What If I DID? (Ages 4-5)

Print/ Download Questions -- What If I DID?

Materials:

• Colored construction paper
• Bowl or basket
• Scissors
• Markers
• Glitter glue
• Ribbon or string
  

I wanted my children to understand that God's love is so powerful and so special that nothing could separate them from it. I wanted them to understand that God's love is with them always and that He loves them when they are good, and even when they are naughty.*

Directions
Cut 2x 2-inch squares out of construction paper. Make enough for at least 2-3 per child.

Ask each child to whisper to you 2-3 things he or she does that are really good or kind, and write these things on a square. Put the child's name on the square. Talk about how this list indicates times when they have their "listening ears" on, times when they are listening to God.

Ask each child to whisper to you something he or she has done that is naughty and write it down on a square. Talk about how sometimes we don't have those "listening ears" on but God still loves us.

Take all the squares and put them in a bowl or basket and mix them up. Ask a child to take a square out and give it to you. You will read what is written on the square but add the child's name and ask him if God loves him, and if God still loves him after he did the action. For Example: if the square says, "Played with my little brother," you ask, "If Brandon plays with his little brother, does God love him?" They answer, "Yes!" Then you can draw a happy face on the back of the square and give it to Brandon. If the square says, "Didn't put away his toys," you ask, "If Brandon doesn't put away his toys, does God still love him?" The children answer, "Yes!" Then let Brandon tear up the square and you can explain to him that God loves him no matter what, but that we separate the naughty act from the good boy. God's love redeems us and we are changed. We get rid of the naughty action. Then give him a square with a smile on it and rejoice.

Go around the group until each child has at least 2 happy face squares. By the end, the children should see that no matter what they do, God loves them.

After you have played the game, help the children make a heart necklace that says, "God loves (child's name) all the time." Have the child decorate the heart and use the string to make it into a necklace. He will have fun wearing this and it will remind him of God's love.

— Sally S. Johnston

[*Editors note: Why does God still love us "even when we're naughty?" Because He knows that being naughty is like putting on a costume, hiding one's natural goodness, the goodness that God knows and loves no matter what. God does require our obedience - our effort to be the good person He knows us to be - if we want to be happy. (As the teacher or parent, you might use different words to convey this explanation to your young child(ren).) AS]

Story Telling Time
Read Genesis 25:20 – 33:17

Print/ Download Questions -- Story Telling Time

Describe their looks, habits, hobbies, behavior.

Ask the students to select current television or film personalities to star in a movie of Jacob and Esau. They should cast the following:

Isaac
Rebekah
Esau
Jacob
Laban
Leah
Rachel

Have them go back and read the story of the two brothers. Talk about their birth and what kind of friends they were as they grew up.

What did they discover about each character?

How should we treat our brothers and sisters?

Role Play

Learning to forgive in light of all that is going on in the world is important. Let’s help our pupils love more for every hate, forgive for every intended or unintended hurt or put down, and let the mind of the Christ be active in our lives.

JACOB
Esau and Jacob as young boys, men, grown men with children
Rebekah asking Jacob to deceive Isaac
Jacob deceiving Isaac
Esau’s reaction to Isaac and Jacob
Laban telling Rachel that she has to let Jacob marry Leah
Leah and Rachel talking to each other about the wedding [Did Rachel ever forgive Laban or Leah?]
Jacob talking to God about his fears of seeing Esau again
Jacob’s conversation with Esau when they meet for the first time in 21 years

Students Make Lentil Stew

Nurturing our pupils in and out of Sunday School provides a wonderful opportunity to make the stories of the Bible come alive and show the children how much we love them. Olene Carroll, author of Bible stories for children and tour guide to the Holy lands, shared this experience she had with her Sunday School class.

I tried an experiment. I invited 3 Sunday School girls (8 yr olds) over to our house and we experienced the Bible first hand. I provided all the ingredients for lentil stew. We told the story of Jacob and Esau from Genesis 25:29-34 and the selling of the birthright.

Then we:

• popped the peas and beans out of the pods,
• ground the coriander and cumin in the mortar,
• cooked the stew in an iron pot,
• made a yogurt topping;
• set up a low table with cushions surrounding it;
• set out pita bread,
• broke it and ate the stew by pinching it inside the bread;
• mashed some grapes and drank the juice;
• ate fresh figs for dessert.

We also related the meal to the Mary and Martha story. [Luke 10:38-42]

We learned even more about life in Bible times as we watched part 1 of Matthew on video.

The girls worked the maze from biblewise.com of the steam coming from the lentil stew.

We'll continue next week with making clothes for ourselves out of cotton cloth and we'll paint it with a stripe or two as if we had woven it. We also have directions on how to make sandals out of leather and lamps out of clay. We have many more things to learn this summer.

It's not SS, it's more vacation Bible school, but it's a way to enhance what the girls are learning and make the Bible come alive.

I must add that the preparations for the stew took longer than expected---almost two hours. A surprising element was the dried lentils. I thought we might have to soak them overnight, but the recipe called for "green lentils," which were very small and cooked up just fine without soaking. The adults loved the taste and smell of the stew, as Esau did. But the children preferred peanut butter.

Exercise: Dealing with deception.
Go over the story of Jacob and Esau, and then Jacob's subsequent encounters with Laban. Make a list of the times Jacob deceived and was deceived.

• Why would family members treat each other with such disrespect?
• Is it all right to do that if you get what you want?
• What does Jacob learn from living a life surrounded by deceit?
• How mean was it to trick Jacob into marrying someone else?
• How do we avoid making similar mistakes with our family members?
• Is it ever justifiable to trick or deceive anyone?
• What's the difference between a prank and deception?
• What lessons do we learn from Jacob?