5/10/20Dear Church,

We would like to provide you with some resources that can be used while we are having church online in our homes during the COVID 19. This collection of resources is available for your use, if you desire. You can download and print out any sections that your child may benefit by using either during the sermon on Sunday morning or any other time of the week. This week Joe will preaching from the book of Acts, to include Acts 15:36-16:15. However, in honor of Mother’s Day we will be focusing our Kids Cove lesson on our awesome Mamas!

Videos for Early Elementaryhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=490SDWdIG3U (4 min) Story of Elizabeth

Videos for Older Elementary1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPtXucALoBE (7 min) Douglas Talks, Honor Your Mother And Father

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbvGRRWOtOo (3 min) Women of Faith

Lesson:

Introduction / Hook: Ask the children to close their eyes and try to picture the person you describe. Say, “Think of a woman in your life that has spent more time helping you than any other person.” If needed, ask follow up questions to help them see that their mom is a very important person in their life!Say, “Today, we are going to learn what kind of attitude God wants us to have toward our parents. This is true for moms and dads, (or foster parents, or grandparents) who take care of you. But we are going to talk a lot about moms today because it is mother’s day.”

Active Listening: Say, “In just a minute we are going to read a Bible verse that teaches us how God wants us to treat our parents. While we read it, I want you to listen for any action words (verbs) that you hear. Then we’ll review to see how many you could find.”

Bible Passage: Read the Bible verses Ephesians 6:1-3 ESV, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (2) “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), (3) “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Be sure to emphasize the action words. Then read it a second time to give the children a “second chance” to hear the action words.

Say It: Ask the children to repeat the Bible verse after you several times.

Review Action Words: Review the action words and discuss meanings if your child is unaware. Obey – Doing what a person wants you to do Honor – Heart attitude about a person’s importance

Go well – Living a good life Live (NIV says “enjoy long life”) – Staying alive a long time

Activity 1: Is This Honoring Your Mother?Say, “Honoring means having a right attitude about someone and showing their importance in how you act.” Read the following statements, and have the children agree or disagree. If the statement is something that honors your mother, the children should stand up. If the statement is not honoring, the children should sit with arms crossed.

Doing what mom says right away {True} Throwing a fit if you don’t get what you want {False} Eating your dinner with thankfulness {True} Complaining about what mom cooked for dinner {False} Telling your mom that you love her {True} Praying for your mom {True} Telling other people your mom is not nice {False}

Activity 2: I ObeyTake two cups or bowls and write “obey” on one and “disobey” on the other. Give each child a handful of raw macaroni or dried beans. Tell them that you’ll read a statement and they should place one macaroni in the cup that best represents how they respond—whether they obey or disobey. Allow all children to respond to each statement.

Use these statements:When my mother asks me to:

clean my room, turn off the television, help with the dishes, take out the trash, stop fighting with my brother or sister, tell the truth, go to bed, brush my teeth, and eat my vegetables.

After the activity, see which cup has the most macaroni. Then read aloud Ephesians 6:1.

Say: God has given parents the task of teaching children right from wrong. Children have the responsibility to obey their parents.

Games:

#1 Mrs. Mumbles

This game is played by talking without showing your teeth. You can’t laugh and you can’t smile. Here’s how you start, have your children sit in a circle. One child curls her lips tightly over her teeth and then turns to other child and says, “Excuse me, is Mrs. Mumbles home?” This child then replies, (using the same method), “I don’t know, let me ask my neighbor …” If he does this successfully, without showing his teeth, he then turns to the person to his right and asks, “Excuse me, is Mrs. Mumbles home?” This Q&A continues around the circle or back and forth between children until someone giggles. Gigglers are out. The game continues until one child is left.

#2 Mother, May I?

This game is a classic but just in case you aren’t familiar with it, it begins by one child serving as “Mother.” Line the remainder of kids up about 20 feet away from “Mother.” The Mother picks one of the kids and says “Amy, you may take four baby steps.” Amy then says, “Mother, May I?” The Mother says, “Yes, you may.”

The Mother then picks another child, and the game goes on until someone reaches her. It sounds easy enough but any child who forgets to say, “Mother, may I?” has to go back to the starting line.  The Mother can make up all kinds of steps like hops, twirls, crab walks etc.

#3 Breakfast in Bed Relay Race

Divide the group into two teams. Place a blanket for each team on the floor where they will line up for the race. At the other end of the racing course, place a collection of items that would be used to serve breakfast in bed, such as a plate, coffee mug, napkin, utensils and flower vase.

Hand each team a serving tray. Each player must race to place an item on the tray and bring it back to the blanket (the bed). The first team to have all of their items set up on the tray and placed on the bed wins the race.

If you don’t have enough people to make two teams, just take turns racing the items down and back for fun!

#4 Know Mom

Have mom leave the room while dad or an older child asks the group to answer questions about mom.

Question Ideas Include

o What is your mom’s favorite flower?o What is her hobby?o What is mom afraid of?o What is mom’s favorite room in the home?o What is mom’s signature meal to cook?

The kids write their answers on a card that is placed face down when the moms return to the room (or have dad or an older child write the answers). The moms are then asked to answer the same questions. After the moms answer, their kids’ cards are turned over to reveal their answers.

Mother’s Day Craft

This is one of my all-time favorite crafts to do with preschoolers because they turn out so cute and they are fun-messy to make!

Materials: white glue (like Elmers) any old glass jar you can find in your recycle bin (washed

up!) paint brush colored tissue paper (that you put in gift bags)

Have your child (or you) rip the tissue paper in small shapes, approximately the size of a silver dollar. Pour white glue on a disposable plate (add a few drops of

water to thin down) and have your child “paint” it under and over the tissue paper as they apply the tissue to the glass jar. Completely cover the outside of the jar (if their attention lasts that long). It will look adorable no matter how much they get accomplished! Looks great with some flowers picked from along the road or in the woods! Online Resources

The following are general resources that are excellent and made available to you to use at home with your children during this

time. Many companies are opening up resources for free!

Life Way Kids at Home; Free Family Bible Study for Churches Postponing Services: https://kidsministry.lifeway.com/2020/03/13/lifeway-kids-at-home/

Operation Christmas Child; free video game for children to explore the Old and New Testaments https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/tgj-game-app/

NetFlix

These films are currently on Netflix: “The Gospel of Matthew”“The Gospel of Mark”“The Gospel of Luke”“The Gospel of John”

What is unique about them is they are a word-for-word Bible text of the entire book which is narrated and re-enacted, 2 – 3 ½ hours each movie. Disclaimer: they are rated TV-14 (for fear and suicide, in the case of Judas). We thought they were very well done and rare to find ones with strictly scripture (and not other random things added!).

Printable Resources

The following are printable resources that you can use at your discretion. Maybe something your child can color or work on during Joe’s sermon (if they have trouble just sitting for that long?!). Use as desired and there are many more available on a quick web search.

Enjoy! Please let me know if I can help you in any way during this time or beyond. -melissa