Free Children's Ministry Curriculum Written by Sheryl Coats
Bugs Bugs and More Bugs
Hillbilly Days
Wonderfair
The Wacky Worship Workshop
The Celebration Medical Centre
The Celebration City Courthouse
Growing in God's Garden
The Armour of God
The Wild Wild West
Lesson Four
Our new theme takes us into the meadow to discover mysteries about bugs. At the same time we will discover mysteries about our relationship with Christ. The puppet stage will be decorated with grass and flowers and bugs and anything else that gives the appearance of a meadow...a few fake trees and some artificial turf can really add to the effect.
To teach the children that:
Maintaining order is important. It is important to review the rules on a weekly basis, both for the sake of new children and to remind the other children what is expected of them.
1. No illegal movement: Stay in your seat and keep hands and feet to yourself 2. No interference: Don't interrupt the lesson 3. Go for the touch down: Lets have fun!
Prayer is the key to our ministry. If we fail to prepare with prayer we have failed! As prayer sets the tone for our preparation, it also sets the stage for our program. It sets the kids off on the right step knowing they are in the presence of God. Many of these kids need to know that God is their FRIEND!
Marshmallow squishing contest... first have the kids gently squeeze their marshmallow. Then have them really squish them. Then have the kids gently toss a ball back and forth. Next have them bounce it with all their might. What was different about the two ways I asked you to do things? Today we are going to learn about loving God with all our heart, mind, and strength.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your strength Deuteronomy 6:5. Today I am going to teach you a very important verse of the bible. Each time I touch my nose I want you to say it as loudly as possible...so that they can hear you upstairs.
Prof: Good morning all. I have the most fascinating information for all these little brats.
Ms. D: Why good morning professor. What new discovery do you have for us today? Do you have some amazing bug facts for us?
Prof: BUGS? BUGS? DID YOU SAY BUGS? How many times must I repeat myself? They are not bugs! They are insects.
Ms D: Oh I am soo sorry. I meant insects. I will try harder; I promise.
Prof: Very well. Now where were we? (Looking at his books)
Ms. D: You were about to tell us some amazing bu.. Insects facts.
Prof: Oh yes. That is correct. I have the most fascinating fact here. One that children will find most intriguing.
Ms. D: well don't keep us in suspense. Tell us.
Prof: (looking at his books) eighty percent of flowering plants depend on insectum to carry their pollen from one plant to another...without pollination of flowers there would be no apples, oranges, melons or even chocolate! HA! Just think of life without chocolate. You brats need insects in order to have delicious chocolate.
Ms. D: wow that is a fascinating fact. We all love chocolate. Don't we?
Prof. But wait! There is more!
Ms. D: Great. What else are you going to tell us about?
Prof: (looking at his books again) Insects have long skinny tongues that work like straws. They use these to drink the nectar of the flowers. Ummm...The nectar is made primarily of sugar and water. Do you know what that means?
Ms. D: Not really. Are you going to tell us?
Prof: of course I am. It means that insects live on what amounts to candy.
Ms. D: wow I bet the kids would love to live on candy.
Piggy penny (comes running in with her pockets full of candy and a very sticky face) Oh boy! I can't wait to tell my mommy that I never have to eat another vege or nasty liver and onions. All I am going to eat is candy, candy, candy!
Ms D.: Penny, what do you have in your pockets?
Penny: I have candy, candy, and more candy...and I am going to eat it all myself. I am not going to share with anyone.
Prof: My dear young brat, if you eat all that candy you will make yourself as sick as a dog with the flu.
Penny: but bugs live on sugar so it must be ok.
Prof: Humf! I have told you a dozen times that you are not an insect. As far as I can tell you are a humanoid..a runt humanoid.
Ms. D: You see penny, God made all living things different. God designed insects to live on large amounts of sugar, but people need a balanced diet in order to live.
Penny: Yuck! Yuck! I only like candy.
Prof: (Pulling out a food pyramid) I the most brilliant and fantastic professor have a food chart right here with me. You will notice that it shows that you need a balanced diet of fruits, veges, grains, meats, and dairy. At the very top you will notice that it has a small area designated for sugars. That means that you need very little amounts of sugar. A balanced diet consists of more than just one food group.
Ms. D: That is really great. That reminds me that we need to have a balanced spiritual diet too.
Prof: Well, I must be off now. I have much to do.
Penny: but don't you want to stay and hear about your spiritual diet?
Prof: I am so wonderful that I don't need to hear about spiritual things (he takes off as quickly as possible)
Ms. D: Prof, I have some fascinating facts about your spiritual life to tell you. Oh this is so sad. The professor really needed to hear what I have to say.
Penny: He is not so smart after all. He may know about bugs, but he doesn't know anything about the important stuff.
Ms. D: that is so true. You see, the professor doesn't have a spiritually balanced diet in his life. You see penny, just going to church isn't enough. Reading one little verse in your bible isn't enough. Just saying a little prayer isn't enough. If you only do one spiritual thing then it is just like eating only one kind of food like candy. We all know that we would get sick if we only ate candy. We become spiritually sick if we don't have a balanced spiritual diet.
Penny: So what do I need to do to stay healthy spiritually?
Ms. D: That is an excellent question. (Turns the food pyramid over where there is a spiritual pyramid and begins to describe what we need in our lives like prayer, bible reading, church attendance, worship, etc)
Penny: Wow, there is a lot to do to maintain our relationship with Jesus.
Ms D: Yes there is, but they are all good for us and important to do.
Penny: Why don't we worship right now? It was one of the things on the pyramid.
Ms. D: That is a great idea.
Singing is an important element of our friendship with Jesus. Take time to explain that when we sing we are showing and telling God how we feel about him. Lets lead the kids into the presence of the Lord. They need to experience Gods presence. As we lead they will follow.
Take time before offering to tell the kids about the team names (such as the Amazing blazing Ants or the cool and crazy crickets) and team points. Designate a helper to stay near the board to record team points as they are earned. Once the names are established take offering using the scales.
Will you eat it? Have two bags with unusual edible items in them. Select several volunteers. Describe the item. Have the volunteers guess what you are describing. If they guess correctly ask them "will you eat it?" If they eat it they score points for there team. The team with the most points wins. Talk about what it means to eat a balanced meal and what happens to our bodies if we leave out one of the major food groups.
Clown skit:
A clown comes in with a candy bar making quite a fuss over how wonderful it is. When asked to share he/she first offers only the wrapper, then offers a teeny tiny piece, but no more. The other person can then tell the clown how sometimes we only want to give God a little of our lives...but that is wrong. Giving God a little of our heart and lives isn't enough.
Use the scales to explain to the kids what balanced means. Use candy or money to show how if you put a lot in one side and a little in the other side they are no longer balanced. Too little in one side causes it to be uneven.
Tell the story of the Pharisees and their praying in public, but lacking any real relationship with God. They were doing spiritual things but didn't have a balanced diet of spiritual things. They were only doing the things that made them look good.
Bobo Bumble Bee is angry with the pastor and comes up screaming and hollering.
Bobo: (comes up angry)
Ms. D: What is the matter Bobo? You seem to be quite angry.
Bobo: I am angry! I am very angry! Why I am so mad I could spit nails and and (goes into a tirade again)
Ms. D: Bobo calm down. Control yourself. What are you angry about?
Bobo: I am angry with Pastor. He is so mean. Why I just want to take him out to the parking lot and show him how strong I am. I'm going to beat him up, that's what I am going to do.
Ms.D: Whoahhh. Bobo, have you asked Jesus to be the boss of your life?
Bobo: Well of course I have! I want to go to heaven and be with Jesus someday.
Ms. D: You certainly aren't acting like it today.
Bobo: Yes I am, why I read a bible verse this morning! I did! I read one verse every morning you know. I am very spiritual.
Ms. D: I am afraid that is not enough. Reading one verse doesn't make you spiritual. You need a balanced diet of spiritual things.
Bobo: But I go to church sometimes. That surely makes me spiritual right?
Ms. D: Nope! You see Bobo, in order to be spiritual we need to love the Lord with our whole hearts, mind, and soul. When we love him that much we will want to read our Bibles and go to church and pray and worship and display the fruit of the spirit in our lives.
Bobo: Does that mean I shouldn't be acting so rude and angry with pastor?
Ms. D: As a matter of fact it does. Do you remember what the fruits of the spirit are?
Bobo: As a matter of fact I don't. Hehehehehe..
Ms. D: Maybe the kids can help you out (allow kids to tell bobo what they are)
Bobo: I see that I need some self control and some love and some kindness and I need to forgive pastor don't I?
Ms. D: yep, you sure do.
Bobo: There is a lot more to being a Christian than just coming to church isn't there?
Ms. D: When Jesus comes into our lives and we become a Christian he becomes our friend. If we want to keep him as our best friend we need to do the things that will help build our friendship with him. (Bring out the chart and review them with bobo and the kids)
Bobo: That's a lot of things...
Ms D: Just doing one thing won't keep us spiritually healthy. You have to have a balance.
Bobo: Well, I learned an important lesson today. I think I will go tell pastor I am sorry.
Ms. D: before you go, could you tell us what he did that made you so angry?
Bobo: Oh, he....
OBJECT LESSON that ties into alter call:
have a large heart cut from a white sheet and small hearts cut from red fabric. Tell the children the salvation message and then talk about how Jesus loved us sooo much that he died for us. Ask the children what we can do in return. Give each child a heart. We could just go to church and never act nice, we could just read a little bit of the bible...we could pray before bed time sometimes, but our spiritual life would not be balanced. We need to give God everything. prayer, bible reading, church, worship and our actions. Have a time for the kids to reflect what a big decision this is. Then allow them to pin their heart to the big heart if they would like to serve God with their whole heart.
