Two By Two Race

Wednesday:
Bible Lesson:	Sin brings a penalty; Jesus paid our penalty so that we can be saved. (Genesis 6-9)
Memory Verse:	1th Corinthians 15:22

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• strips of cloth (to tie legs together)

Instructions:

Tie children together into pairs (as for a three-legged race), with the left child's right leg tied to the right child's left leg. Tell them that they have to run 2 by 2 to get to the ark (i.e., the finish line). Let different pairs of children race against one another. If there's time, you can even let them switch partners. When time runs out explain that the flood is over and the land is dry and let them get off the ark and go on to their next activity.

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!

Board Foot Walk

Tuesday:	Board Foot Walk
Bible Lesson:	Humans are sinful and require salvation. (Genesis 3)
Memory Verse:	Romans 3:22

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Equipment Needed:

• Boards with straps on them (see Preparation).

Preparation:

Prepare an even number of long boards (two-by-fours are good) by attaching straps to them in loops at evenly spaced intervals. Each loop should be large enough to accommodate a shoe, and they should be at the same position on each of the boards. We've found that 3-4 straps per board (and thus 3-4 people trying to work together) works pretty well. You will need two boards for each team that will be playing the game at any given time, so e.g. if you plan to have two teams going at once you will need four boards. Wide straps are best for the loops (rather than thin straps or rope), especially if some children might wear flimsy shoes or even flip-flops.

Instructions:

Each team gets two of the boards. Set them side-by-side, and each person puts a foot under one strap on each board, so that the team has essentially two very long feet.

Have them (attempt to) walk together as a cooperative group, from one end of the playing area to the other. Then have them try to turn around and walk back. Race the teams against one another.

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.).

Ark Building Photos, Part 1

We started by collecting gopher cardboard — over 100 Wendy's fry boxes. This double stack is less than half of the total.


Here you can see one section being assembled.

Three of the sections will be open, i.e., people will be able to look inside and see the animals and stuff. For these three sections it was necessary to build decks, ramps, doorways, fences, and so on.

We started early on the three open sections, so we built them at home. For the rest, we held a workday. Would you believe we got the remaining eleven sections built in under four hours? It was amazing. We built them in the basement, then carried them upstairs to lay them out in the auditorium, where they will be assembled into the final product.

This is how it stands right now. The 14 sections aren't actually glued to each other yet, and we still need to make a roof, coat the whole thing with pitch (black paper), set up the animals inside, and so forth. We'll be working on it some more tomorrow.

As noted in the plans, the scale here is 1/24, i.e., one inch on the model represents two feet on the original. For example, our Noah figureine is three inches tall.
Continued in part 2.

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.