Fishing for Christ Visuals, Day Two

Here are the visuals for The Sign of Jonah. Some of them can also be used for the corresponding preschool lesson, Jonah: Obey God.

Fleeing to Tarshish

Storm

Lightening the Ship

Throwing Jonah Overboard

Big Fish

Nineveh

These visuals were contributed by Mary Beth Frey.

Fishing for Christ Visuals - Day 1

These are the visuals for The Fish with the Coin (and also for the corresponding Preschool lesson).

Peter and the Tax Man

Peter and Jesus

Peter Fishing

Peter Finding the Coin

Peter Paying the Tax

Eating Grain

Accused of Working

These visuals were contributed by Mary Beth Frey.

God's Sheep Preschool Memory Verse

Preschool Memory Verse:	God's Sheep
All Week:	Jesus said, I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me. John 10:14

Monday: Explanation

[Show the verse and read it aloud.]

What kind of shepherd is Jesus? Is he the kind that's out in a grassy field, taking care of fluffy white sheep? (No.) That's not what he meant. What kind of sheep does Jesus have? People who follow Jesus are his sheep. People who trust Jesus, and let him take away their sins are his sheep. If we believe in Jesus, he is our shepherd.

[Lead the children in saying the verse fifty bazillion times.] If you come to Bible School tomorrow and can say the verse at the beginning, you'll get a prize! So you should go home and practice saying your verse.

Tuesday:

[Review the explanation from Monday.]

Game: Follow the Shepherd

We're going to play a game called Follow the Shepherd. I'll be the shepherd, and all of you get to be the sheep and follow me around the room. Whatever I do, you do. So if I take big steps, you take big steps. If I swing my arms wide, you swing your arms wide. If I say a word from the memory verse, you say it too, but if you say a word I didn't say, you're out and have to sit out until the end of the round. When we get through the whole verse, we'll start a new round and everybody's back in.

[Lead the children in saying the verse a hillion jillion times.] If you come to Bible School tomorrow and can say the verse at the beginning, you'll get a prize! So you should go home and practice saying your verse.

Wednesday:

[Review the explanation from Monday.]

Game: Clapping

[Say a word of the verse, and clap once. Say two words, and clap twice. Continue saying words and clapping all the way through the verse. Add a word and a clap each time, until you have the whole verse. When it gets to be too many claps to count, just clap a whole bunch of times.]

[Now go back, and you prompt the children with the words to say, and they say the words, and then you clap together. Start with one word, and one clap, and progress from there. If necessary, go back to the beginning and start with one word again. Continue until the children can say and clap the whole verse.]

[Lead the children in saying the verse entirely too many times.] If you come to Bible School tomorrow and can say the verse at the beginning, you'll get a prize! So you should go home and practice saying your verse.

Thursday:

[Briefly review the explanation from Monday.]

Game: Hot Potato

[Seat the children in a circle and practice saying the verse together. Now introduce an item (which you call a potato, even if it's actually a tye-died stuffed weasel). Each person must say the next word of the verse, before he can pass the potato to the next person around the circle. Whoever gets to say the last word of the verse wins, and everybody claps. Then you start over with a different child and go through the verse again until everybody gets to win at least once.]

[Lead the children in saying the verse a whole lotta times.] If you come to Bible School tomorrow and can say the verse at the beginning, you'll get a prize! So you should go home and practice saying your verse.

Friday:

[Briefly review the explanation from Monday.]

Game: Simon

The teacher says one word (the first word of the verse), and the whole group repeats it. If they get it right, the teacher repeats it again, adding one more word, and the group repeats that. Add another word each time through the verse until you have the whole verse or the children miss a word. If they miss, you start over with one word again. Each time, the teacher says the words first, and the group repeats.

[Lead the children in saying the verse as many times as you have time for.]

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

God's Sheep Decorations: Sheep on the Walls

When we did this theme six years ago, we printed out a lot of black-and-white sheep images, cut them out, and laminated them before sticking them on the walls. Being laminated, they're well preserved, so this year we just got them out and stuck them up again.

In the hallway, we put up a green plastic tablecloth, to represent grass, and stuck a bunch of sheep to that. (It's all just stuck to the wall using Sticky Tack or BlueTack or Handi-Tack or some such -- I get the different brands confused; we typically just buy whichever brand the store we're at happens to have.) In other locations, we just put the sheep directly on the wall, in some cases with paper grass for added effect. We put some in the main room...

Some in the preschool room...

Some in the teen room...

By the stairs...

Here and there...

Sheep everywhere...

(Yes, that green metal cabinet is probably exactly as old as its color makes you think it is.) Oh, and while the mural on the nursery wall wasn't done specifically for Bible School, it does have sheep in it, plus a shepherd, so I'm counting it.

Incidentally, the mural was created by the same person who has been doing our lesson visuals, and we do have visuals for four of the God's Sheep lessons. I'm planning to post those, or at least thumbnails of them, probably some time next week.

God's Sheep Decorations: Bulletin Boards

Here are the bulletin boards we did. The first one is in the main area...

And here's the one in the preschool room:

Updated: Little Lamb Lessons, God's Sheep Snacks

The Little Lamb auxiliary lessons for preschool have been significantly improved and updated:

• Day 1: We All Sin
• Day 2: Thanking the Creator
• Day 3: Obey the Shepherd
• Day 4: The Shepherd Knows His Sheep
• Day 5: Jesus Wants to Be Your Shepherd

We've also enhanced and updated the God's Sheep snacks. All five days now have a scripted lesson tie-in:

• Day 1: Popcorn
• Day 2: Cross/Sheep Cookies
• Day 3: Donuts
• Day 4: Jell-O Jigglers
• Day 5: Salad

Snacks for God's Sheep, Improved: Day Five

Friday:	Snack
Elementary Bible Lesson:	Shepherded Sheep (Leading and Following)
Memory Verse:	Ephesians 2:10
Preschool Bible Lesson:	God Loves Us (The 99 and the 1)

Key Item: Salad

The salad should be made of stuff that both human children and sheep will willingly eat: lettuce, carrot, maybe cucumber, ...

Explain to the children that while sheep mostly eat grass, they can also eat other vegetables, like lettuce or carrots – whatever the shepherd finds for them. If we are God's sheep, we need to be fed too. What does it mean to feed God's sheep? That's what tonight's lesson is about.

Snack Lesson:

Real sheep mostly eat grass, but they can also eat salad (lettuce, carrots, etc.) – whatever the shepherd finds for them.

If we are God's sheep, we need to be fed too. That's what our Bible lesson tonight is about.

Additional Snack Items:

To make the snack more substantial, we served macaroni and cheese and ice cream floats, alongside the salad. We also provided Kool-Aid to drink.

Snacks for God's Sheep, Improved: Day Four

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Thursday:	Snack
Elementary Bible Lesson:	Sheep Security: The Good Shepherd
Memory Verse:	John 10:28
Preschool Bible Lesson:	Jesus Loves Children (Let the Children Come)

Key Item: Jello-O Jigglers

Serve thick, jiggly gelatin dessert (recipe available from Kraft) in the shape of shepherd crooks (like a candy-cane shape) and sheep. The shepherd's crook should remind the children that Jesus is the good shepherd who takes care of his sheep.

Snack Lesson:

What's our theme this week? [Hold up a shepherd's crook Jiggler.] What does this shape remind us of? What does that have to do with sheep? How might a shepherd use something like this?

In our Bible lesson we're going to learn about the Good Shepherd, who always takes care of his sheep.

Additional Snack Items:

To make the snack more substantial, we served pizza and cupcakes, alongside the Jell-O. We also provided Kool-Aid to drink.

Snacks for God's Sheep, Improved: Day Three

Wednesday:	Snack
Elementary Bible Lesson:	Stolen Sheep (Saul and the Spoils) (See also: skit.)
Memory Verse:	1st Samuel 15:22
Preschool Bible Lesson:	Baa, baa, baa! (Saul and the Sheep)

Key Item: Donuts

Serve traditional O-shaped donuts. Tell the children that the O stands for Obey, because we should obey God's instruction. Today's Bible lesson is about a time when King Saul didn't obey – and that didn't turn out so well for him.

Snack Lesson:

Donuts are shaped like an O. Do you know any words that start with O?

I know an important word that starts with O, that has to do with our Bible lesson tonight. The O stands for Obey. We are supposed to obey God.

Tonight we're going to learn about a King named Saul who didn't obey God, and we'll find out how that worked out for him.

Additional Snack Items:

To make the snack more substantial, we served hot dogs and fruit alongside the donuts. We also provided Kool-Aid to drink.

Snacks for God's Sheep, Improved: Day Two

Tuesday:	Snack
Elementary Bible Lesson:	Lamb of God (Isaac and the Ram)
Memory Verse:	Romans 4:25
Preschool Bible Lesson:	Praising God (David the Shepherd)

Key Item: Cutout Cookies

Serve homemade cutout cookies in the shape of crosses (frosted red or brown) and sheep (frosted white, optionally with black detail, e.g. hooves and an eye). Explain that today's Bible lesson is about a time when a sheep took Isaac's place. Also, Jesus died on a cross to take our place.

Snack Lesson:

[Hold up a cross cookie.] What shape is this cookie? What does this shape remind you of? That's right, Jesus died on a cross, to take our place.

[Hold up a sheep cookie.] What about this other cookie? What's this shape? Right, a sheep. Did you know that a sheep once took Isaac's place, just like Jesus took our place? We're going to learn about that in our Bible lesson tonight.

Additional Snack Items:

To make the snack more substantial, we served tacos and chips alongside the cookies. We also provided Kool-Aid to drink.

Snacks for God's Sheep, Improved: Day One

Monday:	Snack
Elementary Bible Lesson:	Going Astray (Moses and the Rock)
Memory Verse:	Isaiah 53:6
Preschool Bible Lesson:	Obey God (Moses and the Rock)

Key Item: Popcorn

Air-pop the popcorn in full view of the kids and serve it warm, if possible. Butter, if desired, can be melted in a saucepan on the stove.

Popcorn is white and fluffy, like sheep, and when air-popped, sometimes a piece of popcorn comes flying out of the popper and flies across the room, like a lost sheep. Tell the children that, like sheep, we wander astray sometimes. Today's Bible lesson is about that.

Snack Lesson:

Hey, look at that popcorn as it comes flying out of the popper. Sometimes it lands in the bowl. Sometimes it gets lost. Some of the pieces of popcorn don't go where they're supposed to go.

Look at how white and fluffy it is. What else is white and fluffy and wanders off where it isn't supposed to go? Can you think of anything?

In our Bible lesson tonight we'll learn about how sheep sometimes wander off.

Additional Snack Items:

To make the snack more substantial, we served sandwiches (choice of ham and cheese or PB&J) and homemade chocolate chip cookies alongside the popcorn. We also provided Kool-Aid to drink.

Bubbles (Preschool Game)

Tuesday:	Bubbles
Bible Lesson:	Adam and Eve sinned. We all sin. Sin is when we disobey God. (Genesis 3)

Age Groups:

• preschool

Equipment Needed:

• bubble stuff
• bubble wands

Instructions:

You've got a dishpan or somesuch full of bubble stuff, and you have bubble wands, and you have preschoolers, and they blow bubbles, and they giggle, and the run after the bubbles, and try to catch the bubbles, and watch the bubbles pop, and then they blow more bubbles. Yay!

Animal Game (Pretending)

Monday:	Animal Game
Bible Lesson:	God created the world and deserves our worship (Genesis 1).

Age Groups:

• preschool

Instructions:

Pretend to be animals together. Let someone pretend to be Adam and guess what animal you are all acting like. Rotate through and let each child who wants a turn pretend to be Adam and guess. Play until time runs out.

Animal Match-Up Relay

Monday:	Animal Match-Up Relay
Bible Lesson (elementary and teens):	God created the world and deserves our worship. (Genesis 1, Acts 17)
Bible Lesson (preschool):	Noah and the Big Flood
Memory Verse:	Acts 17:24

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens
• preschool

Equipment Needed:

• 3x5 cards
• animal pictures (from the internet)
• clear Contact (laminant)

Preparation:

Print pictures (from the internet) of male and female animals of various kinds. You need two male and two female of each animal. Try to get a mix of animals with obvious gender differences (e.g., peacock/peahen, bull/cow, lion/lioness, cardinals) and ones that look pretty similar (e.g., dog, elephant, horse, squirrel). Cut these out and glue them onto 3x5 (or 4x6) cards, and laminate the cards using the clear Contact.

If you use two colors of cards, you can make one whole deck (one male and one female of each kind of animal) on each color. Better yet, use four colors so each deck can have one color for male and the other color for female animals. (Color-coding the cards isn't necessary for playing the game, but it makes it easier for the game leader to get the decks sorted out between times.)

Instructions:

Divide into two teams. One deck of the cards is used for each team. Hand out the animal cards of one gender to the team members, and set out the cards of the other-gender animals at the far end of the lawn, face down. Each team member in turn runs the course carrying one card from the deck and selects one of the face-down cards at the end of the lawn. If it matches the card they are carrying, they get to keep the pair. If not, they must return the card to its face-down position and return with just the card they brought with them and tag the next team member. Play is finished when one team has all their matches. If enough time is available, you can play it again.

Variations:

For preschool, dispense with teams and the relay aspect: when you blow the whistle, they all run down, grab a card, run back, and match it up with one of the cards at the near end. Have them show a friend their matching pair of animals and name them (e.g., These are lions.). Repeat as necessary to fill available time.

To make the game more difficult (e.g., for teens), you can introduce obstacles for them to overcome, require them to run blindfolded or balancing a cup of water on their forehead, or anything else you feel would make it more "interesting" (i.e., more challenging).

If it's a bazillion degrees out, you can turn this into a water game simply by replacing the run-across-the-field portion with some kind of water-based obstacle or feature (sprinkler to run through, Slip-N-Slide to slide down, wading pool to splash through, etc.).

Paint By Shape

Tuesday:	Paint By Shape
Preschool Lesson:	Adam and Eve Sin

Age Groups:

• preschool

Supplies Needed:

• Paint
• Brushes
• Cleaning supplies

Preparation:

Find a simple coloring picture for the day's lesson, perhaps something with the snake talking to Eve. Create a key associating each color of paint with a shape: circle, triangle, square, star, etc. Mark each region of the picture with a shape indicating which color it should be painted. Photocopy. Use crayon or marker to go over the colors on the answer key, in case some of the preschool children cannot read all the color names.

Instructions:

This craft is just like paint by number except there are shapes instead of numbers. Have the children paint in the picture of Adam and Eve with a snake in the tree, using the colors indicated by the shapes.

Lesson Tie-In:

The picture they are painting is a scene from the Bible lesson.

Garden Stone Craft

Friday:	Garden Stones
Bible Lesson:	The church was begun in order to witness for God in all parts of the earth.
Memory Verse:	Acts 2:32
Preschool Lesson:	The church is made up of people (Acts 16)

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool
• teens

Supplies Needed:

• cement mix
• sand
• disposable open-topped containers (e.g., you can use the bottoms of old milk jugs)
• decorative objects (colored stones, shells, large glass beads, etc.)

Preparation:

Experiment ahead of time to determine the ideal ratio of cement mix to sand. Premix them.

When it's almost time, start adding water a little at a time, stirring, until the mixture is wet through but still thick. (A hand placed in the mixture and removed should leave a visible print and not fill in immediately.)

Spray each milk jug with Pam or other cooking spray before putting the mixture in, it will keep it from sticking when the kids try to remove it. Have the mixture ready in the bottoms of milk jugs when the kids come. Do not do it so early that it begins to dry. Timing is everything. Station a helper at the sink (or hose) to assist with hand washing.

Instructions:

Assist them in putting their hand print or (bare) foot print into the crete and then allow them to push decorative objects (colored glass beads, stones, sea shells, tiles) into the surface before it dries. Give each child a limited supply of decorations so that you have enough reserved for all age groups. Tell them they have to dry for 2 or 3 days in the milk jug and that they can cut the jug off or slide the stone out after that time.

Lesson Tie-In:

The stone itself does not correlate with the lesson, but you can ask them questions about the Bible lesson while they do the craft. There should be some time available while they are waiting for the cement to set firmly enough that they can remove their hands and feet.

Abraham and the Stars Window Hanging

Thursday:	Abraham & the Stars Window Hanging
Bible Lesson:	We should have faith like Abraham. God's promise to Abraham is a blessing to us even today.
Memory Verse:	Hebrews 11:6

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool
• teens

Supplies Needed:

• black paper
• star constellation pictures
• pushpins (elementary and teens)
• junk cardboard (elementary and teens)
• coloring-book picture of Abraham with one arm raised, looking at the stars.
• posterboard or colored construction paper (for frames)
• star stickers (preschool only)
• string or yarn

Preparation:

Find a suitable coloring-book picture of Abraham and photocopy it, as well as some
star constellations.

Create a pattern for the frame.
For preschool, you should pre-cut the frames
and may want to pre-assemble some parts of the craft as well.

Instructions:

For elementary and teens, give each person one of the
constellation pictures (you can have different ones and let them
pick) with a sheet of black construction paper attached to the back
with tape around the edges. They also each need a push pin and a
piece of junk cardboard. Have them push the push pin through each
dot on the picture (using the cardboard as a backing so the pin
doesn't go into anything it shouldn't, such as fingers or the
table). When every hole has been punched, remove the constellation
picture from the front, leaving the black paper with its star
pattern of small holes.

For preschool, have them stick star stickers directly
on the black paper. You can show them the constellation pictures
for reference if you want.

Have them trace the frame pattern onto the colored
construction paper or poster board and cut out their frame.

The star pattern goes behind the frame (or between
front and back halves of the frame if you have time to let them cut
two) and attaches with either glue or tape. The Abraham image
should be cut out (so it's just Abraham) and placed on the front
of the craft, so that the black paper sky with the star holes
is in the background. If you have time, they can color Abraham
before gluing him in place.

Attach a piece of string or yarn to serve as a
hanger. The craft can be hung in a window so that the light
shines through the pinpoint holes, making the stars shine.

Lesson Tie-In:

God promised Abraham that his descendants would be too
numerous to count, like the stars.

Painted Ark Scene

Wednesday:	Painted Ark Scene
Bible Lesson:	Sin brings a penalty. Jesus paid our penalty so that we can be saved.
Memory Verse:	1st Corinthians 15:22

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool
• teens

Supplies Needed:

• large paper (11"x17" is barely adequate)
• cardboard or posterboard (for stencils)
• paint and brushes

Preparation:

Prepare large cardboard stencils of the ark. These should be a bit too large to fit entirely on the paper. On the ark drawing shown here, there are internal lines; cut out short segments of these in places so that the kids can draw lines on their ark to better show the shape (otherwise it will look like a blob).

Prepare cardboard stencils of various animals, scaled down so that they are an appropriate size compared to the ark. Large animals, such as elephants and giraffes, work best.
You can find sillhouettes of many animals at the Open Clip Art Library.
Scale some of them to appropriate sizes, print them out, and trace them onto cardboard to make the stencils.

For preschool, go ahead and trace the outlines onto the paper ahead of time, so they can just paint.

Instructions:

Hand out the stencils for the kids to trace around on
their large piece of paper. They should place the ark first and
then place animals around it.

Allow them to free-hand draw a path from the ark
door to the bottom of the paper and, if they have time and space,
some trees to show scale. Make sure they put their name on the back
before painting, and allow the teens to add more detail to the
animals and the ark with a pencil. Remind everyone that the ark is
really much larger than the stencil but it just wouldn't fit on the
paper. When they have successfully drawn a scene allow them to
paint it in and lay to dry. Display a scene of your own so they can
see what it can look like. (Some variation of animal placement is
expected.)

Lesson Tie-In:

The picture they are making is a scene from the Bible
lesson. The ark saved Noah and his family from the flood, just as
Jesus saves us today.

Beginning of the Church, Preschool Lesson

Friday:	Beginning of the Church
Story Passage:	Acts 16:9-15
Other Passages:	Acts 16:40, Philippians 1:1
Objective:	The church is made up of people.

Introduction: The Early Church

After Jesus left the world to go back up to Heaven, his followers went all around to many other places to tell people the good news about Jesus. They told how Jesus is God and how he came to earth to die for our sins so we could be forgiven.

One of Jesus' followers was Paul. He went on many trips. Sometimes he walked. Sometimes he went on a boat. But however he traveled and wherever he went, he told lots of people about Jesus.

Story: Philippi

One day Paul was in a city called Philippi. He went down by the river. There he found Lydia. She was a woman who sold purple cloth. She was by the river with some other people. The Bible says she worshiped God. But she had never heard of Jesus.

So Paul told Lydia and the others about Jesus, and God helped them to know it was true, and they believed. Lydia and other people in her family believed in Jesus and were baptized. Lydia and her family and friends told other people about Jesus too. After a while there were many people in their city who believed. They met at Lydia's house to learn more about God and to pray. They choose leaders to help. And so, they became one of the first churches.

Application: What Is the Church?

Did you know that a church is not a building? It's not. Our church has a building, where we can meet together, but a church is a group of people who believe in Jesus and get together to read the Bible and pray. They tell others about Jesus too. Lydia's church got together in her house. We have too many people in our church to go to someone's house, so we have a building; but the building is just a building. We are the church. God wants us to learn about him and tell others about him too.

Copyright © 2004—2012, Jill Eady and the Galion Grace Brethren Church. See licensing for information about rights and permissions.

Abraham's Faith (Preschool Lesson)

Thursday:	Abraham's Faith
Story Passage:	Genesis 15
Other Passages:
Objective:	We should have faith in God, just as Abraham did.

Introduction: Abraham

Has anyone here heard of Abraham before? Who was Abraham? Abraham lived in Bible times.

God ask Abraham to leave his home land and go to a new place that God would show him. He had never been there before. But he took off walking. God took him through several different places before he finally got where he was going.

Did you ever get in the car and go all sorts of places and not know where you would end up? Abraham wasn't worried. He trusted God, just like you probably trusted your parents when they took you places in the car.

Abraham finally came to the place we now call Israel. God promised Abraham that his family would live there. It would belong to them.

Story: Countless Offspring

One day, Abraham was complaining. He said, My wife, Sarah, and I don't have any children. When we die, all our land and all our stuff will go to my servant, Eliezer.

But God said, No. Eliezer will not get your land and all your stuff. You and Sarah will have a child.

Now Abraham and Sarah were already very old. Old people don't have babies. But then God showed Abraham all the stars in the sky. God said, Count them, if you can. There were too many to count. God told Abraham that someday his family would have as many people as all the stars in the sky. And Abraham believed God. Would you believe God if he told you that you would have that many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren? Abraham believed God.

One day Abraham and Sarah did have a baby. They had a little boy and they named him Isaac. After awhile, Abraham's family did get very, very big, just like God had promised.

Conclusion

We can always believe what God tells us in the Bible.

Copyright © 2004—2012, Jill Eady and the Galion Grace Brethren Church. See licensing for information about rights and permissions.