Unit: God Created the World

Session Title: Noah Worked Hard

Life Point: People can praise God for His creation
Unit Verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
Weekly Bible Verses: “How countless are your works, Lord! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” Psalm 104:24
Bible Passage: Genesis 6:9-8:22

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/leaderextras/by-age-group/

Science Experiment: Rainbow in A Jar
This looks like a fun thing to do with the children and something they would enjoy watching you do. You maybe could do it with 2 groups if you have a larger class so everyone could see. All the instructions are on the website.
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Craft: God’s Promises Rainbow Craft
As your class reads and learns about Noah’s ark, you can make this simple craft to help your children make some of their own covenants.  They can be promises between them and God, or between them and their parents.
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Craft: Ark Paper Plate Basket
Don’t miss the boat on this amazing idea for learning about an essential part of the Bible. The Noah’s Ark Paper Plate Craft is the perfect way to learn about Noah, his ark, the animals, and the lessons behind the story. Paper plate crafts are inexpensive ways to get creative, and this frugal find is beneficial in more than one way. Stay interested in this important lesson by designing your ark as you listen to the key plot points. You can even fill your craft project with animal crackers to make this a deliciously educational experience.
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Craft: Rainbow Ribbon Dancer
A fun craft for kids and they will love playing with it. All the instructions are on the website. (Disclaimer: Ideas is from a catholic website)
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Unit: God Created the World

Session Title: Cain and Abel 

Life Point: People should value you others as God does
Unit Verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
Weekly Bible Verses: “I praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made.” Psalm 139:4
Bible Passage: Genesis 4:1-16

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/leaderextras/by-age-group/

Craft: Love One Another Stained Glass
This craft is more involved but a good craft to help children to remember to love one another even when their family and friends make them upset. Detailed instructions on the website
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Object Lesson: Sin Will Touch Others (Older Kids)
A good object lesson but pretty mature so I would do with 2^nd grade and older. Easy instructions and materials.
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Bible Story: Genesis 4 – A Murder Mystery
Another way to tell the story a good way to keep the kids interested in the story.

Here’s an activity for telling the story of Cain and Abel. You could do this activity in small groups, or if your class is small you could do it in one group.

Explain to the children:

A terrible tragedy has happened. The world’s first murder has taken place. It is our job to find out who did it and work out a suitable punishment for the murderer.

Ask the children the following questions:

• What do we know about Adam?
• What do we know about Eve?
• Read Genesis 4:1-4a. What do we learn about Cain from this Bible passage? What do we learn about Abel?
• What words describe what God is like?

Here are the suspects: Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, God, A stranger

Give the children one clue each. They read out the clues in chronological order, but don’t show their clue to other children.

• God was pleased with Abel’s offering.
• God wasn’t pleased with Cain’s offering.
• Eve loved Cain and Abel.
• Adam and Eve had another son to replace the one who was murdered.
• Cain said to his brother Abel, “let’s go for a walk”.
• God asked Cain, “where’s Abel?” and Cain answered, “I don’t know, am I supposed to look after my brother?”
• God said to the murderer, “you will never be able to farm your land again”.
• The murder happened outside.

Children put all the clues together and work out the following:

• Who did it?
• Where did he or she do it?
• Why did he or she do it?

Ask children:  What do you think the punishment should be?

Read Genesis 4:10-16: What was God’s punishment?

• What does this story tell us about God?
• How are we like Cain?
• How are we like Abel?

Why do you think this story is in the Bible?

Lesson ideas for Genesis 4 – a murder mystery

Object Lesson: Cain and Abel’s Hearts
Half fill one clear glass with water. Half fill an identical clear glass with white vinegar. Tell the children that these glasses represent Cain and Abel’s hearts. (Point to the glass of water) Abel’s heart was good and he wanted to give his best to God. (Put a drop or two of green food coloring in the vinegar glass and give it a stir.) The green glass represents Cain’s heart. He was jealous of his brother and he didn’t give his best to God. Let’s see what happens to their hearts when they gave gifts to God. Ask one child to put a teaspoon of baking soda in the glass of water (nothing will happen to the water). Abel gave his gift and God was pleased. Abel felt good in his heart because he knew he had given his best. Now let’s see what happened to Cain’s heart. (Have another child put a teaspoon of baking soda in the green vinegar glass). As the water bubbles and boils talk about how jealousy made Cain’s heart upset and angry.
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Object Lesson: Candy Fairness
Using m and m’s or skittles (or anything like it) divide in cups in different amounts. Pass out to kids but don’t let them see they are different. After you have passed out all the cups and the kids start to figure out that they are not the same. Ask about how they feel that it is not fair. Talk about if it is worth getting really mad about. After discussing fairness and how it applied to the story of Cain and Abel see if the kids can work it out to make it fair for everyone to have the same amount. (Remember allergy alert sign)

Unit: God Created the World 

Session Title: Adam and Eve Sinned

Life Point: God loves people, even when they sin
Unit Verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
Weekly Bible Verses: “Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight” Deuteronomy 6:18
Bible Passage: Genesis 3

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/leaderextras/by-age-group/

Object Lesson: Temptation
I have done this in a class before and it seems to really make the students think about temptation. Bring in cookies, candy, any food item the students would be tempted and want to take. Set it on the table at the beginning of class and put a do not touch sign by it. Students will ask about it and you just tell them they can’t touch it. You can even play with them a little bit and find a reason to leave the room (don’t leave the children alone though) and see if any of them touch them. Talk to them at the end of the lesson about if they were tempted or if it drove them crazy that they could not touch the item.

Craft: Snake
Have students make a snake that they can hang and remind them to walk away from temptation. The website gives pretty good instructions. This is a good short and easy craft if you don’t have much time left. You could make this out of construction paper or foam and could use a number of things to decorate it. You could even have them write the verse on the snake.

There is also a picture of a paper chain snake if you think that would be easier for your children.
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Craft: A Cord of Three (Older Kids craft)
Have the children make a bracelet to remind them that through Jesus we are in communion with God. Make three different colored 12” pieces of yarn for each child. Tie a knot about one inch from the end and braid the pieces together. Explain that one represents God the Father; the second, God the Son; and the third, God the Holy Spirit. When there is about one inch left after braiding, tie another knot.

Explain to the children that as they wear their bracelets, they can remember that we have a free relationship with God because of the price paid by Jesus.
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Game: Tree of Right and Wrong (written originally for teens but could be used for 3-5)
Adam and Eve thought they had good reasons for eating from the forbidden tree, but they failed at discerning right from wrong. To help students learn how to make correct discernments, draw or paint a tree on plywood or paper and designate one half of it as “Right” and the other half as “Wrong.” Cut apples from construction paper and label each one with a behavior that needs to be defined as right or wrong. Have the students take turns picking the apples from a basket and deciding which half of the tree they should be placed on. Some of the behaviors can be an obvious, such as cheating. Also include behaviors where the correct response might not be clear to young people, or where they may think they have a good reason for doing something questionable, such as covering for a best friend instead of getting them in trouble. Encourage students to discuss these tricky situations and guide them in searching the scriptures for guidance in discerning the correct response.
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Object Lesson: A Bite of Truth
Give each student an apple and tell them to enjoy a few bites then set it aside. Have them check the apple 15 minutes later and they will see that the inside has already started to turn brown. Present this as an analogy to Adam and Eve biting into the fruit and exposing the world to deterioration. Also compare it to our personal lives and how quickly they change and suffer when we open ourselves up to negative influences. Though simple, this analogy can make a memorable point.
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Unit: God Created the World

Session Title: God’s Plan for People

Life Point: God wants people to have a relationship with Him.
Unit Verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
Weekly Bible Verses: “God created man in his own image.” Genesis 1:27
Bible Passage: Genesis 2:4-24

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/leaderextras/by-age-group/

Craft: Patterned Paper Self Portrait
Using different patterns of scrapbook paper in similar colors children will create a collage self-portrait. You are going to need to cut the pieces in to smaller pieces before class for the younger students but the older grades can do it themselves. I would also have maybe a template of a boy and girl for the younger students so they don’t get intimidated by drawing a picture of themselves.
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Craft: Adam, Eve, and Me Necklace
The instructions are pretty well explained in the PDF but this craft is creating a necklace that has a mirror on it (made of aluminum foil) and then on the back the saying “God created Adam, Eve, and Me”. The templates for the circle are also in the PDF.
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Game: In God’s Image
I am adapting this game from the PDF. Basically pick a token out of the bag, it will either say hands, mouth, feet, or ears. When you pull it out you will have children act out and tell you ways they can praise God using that body part. Example would be, you pull out hands and the students could say clap while singing, helping someone pick up something they dropped, making a card for someone who is sick, etc. It helps the studen t’s to think about how God made them and what they can do with what God has given them.
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Craft: God made me special
This is a pretty easy craft. The details are on the website below. We have boy and girl cutouts for the die cut which is located in the Preschool Resource Room.
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Unit: God Created the World

Session Title: God Created the World

Life Point: God is the Creator, and He made the World from nothing
Unit Verse: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
Weekly Bible Verses: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
Bible Passage: Genesis 1:1-2:3

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/leaderextras/by-age-group/

Craft: Creator Acrostic
Write the word CREATOR down the side of the paper. For younger kids you can have this already done and for the older kids they could do it themselves. Then have them list something for each letter that God created. They could also draw a picture of that thing next to the word.

Craft: Creation Numbers (All grades)
Using the template attached create numbers that look like what was created on each day. You can use the same materials they suggest or come up with your own idea. May want to get a ziplock bag for kids to keep their numbers in. This will require lots of copies and cutting
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Craft: Creation Book (all grades)
You will need the bigger pieces of construction paper and you may need to play with how to get 8 pages (7 days and a cover) from one piece. My suggestion would be to cut the paper in half lengthwise and glue them together then do an accordion fold to make 8 pages. You can either do the numbers and words for them (younger grades) or have them write them. I like the circle for the drawing on the pages but you don’t have to do that.
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Game: Creation Bean Bag Toss (All grades)
You will need 7 things to throw bean bags into (hula hoops or buckets) and then many beanbags. Attached is a bunch of pictures to tape to the bean bags and they are trying to throw the beanbag into the correctly numbered bucket. I don’t know how many beanbags we have but you may need to be creative with things you could put the pictures on and throw into the buckets. I think this would be a very fun and interactive game at the beginning as kids are coming in and something that is easy to join in on.
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Game: Rhyme matching game (1^st and 2^nd)
Watch the youtube video from the website below and she explains the game and the rhyme. I am pretty sure you could find die cuts for all the different days if needed.
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Creation Snack Mix
You could do this as an in class snack or as a snack for the kids to take a share with someone after class. The labels are below and it has all the ingredients on it. If you choose to do this make sure you have the allergy alert sign up with all the ingredients. This is something I think children will really enjoy!
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Unit: God Loves the World!

Session Title: Paul Wrote a Letter to Timothy

Life Point: The Bible helps people understand God loves them
Unit Verse: “Give thanks to the God of heaven! His faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 136:26
Weekly Bible Verse: “Give thanks to the God of heaven! His faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 136:26
Bible Passage: 2 Timothy 1:1-15; 3:14-17

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/leaderextras/by-age-group/

Game: Books of the Bible Basketball Toss
Say: “We learned in our Bible story that Timothy’s mother and grandmother taught him about God. Who are some people who teach us about God?”

• Continue: “Our Bible verse, 2 Timothy 3:15 says, ‘Since you were a child, you have learned from the Bible.’ God likes it when we learn about Him. We can learn about God by reading the Bible. Let’s play a game using the names of the Bible books.”
• Say: “I will show you a book name. Tell me if the book is in the Old or New Testament. If you are correct, you may attempt a one-, two-, or three-point shot. If you make a basket, your team will receive the points.”
• Form two teams. Select a team to begin.
• Display a “Flash Card.”
• Allow the child to state the Old Testament or New Testament. • Invite the child to shoot the basketball into the goal. Award points.
• Continue playing as time permits, alternating teams.
• Say: “Our parents teach us many things. They teach us to play sports, toride our bikes, and how to read and write. God wants our parents to teach us about Him. God wants families to worship together. We can worship with our families as we read and learn from the Bible.”
• Pray, thanking God for people, especially parents, who teach about God.
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Craft: Bible Scroll
Using brown construction paper and two crafts sticks, rods, or pencils make a scroll. Have children write 1 Timothy 3:16 and draw a picture of the story on the scroll. They could also draw the people they learn about God from on their scroll. Roll it up and tie with yarn. Talk about how the bible used to be on scrolls and how it was read to children on scrolls.
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Craft: Make something for a Younger Class
This is a great idea for 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th to for either the first grade classes or even the kindergarten. They could make them cards, posters or something to tell the younger ones what they have learned about God. Explain that as they get older they become models for the younger kids and can teach them about God. If you did this at the beginning of the class you could then take it at the end. You will want to coordinate with the younger class’s teacher or the wing coordinators to make sure you have enough for everyone in the class. For the first graders this could also be their welcome into children’s ministry.
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Craft: Scroll Memory Verses
Just like the bible was written on scrolls back in Paul’s time have students write the memory verse on a scroll. You would need to get tan or brown paper and then maybe tear and wrinkle it some. You can use dowel rods or any other kind of rod to help roll the scroll up. You will also want something to tie the two ends together.

Craft: Bookmark
Make a bookmark to help students mark special places in their bibles. Students could also make a bookmark to give to another person. The students could write the memory verse on their bookmark or other things to help them remember important things about the bible.

Game: Bible Tag
Group kids into 2 teams. Invite the students to play “bible tag” and explain that the game is similar to “freeze tag”. When a player is tagged by someone from the other team, the player must freeze in place. Kids must tag their frozen teammate to free him, he must say “The Bible is God’s Word”. Tell the students that the team with the fewest frozen players when you call time is the winner for that round. You can play many rounds.

Source: Super, Duper Fun and Exciting Absolutely Thought Igniting Bible Activities for Kids

Game: God Preserves His Word!
We will learn in our lesson today that God’s Word can never be destroyed. People over the years have tried to get rid of God’s Word, but they will never succeed. Play this fun game to remember that God will always preserve His Word. The only supply needed is a Bible.

Have children stand in a large circle, holding their hands behind their backs. Choose someone to stand in the center of the circle. Explain to the children that you will be giving one of the persons in the circle the Bible. The object is for the chosen child to pass the Bible to the child next to them and that child onto the next, etc., all behind their backs. After 30 seconds, the child in the middle will have to guess which child is holding the Bible. Make sure to let the children know in the circle that they all can pretend to be receiving the Bible to try to throw off the child in the middle.

The children should continue passing the Bible for 30 seconds. Say, “stop” and allow the child in the middle to guess who has the Bible. If the guess is correct, the person holding the Bible becomes the next center person. If the guess is incorrect, have the kids continue passing the Bible. Play a few rounds to give other children opportunity to play. As you begin your lesson time you can share about how that in some countries it is illegal to have a Bible and many people try to get rid of God’s Word. But God’s Word will always stand. And just like it was hard for the person in the middle of the circle to find the Bible, the enemies of God will never be able to completely rid the world of God’s Word.
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Unit: God Loves the World

Session Titles: Paul Taught Lydia About Jesus

Life Point: People can become Christians by receiving Jesus as their Savior and Lord
Unit Verse: “Give thanks to the God of heaven! His faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 136:26
Weekly Bible Verses: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13
Bible Passage: Acts 16:11-15

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/leaderextras/by-age-group/

Craft: Paul and Lydia Pop Up
So the site below has the template and instructions to make a whole book about Paul but I was thinking you could print the elements just for the page about Lydia.
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Prop for telling the lesson
Build a river in your classroom to tell the lesson next to and use as an object while telling the story. An example of an easy river to build is on the site below.
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Craft: Spread the News Coffee Filter
This is a craft kids will really enjoy. It will be a little messy so be ready for that. I would recommend it for 2nd grade and up. All the instructions are on the site below.
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Game: Simon Says Draw
This is a fun game where kids have to listen and follow directions. Instructions for the game are on the site. Relate this to how Jesus gave us directions to follow, and go and tell people about Jesus but the way each of us do it may look different because we are unique.
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Unit: God Loves the World

Session Title: Paul’s Second Journey

Life Point: God wants people to pray for missionaries
Unit Verse: “Give thanks to the God of heaven! His faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 136:26
Weekly Bible Verses: “Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request.” Ephesians 6:18
Bible Passage: Acts 16:1-5; 17:16-34; 18:1-11

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/leaderextras/by-age-group/

Game: M and M Get to Know You
Fun game using M and M’s to get to know your new class. Sitting in a circle each child pulls an M&M out of the bag and shares about themselves according to the chart.
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Game: Get to know You Bingo
Bingo game while getting to know people in the class.
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Game: Would You Rather?
This classic get to know you game is fun for kids and you can make it more active by having them go to different sides of the room for the two different answers. Attached are some questions that you could ask.
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Craft/Game: Get to know you bracelets
Each child gets one pipecleaner filled with beads of one color(to give to others) and one empty pipecleaner (to hold beads they collect for themselves).To get a bead they have to go to another child and say “Hi, my name is ____. And something about themselves”.Afterwards they can make their bracelets.
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Craft: Faithbook
Students create a “facebook” page about themselves to help you get to know them better. I did this with my first graders last year and they loved it. Any age would love to do this because they all know what facebook is. After everyone creates one you could hang them up in your room so others could look at them.
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Craft: All About Me Coloring Pages
This craft is pretty self explanatory. Like the faith book you could have them hanging in the room to let the other kids get to know each other. PDF is in the link below
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Way to Introduce the Story
Before class cut five small pieces of paper for each student. In class ask the students to use the papers to write down their five most favorite things in the whole world. After everyone has done this then ask them to put the cards in order with the most important thing first. Lead the discussion so that the children will see how that the most important things seem to take the most time, money, etc. Hopefully some of the children will have put “God” on one of their papers. I f they haven’t then give them an extra card so that they can do so now (without embarrassing them). “In today’s story we are going to learn about a city that thought that their idols were the most important things in the world. (Idol- anything that is worshipped above God -often a statue or carving)”
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Craft: Thankful Cross
When you scroll to the bottom of the link below you will see this craft laid out. It is pretty simple but takes some prep work if you are going to do with younger kids.
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Craft: Cards for Missionaries
Find out the names of some of the missionaries that your congregation supports and share facts about their work with the students. You might write notes or send a picture of your class to the missionaries.
Click here for more information.

Unit: God Loves the World

Session Titles: Paul and Barnabas

Life Point: God wants people to be involved in His work
Unit Verse: “Give thanks to the God of heaven! His faithful love endures forever.” Psalm 136:26
Weekly Bible Verses: “We are God’s coworkers” 1 Corinthians 3:9
Bible Passage: Acts 14

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/leaderextras/by-age-group/

Craft: Door Hangers
Make a door hanger with the memory verse. You could keep it to put on your door or give it to someone to share with others.
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Craft: Sharing Bracelets
Make bracelets for the students to wear and share the truth. Remind the kids to be bold and share the truths with others. You can do this with the letter beads. Some examples of acronyms are:
FROG – Fully Rely on Jesus
GAP – God Answers Prayers
LIFE – Living in Faith Everyday
WWJD – Walking with Jesus Daily
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Game: Helium Stick
This game will help children to have to work together and teach them to trust each other. To lead children in Helium Stick, instruct them to stand in a circle, hold their arms parallel to the ground and stick out their pointer fingers. Place a light-weight but large object on their outstretched fingers, such as a hula hoop or stick. Tell them they must lower it to the ground without their fingers losing contact. You will find that children are usually surprised when the stick seems to float upwards although they are trying to will it down–hence the name “helium” stick. Help the children develop a sound strategy for moving the “stick” down, such as counting and moving it inch-by-inch or dropping one side at a time.
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Game: Snake Game
This is another game where children will have to learn how to work together and trust each other. If you watch the video, it will show you how to play and they explain it as well.
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Craft: Letter to a Friend
Barnabas was a friend who trusted God and stood up for Paul. Do you have a good friend like that? Write a note to a friend and tell them how much you appreciate them. Also, think about how you can be a better friend to others.
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Unit: Learn and Tell

Session Title: Paul’s First Journey

Life Point: People should tell the World about Jesus
Unit Verse: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Mark 16:15
Weekly Bible Verses: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” Mark 16:15
Bible Passage: Acts 13

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): http://blog.lifeway.com/biblestudiesforlife/leaderextras/by-age-group/

Craft: Time to Tell Clock
This craft is pretty simple. It would be just finding cds to use whether it be blank ones or used ones. You could use the verse to write on there or a simplified part of the verse. You could also add a ribbon to be able to hang the clock.
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Craft: Cards for Missionaries
Find out the names of some of the missionaries that your congregation supports and share facts about their work with the students. You might write notes or send a picture of your class to the missionaries.
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Craft: Mission Flags
This would be a good way to remind the students of the different places to pray for. You don’t have to do just countries but could use state flags as well.
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Game: Telephone
A classic game that is about telling people. This would be a great game to help drive the point about telling people but also making sure your message is clear so it does not get messed up between people

Craft: Speak the Truth Megaphone (1^st and 2^nd)
Make a paper megaphone that helps kids to remember to always speak the truth. There is a die-cut for a megaphone in the preschool resource room. You can have the students decorate the megaphone with stickers or rhinestones. You could also have them draw places that might be hard to talk about Jesus. Of course have them write their memory verse, speak the truth on the megaphone.

Craft: Telling Others about God License Plates
The lesson attached does a great job of explaining how to do this activity. It is a great way to show children how we can tell about God everywhere we go just like personalized license plates tell us about people who are driving the cars.
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