Jesus is My Shepherd

The parables of the Good Shepherd and the Lost Sheep are such vivid, loving pictures of Jesus' care for us as His sheep.  The imagery Jesus uses in these stories is perfect for showing children the love of Jesus, which leads to the desire to follow and obey Him.  I set about on a way to make this lesson tangible and interactive, and I am so excited to share it with you!  As usual, I used items that  I found around my house and classroom.  I am sure that with a little digging and creativity, you can come up with similar items to tell this story in the same way.

Bible Truth: Jesus is my Shepherd
Bible Story: The parable of the lost sheep.
Bible Study: Luke 15:1-7; John 10:1-15, Psalms 23

teach

 

 Here is a list of the items that I am using:

• green cloth
• blocks
• blue ribbon
• rocks
• cotton balls
• shepherd (from Little People Nativity Set) 

Gather with the children around a table, or in a circle on the floor, with the green cloth laid in front of you. Open your Bible and tell the children that today you are going to tell them a parable, a story that Jesus told to teach us something He wants us to know.  As you describe the good shepherd, and his care for his sheep, setup the rest of the objects to set the scene for the story.

To make the story more personal, give each child a cotton ball with their initials on it.  The Bible says that the Good Shepherd knows his sheep by name.  Throughout the story, use the names of the children as the names of the sheep, and direct the children move their sheep around the scene.

Here is a visual outline of the story with captions.

The Good Shepherd takes good care of his sheep.  He watches over them and knows each one by name.

The sheep follow the Good Shepherd and they know His voice.

The Good Shepherd leads His sheep to green pastures to eat and play, and beside still water to drink.

The Good Shepherd leads His sheep through the door, into the sheepfold, where they are safe.

If there is a sheep missing, the Good Shepherd leaves the others to search for it until he finds it.

When the Shepherd finds his lost sheep, He carries it home on his shoulders, and calls His family and friends to celebrate.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd and we are His sheep.  We follow Him and he takes good care of us.
He rejoices when even one of His lost sheep is found!

Find a picture in a children's Bible story book of the shepherd with the sheep on his shoulders to show to the children.  Jesus said that heaven rejoices when a sinner repents.  Conclude the story by celebrating like the shepherd.  Give the children party blowers or noise makers, or have a special snack in celebration!

sing

• The Lord is My Shepherd is a traditional song to help seal this truth in the hearts of your students.  Here are the lyrics & actions that I recommend for this song.
  
• Skip Behind the Shepherd is another really good song by The Donut Man (remember him?!)  It's fun for little ones to skip around the room to this song, and then end by lying in green pastures.

play

 

hide and go sheep

Hide sheep (cotton balls) around the room.  Send the children to be good shepherds, and find the lost sheep.  Rejoice when they do!

shepherd, shepherd where's your sheep?

This game is a modified version of "Doggie, Doggie Where's Your Bone?" in case you are already familiar with that.  For this game you will need a sheep of some sort.  Possibly a stuffed animal, sheep figurine, or one from the craft below.  The children sit in a circle.  Choose one child to be the shepherd.  The shepherd goes to "sleep" (closing and covering their eyes) in the middle of the circle with the sheep next to them.  Tap a child on the shoulder, indicating that they may go take the sheep from the shepherd, and hide it behind their back.  Everyone puts their hands behind their back, pretending that they are the one who took the sheep, and "wakes up" the shepherd with this rhyme:

Shepherd, shepherd where's you sheep?

Somebody took it while you were asleep.

Guess who, it might be you,

Or maybe wolf howling, "Ow-oooo!"

The shepherd has three chances to guess who took their sheep.  The child who took the sheep then has a turn as the shepherd.  Continue playing the game until everyone has a turn to be the shepherd, and take the sheep.

craft

A simple search for "sheep mask template" or "paper bag sheep puppet" will point you to lots of cute sheep craft ideas.  I have opted to share a craft with you specifically for this parable.
  

I really wanted a craft depicting the shepherd rescuing the lost sheep, and laying it on his shoulders.  I used this coloring sheet from sermons4kids.com as my starting point.  I did some digital magic to remove the sheep from the original to make it work the way I was visualizing.  It took a bit of reworking, but here it is!

You will need:

• these printouts (I suggest printing the lambs on card stock for greater durability)
• an Exacto knife
• scissors
• cotton balls
• brown paper
• glue 

To prepare, use the Exacto knife to cut around the shepherd's head, from shoulder to shoulder.  Cut out the lambs.  (For this to work as shown, you must cut out the spaces between the lamb's legs.)  Cut brown paper to resemble a rock, and crumple it for texture.

In class, have the children color the page.  Help them glue a small bottom section of the rock to the coloring page.  Give each child half of a cotton ball.  Help them spread the cotton apart and glue it to the lamb.  Review and retell the story together as children move the lamb from behind the rock, to the shepherd's shoulders.

 

Jesus Teaches Me to Love Others

Loving others by showing kindness, sharing, and being helpful are lessons that speak to preschoolers right where they live!

Bible Truth: Jesus teaches me to love others.
Bible Story: The parable of the Good Samaritan.
Bible Study: Luke 10:25-37; 1 John 4:7-8

teach

flannel graph-ooh!

I like to use our flannel graph set to tell this story.  We purchased the small deluxe Bible set years ago from Little Folk Visuals.  It was a costly investment, but it has lasted for over fifteen years, and is used across all our children's ministry classes.  Little Folk Visuals also has smaller Bible sets that provide the characters for a limited number of stories as another option.

For a more economical option, I suggest purchasing a child's Bible with nice, simple pictures.  Cut out the characters and any other accessories you like, and attach felt to the back of the cutouts.  Cover a board with felt as your story board, and now you have a nice flannel graph set for a fraction of the cost!

A great tip is to tuck the flannel graph pieces into your Bible, and pull them out of your Bible to place onto the board.  To get the children more involved with the story, you could give individual children a felt character or object to hold.  Then at each appropriate time in the story, invite the children to place them on the storyboard.

read

God's special rule

This Happy Day Book teaches kids very practical ways to show love to others.  You will likely find this book in your local Christian bookstore.  You can also order it here from Christian Book Distributors, or here from Amazon.  These are relatively inexpensive booklets, with attractive illustrations, to supplement your lessons.  I would also suggest checking your own book shelf or your local library for any books related to sharing, friendship, or showing kindness.  Please use discernment, but if any one of these is the central theme of a book or story, you may use it to demonstrate the practical application of loving others.

sing

Here are a couple great songs to download for this lesson.

• Love One Another from Yancy and Friends
• Beloved (1 John 4:7-8)

I think both of those songs are best served as puppet songs, songs to play in the background while kids are working on their crafts, or to play the games listed below.

play

scripture pass

This is a game similar to the concept of "Hot Potato."
For this version of the game in this lesson you will need:

• a heart-shaped object such as a pillow or candy box
• music such as one of the songs listed above 

The children sit in a circle and pass around the heart-shaped object while music is playing.  When you stop the music, whoever is holding the object stands up and repeats after you, "I John 4:7, Let us love one another."  After playing several rounds, many of the children will be able to say the verse with little help, or with no help at all.

share the love

Add a little variation, and "love in action" to the game.  Whoever is holding the object when the music stops, may also do something kind for another child.  Suggestions are:

• give a compliment to another child
• give a hug,  handshake or high five to another child
• choose a small treat (toy or candy) to give to another child

craft

good samaritan craftivity

 I found the coloring page for this activity here.  For this activity you will need:

• this coloring page
• red paint
• gauze
• heart stickers or cut-outs
• scissors
• crayons 

Allow the children to dab the wounded man with red paint, and then cover the wounds with strips of gauze you have cut out for them.  Then give them a heart sticker, or paper cut-out to affix to the Good Samaritan who showed love to his neighbor.

deco heart art

This is a simple, open-ended art project with minimal prep involved.  You may purchase precut foam hearts, or cut out your.  You will need:

• hearts (foamie or paper)
• these labels
• stickers, sequins and/or other small craft items
• hole punch
• ribbon
• glue

Glue the labels to the hearts, and then allow the children to decorate the hearts with stickers, sequins and/or other small craft items.  Hole punch a hole at the top, and tie a piece of ribbon through the hole.

marbled hearts

This is a fun, sensory kind of art project that I found here via Pinterest, and put my own spin on it.  You will need:

• paper plates
• shaving cream
• washable tempra paint
• paint brushes
• hearts cut out of card stock (pattern here)
• paper towels or wipes (for cleaning hands)

Begin by dispensing shaving cream, and then paint, onto a paper plate.  (I decided that when I do this with the kids I will use about half as much shaving cream as I show in this picture.)

  Allow the children to mix the paint and shaving cream with a paint brush.

Help each child place a paper heart over the mixture of paint and shaving cream, gently press, and then lift the heart off.

The result is a cool, marbled effect.  These could be displayed in your classroom with a "Let us love one another" banner.

Read this post for more ideas about teaching your child these concepts, while practicing preschool skills at home this week!

Jesus Teaches Me to be Wise: Home Ideas

The parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders is a great story to teach your preschooler about wise and foolish choices. In this parable Jesus teaches us that we are like the wise man when we hear His word and act in obedience.  We are like the foolish man when we hear His word and do not do as He says.  Ephesians 6:1 instructs children to obey their parents in the Lord.  Since God's word to children is to obey their parents, you can explain to your child that they are like the wise man when they listen to you and obey.  In contrast, they are like the foolish man when they hear you and choose to disobey you.  Introduce God's Word to your child as the authority, and as the foundation for teaching your child obedience.  Obedience is a lesson parents are always teaching, and truthfully, always learning.

There are several YouTube links this week.  They were just too good, so I had to share them with you!  In balance, though, I also have lots of suggestion for "hands-on, digging-in-the-dirt" fun. :)

• Read the story of the wise man and the foolish man together in your child's Bible.

• In your backyard, or at the park, build a sand castle, and then build a house out of rocks.  Pour water over the houses.  Observe and discuss what happens.

• Watch this Lego animation version of the parable read right from the Bible.

• Here's another cool Lego animation of the story without narration.

• Watch this sweet animation of the story, set to African style music, also without narration.

• Watch and sing "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock."

• After watching all those Lego movies, build and re-enact your own story of the Wise and Foolish Builders.  As you are building, talk about how Jesus says we are like the wise man when we obey, and we are like the foolish man when we disobey.

• Outside, arrange small rocks into various shapes and letters for your child to identify and re-create on their own.  You could also draw shapes and letters in the sand.

Jesus Teaches Me to Be Wise

Jesus tells the story contrasting the wise builder and the foolish at the conclusion of His Sermon on the Mount.  He tells His hearers that if they hear His words, and do them they are like the wise man, but if they hear His words and do not do them they are like the foolish man.  The lesson here is about obedience - so meaningful and relevant to preschoolers.  Building your life on Jesus (which is often the lesson taught with this story) is an abstract concept for little ones, but obedience, and choosing whether to be wise or foolish is right up their alley for both understanding and application!

Bible Truth: Jesus teaches me to be wise.
Bible Story: The wise and foolish builders.
Bible Study: Matthew 7:24-27

teach

sensory storytelling

For a great visual and sensory experience of this parable round up these items:

• Legos
• a clear shallow container
• sand
• a brick
• Velcro
• a hair dryer
• a spray bottle filled with water

To prepare, build two Lego houses.  Add a couple strips of Velcro to the bottom of the wise man's house, and the brick.

It works best to build the foolish man's house a bit top and front heavy.  I also left the back of the house exposed so that it will be easier to blow down when I tell the story.  Fill the clear shallow container with sand.

Hold your Bible open, and tell the children that this is an exciting story because it's a story that Jesus told his friends and people that wanted to follow Him.  We want to follow Jesus so let's listen to this story!

Jesus said that anyone who listens to His words, and obeys, is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.

A storm with lots of rain and strong winds came, but the house built on the rock was strong.  It stood firm.

Invite the children to pat their legs to make the sound of rain.  Spray the house with water, and then spray a mist over the children.  Turn the blow dryer on to a cool setting, direct the air towards the house, and direct it to the children.  (They will LOVE this!!)

Then Jesus said that anyone who listens to His words, but does not obey, is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

A storm with lots of rain and strong winds came, and the house on the sand came crashing down.

Once again, invite the children to pat their legs to make the sound of rain.  Spray the house, and a mist over the children.  Turn the blow dryer on to a cool setting, direct the air towards the children., and then towards the house to blow it over.

Ask the children, "Do you want to be like the wise man who built his house on the rock, or the foolish man who built his house on the sand?  When we listen to our parents and teachers, and obey them by doing what they say, Jesus said we are like the wise man."

sing

Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock is the traditional children's song illustrating this parable. Before we sing the song I briefly explain that building your life on the Lord means to obey Jesus.

play

wise and foolish charades

Play this game to teach and reinforce the practical application of this lesson.

To prepare, use pictures (if they are available to you) of children being wise (i.e. sharing, helping, etc.) and pictures of children being foolish (i.e. fighting, stealing, etc.).  If these pictures are not available to you, simply write the words on slips of paper.  Put the pictures or words in a container from which the children will draw from.  Also print out these happy and sad faces.  Cut them out and glue a happy and sad face to either side of a craft stick for each child.

Choose pairs of children to come to the front of the classroom and draw out a picture or word from the container.  Help the children figure out what the picture is conveying, or what the word says, and help them act it out.

Engage the rest of the class to help them guess what the children are doing.  (If you are using pictures, you can also show them the picture.)  After they determine the action of the children, ask them if the children are being wise or foolish.  If they are being wise they should show you the happy side of their craft stick.  If the children are being foolish, they should show you the sad side of their craft stick.   

 

craft 

 

coloring page

Here is a coloring page for this lesson to which you may add sand, and rock as suggested in the craft below.

rock painting

Collect enough smooth rocks for each child in your class.  Allow them to paint their rocks however they like.  When they dry, write on the rocks with a Sharpie marker, "I am wise when I obey." 

 

wise & foolish builders

For this craft you will need:

• this heading
• construction paper
• 6 craft sticks per child
• glue
• rock pattern contact paper (or gray / brown construction paper)
• craft sand (or sand / dirt) 

To prepare, print and cut the heading into strips, and cut the contact paper into approximately 1.5" by 5" rectangles.  (I'm using the contact paper because I already have it on hand.  If you opt to use construction paper, cut it to the same size, then crumple and flatten it out to give it a more "rock like" texture.)  Since there is a lot to glue for this project, you may want to glue the headings to the construction paper ahead of time.

In class, help the children glue the contact paper to the bottom left side of their paper, and sand to the bottom right side.  Glue four craft sticks, in the shape of a house, on the rock.  Then help them break two craft sticks, and glue them randomly over the sand.