Bible Truth: Worship Jesus our King.
Bible Story: Wise men traveled from far away to worship Jesus.
Bible Study: Matthew 2:1-12
teach
story-in-a-gift
The final characters that I will pull out of my gift box are the wise men, along with a toddler Jesus. In order to present the Biblical account of the story accurately, I am sure to not show the children any pictures of the wise men at the stable the night that He was born, since Jesus was probably about two years old when the wise men arrived in Bethlehem to worship Jesus, and present Him with their exquisite gifts.
dramatized reading
If you are simply reading the story of the wise men from a children's Bible, make the story more memorable by wearing a crown from Burger King as you read, or bring a few crowns for the children to wear and act out the story as you read.
show and smell
Three small gift boxes filled with plastic gold coins (or other golden objects), and nice smelling perfumes and/or oils, can help you tell the story as you describe the gifts that the wise men brought for Jesus. Explain that these were expensive gifts that were given to kings. The wise men brought them to Jesus because He is the King of all kings!
sing
- Follow, Follow the Bright Star is a song I wrote to go with this lesson.
- We Fall Down is a simple and beautiful worship song to teach the kids to sing to Jesus.
- Run, Jesus Run is a great, fun action song by the Donut Man that corresponds with this story. I explain that the wise man were good kings who came to worship Jesus, but there was a wicked king who wanted to kill Jesus. God was watching over Joseph, Mary and Jesus. He sent an angel to tell Joseph to get up in the middle of the night, and go quickly to Egypt where they would be safe from the wicked king. That's about all the detail that I go into for this portion of the story. There is no MP3 download of this song that is available anywhere that I can find. The only way that I know to get this song is to purchase the Shout Hosanna CD from donutman.com. The CD is definitely worth purchasing in my opinion!
play
follow the star
For this game you will need a star to hold, or use a flashlight as suggested here to shine the star around the room. Tell the children that the wise men traveled for many, many days, and had to sleep out in the desert while they were traveling. Invite them to pretend to be the wise man and go to sleep. Move to a different part of the room, or shine the star to a different part of the room. Then say, "Wake up wise men, it's time to find the star!" The children get up and run to wherever you holding or shining the star. Sing "Follow, Follow the Bright Star", then tell the children that it's time for the wise men to go back to sleep. Continue playing the game as long as time allows,or as long as the children are interested!
craft
star decoration
Cut out stars, or purchase foam stars from the Dollar Store. Provide star stickers, glitter, and/or sequins for the children to decorate their stars. Print out these tags with "Follow, Follow the Bright Star" for the children to sing with their parents and home as they discuss today's lesson. Punch a hole in the top of the stars the tags and tie a piece ribbon to complete the decoration.
shining star
Michael's craft store has these glittery foam star stickers for 60% off right now in the children's Christmas craft section. I like to stock up on them to use throughout the year. For this lesson, the children could simply add them to a coloring sheet like this one.
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