God Calls Abram

What We Talked About:
Abram lived in the land of Haran with his wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot. One day, God came to Abram and said, "I want you to leave your country and go to a place that I will show you." God made a promise to Abram. He promised him a great nation, a great name, a great blessing, and a great land.

Abram obeyed God. Sarah, Lot and he packed up all their things and went to the place God showed him to live.

What's the Big Deal?
1. Obey right away.

What We Did
1. Carter, Leiah, and Claire played the parts of Abram, Sarah, and Lot for us. We had them wear funny, Bible-time robes and pack up all their belongings (pillows, blankets, shoes, pots, pans, silverware, etc.) in a basket. Then we had them carry all their belongings to another part of the room to show how Abram packed up his stuff and moved.
2. We played a game to see how fast we could pack up all the stuff Abram, Sarah, and Lot had to carry.


Abram, Sarah, and Lot after they moved all their stuff.

Our Memory Verse
1 John 5:3a - “This is love for God: to obey his commands."

Extras
Play a game of Hang Monkey about today's story over at the Faith Kids games page.

David and Goliath - The Movie

Our kids wrote and starred in our own movie adaptation of the story of David and Goliath.

Tower of Babel

What We Talked About:
During the time after the flood, everyone spoke the same language. In the city of Babel, the people began thinking to themselves, "You know, our city is a pretty great city, and we're a pretty great bunch of people. We should let everyone else know how great we are." So they got together and decided to build a great, big tower that would stretch to the heavens. When people would see the tower, they would think, "Man, the people of Babel sure must be great."

God saw that the people of Babel were so focused on how great they were that they completely forgot about how great and awesome He was. So, in order to stop their work on the tower, God made it so all the people began speaking different languages. When this happened, all the workers on tower could no longer understand each other. It was so frustrating that they just gave up on building the tower, and scattered throughout the area.

What's the Big Deal?
1. Make God look great, not ourselves.

What We Did
1. Built our own tower out of play bricks. As we placed each brick on the tower, we hi-fived each other and said, 'We're awesome!" to show how the people of Babel liked to brag about themselves.
2. We divided ourselves into three language groups: the Ubba people, the Oodle people, and the Eeka people to hear how it must have sounded the day when God changed their language.
3. After we were done with everything, we played the tower building game, Jenga.

Our Memory Verse
1 Corinthians 10:31 - “So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

Extras
Try to stop the people of Babel from building the tower with a new game over at the Faith Kids games page.

Noah's Ark Part 2

What We Talked About:
Water had covered the entire earth. Noah, his family, and the animals floated as watered covered even the highest mountains for 150 days. God sent a strong wind, and the waters began to recede. Finally, the ark struck ground on a mountain top.

To see if there was any dry ground out there, Noah sent a dove from the ark. It returned to him because it could find no dry ground on which to land. A week later, he sent out a dove again. This time, the dove returned with a green, leafy branch. Noah knew that trees were now visible. Finally, Noah sent out a dove again another week later, and it did not return. Noah knew there was dry ground.

After Noah, his family, and the animals had left the ark, Noah built an altar to thank God for protecting him from the flood. God spoke to Noah, and made a promise to never, ever, ever destroy the earth with a flood. He gave the rainbow as a sign of this promise.

What's the Big Deal?
1. God keeps his promises.

What We Did
1. Brianna played the part of Noah and sat in a boat. She threw a stuffed bird from the ark to show Noah releasing the dove. Then, Mr. Andy ran around like a crazy man to represent the bird looking for dry ground.
2. We played a popcorn eating game as we learned our memory verse.\
3. Using water in six small glasses, and red, yellow, and green food coloring, we created all the colors of the rainbow.

Our Memory Verse
Genesis 8:22 - “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

Extras
Answer some true and false questions by playing the game 'True or False: Noah's Ark' at the Faith Kids games page.

Noah's Ark Part 1

What We Talked About:
The people of the earth had become so sinful that God decided it was time to start over. He told Noah, a man who still obeyed God, that He was going to send enough rain to flood the entire earth. He told Noah to build a great big boat, called an ark, so he and his family could survive the flood.

Noah worked on the boat for years and years. While he was working, people would make fun of him and his 'crazy' idea about God flooding the earth, but Noah kept on working.

When Noah had finished the boat, God sent two of each animal to the ark, so they could survive the flood. When Noah, his family, and all the animals were inside the ark, God closed the door.

And then it began to rain....and rain....and rain. It rained for 40 days and nights, until even the highest mountain tops were covered with water.

What's the Big Deal?
1. Sometimes people will make fun of us for obeying God.

What We Did
1. We put a large boat in the middle of our classroom. Bethany played the part of Noah. 'Noah' worked on the boat as people came by and laughed at him. When 'Noah' finished the ark, we placed two of each kind of stuffed animal in the ark. 'Noah' also got into the boat. Then, we used a blue bedsheet to show the water rising up to the ark.
2. Played a game called 'Loading the Ark.' Each team had a large pile of stuffed animals they had to throw into the boat.


Playing "Loading the Ark."

Our Memory Verse
Matthew 5:10 - “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Extras
Try loading the ark yourself by playing 'Filling Up the Ark' at the Faith Kids games page.