BIG IDEA: GOD IS FATHER
AIM: To help children see that God is their Heavenly Father that loves them using the parable of the Lost Son.
SONG and BIBLE STORY VIDEO IDEAS available via our dedicated Pinterest Board.
GAME IDEAS:
SPAGHETTI FATHER – 5 mins
Description:
Supplies: (regular/widescreen) You will need some cooked spaghetti, red or black food coloring, bowls, tables, Spaghetti Father printables and optionally a laminator with laminated pouches.
Details: Preparation: laminate the father pictures. Cook the spaghetti, get rid of the water and add food coloring, Place the spaghetti somewhere where it can dry out a little. Cut the spaghetti into smaller parts and distribute into bowls for each contestant. Place a bowl and father printable in place for each player. To make it even more messy place the table further away from the father printable so that players will need to race between areas to place the spaghetti on the father’s face.
How to Play: Children are given a bowl full of died spaghetti and they must make a beard and moustache and hair for the dad in the picture as fast as they can. The children must compete to decorate the dad. You can play just for fun or have some of the children vote on which decorated dad looks the best.
PIN THE TIE ON THE FATHER – 5 MINS
Description: Team Game
Supplies: (regular/widescreen) You will need blindfolds (could also use scarves), the tie (letter/A3) and father printables (letter/A3) , a way of sticking the father printable to a wall and some double sided sticky tape to stick to the back of the tie printables.
Details: Print off the tie and father printables. Have children take turns to stick a tie on the father whilst blindfolded. Who can get the tie in the best place? The winner is the child that does this the most successfully. For large groups you can print off multiple printables and play in smaller groups.
OUR HEAVENLY FATHER PUZZLE – 10 MINS
Description:
Supplies: (regular/widescreen) Our Heavenly Father Puzzle Printableand scissors.
Details: You will need: the Our Heavenly Father puzzle printable and some scissors.
Preparation: Print off the number of fathers day printables that you need and cut up the pieces.
How to Play: Children compete on their own or in teams to finish the fathers day puzzle first. The winner is the one/team to complete it the fastest.
BIG VERSE: How great the love that the Father lavishes on us, that we should be called children of God… and that is what we are! 1 John 3:1.
(regular/widescreen) Download the Bible cards here.
SET THE SCENE: 10-15 MINS
Description: Story time
Supplies: Bible or try one of the Bible videos listed on our Pinterest Board
Details: Read Luke 15:11-32 or act out then ask a few of the review questions below:
REVIEW QUESTIONS:
- What did the youngest son want from his father?
- Where did he go once he got his money?
- What happened to all of his money?
- Why did he return home?
- What did the father do once he saw him?
- What did the oldest son do when he saw the party?
SPOT THE SIMPLE MEANING:
1) A FATHER IS… – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 1
Supplies: Use the Earthly Father: secret identity printable (letter/A3). post it notes and a marker
Details: You will need to have your secret identity poster in a place that is visible to everyone in the room.
Say: Today we’re thinking about our Heavenly Father God. Yet before we can do that, we have to find out what a father is like… so, what do you think a father is like? [Get feedback and write on post it notes and stick to secret identity poster]
It sounds a bit funny saying that God is our Father… perhaps when you think about a father, you think about your own dad. You might think about what your parents are like and what they do. Yet all parents make mistakes. Our parents might yell at us sometimes, or get angry with us, they may even leave us on our own from time to time. Our earthly parents are not perfect. They get things wrong.
2) GOD IS A PERFECT FATHER – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 3
Supplies: A leader that is willing to share a story about their own father. Use the Heavenly Father: secret identity printable (letter/A3). Pens, post it notes.
Details: You will need to have your second secret identity poster in a place that is visible to everyone in the room. Next to your original poster works really well for comparison.
Say: [Share about your own father first.]
What do you think a perfect parent would be like? You may think a perfect parent would be someone to feed you sweets all day?! But that would rot your teeth and you’d spend all your days with gums instead of lovely white teeth. Or you make think a perfect parent would let you watch TV, go on the internet or play on your [insert latest games console name here] console all day… but that would mean you would never learn anything in school… you’d never get a job and you would end up on the streets… perhaps that isn’t what a perfect parent would do.
Yet God is our Heavenly Father. He is perfect – He never makes mistakes or gets things wrong. He is completely loving and kind. He is patient and compassionate. What else do you think He is like? [Get feedback. Write what they say on post it notes and stick it to the perfect father secret identity image.] That is the kind of God we serve! One who will always be there for us. That’s the kind of God we can trust! Our perfect Heavenly father!
3) THE FATHER LAVISHES HIS LOVE – 5 MINS
Description: Object Lesson 2
Supplies: spray cream, paper plate, mini chocolate cake or cupcake.
Details:
Talk: The story of the Prodigal Son is a story that Jesus told to help us understand God the Father’s love for us. The Bible tells us that God is three persons in one God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. In the story, the Father is loving towards his son, even when his son does things that might make him sad. He loves his son even when the son wants nothing to do with him, even when the son does hurtful things. The son completely leaves his family and wastes all his money having fun. Yet the father still welcomes him home.
[show Bible verse slide] John 3:1 tells us “How great is the love that the father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.” To be lavish is to be generous. In the story the Father was generous because he gave the son the money he asked for, before he was meant to receive it.
I have a little cake here and I’m going to lavish it with cream. Do you think this is lavished? [spray a tiny bit on the cake]. Do you think this is lavished? [spray a bit more, keep asking this over and over until the cake is completely covered and there is no cream left. For added extra fun take a huge bite of the cake and get your face completely covered in cream!]
God lavishes His love on us. He is a generous and loving Father who will never leave us or abandon us. We can always come home to Him, just as the lost son came home to his father. God wants us to know His love and to be His child.
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES:
TOP SECRET: WHO’S THE DADDY? – 10 MINS
Description: PowerPoint game. (keynote, pptx)
Supplies: PowerPoint game and a way to show it. Paper, markers and tape if using posters.
Details: Children must read the clues and guess who the secret identity of each father. Optionally you could create paper posters of the fathers names, stick them up around the room with tape. Children can run around the room to find the correct answer.
This activity is for children that are fairly familiar with their Bibles. If your children aren’t sure, perhaps you could hold up the images/words of the Bible characters and explain their stories briefly.
- I had 12 sons but one was my favourite so I gave him a special coat. (Jacob)
- I was the first earthly father in the bible. One of my sons killed the other. (Adam)
- I helped the boy Samuel to recognise God’s voice. But my own sons disappointed God and I didn’t discipline them. (Eli)
- My sons and their wives joined me on my ark. (Noah)
- My daughter died but Jesus raised her to life. (Jairus)
- My son became king after me and built God’s Temple. (David)
- I was about to sacrifice my son when God sent a ram in his place. (Abraham)
- My son tricked me into giving him his brother’s inheritance. I was too blind to see. (Isaac)
- An angel told me in a dream not to be afraid to take Mary as my wife. She would have a son and his name would be Jesus. (Joseph)
- 10. I helped all the people of Israel escape Egypt. My family and I all lived together with the people in the wilderness. (Moses)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
- Do you think it is easy to be a father? Why/why not?
- Which Biblical fathers do you think did a good job of being a father?
- What is your father like?
- What do you think a father should be like?
- Why is God the best father we can have?
SENSE HOW YOU FEEL – 10 MINS EACH OR IN TANDEM/ROTATION
Imagine you are the son.
How does it feel to be welcomed home by the father?
Encourage the children to think about the questions above as they do one of the activities:
Description: Craft.
Supplies: Welcome Home sign Template (PDF), popsicle sticks, markers, scissors, hole punch, string or ribbon
Details: Decorate the Welcome Home sign, put a hole punch in the top and thread it with ribbon or string as a reminder that God always welcomes us home.
Description: Moulding activity.
Supplies: Playdough or clay.
Details: Mould your favourite scene from the story of the Lost Son.
Description: Building activity.
Supplies: Lego or construction toys.
Details: Build the scene of the son coming home or any scene from the Lost Son story.
Description: Sensory activity.
Supplies: Sand, grass, stones, water in separate tubs with a towel at the end.
Details: Children walk through the different tubs imagining their journey home as the Lost Son. (This can also be used as a prayer activity if you invite children to pray and thank God for welcoming them home as they walk through)
Description: Activity Booklets.
Supplies: 5-7s (PDF) and 8-11s booklets (PDF), markers.
Details: Fill in or color the 5-7s and 8-11s booklets
SEEK GOD: 5 MINS
Description: Prayer activity
Supplies: Good, Good Father song (see Pinterest Board) and a way to play it.
Details:
Say: Do you want to know God as your Father in Heaven? [wait for feedback] Whatever our earthly father is like, we can always trust that God is a good, good father. As we listen to this next song, sit down and place your hands out in front of you, palms facing up. Ask God to show you His love and to remind you of how loving He really is.
Pray to end: Father God, thank You that You love us so much. Thank you that no matter if we feel You or not, we can know that You are good and that You lavish Your love on us! Amen.
Say: Do you want to know God as your father? Do you want to know that He is always there for you and that you can always come home to him? I’m going to pray and you can join in by saying ‘Amen’ if you agree.
Father God, thank You that You are a perfect, generous and loving Father. Thank you that You never make mistakes and that you are always there for us. Help us to know that we can always come to you, whether we feel happy or sad, whether we have done good things or bad. Thank you that you love us no matter what. Amen.
Click here for the ‘God is Father’ Powerpoint image
