Creatures in God’s World: Animal Homes

Creatures in God’s World: Animal Homes
“Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of Hosts and my God.” Psalm 84:3
Call to Worship
(Sung to “The Bear Went over the Mountain”)
Let’s worship God, let’s worship God, let’s worship God,
With joyful hearts, with joyful hearts, with joyful hearts,
Let’s worship God with joyful hearts!

Joys and Concerns
Have the children share a few joys and concerns they have and follow with a prayer thanking God for our joys and asking God to be with us in our concerns.

Sharing
Ask: Have you ever seen a bird’s nest? (We have one in our tree at home, etc.)
Listening
During the story, children will play the roll of a bird flying about building a nest. Have the children practice flapping their wings. Tell them that they are to flap their wings three times whenever they hear the word fly.
Say: I am a mother bird. I need to build a nest where I can lay my eggs. I’ve chosen this tree branch as the best place to build my nest. Now I must fly (pause) around and look for materials. Whenever I find something, I’ll bring it back to this branch. Since I am called a Baltimore Oriole, I like to build my nest with lots of materials.
I see some twigs. I’ll fly (pause) down and get those. There are some stalks of grass in that field. I’ll fly (pause) down and get those too. Oh good! I see some string over there on the ground. I’ll fly (pause) down and pick it up. There’s a long piece of yarn hanging from that low branch. I’ll fly (pause) and get that next. Great! There’s a clump of hair from someone’s hair brush. I’ll fly (pause) over near the porch and get that. Now I’ll fly (pause) down and get some more grass. This nest is really coming along! What a wonderful nest for my babies. I’m glad God gave animals the ability to make their own home.
Exploring
Make a Bagel Bird Feeder!

Say: There’s a verse in the Bible that talks about birds who nested at the temple. “Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of Hosts and my God.” Psalm 84:3. There are birds who live near our church, too. Today we’re going to make a treat for you to give to the birds who live near your homes.
What you need:
Bagel
Plastic knife
Yarn or string
Peanut butter or lard
Birdseed
Split the bagel in half. On the flat side spread peanut butter or lard. Sprinkle the birdseed on a paper plate. Press the peanut buttered side of the bagel into the birdseed. Tie a string onto the bagel and hang in a tree.

Read more: http://kidscrafts.suite101.com/article.cfm/easy_to_make_bird_feeders#ixzz0OwZLzbE8

Benediction
Say: Loving God, Thank you so much for the wonder creatures in our world. Amen.

St. Nicholas Day Celebration

December 6th is Saint Nicholas Day! I am so excited to be celebrating this Saint's day! Saint Nicholas was a Bishop of Myra and is known for secret gift giving. He would put coins in shoes that were left out for him and is the model for our Santa Claus. He did many things for children and lived a very selfless life. We will be celebrating his decision to live a life like Jesus exampled by taking a decorated Christmas tree to a nursing home near our church. We will be practicing our selfless giving and the joy that comes with doing good for others. I think this is a great way to celebrate the Advent season and to teach our children to grow up and be loving people.

Creatures in God’s World: Loving Pets

Creatures in God’s World: Loving Pets
“But the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought.” 2 Samuel 12:3
Call to Worship
(Sung to “The Bear Went over the Mountain”)
Let’s worship God, let’s worship God, let’s worship God,
With joyful hearts, with joyful hearts, with joyful hearts,
Let’s worship God with joyful hearts!

Joys and Concerns
Have the children share a few joys and concerns they have and follow with a prayer thanking God for our joys and asking God to be with us in our concerns.

Sharing
Ask: Can you tell us about a pet you have or would like to have? (I have a puppy named Rover, I want a fish, etc.)
Listening
Use two poems about a lamb to help children think about loving pets.
Ask: There’s a famous poem about a girl who loved her pet lamb. What’s the name of the poem? (Mary Had A Little Lamb)
Say: Let’s say the poem together:
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb its fleece was white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went
And everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go.
Continue: There’s a story about a pet lamb in the Bible too. Here’s a poem about that lamb:
There’s a story in the Bible about a little lamb,
Who was loved oh so much by a poor man.
He brought her home and cared for her,
And treated her like a daughter.
He shared his food and his cup,
And everyday he picked her up!
Read the rhyme again, asking the children to repeat each line after you.
Conclude by saying: God has given us pets to love. What a wonderful part of God’s wonderful world!
Exploring
Have the children put on paint smocks and ask them to paint with watercolors on card stock paper a pet they have or a pet they want.
Benediction
Say: Loving God, Thank you so much for the wonder creatures in our world. Amen.

My Wednesday Night Experience

This past Wednesday for our 7 o'clock classes I decided that we would break from our normal routine and all be together. Our various classes have been learning various ways to be with God, inevitably learning that God is in everything, and I have a secret passion for dance, so we all were going to take a break to dance. Now I am talking children from age 4-14 all in a open hallway with Miley Cyrus, John Lennon, Casting Crowns, and many others. I had a plan, which I will post below, but having had some experience in ministry knew that with or without a plan it was going to happen the way it was going to happen. We spent an hour dancing, running, breathing, playing, singing, giggling, and just having fun in the Holy Spirit. It was a great time! After we were done stretching and cooling down I asked the kids what they had learned from all of this. These were their answers: that our body tells us more things than I'm sleepy or I'm sick, that God is with us even when we are just being silly, that we need to watch out for other people so we don't hurt them, and that dancing with God is fun. It was a WONDERFUL experience. I got to share something I love with them and they got to teach me about how God uses our movements for God's love.

Liturgical Dance Lesson Plan

Coloring sheets

Talk about dancing: Our bodies have special knowledge that our heads don't have. Our bodies tell us when we are sick, or sleepy, or happy. We can use our bodies to feel God too. We have been learning how to worship God in new ways this fall. We’ve learned that we can be with God when we paint, sing, talk, color, make crowns, and make sculptures out of clay. Tonight we are going o learn how to be with God through dance. At church we call this type of dance liturgical dance. I am going to walk us through stretching and a warm up and then I am going to give you an example of what liturgical dance looks like. I want you to know that there is no right way to dance in liturgical dance. The goal here is to use movement to find God. 

There is a Bible verse I want us to learn: 

²Let Israel be glad in its Maker;

   let the children of Zion rejoice in their King. 
³Let them praise his name with dancing

Stretch: “Watching the wheels go round”

Warm up: “Party in the USA”

Example: “She Is Love”

Loosen up: “Fireflies”

Fast Liturgical Dance: “If We Are the Body”

Slow Free Moving Liturgical dance: “Everything”

Cool Down Dance: “Wonderful Life”

Stretch: “Send It On”

3 Extra Songs: “I Saw God Today”, “If Today Was Your Last Day”, “Imagine”

The Nuts and Bolts of Christian Education

Let me first say that Delia Halverson is amazing. Anyone of her books is a must for any Christian Educators library. This one in particular is a favorite of mine. If you had no idea what to expect when taking a Christian ed job, this book would act as your life vest. If has so many helpful ideas on how to start. It is easy to follow. It has reproducibles in the back for important Christian Ed plans. It really is a must have.