Unit: Worship God

Session Title: The People Sang

Life Point: People worship God by singing songs to Him.

Life Verse: “We will worship the Lord our God and obey Him.” Joshua 24:24

Weekly Bible Verses: “I will rejoice and boast about You; I will sing about Your name, Most High.” Psalm 9:2

Bible Passage: Ezra 2:1, 68-70; 3:1-13

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

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Craft: Maracas
You can make instruments that can be used to praise God.
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Craft: “Jesus, You Make My Heart Sing”
This paper craft will remind the kids that they can worship God through singing. Below is a link to instructions and a copy of the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy.”
Click here for more info
Click here for hymn lyrics

Unit: Worship God

Session Title: Solomon Dedicated the Temple

Life Point: People should worship God together.

Life Verse: “He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

Weekly Bible Verse: “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Psalm 122:1

Bible Passage: 1 Kings 8

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): Click here

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Activity: Build Solomon’s Temple with Blocks
Use basic blocks to build Solomon’s temple. The website has you paint the blocks gold but you could just use solid blocks as well.
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Craft: Decorate the Temple with Jewels
Print out the coloring page jpg below and decorate with jewels.
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Craft: Solomon Temple Facts Wheel
Fun wheel and review for the students to make. Then they can ask their parents questions about it on the way home. Use the template below and the put together with a brad.
Click here for more info
Solomons Temple Wheel Color PDF

Food: Build an Edible Temple
Don’t have a specific site for this but you can use a vanilla layer cookie, graham crackers, marshmallows, and frosting to make a temple. Be creative or let your kids be creative. If you end up eating any of it please put up an allergy alert.

Unit: Worship God

Session Title: Deborah and Barak

Life Point: People worship God by obeying Him.

Life Verse: “He has told you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

Weekly Bible Verse: “We will worship the Lord our God and obey Him.” Joshua 24:24

Bible Passage: Judges 4-5

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): Click here

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Craft: Praise God Noise Makers
The website gives you all the instructions to make these cute noise makers.
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Food: Palm Tree
This is such a cute idea of how to make food palm trees for your class to enjoy as a snack. Just remember to put up an allergy sign. **Disclaimer: comes from Catholic website**
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Game: Review Question Palm Tree
Cut palm leaves from green paper and write review questions on them. As the children answer correctly they can attach the leaves to a tree trunk.
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Craft: Deborah Warrior Sword Bookmark
Easy craft for you to do with your class.
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Unit: Special Focus

Session Title: Esther

Life Point: People are special to God.

Life Verse: “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.” Genesis 28:15a

Weekly Bible Verse: “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. His love is eternal.” Psalm 136:1

Bible Passage: Esther

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): Click here

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Craft: Make a Crown
Because Esther was a queen you could make a crown in the class. The link below has a crown template or you could find another online. Talk about how God had a plan for Esther’s life, for her to be queen.
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Craft: Royal Decree
This craft lets the children write a law they would make if they were to become king or queen. It shows how to make it but doesn’t have a template for it so you would have to come up with one. We have lots of brown paper in the resource room or if you wanted to print and glue on brown paper sacks we have those as well.
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Game: Book Balancing Relay Race
An activity for Esther is working on balance and grace. It’s a great activity for your kids, and lets them think about Esther undergoing a YEAR’S worth of beauty treatments, and it wasn’t just baths and perfumes, it was also training in how to walk and talk.
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Food: Hamentaschen (Older Kids)
The holiday that is celebrated by the Jews because of Queen Esther saving them is called Purim. The website below has the information on how this holiday came about and what they do. It also has the recipe for this pastry if you would like to make it and bring it in for the kids to try. You could talk about the different customs of the holiday.
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Object Lesson: Courage
This is a fun simple object lesson that shows the children how to have courage in times where they have to make big decisions. Very easy to do and does not require many supplies at all. I would practice at home before doing in front of kids though. All of the instructions are on the website below.
Click here for more info

Unit: God Changes People

Session Title: Saul

Life Point: God loves and forgives people when they ask for forgiveness.

Life Verse: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Acts 16:31

Weekly Bible Verses: “Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: ‘He is the Son of God.’” Acts 9:20

Bible Passage: Acts 8-9

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

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Craft: Saul to Paul Mask
Easy craft to do with younger children. All instructions and template on website.
Click here for more info

Activity: Name Transformer
To start this activity – let children first be silly and transform their own names, using ONLY the letters that are in their names but switching the letters around to make a silly name. Then tell children about Saul’s name being changed to Paul after he met Jesus and let children make a banner that will hang over their shoulder with a name that might describe a child of God — such as Faithful, Christian, Believer, or ideas from our lesson today.
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Activity: Blindfold Drawing
Have the kids put on a blindfold and then ask them to draw different things. Some can be hard and some easier. The kids will have a great laugh looking at what they drew but will also understand what its like to be blind.
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Unit: God Changes People

Session Title: Peter

Life Point: Jesus wants people to love, trust, and follow Him.

Life Verse: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Acts 16:31

Weekly Bible Verse: “Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me.” John 14:1

Bible Passages: John 18; 21

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): Click here

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Object Lesson: Chain Reaction
Bring dominoes. Give the children free time to play with the pieces. Demonstrate how dominoes fall, creating a chain reaction. Let the children experiment with lining the dominoes up and knocking them down. Tie this activity into a discussion of how lying is wrong and can create bad chain reactions. Challenge the students to tell the truth.
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Craft: Rooster
All I have to show you for this craft is the picture that is on the website below. You will need to find a picture of a rooster to print out. I believe we have feathers in the resource room if you need them.
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Object Lesson: Denied Friendship
Choose two children in your class who know each other well. Prepare one to deny knowing the other and one to be the recipient of denial. Begin an interview with the denying child by asking probing questions about the alleged friendship. The other child should be surprised, even defensive, about the denial.

Explain to the child that you were setting him up to make an illustration. Tell the class that the conversation they just heard is similar to what Peter did to Jesus when he denied knowing Him. Ask the denied child, how it felt to be denied. Allow for some discussion.
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Game: Peter Says
Like ‘Simon Says,’ but use the name ‘Peter.’ At the end, say that Peter said many things that he would do, but he did not always do them.
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Craft: Rooster Polish Wycinanki
Wycinanki is a traditional Polish folk art. These folk paper cutouts were used in the 1800’s by Polish peasants to decorate their houses. They usually hung these decorations on white walls and along ceiling beams to make the house more cheery. The cutouts are symmetrical with nature designs and geometric shapes (and lots of roosters) and they are also used for special occasions such as Christmas (maybe a symmetrical Christmas tree shape). Sometimes they are layered (different colored cutouts placed one on top of another) to make a more intricate design. This one is of a rooster and the site explains how to do it (both an easy version and a more difficult version are available on the website).
Click here for more info

Unit: God Changes People

Session Title: Zechariah

Life Point: People should follow God’s plans, not their own.

Life Verse: “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” Acts 16:31

Weekly Bible Verses: “I will always obey Your instruction, forever and ever.” Psalm 119:44

Bible Passage: Luke 1

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): Click here

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Craft for Mother’s Day: Cupcake Card
Here is a good easy craft if you are wanting to do something for Mother’s Day. You will need to prepare some of it beforehand but most of it can be done by the children.
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Mother’s Day Craft: Buttons
You could do this on mini canvases, poster board, or I did it on tiles. You will just need a lot of buttons. You don’t have to do a heart with the buttons, you could have the children come up with a design with the buttons. It was a very cute craft when we did it and the moms loved it.
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Mother’s Day: Love You Because Flowers
This is a cute craft for kids to do for their mother. The site says to use foam flowers but you could definitely do this craft with construction paper as well and it may be easier because you can use regular markers.
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Mother’s Day: I Love You With A Cherry On Top
Cute craft that has the kids think of adjectives to describe their moms. Could be made into a card but the example on the site is more poster like.
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Here is a site to a lot of mother’s day card ideas, which are very cute and easy to do as well.
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Mother’s Day: Fingerprint Flower Pots
The instructions are on the site below. This would be an easy craft to do with any age. You will need to buy the flower pots for this.
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Opening Activity: Nothing Is Impossible But It’s Physically Impossible….
Supplies – index cards, dark marker, tape
The following tasks are considered (near) impossible for humans to complete. Try out these ‘simple’ tests to see if anyone can succeed.
• Twitch your nose (without moving the rest of your face)
• Lick your elbow
• Rotate your right leg in a clockwise motion, while drawing a ‘6’ in the air with you right hand
• Wiggle your ears
• Place your palm on a flat surface with your middle finger curled underneath, then raise (only) your ring finger
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Unit: God Changes People

Session Titles: The Samaritan Woman

Life Point: People should treat others with kindness and respect.

Life Verse: “If you love Me, you will keep My commands” John 14:15

Weekly Bible Verses: “Just as you want others to do for you, do the same for them.” Luke 6:31

Bible Passage: John 4

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): Click here

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Craft: Cup of Living Water
White Paper
Paper 9-oz. Party Cups
Crayons or Colored Paper
Scissors
Hole Punch
Blue Card Stock
Yarn

What to do:
1. Before class cut water drop shapes from blue card stock so that they fit inside the cup. Make enough water drops so each craft has enough to write one word of the verse on each water drop.
3. Punch holes at the top of each water drop.
4. In class have your children string the water drops in order on the string tying each water drop to the string before they add another water drop.
5. Have your children color the cup and write the Bible verse on one side. Punch a hole in the bottom of the cup and string the yarn through the hole. Tape the string to the bottom of the cup.
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Craft: Woman at the Well Spinning Craft
This craft is going to be better for 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders because it is semi-complicated. All the instructions as well as the templates are on the website. It is pretty cool but will be time consuming so plan accordingly.
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Game: Running on Thirsty (Could be Messy)
Teach children about the woman at the well from John 4.
For this game, every child will need two cups (one with water, one without) and a drinking straw.
Have kids stand against one wall, and give each child a straw. Place cups with water on the ground near each child while placing empty cups on the floor about 10 feet away. Demonstrate how to hold water in the straw by dipping it in the cup, plugging the top with a finger, and lifting the straw. On “go,” give kids 60 seconds to see how much water they can transfer to their empty cups using only their straws.

When time’s up, read aloud John 4:7-10.

Then say: Talk about a time you were really thirsty and how you quenched your thirst.

Read aloud John 4:11-14. Say: The woman drew water at the well, just like you drew water with your straws. Jesus, though, talked about a different kind of water.
Ask:
•    What “water” do you think Jesus talked about?
•    What kinds of “thirsts” do you think Jesus’ water could quench?
Hold up a cup of water and say: Just like the water the woman got out of the well, the water in this cup will run out but Jesus’ living water never runs out!
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Craft/Food: Refreshing Treat
Let each child choose a bottle of water or juice and give them a long piece of paper and markers to write and decorate the bottle with JESUS GIVES US LIVING WATER. Tape their piece of decorated paper onto the bottle to remember today’s lesson.
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Illustration: Crackers and Water (Older Kids)
I need four volunteers to come upfront for a cracker eating challenge. If you want to be picked, you have to like crackers. (Choose four volunteers)
(Optional – During the competition, play a countdown video from freecountdowns.net. Another option is to play upbeat background music.)
(Get out the box of saltine crackers. Have children stand near the box. Place four bottles of water near the crackers.)

The four of you are going to race and see who can eat the most saltine crackers in two minutes. Whoever completely swallows the most crackers wins. You might notice the water bottles near the crackers. Well, you can’t have any water. Sorry. The rest of you in the audience, your job is to cheer for all four of them. Make some noise.
Ready, set, go!
After the competition congratulate the winner.

Say – I have a question for all four of you. What does your mouth feel like right now? (Get responses) How thirsty are you? (Get responses) What would you think if I said you couldn’t have any water till after church? (Get responses) Well, that wouldn’t be fair of me, would it? I can see you’re very thirsty, so each of you, go ahead and take a bottle of water to drink. Enjoy! You can go back to your seats now.
[Volunteers return to their seats]

**Please play this game carefully.  I would suggest that you ask them to finish one cracker be-fore they can go to the next one so they do not stuff too many crackers into their mouths and choke.**

Unit: God Changes People

Session Title: Miriam

Life Point: People’s thoughts and attitudes should honor God.

Life Verse: “If you love Me, you will keep My commands.” John 14:15

Weekly Bible Verses: “Love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life.” Deuteronomy 30:20

Bible Passage: Numbers 12

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): Click here

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Craft: Beattitudes Board
This week is not about the beattitudes but it is about having a good attitude. Below I have attached a picture of a jumping off point for a craft you could do with your kids. You could do it on construction paper or anything else you could think of!
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Craft: Attitude Wheel
You will have to adapt this idea since it is done on a lazy susan and hung on a wall in their home. But you could make something like this to help remind kids to have a good attitude each day. They had some fun ways of describing good attitudes but you could come up with you own as well.
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Craft: Keys to Obedience
This is a cute idea for the younger grades. All the instructions are on the website below. I would change the verse to either the key verse or weekly verse for this week.
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Craft: Trusting God Footprints
All the instructions are on the pdf below. With this craft you will want to talk about how when Aaron and Miriam did not obey God, they also were not trusting God.
Trusting God Footprints PDF
From: Super Duper Fun & Exciting Absolutely Thought Igniting Bible Activities for Kids

Unit: God Changes People

Session Titles: Abram

Life Point: Even when people make wrong choices, God always has a plan.

Life Verse: “If you love Me, you will keep My commands” John 14:15

Weekly Bible Verses: “We will do and obey everything that the Lord has commanded.” Exodus 24:7b

Bible Passage: Genesis 15-16

Extras from LifeWay (GREAT Ideas Here): Click here

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Craft: Promises to Abraham
Cute craft to show the promise God made to Abraham. Look at picture below.
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Craft: Popsicle Stick Star
Look at the website below to find out how to make popsicle stick stars. After you make the star you could bring out the life verse or weekly bible verse and glue to the top. Note: we do not have washi tape in the resource room. You can buy this at Hobby Lobby or Michael’s.
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Game: God’s Loving Plans
In this game students will follow the leaders’ plans and find missing envelopes. It is a lot like a scavenger hunt and could be a lot of fun for the students. If you have a smaller class you could hide some of the envelopes in other places in Children’s Ministry Area but I would try to keep the majority of it in your room. The attached PDF will give you all the details of the game and how to set it up.
Source: The Humongous Book of Games for Children’s Ministry
gods-loving-plans-pdf