Hula Net Race

Thursday:	Net Race
Elementary Bible Lesson:	Following God (Fishing All Night)
Memory Verse:	2nd John 1:6
Preschool Bible Lesson:	Fish in the Net: Jesus rose from the dead.

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• hula hoops
• boat
• camera
• stopwatch

Instructions:

Set up the boat at one end of the playing area ahead of time. Divide the group into teams of 4-5 participants (fish). Each team receives one hula hoop, which you call a net. Each team starts spaced out across the lake (i.e., the yard); the fish farthest from the boat has the net. When each team (and the stopwatch) is started, the fish with the net must get inside it (i.e., hold the hoop around himself at waist level) and travel across the lake, collecting the other fish from his team, each of whom in turn must get into the net with him. Together in the net, they must all travel the rest of the way across the lake to the boat.

Upon reaching the boat, each fish must touch the boat before they can get out of the net. Then they must all get into the boat together and have their picture taken together in the boat (by the game leader with the camera). Then they all get out of the boat and back into the net and must travel back across the lake to the starting line. The leader with the stopwatch will tell them their time; the team with the fastest time wins. If you have more than one stopwatch, you can run multiple teams at the same time, as long as they're staggered so they don't need the boat at the same time.

For preschool you may want to send a helper with each group.

Copyright © 2003—2009, Theresa Wagoner, Nathan Eady, and the Galion Grace Brethren Church, but you are welcome to use it in your local church. See licensing for more detailed information about rights and permissions.

Indoor Fish Relay

Indoor Game:	Fish Relay

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• buckets (4)
• fish (You can use the same fish-shaped sponges we've been using all week.)
• toy pool nets (2)
• blindfolds (2)

Instructions:

Divide the group into two teams. Each team receives a bucket full of fish, an empty bucket, a net, and a blindfold. Place the two buckets a distance apart. For older agegroups, difficulty may be added by placing the buckets on opposite sides of some obstacle, such as a table or chair.

Each team member in turn must be blindfolded, and then, following instructions from the other team members, must use the net to retrieve one fish from the starting bucket and move it to the other bucket. The first team to move all of its fish to the second bucket in this manner, or the team with the most fish when time expires, wins the game.

Copyright © 2003—2009, Theresa Wagoner and the Galion Grace Brethren Church, but you are welcome to use it in your local church. See licensing for more detailed information about rights and permissions.

Twelve Baskets Full

Wednesday:	Twelve Baskets Full
Bible Lesson:	Feeding the Big Crowd

Age Groups:

• preschool

Equipment Needed:

• empty ice-cream buckets (for each child)
• bread and fish items

Instructions:

Each child is given a plastic one gallon ice-cream bucket, which you call a basket. There are items scattered about that represent loaves or pieces of bread and fish. The children find these items and collect the pieces of fish and bread in the baskets. For the fish and bread, use items that will not blow away. For the fish, you can use the sponge fish from the other day (possibly wet if it's windy).

Remind the children that the disciples collected twelve baskets full of leftover pieces, even though Jesus started with just one little boy's lunch.

Copyright © 2003—2009, Nathan Eady, Sarah Eady, Theresa Wagoner, and the Galion Grace Brethren Church, but you are welcome to use it in your local church. See licensing for more detailed information about rights and permissions.

Wet Sponge Relay

Wednesday:	Wet Sponge Relay
Bible Lesson:	Raised from the Dead
Memory Verse:	1st John 4:10
Indoor Variant:	Indoor Fish Relay

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• sponges (You can re-use the fish-shaped sponges from earlier in the week.)
• buckets (4)
• water

Instructions:

Divide the group into two equal teams. Each team receives a full bucket (of water), a (smaller) empty bucket, and a fish-shaped sponge. Team members line up and take turns running the fish sponge from the full bucket to fill the empty bucket, in an attempt to fill the empty bucket. If the full bucket gets empty, it can be refilled from a spigot. The first team to fill their empty bucket, or the team with the most water when time expires, wins the game.

Teen Variation:

Increase the difficulty by making them stand a little more than arm's length apart and toss the wet sponge from person to person down the line, trying to keep as much water in the sponge as possible; the last person in the line squeezes it into the bucket.

Team Slide

Tuesday:	Team Slide
Bible Lesson:	Sign of Jonah: Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sin. Elementary, Teen
Memory Verse:	Romans 6:23

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• plastic backyard waterslide toys (2-4)
• cooking spray
• stopwatch (optional)

Instructions:

Prepare ahead of time the plastic water slide toys (e.g., Slip 'n Slide) by spraying them with cooking spray and wiping it so that they are slippery without water. Lay them out end-to-end.

Divide the group into two teams. Each team must slide from one end of the slide setup to the other and back, on their bellies, each person holding onto the ankles of the person ahead of them.

If you have enough of the plastic waterslide toys, you can have both teams go at the same time, and the team that completes the course first, without letting go of one another's ankles, wins. Another option is to use a stopwatch.

Copyright © 2003—2009, Theresa Wagoner, Sarah Eady, and the Galion Grace Brethren Church, but you are welcome to use it in your local church. See licensing for more detailed information about rights and permissions.

Diving into the Whale

Tuesday:	Diving into the Whale
Preschool Bible Lesson:	Jonah: Obey God

Age Groups:

• preschool

Equipment Needed:

• plastic backyard-waterslide toys (1-2)
• large cardboard box, decorated to look like a big fish
• cooking spray
• plastic indoor/outdoor sliding board (optional)
• open cans of tuna (optional, for ambiance)
• fish gack

Instructions:

Prepare ahead of time the plastic water slide toys (e.g., Slip 'n Slide) by spraying them with cooking spray and wiping it so that they are slippery without water. Lay them out end-to-end. Erect around it a "whale" (cardboard box), with the sliding surface going through the "mouth" (opening). Place a miniature slide at the start (if available).

Preschool children individually slide down the slide and onto the "tongue", wiggling and sliding into the great fish. The group must count to three in unison before the one in the "whale" box can come out, since Jonah was in the big fish for three days. Remind the children that while Jonah was in the fish, he decided to obey God, and then the fish spit him out.

Depending on the age and maturity of your group, as each child comes out, you can "slime" them with slime or silly string, since Jonah would have been slimy when he came out of the big fish.

Copyright © 2003—2009, Theresa Wagoner, Sarah Eady, and the Galion Grace Brethren Church, but you are welcome to use it in your local church. See licensing for more detailed information about rights and permissions.

Fish Coin Hunt

Monday:	Fish Coin Hunt
Preschool Bible Lesson:	The Coin in the Fish's Mouth: Jesus is God

Age Groups:

• preschool

Equipment Needed:

• small portable wading pool
• water (outdoor) or packing peanuts (indoor)
• fish-shaped sponges (these can be cut from ordinary synthetic cleaning sponges)
• buckets (2)
• toy pool nets (2)
• one coin

Instructions:

Set up a pool containing either water (outdoors) or foam packing peanuts (indoors) and toy or sponge fish. One of the fish should have a coin hidden inside. You need two hand-held nets for fishing them out (similar to pool nets). Preschoolers take turns fishing a fish out of the pool with the net and running them to the team's fish bucket. When all the fish are out, have them look for the coin, and the team that has the coin wins. Get excited with them when they find it. Remind them that it was a miracle that Jesus sent Peter to find the coin in the fish and it was there. The coin may then be rehidden secretly in a random fish and all the fish returned to the pool for more gameplay.

Copyright © 2003—2009, Nathan Eady, Sarah Eady, Theresa Wagoner, and the Galion Grace Brethren Church, but you are welcome to use it in your local church. See licensing for more detailed information about rights and permissions.

Oven Mitt Relay

Monday:	Oven Mitt Relay
Bible Lesson:	The Fish with the Coin: Jesus is God. Elementary, Teen
Memory Verse:	Matthew 16:16

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• two oven mitts
• assorted pairs of essentially-identical objects
• two buckets for the objects
• fish-shaped sponges
• bucket or small pool for the fish
• one coin

Instructions:

Divide the group into two equal teams. Each team receives one oven mitt and a bucket of assorted objects. Stand each team in line single-file.

The objects may only be touched using the oven mitt. Team members must pass the mitt (and the object with it) from person to person down the line. Hands must go inside the mitt (no using it as a potholder). The next team member puts his hand into the mitt and thus takes the object so that the previous person can remove his hand from the mitt without dropping the object.

Any object that is dropped must return to the bucket at the beginning of the line; the team may either start that object over or try another object.

Each object that reaches the end of the line earns the team a choice of one fish from the fish bucket (or pool). The player at the end of the line runs the earned fish, the object, and the mitt back to the beginning of the line, selects a new object from the bucket, and starts the mitt and the object on their journey down the line by passing them to the person who was at the head of the line before.

One of the fish contains a hidden coin in its mouth. The team that earns he fish with the coin wins the game. (No peeking for coins until the game is over.)

Teen Variation:

The assortment of objects for the teens should be more difficult than for the younger grades. Possibilities include firm, round objects; small objects, like marbles or coins; smooth objects; light objects, like inflatable toys or balloons; heavy objects, like small barbells; large, awkward objects, like plastic punch bowls; or thin objects, like papers or overhead transparencies.

Copyright © 2003—2009, Nathan Eady, Sarah Eady, Theresa Wagoner, and the Galion Grace Brethren Church, but you are welcome to use it in your local church. See licensing for more detailed information about rights and permissions.

Matthew 4:19

Friday:	Matthew 4:19
Bible Lesson:	Fishers of Men: We should tell others about Christ.

Introduction:

[Needed]

Explanation: Matthew 4:19

Matthew 4:19: Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men.

[Show the verse and read it aloud.]

How can we follow Jesus when we can't see him? (We see his life in the Bible, and we see his commands and obey him.) What does Jesus mean when he tells the disciples he will make them fishers of men? (It means, they will teach other people to obey and love Jesus; instead of catching fish, they will catch men.) How can we catch people? (We tell them about Jesus, and about the Bible.

One way to tell people about Jesus is by using the wordless bracelet, like this one [show one]. You'll be making wordless bracelets for your craft today.

Game: Sign Gestures

Display posterboard of verse. Read through the verse together.

Teach the children the sign motions together with the words, and have them say the verse and perform the motions at the same time. Either use a real sign language (e.g., ASL), or an improvised set of gestures and motions, like below:

Come	Hand beckons toward self.
Follow	Fingers walk along other hand.
Me	Point to self.
Jesus	Middle fingers point out nail marks in hands.
Said	Hand moves out from mouth.
I	Point to self.
will make	Set left fist on right, then right on top of left, as if building.
you	Point away from self, toward your audience.
fishers	Cast like with a fishing pole.
of men	Point to several persons as if counting.

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