Kindergarten-2nd

April 30-May 1, 2016

Daniel; Psalm 56:3

BRAVE Journey: Daniel

Look for ways to be brave.

Connect Time (15 minutes): Five minutes after the service begins, split kids into groups and begin their activity. Large Group (30 minutes) : Begin 20 minutes after the service starts. Model what it looks like to be engaged in large group. Small Group (15 minutes) : Keep kids in small groups until parents arrive. If you all have extra time at the end, you can review the video and songs together.

To get kids into the idea of “looking for” ways to be brave, you could facilitate a game of hot/cold before it’s time to stat Connect Time. Hide an object and have kids look for it. When they get closer, they’re “hot”; when they get farther, they’re “cold.” It’s also a great way to get kids connected before the service officially begins!

Ask kids about their glasses picture, and what they drew inside the “lenses”!

Daniel was brave over and over again and lived a life marked by bravery. Our lives can be marked by bravery, too, especially if we’re on the lookout for opportunities that God gives us to be brave.

                                                                                                               

GOAL: Connect Time is all about engaging kids in an activity that allows them to connect with each other right away while simultaneously piquing their curiosity for Large Group and preparing their minds for what they’re going to hear. MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO

• Split kids into small groups, with at least one volunteer leading each group. • Have kids stand in a circle. • Tell kids that you’re going to choose two volunteers:

o One kid will be the guesser. o One kid will be the monkey. o The rest of the kids will follow the monkey.

• The guesser has to close their eyes (Make sure they can’t see; they’re not supposed to know who the monkey is!) while you pick a kid to be the monkey.

• The rest of the kids have to do whatever the monkey does. o For example, the monkey could do actions that a monkey would do, like

scratching their head, crawling on the ground, making funny noises, etc. o The monkey can also do non-monkey actions, like jumping jacks, hopping,

dancing, etc. • The guesser tries to figure out who the monkey is. The monkey should try to

not get caught changing the action. If they do get caught, then pick a new guesser and monkey!

• Before you choose the first “monkey”, model for the kids how the monkey is supposed to act. They should move slowly so that other kids can catch on and follow, and they shouldn’t try to get caught!

• Choose as many different monkeys to lead the group as you want until Connect Time is over.

TALK ABOUT IT

• What did the guesser have to do to spot the monkey? • What’s the one of bravest things you’ve ever done in your life?

Before you go to Large Group, you can ask kids how their week went. You can also remind kids of the expectations for Large Group behavior: (1) be kind, (2) listen when somebody speaks, and (3) follow the leader’s instructions.

     

Goal: Kids will (1) recognize that Daniel lived a life of bravery and (2) understand that, if we look for them, we all have opportunities to be brave. Why? Sometimes bravery finds us, but sometimes we have to go look for opportunities! Tip: Baptism may have been mentioned in Large Group. Ask kids if they have questions. They can also go to CrossroadsKidsClub.net/baptism with a parent to talk more about it. (Or go there on your phone and talk through a few of the questions in the Baptism Guide!)

1

REVIEW THE STORY 1. How were Daniel and his friends brave? (Show a paper with the images kids looked

at in Large Group and help them remember the specific ways Daniel was brave.) a. Daniel left home. b. Daniel asked king for just vegetables and water instead of meat. c. Daniel trusted God to make them strong. d. Daniel asked God to tell him what his dreams meant, and help him give bad

news to kings. e. Daniel’s friends did not bow and went into furnace, but God kept them safe. f. Daniel prayed but got thrown into lions den, but God kept him safe.

2. Why do you think Daniel lived a brave life? (Help kids get to this conclusion: Daniel wanted to obey God. He wanted to trust in God and be brave, even when things were hard or scary.)

3. How have you shown bravery in your life? (Allow kids to share who might not have gotten to in Large Group.)

MAKE IT PERSONAL

• Hand each kid a cardboard tube, markers and 3 star stickers. • Ask kids: What do we use a telescope for? (To help people see better, to look for

things.) Remind kids of how God wants us to look for ways to be brave, and this telescope can remind us to do that!

• Let kids decorate their telescope with markers and stickers. Extra Time? Give kids a coloring page. After that, play I Spy and practice looking for things! Choose one kid to spy something in the room, and the rest of the group takes turns guessing what it is.

                                                                                                               

 

 

2

                                                                                                               

Many kids have probably memorized the motions for the special verse we’ve been learning for the past few weeks (Psalm 56:3), but here’s a link for the “trust” motion. https://www.signingsavvy.com/sign/TRUST/4790/1

If you want to preview “The Monkey Business Illusion” video, you can do that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY. And make sure you don’t tell kids what the video is called to tip them off!

1

*Click to play intro music WELCOME AND INTRO Hey everybody! Welcome to Kids’ Club. It’s really great to see you here! You all seemed like you were having a pretty fun time playing that guessing game. Raise your hand if you were a guesser? (Let kids respond.) Now raise your hand if you were a monkey! (Let kids respond.) So if you were a guesser, what did you have to do to try and find the monkey? (Let a few kids guess.) Yep, you had to look really hard. You had to keep watching everybody very closely to try and see who was starting the new actions! Let’s try that right now. Everybody do exactly what I do, okay? (Slowly lift one arm in the air, than lower it. Lift your other arm, than lower it. Proceed to do some more actions like sitting down and touching your toes, clapping and making funny faces.) Okay, good job everybody! You’re really good at watching closely! We’re going to talk about looking for something else today. (Click to show image of telescope.) Can you all pretend to look through a telescope? (Let kids respond.) Good job. Telescopes help us look for things that we might not normally see. And today, we’re going to talk about how to LOOK for ways to be brave! Okay, you can put your telescope away. We’re going to watch a video to help us see how important it is to look for things! In this video, there are two teams, one team wearing white shirts and one team wearing black shirts. Both are passing balls back and forth. I want you to LOOK for how many times the team wearing white passes the ball. We’ll even count together! At the end, we’ll see who gets it right. The only rule is NO TALKING during this video! (Make sure to count along with kids during the video. Video: The Monkey Business Illusion

                                                                                                               

2

Hmmm…now everybody stay completely quiet, but raise your hand if you THINK you know how many times that team with white shirts passed the ball? (Let kids respond.) Well, the thing is, there was something ELSE in that video that you might not have seen, because you were focusing so hard on the people with white shirts. Did anybody see a GORILLA in the video? (Let kids respond.) It’s true! A gorilla walked across the screen, but we weren’t really looking for it, were we? There was also another change you might have noticed….the curtain changes colors! Let’s watch it one more time and see if you can spot any of it. Video: The Monkey Business Illusion (*Click to play the video a second time, you don’t need to go backwards.) Did you see the gorilla this time? (Let kids respond.) Yep, it’s probably because you were looking for it. How about the curtain? (Let kids respond.) LOOKING FOR BRAVERY We’re going to talk more about looking for things in a just a minute, but first, we’re going to talk about bravery! We’ve been talking about lots of different ways to be brave over the last few weeks. The cool thing is, there are always NEW ways for us show bravery. So right now, I want to hear about some of the brave things you all have done! (Let several kids share with the group.) Wow, you guy are really brave! Thanks for sharing. Okay, remember how we pretended to have a telescope earlier? Can someone remind me what we use it for for? (Let a kid respond.) Yep, they help us look for things. They make things look close up, even though they’re actually far away. Well today we’re talking about how we can LOOK for ways to be brave. DANIEL There’s a guy from the Bible who looked for ways to be brave, and his named was Daniel. (Click to show image of Daniel.) Can you say, “Daniel”? (Let kids respond.) Good job. Daniel was part of God’s special family, and he loved God very much. But one day, a new king came and took over his city. This king did not love God like Daniel did. The new king even wanted Daniel to come and work for him! Daniel had to leave his friends and family, and everything he knew. How would you feel if you were Daniel? (Let kids respond.) Yeah, you might be sad, or even scared. Daniel could have been sad, or angry, but you know what he did? He chose to find a way to follow God while ALSO serving this new king. That gave him—and other Jewish guys like him—a LOT of opportunities to be brave. Let’s watch a video to see some of them. Look for the ways Daniel and his friends were brave! Video: God’s Story / Daniel What a story! Let’s go back and try to remember some of the ways that Daniel was brave throughout his life. I’m going to show you an image, and then I’ll call on someone to tell the group how Daniel was brave. (Go through the following images and let kids respond. If they need help, guide them to the answers below.)

• (Click to show image of Daniel leaving his home.) Daniel had to leave his home and

                                                                                                               

3

go work for the king. • (Click to show image of Daniel eating.) Daniel asked the king to give him vegetables

instead of meat. • (Click to show image of strong Daniel.) Daniel trusted God to help make him strong. • (Click to show image of Daniel dreaming.) Daniel asked God to tell him what his

dreams meant, and then help him share the bad news with others. • (Click to show image of Daniel’s friends.) Daniel’s friends refused to bow down to an

idol, and they were thrown in a furnace. • (Click to show image of Daniels with the lions.) Daniel prayed all night when he was

with the lions, and God made sure they didn’t hurt him! Was Daniel only brave one or two times in his life? (Let kids respond.) No way! His whole life was marked by bravery! He looked for ways to be brave all the time, even when he didn’t have to. WE CAN LOOK FOR WAYS TO BE BRAVE We may not work for a king, or live in a palace, but we can still look for ways to be brave just like Daniel did. Let’s look at some pictures of places that you all might go to, or things you might do throughout the day. If you’ve ever had to be brave in this situation, give me a thumbs up! (*Click to show and describe the following images to kids. Let them respond with a thumbs up after each scenario, than share with kids the suggestion for how they can be brave in that situation.)

• Bedroom – You go to bed and have a nightmare or wake up worried. (You can pray to God and ask him to comfort us!)

• School – There’s a kid at school who’s mean to you. (Instead of being back to them, you could be kind.)

• Family – You do something wrong, and you might get in trouble if you tell your family about it. (Be brave and tell the truth to your family.)

• Hanging with friends Your friends make fun of another kid. (You could stick up for that kid, and be nice to him.)

• Team (Sports, academics, art, etc.) – Someone else gets to play on a team more than you do. (You can tell them good job, instead of being mad.)

• Kids’ Club (Church) – Get baptized to publicly declare that you follow Jesus. (Tell kids some people will be doing this next weekend, and they can talk about it in small groups if they’d like to know more about it.)

We all find ourselves in lots of different situations that give us a chance to be brave! But it’s not always easy. Sometimes they might even scare of us, or make us feel worried. God gave us a special verse to remember that can help us be brave when we’re afraid. We’ve been learning motions to go along with it the past few weeks, so let’s all do them together now! Slide: Psalm 56:3 But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.

• But when (Tap your wrist.) • I am afraid (Cover your eyes and act scared.) • I will put my trust (Point to your head, then bring the finger downward, and turn your

                                                                                                               

4

hand into a fist, enclosing it in your other hand. Refer to the link at the beginning of the Large Group section.)

• In you (Point your finger up, bringing your whole arm up.) RESPONSE We’re going to spend a little time with God now while we watch a special music video about Daniel. Remember how Daniel looked for all kinds of ways to be brave throughout his life? Well as you watch this video, silently ask God to help you find ways to be brave too. Remember, God loves it when we ask him to help us! Music Video: Daniel PRAY Dear God, we want to look for ways to be brave just like Daniel did. We know you can help us do that! We love you so much, amen! WORSHIP You know, one of my favorite ways to be brave is to publically show others how much I love God! We can do that together by worshipping him. So let’s all stand up and sing this song together. Music Video: Come With Me *Dismiss kids to small groups

                                                                                                               

                                                   

1

Monkey See Monkey Do – No supplies needed

2

Per kid: coloring page, cardboard tube, 3 star stickers Per group: markers, Bible, paper with Daniel images summary (reused)  

1

Tell me about Daniel. How can we be brave?

2

No supplies needed

1. Song slide: for when kids enter the room (All that You Need instrumental; mp3 only; can be downloaded on website)

2. Image: Telescope 3. Video: The Monkey Business Illusion 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGQmdoK_ZfY (0:04-0:44)

4. Video: The Monkey Business Illusion 2 (same link; this time use 1:07-1:24)

5. Image: telescope up close 6. Image: Daniel 7. Video: God’s Story / Daniel 8. Image: Daniel leaving home 9. Image: Daniel eating 10. Image: Strong Daniel

11. Image: Daniel dreams 12. Image: Daniel’s friends 13. Image: Daniel and the lions 14. Image: Bedroom 15. Image: School 16. Image: Family 17. Image: Friends 18. Image: Team 19. Image: Kids’ Club/Church 20. Team (sports, academics, art, anything) 21. Slide: Psalm 56:3 But when I am afraid, I will put my

trust in you. 22. Music Video: Daniel https://vimeo.com/100862668 23. Music Video: Come With Me

https://vimeo.com/49923933