Blessed!
Items Needed:
- Index cards
- Markers
- Small treat
Write each word from Jeremiah 17:7a on a separate index card. Turn them face down and arrange them in rows. Allow each family member to take turns flipping a card over and trying to lay the verse out in the correct order. Practice saying the verse together as a family by memory. Celebrate your success with a small treat, an example of a blessing.
Blessings or Consequences
Items Needed:
- Index cards,
- Markers
- Treats
- Blindfold
- Timer
Set up a simple obstacle course with a few paths to the finish line. Add a few blessings (candy, stickers, advance to end card) and a few consequences (blindfold, instruction card to get stuck in “mud” for 10 seconds, go back to the beginning card) along the course.
Time each child’s attempt at the obstacle course and discuss who won and how it felt to receive the blessings and consequences. Remind the children that just like the obstacle course brought blessings and consequences, life has blessings and consequences too. Obedience to God brings blessings, but disobedience brings consequences. Emphasize to the children that God give us rules to follow because He loves us and wants to protect us. God wants the very best for us.
Close your time together by reading Jeremiah 17:7 and asking God to help you trust and obey Him.
Trash or Treat?
Items Needed:
- Two identical bags
- Treats
- Trash
Before your family activity, put the treats in one bag and the trash in the other. Close the bags and display them for your children. Instruct them to look at the bags carefully and explain that one bag has a treat to share and the other has trash. Without allowing them to look inside, ask them to point to the bag they want to choose. Then open the bags and let them see what’s inside each one. Allow your child a chance to change their choice. Enjoy the treats.
Talk to your children about how God gives each of us a free will to choose between honoring God through our love and obedience or dishonoring him through our disobedience. Remind your children that obedience doesn’t mean bad things won’t ever happen to us. It just means we avoid the consequence of sinful behavior when we choose to obey.
God corrects us because He loves and protects us and knows what’s best for us. God’s Word and the Holy Spirit can help us make good choices. God’s way is always the right way. God wants to bring good things to those who obey Him.