Lesso 8 89 Abram Follows God s Directio Geesis 12:1-8 Abram is a woderful example of a perso who trusted ad followed God. Most 5- ad 6-year-olds have iteracted with trustworthy adults ad have a iate sese of trust. With that trust, kids ca uderstad that they ca always follow God. Use this lesso to help kids grow i their uderstadig that they ca follow God, too. LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP 1 Gettig Started about 10 mi. 2 Key Verse Activity about 10 mi. Welcomig Sog Sig or liste to sogs to welcome everyoe to church. A Trustworthy God Drop a pecil to lear about trustig God. CD player Teacher Pack: CD Bible, pecil Bible Poit We ca follow God. Key Verse Trust i the Lord with all your heart (Proverbs 3:5). Weavig Faith Ito Life Childre will choose to follow God i daily life. Theo s News Fid out what car keys have to do with the Bible. Surprise Box (ay box will do), Theo puppet, CD player, car keys Teacher Pack: CD Put the car keys i the Surprise Box, ad hide the box where it s easily accessible. 3 Bible Exploratio about 15 mi. Bible Time: Abram Follows God Go o a short jourey to lear they ca trust God. Bible, backpack, 1 sacksized pack of raisis per child, items from aroud the room, atibacterial gel (optioal) Teacher Pack: Abram s Jourey game board Hide the raisis where they ll be easily accessible. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 8
90 LESSON WHAT CHILDREN DO SUPPLIES EASY PREP Ceter 1: Movig Day Draw thigs they d like to take with them if they had to move. My Bible Playgroud, washable markers Remove the Lesso 8 pages from each My Bible Playgroud studet book. 4 Ceter 2: Ca I Take Your Order? Ask a parter what sack he or she would like, ad the serve each other the chose sacks. pretzels, cheese crackers, water, apple juice, plastic cups, paper plates, atibacterial gel (optioal) Place the sack items i a area separate from where the kids will eat. Weavig Faith Ito Life about 20 mi. (Choose 2 ceters.) Ceter 3: Abram s Jourey Play a game to lear about Abram s jourey. Teacher Pack: Abram s Jourey game board, Abram s Jourey game pieces, color block Separate the Abram s Jourey game pieces, ad fold them so they stad up. Ceter 4: Trustig God Talk to God about followig him through challeges. 1 copy per child of the I Ca Follow God hadout (at the ed of this lesso), washable markers Daily Challeges Choose a Daily Challege to apply God s Word. My Bible Playgroud 5 Lastig Impressios about 10 mi. Follow God Prayer Ask for God s help i doig ew thigs or thigs they re afraid to do. Weavig Faith at Home Talk about how to share what they leared with their families. Bold text withi the lesso is spoke text. Lesso 8 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6
91 Abram Follows God s Directio Geesis 12:1-8 BIBLe BACKGROUND FOR LEADERS Abram Obeys God s Commad to Move Sell everythig you ca t carry, leave your frieds ad exteded family, brig your wife ad belogigs. You ll probably ever come back here agai, but do t worry about that I ll show you where to go. This was essetially God s commad for Abram. What trust i God it took for Abram to leave his home ad everythig familiar, ad set out for a ukow destiatio, havig oly God s commad to go o! Abram also had the worries of keepig itact the thigs he took with him. I those days, travelig with herds of livestock through ukow territory was treacherous. Besides, Abram was 75 years old! But he trusted ad followed God. Abram s Travelig Compaios What helped Abram o his way was a trustig relatioship with God ad the promises of blessig that would beefit ot oly his household but all the peoples o earth! Lot, Abram s ephew, wet alog but probably ot just for compaioship or adveture. It was a disgrace i that culture to ot have descedats, ad Abram realized that he ad his wife were gettig too old to have childre. Abram may have asked Lot to go because Abram had o offsprig of his ow to take charge if Abram died or became icapacitated. God Blesses Abram for Obeyig Abram completed the jourey i faith, ad the, as described i Geesis 12:7, the Lord appeared to him. God had spoke to Abram earlier, but ow God appeared ad cofirmed the promise he had made to Abram back at Hara: The fertile lad before him would oe day belog to his descedats. That meat the promises were begiig to come true! Abram built a altar to hoor God through worship. Callig upo the ame of the Lord meat worshippig him ad ackowledgig him as God. Abram kew that God had blessed him already ad that may more blessigs were still to come. The Jesus Coectio Jesus taught us how to trust i God ad proved that God wo t let us dow. May Jesus example ispire you to have the courage to trust as Abram did! Thik about a experiece that challeged you to trust God. If you kew the what you kow ow, how would your trust level have bee differet? With that i mid, pray for each of the idividuals i your miistry, askig God to stregthe ad ispire them all to trust him. You ca write your prayer here. We re told othig about the jourey, but the trip from Hara to Bethel was approximately 400 miles, much of it over rough desert lad. Coflict with local residets was likely a daily occurrece, ad the trip probably took a moth or more. Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 8
92 GETTING STARTED Welcomig Sog CD player Teacher Pack CD: It s Good to Have You... (track 14), Shake a Fried s Had (track 22) 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: I m so glad you re all here at church today. Let s sig oe more sog watch closely to follow what I do. Lead the kids i doig the actios ad sigig Shake a Fried s Had (track 22 o the CD) to the tue of Foud a Peaut. Shake a fried s had, (shake someoe s had) Shake a fried s had, (shake aother perso s had) Shake a fried s had say hello! (shake aother fried s had, ad say hello ) Thak you, God, for all our frieds. (pat someoe o the back) Shake a fried s had say hello! (shake aother fried s had, ad say hello ) Give a big hug, (hug someoe) Give a big hug, (hug aother perso) Give a big hug say hello! (hug aother fried, ad say hello ) Thak you, God, for all our frieds. (pat someoe o the back) Give a big hug say hello! (hug aother fried, ad say hello ) (Repeat from the begiig.) Lesso 8 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6
93 Say: Great job followig the actios for the sog! Today we ll lear about Abram a ma who loved ad trusted God so much that he followed God s directios ad wet to live i a ew lad. WE CAN FOLLOW GOD, too, because God loves us. 2 KEY VERSE ACTIVITY A Trustworthy God Ope your Bible to Proverbs 3:5, ad show childre the words. Tell kids the Bible is God s special book. A Trustworthy God Bible pecil Say: Our Key Verse from the Bible, Proverbs 3:5, says, Trust i the Lord with all your heart. The word Lord is aother ame for God. Let s say the Key Verse together: Trust i the Lord with all your heart (Proverbs 3:5). What are ways you ca show that you trust someoe? Who are people who take care of you? Say: Parets ad other family members love us ad take care of us, so we kow we ca follow what they say. WE CAN FOLLOW GOD, too, because he loves us ad cares for us. Whe God says he ll do somethig, he ll do it every time. Hold up a pecil, ad the let it fall to the groud. We kow for sure that each time we let go of somethig, it ll fall to the groud. Whe we drop thigs, somethig called gravity pulls them to the groud. Take turs droppig this pecil ad let s see if gravity really does work every time. Each time the pecil hits the groud, lead kids i repeatig the Key Verse: Trust i the Lord with all your heart (Proverbs 3:5). Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. Did you trust that the pecil would fall to the groud each time you dropped it? Why or why ot? What do you thik about God always doig what he says he ll do? Say: You trusted that gravity would pull dow the pecil each time you dropped it. You ca always trust God. WE CAN FOLLOW GOD ad he ll always love ad guide us through life. Let s say our Key Verse together oe more time. Lead childre i sayig the Key Verse with you: Trust i the Lord with all your heart (Proverbs 3:5). Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 8
94 Theo s News Surprise Box (ay box will do) Theo puppet CD player car keys Teacher Pack CD: Here, Theo (track 5) Theo s News Easy Prep Put the car keys i the Surprise Box, ad hide the box where it s easily accessible. Bible Time: Abram Follows God Bible backpack 1 sack-sized pack of raisis per child items from aroud the room atibacterial gel (optioal) Teacher Pack Abram s Jourey game board! ALLERGY ALERT Bible Time: Abram Follows God Easy Prep Hide the raisis where they ll be easily accessible. 3 BIBLE EXPLORATION Theo s News Say: Frieds, it s time for Theo s News! Have 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. 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 have kids pass the car keys aroud the circle so everyoe ca see them up close. Give kids time to guess what they ll lear from the Bible today.) Teacher: My car keys! Theo, why did you put my car keys i the Surprise Box? Theo: I hid them i the Surprise Box because today you ll be talkig about a ma who traveled a log way. Ad whe you travel, you eed your car keys. Teacher: Frieds, have you ever goe o a log trip? Where did you go? (Pause for kids to aswer your questio.) Theo: What did you take with you o your log trip? (Pause for kids to aswer your questio.) Teacher: The ma we ll hear about today followed ad trusted God to take care of him o his log trip. Ad WE CAN FOLLOW GOD, too. Frieds, let s read the Bible to fid out why the ma wet o the log trip! Theo: Have fu, boys ad girls! Teacher: Frieds, say goodbye to Theo. Ecourage the childre to wave or say goodbye to Theo. The put Theo away i a safe place for ext week s use. Bible T ime: Abram Follows God Have kids sit i a circle. Ope your Bible to Geesis 12, ad show childre the words. Tell kids the Bible is God s special book. Say: Today the Bible tells us that WE CAN FOLLOW GOD. A ma amed Abram lived i a ice place with his family for a log time. But oe day, God told Abram to leave his home ad go to a ew place. God said he d show Abram where to go ad bless him ad may others with may good thigs. Abram kew he could follow God, so Abram packed up his belogigs ad his family ad followed Lesso 8 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6
95 God to the ew place. Show childre the game board. First poit out where Abram lived ad the where he was headed. Tur to someoe ext to you ad tell about a time you or a fried had to move to a ew house or a ew city. What did you like or ot like about movig somewhere ew? Say: If we had to move today, we could follow God just as Abram did. God will guide us ad bless us with good thigs. If your family had to move, what would you wat to take with you? What would you pack? Pass the backpack aroud the circle, ad have each child metio a item he or she would pack. Say: Let s preted we re o a jourey ad followig God s lead. Lead the childre o a short jourey across the room, brigig the backpack with you. Alog the way, collect several items from aroud the room to remid the childre of their jourey. For example, take your Bible, a pecil from your art supply area, or a jacket from the coat rack. Put the items i the backpack. The lead kids back to your Bible Time area to sit i a circle agai. Say: God kept his promise ad blessed Abram as he traveled. Brig out the sacks. Would you look at these? We ve bee blessed, too! WE CAN FOLLOW GOD ad trust that God will bless us, just as Abram trusted God. But before we eat the sacks, let s fid out how Abram s travels eded. Durig the jourey, God showed Abram a special lad that God would give to Abram s childre someday. Abram wated to remember all that God had doe for him ad his family, so he built a altar. Have the kids work together to empty the backpack ad place the items i the middle of the circle. A altar is somethig that remids a perso of a awesome ad woderful thig God has doe. I Abram s day, people usually built altars out of rocks. But we re goig to use what we collected o our jourey aroud the room. Help kids stack the items to make a altar. Wow! This altar remids us of our trip aroud our room, ad it remids us that God has blessed us. Pray: Thak you, God, for leadig us ad blessig us. We kow we ca always follow you, God. Thak you for our sack, too. I Jesus ame, ame. Talk With Kids Have childre clea their hads. As they eat their sack, lead them i this discussio. What do you thik about the way Abram followed God to a ew home? What do you thik about the altar Abram built to remember all God had doe o the jourey? What special thigs do you have to remid you of a family trip or adveture? Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 8
96 Say: Although goig to a ew place ca be scary, it ca also be a excitig family adveture ad full of blessigs. WE CAN FOLLOW GOD ad trust God to guide us, just as God guided Abram. Put the items ito the backpack to use for the closig prayer. 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. Ceter 1: Movig Day My Bible Playgroud washable markers Ceter 1: Movig Day Easy Prep Remove the Lesso 8 pages from each My Bible Playgroud studet book. CENTER 1: Movig Day Help kids write their ames o their My Bible Playgroud pages. Poit out the picture of a movig truck o oe of the pages. Say: Whe people move to a ew house or city, they pack their belogigs ito a movig truck like this. You ca draw o the truck o your page the thigs your family would take with you if you moved. Allow time. Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. What would you like or ot like about movig to a ew city? Tell about other ew thigs you ve had to do that were scary at first, like startig school or ridig a bike without traiig wheels. Say: Whe Abram moved, he followed God s lead. If you had to move, you could trust God to help you ot be afraid. WE CAN FOLLOW GOD with ew thigs ad trust God to guide us ad bless us. Lesso 8 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6
97 CENTER 2: Ca I Take Your Order? Have childre clea their hads ad form pairs by coutig off by oes ad twos. The gather everyoe. Say: Today we re learig about how Abram followed God s directios ad trusted God to take care of him. WE CAN FOLLOW GOD, too. Ad we ca follow others directios ad take care of each other. We have a couple of choices for your sack today. You ca choose to eat pretzels or cheese crackers, ad you ca choose to drik water or apple juice. The Oes will go first. Ask your parter what he or she would like to eat ad drik. Allow time for pairs to talk. Now Oes, you ca go to the food table ad follow your parters directios of what he or she wats for sack. Help kids prepare sacks for their parters ad the repeat with the Twos. After everyoe has a sack, lead kids i prayer. Pray: God, thak you for always guidig us ad takig care of us. We kow we ca follow you. Thak you for our tasty sack, too. I Jesus ame, ame. Talk With Kids As childre eat their sacks, lead them i this discussio. What did you do to follow directios ad make the sack for your parter? What was easy or hard about trustig someoe else to prepare the sack you chose? What s easy or hard about followig God s directios? Say: Followig or trustig someoe else eve God ca be difficult. Oe thig we kow for sure is that WE CAN FOLLOW GOD o matter what. God will always take care of us whe we follow him, just as God took care of Abram i the Bible. CENTER 3: Abram s Jourey Gather childre aroud a table with the Abram s Jourey game ready to play. Divide kids ito o more tha six teams, ad assig each a differet game piece. Say: We re goig to play a game to lear about Abram s jourey. Choose a game piece ad the take turs rollig the color block to see where you ca move your game piece. Whatever color you roll, move to the ext closest space o the game Ceter 2: Ca I Take Your Order? pretzels cheese crackers water apple juice plastic cups paper plates atibacterial gel (optioal)! ALLERGY ALERT Ceter 2: Ca I Take Your Order? Easy Prep Place the sack items i a area separate from where the kids will eat. Ceter 3: Abram s Jourey Teacher Pack Abram s Jourey game board Abram s Jourey game pieces color block Ceter 3: Abram s Jourey Easy Prep Separate the Abram s Jourey game pieces, ad fold them so they stad up. Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 8
98 board with that color. If you lad o a space with a altar o it, you ca roll ad move agai. Allow kids to play, takig turs rollig the dice ad movig the pieces util they fiish the game. Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. What did you like about your jourey i this game? Why did t you always kow what was goig to happe? Say: Abram trusted God to bless him ad guide him o his jourey. Just like Abram, WE CAN FOLLOW GOD whe we re ot sure what s goig to happe, whe we re loely, or eve whe we re playig a game ad havig fu! Ceter 4: Trustig God 1 copy per child of the I Ca Follow God hadout (at the ed of this lesso) washable markers CENTER 4: Trustig God Help kids write their ames at the top of a hadout page. Say: Thik about somethig you had to do this week that was either ew to you or was hard to do. Help kids come up with their ideas. Draw a picture of that thig o your paper. Allow time. The words at the top of your page say, I ca follow God. What would you like to tell God about your drawig? Allow resposes. Let s pray about the thigs o your drawigs ad ask God to help us follow him as we try to do the thigs we drew. Pray: Dear God, Please help as we try to Have kids who would like to share tell about what they eed help with. We trust you, God, to help us follow you every day ad i everythig we do. I Jesus ame, ame. Say: Take your drawigs home with you ad put them i a place where you ll see them this week. Keep prayig about what s i your drawigs. Abram kept talkig to God durig his jourey, ad it helped Abram to follow God the whole way. WE CAN FOLLOW GOD, too, by askig him to guide us every day. Talk With Kids Lead childre i this discussio. Why do you thik prayer helped Abram follow God o his jourey? What do you thik God will do this week as you pray about what s i your drawig? Lesso 8 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6
99 Say: It s very importat to remember that we ca pray to follow God every day, everywhere, o matter what! 5 LASTING IMPRESSIONS 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. Daily Challeges My Bible Playgroud 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. Talk With Kids Say: Today we leared that WE CAN FOLLOW GOD. I d like each of you to choose a way to follow God s lead this week. Read these three ideas for childre to choose from: Collect pictures ad other items aroud your house that remid you of your family. Build a altar with those items ad thak God for his help. Whe your mom or dad tells you to follow directios, do what they say. It s good practice for followig God. Pray about doig somethig ew or somethig you re afraid to do, ad ask God to lead you. 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! Follow God Prayer Have kids joi hads i a circle. Say: Let s pray about ew thigs i our lives or thigs we re scared of ad ask God to lead us. I ll say, God I eed your help with ad the you ca share. After each perso shares, let s say together, You ca follow God. Lead kids i the prayer, goig aroud the circle util all are doe; close with ame. Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 8
100 Say: We ca always ask God for help whe we re tryig somethig ew or we re afraid, ad God will lead us. WE CAN FOLLOW GOD every day, because God loves us. 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. Lesso 8 Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6
101 I Ca Follow God! OK TO COPY Pre-K & K/Ages 5 & 6 Lesso 8