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Welcome Experience 1Perfect TimingGoal: Kids will learn that even if our timing isn’t always perfect, God’s timing is always perfect. This game will help them think about the Bible story.Quick Instructions: Stand in front of the kids with your back to them, and tell them to rotate between three different positions: one arm up, two arms up, or hands on hips. They can go through the positions as quickly or slowly as they want, but when you say “FREEZE,” they have to freeze. Before you turn around, call out one of the positions. Whoever is in that position is out, and should sit down. Keep playing until you have a winner. Tell the kids they will learn that God’s timing is always perfect.Supplies: NoneExpanded Instructions: Stand in front of the kids with your back to them. Have the kids rotate between three different poses: one arm up, two arms up, or hands on hips. Give them time to pose, then call out “FREEZE!”The kids have to freeze in whatever position they are in. Before you turn around facing them, call out one of the positions. Whoever is in the position you called is out, and has to sit down. Keep playing until you have a winner.Say: In this game, we didn’t all have perfect timing. We’re going to hear a story from the Bible to learn that God’s timing is always perfect.Optional Discussion Questions:Have you ever had to wait for something you were excited about, like a birthday, holiday, or present? How did you feel when you had to wait?What can we learn while we’re waiting for good things to happen?What was the best part of your week? What was the hardest part? Welcome Experience 2Patience TestSupplies: Printable page (1 for each pair of kids that play the game), scissors (prep only)Goal: To help kids connect and belong, while also getting them to think about the story for today.Quick Instructions: Have two kids to come up front, or put all the kids into pairs. Have the two partners face each other. Tell them to sit patiently and look at each other for one minute without laughing, talking, or making any sound. While they are sitting there, they can hold up pictures of cute baby animals to distract the other person. If one partner can get the other person to laugh, or make a sound, they win. Finish by telling the kids that we will be learning that God’s timing is always perfect in our Bible story.Expanded Instructions:PREP: Cut the printable page so that you have two piles of cute animals, one for each child. Choose two kids to come up front to play, or put all the kids into pairs. Have two kids face each other. Say: Let’s play a game to see how patiently we can wait without laughing!Have them stare at each other patiently for one minute without talking or laughing. While they are sitting there, they can hold up pictures of cute baby animals to distract the other person. They can try to make each other laugh, but whoever makes a sound or smiles is out, and the other person wins. Ask and Say: Did the one minute go by slowly or quickly for you? It can be hard to sit patiently for one minute without talking or laughing! Do you think it’s hard for us to wait patiently for God sometimes? We’re going to learn today about the importance of trusting God and waiting on Him to fulfil His promises in our lives. God can help us be patient as we wait for Him.Optional Discussion Questions:Was it hard to wait patiently and not talk or laugh while watching a friend? Why? Have you ever had to wait on God to answer a prayer or do something He promised? What was that experience like?What was the best part of your week? What was the hardest part? Believing Experience 1Sticky VerseGoal: Have kids do this activity to become more familiar with the Bible verse so they can better remember it.Quick Instructions: Give each kid a set of verse cards from the printable page.. Give them small pieces of tape and tell them to mix up their verse cards so the verse is out of order and race to see who can tape them up to a wall or a piece of paper, the fastest in order. Optional: Split them into teams and let one person from the team choose one verse card to tape up at a time during the activity. When they finish, have them say the verse aloud. Review the meaning of the verse and remembering that God is faithful to keep His promises.Supplies Needed: Printable page (1 per kid), scissors, painter’s tape, Bible (optional: copy paper)Expanded Instructions:Give each kid a printable pageand a pair of scissors. Have them cut out the verse cards. Give each kid (or group) pieces of tape. Have the kids put a small amount of tape on the back of each card.Say: To help us remember that God’s promises stick, we’re going to stick this Bible verse to the wall. Tell the kids to mix up their verse cards and then race to stick them up to a designated area on the wall. When you say “Go,” have them race to stick up the verse in order, one card at a time. You can play this as a relay race, with two teams racing against each other, or let all the kids race at once. Note: If you don’t have enough wall space, have them tape their verse to the floor or a piece of paper, or to a partner’s back!When all the kids finish taping up their verse, encourage them all to say the verse aloud.Ask: What does this verse remind us about God? Go over the meaning of the verse all together. Remind them that God is faithful to always keep His promises! Say: God was faithful to Abraham and Sarah and gave them a son. God’s promises stick. God is faithful to us too.Optional Discussion Questions:This activity helps us remember that God’s promises stick. What promise did God make in today’s Bible story to Abraham and Sarah that stuck?Why do you think God doesn’t make everything good happen right away?What are some good things that could happen while we’re waiting on God to answer a prayer or fulfill a promise?Believing Experience 2 Birth CelebrationSupplies: Printable page (1 per kid), Bible or Bible story script, markers of crayons Goal: Have kids do this activity to become more familiar with the Bible story so they can better remember it.Quick Instructions: Give the kids each a printable page and have them decorate it, and then pretend that they are attending a birth celebration party for Abraham and Sarah. Choose two kids to pretend to be Abraham and Sarah and tell the story of how God gave them a son. Finish by asking the kids what promises God has kept in their family, and reminding kids that like God was faithful to Abraham and Sarsh, God will be faithful to keep His promises to us too.Expanded Instructions:Give each kid a printable page and coloring utensils. Say: Can you imagine what it must have felt like when Abraham and Sarah found out they were going to have a baby? We are going to create announcement cards about the birth of baby Isaac, and then we are going to retell the Bible story. Have them decorate the page and pretend to have a celebration for Abraham and Sarah and baby Isaac.Choose two kids to act out the parts of Abraham and Sarah and tell the story of how God gave them a baby boy. Use your Bible or Bible story script to add any details they may have missed. Consider having another kid be the narrator of the story!Ask: What promises has God kept in your family? Allow kids to respond. Say: God kept His promise to Abraham and Sarah and gave them the baby He promised them. Ask: What can we remember about God from this story? God will always keep His promises to us too. We know that He keeps His promises in His time. We can trust Him and be patient. *Optional: Set out blue streamers and make blue posters that say “It’s a Boy!” and decorate the room for a celebration for a new baby boy. Optional Discussion Questions:We just heard about Abraham and Sarah being blessed with a baby. Have any of you or your friends ever welcomed a new baby into their family. If so, what did the family do to prepare for the new baby? How do you think Sarah felt when she heard she would have a baby? Why do you think she laughed?What can you do when you get impatient for God to work in your life or keep a promise?Becoming Experience 1Get in Age OrderSupplies: Sticky notes (1 per kid), pencilsGoal: Help kids remember that God’s promises aren’t impossible, we can trust Him, and learn how they can apply this to their lives.Quick Instructions: Have the kids line up in order from youngest to oldest. They have to figure out each other’s birthdays by year, month, and day all without talking! Ask if anyone can guess Abraham’s or Sarah’s ages when they were having their baby. Remind them that God kept His promises to Abraham and Sarah even when they were very old, and it seemed like God had forgotten about them, but God made it happen in His time. End by having kids share about how we can trust God to keep His promises in His time. Expanded Instructions: Say: We learned today about God keeping His promise to two people in the Bible who were much older than we are. Do you know how old your friends are? Let’s play a game to try and figure out how old each person is.Tell the kids that the object of the game is to line up in order from youngest to oldest, but they are not allowed to talk! They can use their hands and make motions to figure out how old each person is and to discover their birth year, month, and day. Give them a time limit of two minutes, or split them into two teams and let them race.Say: God kept His promise to Abraham and Sarah even when they were very old, and it seemed like He had forgotten about them. It seemed as if they were too old to have a baby, but God made it happen! No matter how young or old we are, we can trust God to keep His promises in His time. Ask: How can we trust God to keep His promises in His time? Allow kids to share with the group. What promises are you waiting on God to fulfil in your life? Allow kids to share. Pass out a sticky note to each kid and a pencil. Say: It can be easy for us to talk about trusting God, but what can help us remember this truth is to write down a specific way that we are going to trust God this week. Let’s take some time now to write down on our sticky notes what we we are going to trust God with this week. Give kids time to write and then share with the group. Optional Discussion Questions:Was it easy or difficult to know each other’s birthday without talking? Why or why not? Do you think it was easy or difficult for Abraham and Sarah to trust God to keep His promise to them even when they were old? Why or why not? What should we remember? Why do you think God doesn’t always do what we expect when we expect it?Becoming Experience 2Unbreakable BridgeSupplies: Craft sticks (6-10 per kid), glue sticks , small paper cards (1 per kid), writing utensils Goal: Help kids understand the difference between promises of humans and the promises of God, and how God’s timing works in our lives.Quick Instructions: Give the kids craft sticks and glue, and have them build their own bridge. They can work together in teams or pairs, or on their own. Encourage them to be creative as they are building. When they’re finished, ask if they think their bridge is unbreakable. Talk to them about the difference between human promises, which are breakable, and God’s promises, which are never broken. Ask them to name promises people make that can be broken. Talk about how sometimes people forget things or circumstances change, and they have to break promises. Remind kids that God keeps His promises in His time. End by talking about how God never breaks His promises, even whent it seems like He’s forgotten.Expanded Instructions:Give each kid craft sticks and glue. Say: Use your materials to build a strong bridge that would be difficult to break. You can work together with a partner, or make your own. Be as creative as you want to be, but you will have limited time and materials! Who thinks they can build an unbreakable bridge? Allow kids time to build their bridges, and ask them questions as they build.Ask the following questions while they build:Have you ever had someone break a promise to you? How did that make you feel? What are promises people might make that can be broken? What is the difference between a promise a person makes and a promise God makes? People can forget things or let us down and break promises, but God will never forget or break promises. Say: Even if we have to wait a long time, God will keep His promises in His time. We learned that God gave Abraham and Sarah a baby boy even in there old age. Say: It is time to test if our bridges are unbreakable! Ask the kids if any of them think their bridge is unbreakable. Optional: allow them a chance to break their bridges to show how easily they break. Say: These bridges we tried to build are a lot like the promises that people make. They are breakable. What we need to remember is that God never breaks His promises to us, even if it may seem like it is taking too long for Him to answer. Even though people may break promises, God never does, even if it seems like He’s forgotten. God works in His time to keep His promises. Pass out a paper card to each kid and a writing utensil. Say: I want you to write down how God keeps His promises to you in His time. Then I want you to choose a place where you can put it at home and read it each day. Allow kids time to write, and then share with group.Pray and thank God that He never breaks His promises, and we can trust Him. Optional Discussion Questions:Did you think it was possible to build an unbreakable bridge out of craft sticks? Was it hard to figure out how to build your bridge? Have you ever had a person break a promise to you? How did it make you feel?How does it make you feel knowing God never breaks a promise?Challenge Experience 1 Choose Your Challenge Supplies: Printaable pages (1 per kid),, pencils or crayonsGoal: To help provide kids with an active way of applying what they have learned from the Bible story and allow them to choose real ways of practicing it during the week.Quick Instructions: Each kid is given a printable page that gives them options to choose from to apply what they learned. Encourage them to think about which challenge they want to try this week, and have them check the box for that challenge. Have the kids tell the story through the illustrations provided and add extra illustrations of their own.Expanded Instructions:Pass out the Choose Your Challenge page to each kid and give them a writing utensil.Say: Let’s think through some of the experiences we have had today in small group. Review the different activities you did together. We all know that what we learned is not meant to stay here but to help us build God’s kingdom out there! Let’s look over our Challenge Comic page. Review the three options with your small group. Ask: Which one of these challenges do you think you could practice this week and why? Allow kids to share which challenge they are choosing to do this week.Have the kids look at the Bible story illustration. Invite the kids to help you tell the Bible story by using the illustrations.Say: I think that God is going to do something amazing in you this week through these challenges. I can’t wait to hear about how it went next week when we are together. Remember, God is always with you. Optional Discussion Questions:When could you practice one of these challenges this week? Is there one of the challenges that you find easier to do? Which one and why?Whom could you ask to do the challenge with you?Challenge Experience 2God’s Promises PrayerSupplies: Printable page (1 per kid), sticky notes (6 per kid), pens or pencils, BiblesGoal: Kids will write God’s promises on sticky notes and stick them to a wall as they practice thankfulness through prayer. Quick Instructions: Give each kid a printable page, six sticky notes, a Bible, and a pen or pencil. They will use the printable page to look up six Bible verses with promises from God, and write them on the sticky notes. Have them stick the sticky notes to the wall. Then lead them through a time of giving thanks to God for each promise, and asking for help believing and remembering the promise. End with talking about how we are to thank Him for His faithfulnes. If we need help trusting God with a certain promise or area of our lives, we can ask for help.Expanded Instructions: Pass out the printable page, six sticky notes, a Bible, and a pen or pencil to each kid, or have them pair up to work together. Have the kids look up the Bible verses and write the promises on the sticky notes. Then have them put the sticky notes on the wall and thank God for each promise from the Bible.Say: Let’s thank God for His faithfulness in our lives and for His promises to us. Have the kids pray over the promises and pray for each other to remember these promises. Say: Just like these promises sticking to the wall, God’s promises stick in our lives because He always keeps His promises. We can thank God for His faithfulness. If we need help trusting God with a certain promise or area of our lives, we can ask Him for help. Pray together and thank God for His faithfulness. Optional Discussion Questions:Which promise is the easiest for you to remember and trust?Which promise is the one you need the most help remembering or trusting?What can you do when you’re waiting on God to answer a prayer or fulfill a promise in your life? ................
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