Main Idea: God put us into families, whatever their size or shape, and He wants us to love and serve our families well.
Suggested Schedule: (90 mins)
- Welcome (5 mins)
- Game 1(5mins)
- Review Big Verse (5 mins)
- Set the Scene: Bible story/skit and review questions (10-15 mins)
- Object Lesson 1 talk (5mins)
- Game 2 (5 mins)
- Object Lesson 2 talk (5 mins)
- Game 3 (5 mins)
- Object Lesson 3 talk (10 mins)
- Connect the Dots Game(10 mins)
- Sense How You Feel – activity (10 – 25 mins)
- Seek God – prayer (5 mins)
Setting the Stage: This series is all about using our gifts and talents to serve those around us. At the center of service is God. Then come the people we are closest to, our family members and friends. Next come our church friends, and finally, our neighbors in the community and our neighbors in the world. You could show the circle of connections as a reminder of what you will be looking at over the next four weeks. You could set the stage like a subway, printing out different area’s (like underground stations) you will be connecting with each week (GOD, FAMILY, CHURCH, COMMUNITY).
Supplies:
- Paper or card
- Moses basket
- Baby doll
- Arm bands
- Egg
- Glass
- Water
- Salt
- Basket
- Drinks
- Biscuits
- Coloring pens
- Paper
- White card
- Scissors
- Paper doll template
- Pens
- Embellishments (stickers)
- Playdough or clay
- Lego or construction toys
- Prayer tent materials – cushions, bibles, fairy lights, cross, candles etc
- All PowerPoint games with some way of showing them (i.e. laptop and screen)
SONG and BIBLE STORY VIDEO IDEAS available via our dedicated Pinterest Board.
GAME IDEAS:
GAME 1 AIRPLANE CHALLENGE – 5 MINS
Description: One on One Game.
Supplies: (regular/widescreen) Paper or card.
Details: Airplane challenge. The challenge is for the children (or leaders) to make a paper airplane (you could set a time limit to make it harder). The plane which flies the furthest is the winner!
GAME 2 HAPPY FAMILIES – 5 MINS
Description: Group Game
Supplies: (regular/widescreen) Cut out the family cards provided with the game. (sheep/cow/pig/penguin/koala/goat/giraffe/bear)
Details: Happy Families. Leader hands out cards to each of the children who then have to try and pair up with their family. The first team to do this first in the winner!
GAME 3 CONNECTIONS – 10 MINS
Description: Powerpoint Game
Supplies: (Keynote/PowerPoint) No supplies needed
Details: Connections. The leader shows the connections PowerPoints and children need to guess the connections between each of the items. The child to find the most connections first is the winner.
BIG VERSE: A Spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 1 Corinthians 12:7.
(regular/widescreen) Download the Bible cards here (PDF).
SET THE SCENE: 10-15 MINS
Description: Bible story and questions
Supplies: Bible
Details: You may want to have some of the children act out the story (you could use a Moses basket and a doll) at the same time as you read the passage.
Say: Has anyone ever had to be rescued by one of their family? Well in today’s story we are going to hear about an amazing rescue! Read Exodus 2 1- 8.
REVIEW QUESTIONS:
1.How did Moses family look after him?
2.What did his mother do with him for the first three months of his life?
3.When his mother could hide him no longer, what did she do with Moses?
4.Where did Pharaoh’s daughter find the baby? (Along the bank of the Nile among the reeds.)
5.Do you think Moses was found by accident, or was it God’s plan?
SPOT THE SIMPLE MEANING:
1) FAMILY FORGIVES- 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 1
Supplies: video of otters holding hands (see Pinterest Board.)
Details:
Say: Anyone here have brothers or sisters? If you do have you ever said “She took my stuff!” or maybe “He hit me first”? (wait for response). Do you get along with your brothers and sisters all the time? Of course not! But did you know that animal siblings get along much better than us. For example, older elephant children babysit young ones. Otter pups spend almost all their time together and will even hold hands in the water so they don’t float apart! (show slide). Isn’t that cute?! When you live with someone all the time it’s easy to get on each other’s nerves. Before you know it you are arguing and fighting. But we need to ask God to help us love our families – being kind and patient. Ready to forgive each other when we make mistakes. Just like God does for us!
2) FAMILY PROTECTS – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 2
Supplies:. Arm bands, 1 egg, glass, water, salt, basket
Details: Fill a glass with water. Stir a few heaped spoons of salt it.
Say: Do you think that I can get this egg to float? (Crack the egg into the glass). Wow look at that! How may of you swim? When you learnt to swim you might have used these (hold up arm bands). These arm bands protect us from drowning. In our bible story today we saw how a Mom and Sister protected their family member from drowning (hold up basket). Moses was in big trouble so his mother and sister had little choice but to put him in the Moses basket! God used his family to help protect him and make sure that he didn’t sink – just like when we wear arm bands and like our egg! God has given each of us a special family that’s unique to us and he wants us to protect and look out for each other. Just like Moses family, we need to work to-gether!
3) SERVING OTHERS – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 3
Supplies: Drinks and biscuits
Details: Ask half of the group to get up and choose a biscuit and pour a drink. Then ask them to go and serve that drink and biscuit to one of the children who is still sit-ting. Swap over and ask the first half of the children to serve drink and biscuits to those who served them.
How does it feel to be served by someone else? When we serve other people we make them feel special! And we make ourselves feel good too, because we are obeying God’s law.
When God saved us he didn’t just save us so we can still think about ourselves. No! He saved us so that we can SERVE others! We are here to SERVE others! And serving others starts with our FAMILIES! How can you serve your families? (wait for a response).
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES: CONNECT THE DOTS GAME – 10 MINS
Description: Connect the dots scripture game.
Supplies: Connect the dots printables (Jpeg/PDF), bibles.
Details: Join the dots and then find the scriptures to see the different ways God wants to connect with us. Invite the children to come take a dot to dot printable. Once they have found the bible reference they should look the verse up and share with the rest of the group.
Connect the dots verses:
• Exodus 20:12 Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
• Proverbs 23: 25 May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!
• Joshua 24: 15 But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Then discuss the questions below.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.How many people are in your family? Are you the oldest, middle or youngest child?
2.What do you love about your family?
3.How can we serve our family?
4.What is something special your family likes to do together?
5.How can you serve the Lord together this week?
SENSE HOW YOU FEEL – 10 MINS EACH OR IN TANDEM/ROTATION
Encourage the children to think about the questions above as they do one of the activities:
Description: Craft.
Supplies: White card, scissors, paper doll template (PDF1 & PDF 2), pens, ‘We Will Serve’ Printable (B&W/Color)
Details: Cut out the paper doll template and then color each person in like a member of your family. Add the paper dolls to a popsicle stick and slot them through the “We Will Serve’ template.
Description: Moulding activity.
Supplies: Playdough or clay.
Details: Mould someone in your family.
Description: Building activity.
Supplies: Lego or construction toys.
Details: Build the scene of Moses in the bullrushes.
Description: Sensory activity.
Supplies: Create a prayer tent space using cushions, lights, a cross and tent if you have one. Have some quiet music playing.
Details: Encourage the children to spend some time chatting and listening to God. Have some scriptures around to help focus them. Allow time to draw or write anything that they have heard.
Description: Activity Booklets.
Supplies: 5-7s (PDF) and 8-11s (PDF) booklets, markers.
Details: Fill in or color the 5-7s and 8-11s booklets
SEEK GOD: 5 MINS
Description: Prayer/Encounter activity
Supplies: Soft worship music, paper, pens
Details: Ask the children to stand. Play some quiet music in the background
Say: Today we have learnt how important our families are to God. Give each child a piece of paper and some pens. Ask them to draw each member of their family on the paper. Under each portrait they should write a one sentence prayer thanking God for this family member. They should try to think of something specific that they want to thank Him for! Have a time of prayer where each child shouts out a praise prayer thanking God for their family.
Say: Dear God, Thank you for giving us families to love and serve. Thank you for each family here today. You love each one of us so much and we are so grate-ful for the role we play. Please help us to be our best and to experience your love in our family. AMEN.
ZOOM FRIENDLY LESSON:
CONNECTIONS ZOOM GAME (Keynote/PowerPoint)
LET’S GO DOTTY ZOOM GAME (Keynote/PowerPoint)
FAMILY FUN ZOOM GAME (regular/widescreen)
Click here for the title image.
Click here for the widescreen image.
Click here for the social media image.
