Space Academy: Under-5s Day 4 Daniel 5

Transcription

1 Space Academy: Under-5s Day 4 Daniel 5 Aim: To know that God is great and wants us to obey him Bible story with sound effects Belshazzar s party What you need: a large piece of paper taped to a wall or board, a marker pen In this short retelling of the Bible story, the children copy the sound effects made by you or another leader. The aim is to contrast the noise of Belshazzar s party with the silence as you write on the wall. Sound effects are in brackets. Tell the story: King Belshazzar had a party. (Hooray!) There were lots of important people there. (Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!) They sang (la, la, la!) and they danced (tap feet). They laughed (ha, ha, ha!) and they laughed some more (ha, ha, ha!). Come on, shouted King Belshazzar, Let s have some fun. We ll find those silver and gold cups we took from the temple in Jerusalem. God s cups, they said they were. I don t care about their God. Let s drink from his lov-erly cups! Yes, said everyone. (Yes! yes! yes!) So they found the cups and drank their wine. (Smack lips and say aaah.) And they sang (la, la, la!) and danced (tap feet), laughed (ha, ha, ha!) and laughed some more (ha, ha, ha!). And then... a hand appeared. Everyone went quiet. The hand wrote on the wall. (Write mene, tekel and parsin or just m, t and p.) Nobody spoke. They were all terrified. King Belshazzar said, What does the writing mean? Nobody knew. Then the queen said, Send for Daniel. His God helps him understand difficult things. So Daniel came. (Tap with feet.) He looked at the writing. (Mmmm.) He cleared his throat. (Ahem!) And he said, Your majesty, this writing is a message from God. He is not pleased with you. (Click tongue.) You have not worshipped God as you should. (Click tongue.) You have not obeyed God. (Click tongue.) And now your chance is over.

2 What God had told Daniel came true. That night, someone else became king. All because King Belshazzar had not worshipped and obeyed God as he should have done. Bible story with finger puppets A message for the king What you need: a finger puppet of Daniel, King Belshazzar and two party-goers from Day 1 Resource Sheet A Introduce the puppets. Explain that there is a new king now called Belshazzar, but Daniel is still working in the king s palace. Today s story has lots of people in it, but the children will only see two of them. Encourage them to imagine the rest! Tell the story showing the puppets at the relevant times: King Belshazzar became king after his father, King Nebuchadnezzar. King Belshazzar didn t know about God at all. He thought he was so strong and powerful himself that he could do whatever he liked! One night, he had a big party with one thousand people! What a party it was! Lots of music and noise and plenty to eat and drink! As the party went on King Belshazzar suddenly shouted, Why are we drinking out of these ordinary cups? My father had some beautiful gold and silver cups. He got them from Jerusalem. Bring me the gold and silver cups. And he sent his servants to find them. Nobody tried to stop the king doing that, but it was a bad thing to do. These were very special cups that God s people had used when they worshipped him in Jerusalem. It was wrong to use them for drinking wine at a party. But King Belshazzar didn t care about obeying God or worshipping him. The party went on and everyone used the special cups. Then a very strange thing happened. A hand appeared in the room, just a hand without a body and it was writing on the wall. King Belshazzar stared, very frightened! He d never seen anything like this before! When the writing was done, the hand disappeared. But the writing was still there on the wall. King Belshazzar could not read it. Nobody at the party knew what it said. The king's advisers did not know what it said. King Belshazzar was more frightened. Then the king's mother said, 'Daniel will know what this means. Send for him.'

3 Daniel came and looked at the writing. The king said, Can you tell me what this writing on the wall means? Daniel told him, I will read you what it says. But this writing is very serious. Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, learned that God is the most powerful king in the world and that it was right to obey and worship him. But you have not worshipped God. You ve even used these special gold and silver cups for a party. That s why God has sent the hand which made this writing. King Belshazzar said nothing. He felt very scared because he had not obeyed God. Daniel said, The writing means that you will not be king for much longer. King Belshazzar was even more frightened. What Daniel said came true. Later that night, someone else became king. Daniel went on obeying God and worshipping him because he knew that it was the best thing to do always. Prayer and praise Psalm praise Encourage the children to think about big things they ve seen, perhaps trees, tall buildings, animals. Say that God has created some huge things which remind us of how great he is. There are big rocks (put your arms out wide) and high, high mountains (stretch up), the vast sea with massive waves (sweep your arms up and down) and the whole earth is his (make a large circle in the air). God is greater than all these and that makes us glad. Teach the refrain, Say the following prayer based on Psalm 95:1 6, using the actions suggested above. Let s sing and shout to God! God is like a mighty rock where we feel safe. So we worship him and thank him: The Lord is the greatest and he made the earth. He made the mountains and they are his. He made the seas and they are his.

4 Let s worship the Lord who made us. We are his children and he is our God. We trust him because he looks after us. Simple craft Prayer hands What you need: pencils, pens, paper, children s scissors Give each child a pen and a pencil. Let them try to draw around their hands, but give help when needed. It will be easier if they draw the hand with the fingers held together. Help them to cut out the hand shape. Give out the pens and encourage them to draw on the hand shape anything they would like to talk to God about. They could say thank you for something their families, the food they eat, their friends or toys, or draw something they need help with. Messy craft Magic writing What you need: a very large piece of paper (for example, length of wallpaper or frieze paper), white candle, jars of paints mixed very thinly, wide brushes, cover-up and clean-up materials To prepare, using the candle, write on the paper in very large letters: Obey and worship God. Add patterns and swirls around the words. Remind the children of the story, especially how writing appeared on the wall at the king s party. Say that there is a message for them on the piece of paper. To read it, they need to paint over the paper and the message will appear.

5 Allow them to do this until the whole surface has been painted. The letters and decorations should now be visible. Ask the children whether they know what the writing says. It is likely that nobody will (which is what happened to Belshazzar) but you will be able to tell them what it says. Explain that it is an important message God wants us to obey him and worship him because it is the best way. Space Academy craft Planet earth What you need: a circle of paper or card, plain paper, blue, brown and green wax crayons, scissors, glue sticks Make the planet earth to add to the Space Academy frieze started on Days 1 to 3. Show the children a picture of earth from space. Ask them if they know which planet it is and make sure they understand that it is our planet, but that the picture is taken from space a long way away. Let the children colour areas of blue, brown or green on individual pieces of paper. When they have done this, they can cut their sheet of paper up into rough shapes and bring them to stick onto the circle of paper to make planet earth. (There is no need to attempt to make it look like the real thing!) Glue planet earth to the Space Academy frieze. Activity Writing on the wall What you need: large sheets of paper, wax crayons or washable felt-tip pens, masking tape

6 Cover the wall in an area of the room by taping large sheets of paper at child s height. If this is not possible, the work could be done on the floor or at tables and then displayed on the wall. Tell the children to draw or write whatever they want, but to be very careful to keep their work on the paper. They can have one crayon or pen at a time and should come to you when they want to change. Alternatively, if the weather is suitable, give each child a small bucket or can of water and a large brush. Let them paint the walls and ground outside with water. Remind everyone that God s message was written on the wall in today s Bible story. God wants us to obey and worship him. Rhyme As you say the rhyme, point to the part of the body mentioned and add other actions if you wish. I can please God with my hands, Hands which stroke and hold and pray. I can please God with my voice, A voice which says kind words all day. I can please God with my ears, Ears which listen when they should. I can please God with my thoughts, When I think of what is good. I can please God with my feet, Feet which run to help someone. I can please God with my love, Love for God and everyone.