First Look TM Curriculum for Zoo, Toy Store, Fire Truck rooms February 28, 2016 Basic Truth: Jesus wants to be my friend forever. Key Question: Who does Jesus love? Bottom Line: Jesus loves everyone. Memory Verse: Love each other as I have loved you. John 15:12, NIV Bible Story Focus: Tell everyone Jesus loves them. Disciples Tell Others Matthew 28:16-20 Make It Fun (Introductory Activities, 10 minutes) Prepare to offer one or more of the following activities as your children arrive. Let one teacher lead activities while another teacher greets parents and kids at the door. 1. Pouring out Love Pouring out Love is an activity that uses gross motor movements to introduce today s Bible story. What You Need: Several small plastic buckets, 1 larger bucket, and foam hearts During the Activity: Have the children stand in a row holding a bucket. Some children can share buckets and take turns pouring, or pour together. Today, we re going to play a really fun game called Pouring out Love. I have some buckets and some hearts. I want each of you to hold on to a bucket. I m going to place some of these hearts into one bucket. I want you (point to the first child) to dump your hearts into the next friend s bucket, and then you (point to the second child) pour those hearts into the next person s bucket, and we ll repeat this all the way down the line. Are you ready? After the Activity: That was a super fun game. These hearts are like the love we give. We poured out love into this bucket and this bucket and this bucket and this bucket. You know Jesus wants us to tell people He loves them. We can spread His love just like we spread these hearts all around. We ll hear more about how to do that in our Bible story today. I can t wait! Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 1
2. Spread the Love Spread the Love is an investigation activity that teaches science skills while demonstrating the concept of the upcoming Bible story. What You Need: Coffee filters, markers, spray bottle, and water Before the Activity: I have some coffee filters here that we are going to draw hearts on. (Hold up.) We are going to do a fun science experiment with them. Remember, a heart means love. During the Activity: Give each child a filter and a marker. Have them draw a heart (or other shape if they don t know how to draw a heart). Then give each child a turn with the water bottle. Spray the filter and the heart with the water. (Allow the child to do activity.) Awesome! WOW! The heart is spreading all over the filter! (Repeat with each child.) After the Activity: The heart spread all over the filter just like Jesus wants us to spread His love. In our story today, Jesus asks His friends to help spread His love too. Large Group (9:15 9:35/ 11:00 11:20) Make It Stick (Application Activities, 35 minutes) These activities are designed to help the children understand and remember today s Bible story and Bottom Line. COLLECTION: PASS THE COLLECTION CONTAINER AROUND THE CIRCLE OF CHILDREN. TELL THEM IT IS FOR CHILDREN IN HAITI TO HELP PURCHASE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT OR CRIBS FOR THEM. THE VERMAIRES ARE THERE AND WE ARE HELPING TO SUPPORT THE HOSPITAL WHERE THEY WORK. IF A CHILD DOES NOT HAVE ANY MONEY, HAVE THEM REACH TO THEIR HEART, GRAB THEIR HEART AND PUT IT IN THE CONTAINER, SYMBOLIZING THAT THEY GIVE THEIR HEART TO GOD 1. Fill in the Verse Fill in the Verse is an activity that uses reasoning and fine motor skills to review this month s Memory Verse. What You Need: Fill in the Verse from the Activity Pages found on the Website, white cardstock, red and pink construction paper, scissors, markers, and glue sticks BINS: Cut out a small heart for each child (make sure they are small enough to fit inside the blanks on the activity page) Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 2
During the Activity: Put hearts in a bucket and pass out a Fill in the Verse activity page to each child. This month, we ve learned a great verse from the Bible. Can you all say it with me? (Pause.) Love each other as I have loved you, John 15:12. That s what Jesus told us to do! (Repeat the verse again.) Take a look at your pages. Do you see the blank space on your page? (Pause.) Let s say it together one more time as I point to the words. Love each other as I have loved you, John 15:12. Who are we supposed to love? (Pause.) OTHERS! Others could be your mommy or daddy or your neighbor or friend. It includes everyone. I want you each to choose a heart from my bucket. I will go around the table and ask who you would like to put on your heart. Once I write it down, I want you to glue the heart onto the circle. After the Activity: I love all the names of the people you listed on your hearts. Do you think that Jesus loves the people you chose? (Pause.) He sure does! Who does Jesus love? (Pause.) [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone! Jesus said we should always love each other because He loves us. Great job, everyone. 2. Hearts in a Corner Hearts in a Corner is an activity that reteaches the Bible story and teaches color skills. What You Need: Corner Hearts from the Activity Pages found on the Website; pink, red, purple, and yellow cardstock; scissors; and floor tape Before the Activity: Copy the Corner Hearts Activity Page onto the paper. You will need one heart per color of paper. Cut out the hearts. Before the Activity: Tape one heart to the floor in each corner of the activity area. In our story today we heard about Jesus giving His friends a very special job. He told them to go and tell others that Jesus loved them. He wanted them to say that Jesus loves everyone. Jesus wants us to do the same thing. He wants us to tell our family and our friends that Jesus wants to be their friend forever and that He loves everyone. During the Activity: Let s practice telling others that [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone. There are different colored hearts in the corners of our room (point). We have a pink, a purple, a red, and a yellow heart. When I call out a color, I want you to hop to that color. When you get there I want to hear in your loudest voice, [Bottom Line] JESUS LOVES EVERYONE! Are you ready? Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 3
After the Activity: That was awesome! You are all so good at telling others that Jesus loves them. Jesus wants all of us to tell others that He loves everyone! Who does Jesus love? [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone! 3. Heart Stack Heart Stack is an activity that uses gross motor and concentration skills to review today s Bottom Line. What You Need: Large conversation hearts During the Activity: Pass out the hearts and let the kids practice stacking them on the table. See how high you can build a heart stack tower. After the Activity: Great job, everyone! Wouldn t it be awesome to build a stack of hearts all the way to the sky? (Pause.) Did you know that Jesus love is bigger than that? (Pause.) It s true! Because [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone. We could never buy enough hearts or make enough stacks to show just how much Jesus loves us. I m so glad to know that [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone! 4. Buckets of Love Buckets of Love is an activity that uses listening and fine motor skills to review today s Bible story. What You Need: plastic cups (1 per child), heart stickers, Buckets of Love Labels, (one per child) Jesus Loves You Labels, (2 per child) and Buckets of Love Parent Note from the Activity Pages found on the Website, conversation heart candies, small baggies During the Activity: Today you re going to receive a special treat. But it s not for you. It s for you to share. First let s make something fun to hold our treats. Do you see your cups? (Pause.) Let s add this label to the side. It says, Tell everyone Jesus loves them. Should we tell others that Jesus loves them? (Pause.) Absolutely. And we re going to do that by giving away these hearts this week! First I want you to decorate your cups with these heart stickers. (Help children place the labels and stickers on their cups.) And now for our hearts! I m going to give you two bags to give away to two people this week. Do you see these round labels? (Pause.) They say, Jesus loves you! When you give these away, I want you to tell the person you give this treat to that Jesus loves them. Who does Jesus love? (Pause.) [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone. Let s place our Jesus loves you label on the front of these treats. Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 4
After the Activity: I hope you have fun sharing these treats with someone you love. Make sure to tell them how much Jesus loves them and that you love them too. Jesus wants us to tell everyone how much He loves them. I m so glad that [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone. Who does Jesus love? [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone! Make It Real (Small Groups, 5 minutes) Make It Real is designed to help children understand how the Bottom Line applies to them. They ll discuss real-life experiences and share prayer requests. Small Group Time What you Need: Paperclip Memory Verse Card from the week one Activity Pages on the Website in your Bible at John 15:12. Provide a journal and a fun-shaped pen for each small group. You will also need reward stickers or a hand stamp. (Suggestion: Heart stickers and a heart shaped hand stamp would be perfect!) SMALL GROUP LEADER (SGL): Today s Bible story was about how Jesus wants us to tell EVERYONE that [Bottom Line] Jesus loves EVERYONE! Everyone needs to know that Jesus loves them and He wants you and me to tell them! Who does Jesus love? (Pause.) CHILDREN and SGL: [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone! SGL: YES! [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone, even when we do something wrong. [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone when no one else does. [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone no matter what! And we need to tell them! Today we re going to make a list of all the people we can tell that [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone, but before we do, I have a sticker/hand stamp for anyone who wants to try and say our Bible verse all by yourself. We ll say our verse one time together and then anyone who wants to try and say it by yourself can try. I have my stickers/hand stamp ready! First, let s say it all together. Here we go! CHILDREN and SGL: Love each other (give yourself a big hug) as I (point up with both fingers) have loved you (bring fingers down and point all over the room at all the kids), John 15:12. (Open hands like a book.) Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 5
SGL: Perfect! Now who wants to say it all by yourself? (Pause.) (Give each child the opportunity to say the verse on his own. Have your stickers/hand stamp ready to give when they say it.) SGL: I am so proud of you! Your sticker/hand stamp can remind you to love others the way Jesus loves you! Now it s time to write in our journal. Let s make that list of people we can tell that [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone! This will be a fun list! We can write as many people s names as we want because everyone needs to know that [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone! (Give each child the opportunity to share. Remember to print the words so the children can recognize their names and the letters.) SGL: This is a great list! Let s pray and ask God to help us tell all of these people that [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone. Would anyone like to pray before I pray? (Pause.) (Give each child that wants to pray the opportunity to do so.) SGL: Now I ll pray. Prayer SGL: Dear God, thank You for giving us a friend like Jesus, who loves us no matter what. Thank You that He loves us even when we do something wrong. Thank You that He loves us even when no one else does. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Please help us to tell (read the list you and the children made) that [Bottom Line] Jesus loves everyone and to love others the way Jesus loves us. We love You, God. In Jesus name, amen. Curriculum Materials for 3- through 5-year-olds 2016 The rethink Group. All rights reserved. www.thinkorange.com 6