Do: During the Activity: Gather the children around the table. Place the cone in the center of the table. Remind the children of the special rules God gave us in our Bible Truth today. Explain that we can read these rules in our Bibles, and point to the Bible on the cone. Then read each rule from the scoops of ice cream as you add each one to the top of the cone. What You Say: Before the Activity: In our Bible Truth today, we learned about some special rules God gave His people. What do you see on this ice cream cone? (Pause.) Yes! A Bible. We can read these rules in our Bibles. I thought it would be fun to build an ice cream cone with the rules we learned today! During the Activity: Let s see, this scoop says... (read the first scoop and put it on top of the cone). (Continue adding all the scoops as you review the commandments covered in Large Group. NOTE: We are not including all 10, as not all 10 are age appropriate.) After the Activity: Great job, friends! I am so thankful for God s commandments that tell us how He wants us to live. What s the number ONE rule? (Point to this scoop.) To love God! One big way to show God we love Him is to tell Him thank you! [Bottom Line] I can thank God for everything! Who can we thank for everything? [Bottom Line] I can thank God for everything. 7

10:15 Thankful Motions Live for God Application Activity Made to Move: An activity that uses a preschooler s natural desire to move to help them learn What You Need: No supplies needed What You Do: During the Activity: Gather the children in an open area of the room. Call out an if/then statement like, If you re thankful for your mom, then jump three times. Give the children time to follow your command. Below are some suggestions. If you re thankful for your dad, then spin in a circle. If you re thankful for your pet, then hug your pet. If you re thankful for your amazing body, then run in place. If you re thankful for yummy food to eat, then rub your tummy. If you re thankful for a comfy bed to sleep in, then snore really loud! If you re thankful for toys to play with, then build with blocks. If you re thankful for books to read, then read a book. If you re thankful for God s love, then point to the sky. What You Say: Before the Activity: We have so much to be thankful for! Let s say some things we are thankful for while doing fun motions! I m going to say something like, If you re thankful for your mom, jump three times, and I want you to jump three times. Got it? (Pause.) Great! Let s play! (Do activity.) After the Activity: Wow! We have a lot to be thankful for, don t we? I know I could think of many, many more things. Who gives us all these things to be thankful for? (Pause.) Yes, God! Who can you thank for everything? [Bottom Line] I can thank God for everything! We sure can. I m so thankful to God for all the wonderful things He s given to us! All Service Times Get Ready to Dismiss 8