DecemberWeek2

December9th/10th

OVERVIEW CARD

Key Question: How do we know God loves us? Bottom Line: God gave us Jesus.

Memory Verse: “God has given a son to us.” Isaiah 9:6, NCV Bible Story Focus: The angels tell about Jesus. The Shepherds. Luke 2:8-20 Coloring Page: Shepherds come to greet Jesus. Music: Special Delivery

Oh What a Special Night Best Present Ever

Bible Lesson: The Beginner’s Bible Shepherds Visit Pages 277 to 281

Story: J is for Jesus By Crystal Bowman

Memory Verse –

Isaiah 9:6, NCV

DecemberWeek2

December9th/10thBeing Sheep Big Idea: Children will pretend to be sheep as you pretend to be the shepherd and instruct the “sheep” to go into the hula hoop (pen). What You Need: 4 Hula-hoops and a shepherd’s hook What You Do: Before the Activity: Guide the children to stand in front of you. During the Activity: Ask the children to pretend to be sheep, and you pretend to a shepherd. Encourage them to get on their hands and knees and say, “baa, baa,” as they move around the room. Place the hula-hoops on the floor and instruct your “sheep” to go into the pens (hula-hoops). Repeat several times. What You Say: Before the Activity: “Today we learned about shepherds. Shepherds take care of sheep. A shepherd keeps sheep safe. He stays with them in the fields and helps them go into their pens so they are safe!” During the Activity: “I will be the shepherd, and you can be my sheep! Everyone get on your hands and knees and move around like this (demonstrate) while saying, ‘baa, baa.’ (Do activity.) You are all wonderful sheep! Now it is time for you to go into your pens. (Lay down the hoops and motion for the children to go into the pens.) Great job, my little sheep! You can get out of your pens now.” (Repeat several times.) After the Activity: “You were amazing sheep! In our Bible lesson, we heard about angels who came to tell the shepherds some WONDERFUL news! God sent angels to tell the shepherds that God gave us Jesus! Then the shepherds went and told everyone all about Jesus. We should tell everyone about Jesus too! How do we know God loves us? God gave us Jesus!”

Memory Verse –

Isaiah 9:6, NCV

ACTIVITY 1 – 2’s/3’s only

DecemberWeek2

December9th/10th

Gather the Sheep Big Idea: Have the children collect cotton ball “sheep”. What You Need: Cotton balls What You Do: Before the Activity: Have the children stand with you and toss the cotton balls up in the air. During the Activity: Count to three and have the children go and collect as many of the cotton ball sheep as they can. Repeat. After the Activity: Sit down in a circle and put all the “sheep” in the middle as you review the Bible lesson.

What You Say: Before the Activity: “Come stand with me, friends. Let’s pretend these cotton balls (show children all the cotton balls in your hands) are sheep. Can you say hello to the little sheep? (Pause.) Hello, little sheep! I’m going to count to three and I’ll scatter the sheep. Then I need your help to gather them all up.” During the Activity: “One, two, three! (Throw the cotton balls up in the air.) Now go gather the sheep! (Pause.) Great job! Look around. Did we get all the sheep? (Pause.) Super! Let’s gather them again! (Repeat as many times as desired.) Super duper!” After the Activity: “Come sit in a circle with me. (Pause.) Now toss all the sheep in the middle of our circle. (Pause.) You guys did such a good job gathering all the sheep, just like Shepherds do. In our Bible lesson, we heard about angels who came to tell the shepherds some WONDERFUL news! God sent angels to tell the shepherds that God gave us Jesus! Then the shepherds went and told everyone all about Jesus. We should tell everyone about Jesus too! How do we know God loves us? God gave us Jesus!”

Memory Verse –

Isaiah 9:6, NCV

ACTIVITY 2 – 2’s/3’s only

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DecemberWeek2

December9th/10th

Hop to It Big Idea: Children will hop from hoop to hoop while practicing their memory verse. What You Need: 4 Hula-hoops What You Do: During the Activity: Line the Hula-hoops up in a row. Encourage the children to hop from one hoop to the other while saying part of the Memory Verse each time they hop in a hoop. Hoop 1: “God” Hoop 2: “has given” Hoop 3: “a son” Hoop 4: “to us.” What You Say: Before the Activity: “God has given a son to us is the best news ever! I don’t want you to ever forget it, so we are going to play a game that will help you always remember that God gave us the best present ever - Jesus!” During the Activity: “Watch what I do so you can do it too! (Demonstrate hopping in the hoops while saying the Memory Verse.) God-has given-a son-to us. Yay! God-has given-a son-to us! How do we know God loves us? God gave us Jesus! Now line up and you can take turns doing it too!” (Other options include: Zigzag the hoops, put more distance between each hoop, jump sideways rather than straight forward, etc. Keep changing it up and playing as long as the children are interested and having fun.)

ACTIVITY 3 - All

Memory Verse –

Isaiah 9:6, NCV

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DecemberWeek2

December9th/10th

I Bring You Good News of Great Joy! Big Idea: Volunteers will use noodles to corral children and say, “I bring you good news of great joy” while children respond with the Memory Verse! What You Need: Pool Noodles (2)

What You Do: Before the Activity: Gather all the kids in an open area in the room. During the Activity: Have kids scatter in the open area. Have two leaders walk around and corral the kids one, two, or three at a time. To corral the kids, have the two leaders hold the pool noodles one in each hand to make a circle, similar to “London Bridge” when the bridge comes down (volunteers using the noodles instead of linked arms). Say “I bring you good news of great joy” together when corralling the sheep and children respond with the memory verse. After the Activity: Sit down together and say the Memory Verse. What You Say: Before the Activity: “Come on over here and stand with me. We are going to play a game where you are the sheep and we (point to yourself and the other leaders) are the shepherds. The shepherds are in charge of corralling the sheep.” During the Activity: “Okay sheep, time to move around. (Pause.) Here come the shepherds. (Work with the other leader to corral one to three kids and say.) ‘I Bring You Good News of Great Joy!' (Children will respond with) ‘God has given a son to us.’ (Let those sheep go and then go corral other sheep.) Keep moving, sheep! (Pause.) Here come the shepherds. (Pause.) ‘I bring you good news of great joy!’ ‘God has given a son to us.’ (Repeat as many times as desired.)” After the Activity: “That was super fun! In our Bible lesson today we heard about the angels that came to tell the shepherds that a special baby had been born! God loves us so much that He gave us His Son, Jesus! How do we know God loves us? God gave us Jesus!”

ACTIVITY 4 – 4’s/5’s only

Memory Verse –

Isaiah 9:6, NCV

DecemberWeek2

December9th/10th

Where’s Your Sheep? Big Idea: Play a fun game of “Where’s Your Sheep” by hiding a Little People sheep in one child’s hand while another child has to guess who has it. What You Need: Little People Sheep What You Do: During the activity: Invite the children to sit in a circle with you. Choose one child to sit in the middle and be the shepherd. Ask the child in the middle to close his eyes while you give the sheep to one of the other children in the circle. All of the children in the circle will put their hands behind their backs. Lead the children in asking the shepherd where is his sheep. Then the child in the middle will get one guess at who has the sheep. Give each child a turn sitting in the middle. What You Say: Before the activity: “Come sit in a circle with me! We’re going to play a game. (Hold up the sheep.) I know you know what this is. What is it? (Pause.) Yep! It’s a sheep. Who takes care of sheep? (Pause.) Yes, shepherds take care of sheep. Let’s pretend that our shepherd has lost his sheep and he needs to find him. (Name of child), come sit in the middle with me. You are going to be our first shepherd. I want you to close your eyes while I give your sheep to one of our friends. When you open your eyes, we’ll say ‘Shepherd, shepherd where’s your sheep and then you get one guess at who has your sheep hidden behind their back. Here we go!” During the activity: “Okay, you can open your eyes. One of our friends has your sheep hidden behind his back. But before you take a guess, let’s all say together. ‘Shepherd, shepherd where’s your sheep.’ Good job! Okay, shepherd, who do you think has your sheep?” (Repeat this each time a new child stands in the circle. Make sure each child gets a turn being the shepherd.)

ACTIVITY 5 – 4’s/5’s only

Memory Verse –

Isaiah 9:6, NCV

DecemberWeek2

December9th/10th

Manger Scene What You Need: Nativity Sticker Scenes What You Do: Review the Christmas story as you help your preschoolers create their very own Nativity sticker scene. What You Say: Before the Activity: (Give each child a Nativity sticker scene.) “Look at your page of stickers. Do you remember who these people are? (Point to shepherds.) That’s right, they’re shepherds! The shepherds were so excited to find baby Jesus! Jesus was born for you and for me because God loves us SO much. That sure does make me smile. Let’s review the Christmas story from the beginning as we recreate our very own Christmas Nativity scene.” During the activity: “It all started with a nice lady named ... (place Mary on the sticker sheet) Mary loved God and He loved her, too. God knew that Mary was the perfect lady to be a mommy. God sent an angel (put the angel on) to tell Mary that she was going to be a mommy to a very special boy! Mary was going to get married to a man named Joseph. (put Joseph on) Joseph and Mary traveled a long way to Bethlehem on a donkey (put the donkey on). When they got there, there was no place for them to stay. But a nice innkeeper let them stay in his stable with the animals (put the animals on) and this is where Jesus was born. (put on Baby Jesus.) His crib was a manger with hay! Then some angels appeared to the shepherds in the field (put on the shepherd and sheep) and told them that Jesus, the Son of God, was born! And they sang songs and the shepherds went to see Baby Jesus. When they got there, they were so excited and knew they needed to tell everyone about Jesus and that’s exactly what they did. Then the wise men came to visit and brought gifts (put on the wise men). We will learn more about these very special visitors next week.”

After the activity: “Great job listening and creating your manger scenes! They look awesome!”

CRAFT

Memory Verse –

Isaiah 9:6, NCV

DecemberWeek2

December9th/10th

Small Group Time What you Need: Parent Take Home Card, Playdoh, Nativity Cookie Cutters, Rolling Pins, and Sticker Roll SMALL GROUP LEADER (SGL): “It’s Small Group time! If you’re in my small group, follow me! I’ll pretend I’m a shepherd, and you pretend you are my sheep. Just baa-baa-baa and follow me this way!” (Lead children to the table.) “Great job, little sheep. (Pat each child on the head.) When I count to three, let’s all sit down together so we can talk about the Bible lesson. One, two, three, sit down with me!” “Today’s lesson was amazing! REAL angels went to the fields where the shepherds were taking care of their sheep and told them the most wonderful GOOD NEWS! Do you remember what the good news is? (Pause for response.) The good news is God gave us Jesus! That’s how we know God loves us. God gave us the most special gift He could ever give us: His Son, Jesus. How do we know God loves us?” CHILDREN and SGL: “God gave us Jesus!” SGL: “Sing it loud like the angels! (Say in a singing voice) How do we know God loves us?” CHILDREN and SGL: “God gave us Jesus!” “Okay, friends, it’s time to pray. When the angels told the shepherds the good news that God gave us Jesus, they ran to see baby Jesus. And then they ran to tell everyone else the good news! Now that we know the good news that God gave us Jesus, who can we run and tell? When I say your name, tell me one person you can tell the good news that God gave us Jesus. That’s a lot of people we can tell the good news to. They need to hear the good news, and we can tell them!” “Ok, it’s time to review our lesson. I am going to ask you some questions and you will get a sticker for answering them. I have some really cool stickers today. Are you ready? (Pause.) Great! (Ask the children the questions from the “Parent Take Home Cards”. You can also make up additional questions from our video lesson. Don’t forget to ask them to say their memory verse for another sticker. You can repeat the same questions over and over as repetition is good for preschoolers.) You are such great listeners!” “Now I’ll pray before it’s time to say goodbye until next week.”

SMALL GROUP