Let’s Create!
Items Needed: Bible, stamp pad (or paint or even a marker), copy paper, markers, colored pencils
Ask children to create a picture by pressing their fingertip on the stamp pad (paint or marker tip) and then pressing it on the paper to make different animals or nature scenes (flowers, bees, caterpillars, etc.) Draw the rest with markers or colored pencils to complete the picture.
Read Genesis 1:1, the verse of the month your children are learning at church. Their fingerprint creations can remind them of all God created. Allow each person to share what they think it would be like to watch when God created the world.
How Do You Deal With Sin?
Items Needed: Paper, writing utensil
Write each of the following ways to deal with sin on a slip of paper and put them in a basket. (hide it, ignore it, blame others for it, feel sad about it, repent of it, etc.)
Read one of the following scenarios and let each family member pick one of the ways of dealing with sin and tell what the main character would do.
For example: Marissa knew she wasn’t allowed to play in her mom’s jewelry box. One afternoon while her mom was cooking dinner, Marissa tried on one of her mom’s necklaces, and it broke. If you picked the slip that says ignore it, you might say: Marissa would just put it back in the jewelry box and pretend nothing happened.
Other scenarios:
- Will ate the last of the cookies his mom was saving for after dinner even though his mom told him not to eat them.
- Emersyn got so angry at her little brother that she yelled at him and then pushed him down.
- The teacher announced a pop quiz. Anderson had played with a new video game when he was supposed to be studying the night before. He made a 50 on the quiz and was supposed to get it signed by a parent.
When Adam and Eve chose to eat the fruit God told them not to eat, sin entered the world. We must fight against temptation and sin and make choices that please God. God will never stop loving us, but we will face the consequences of sin every time we give in to temptation. Reading and obeying God’s Word will help us deal with sin correctly when we make wrong choices.
Choose Well!
Play the choices game. Announce two choices and have children scurry to one side of the room or the other according to the choice they make. For example: If you would choose pizza, go to the left side. If you would choose a hamburger, go to the right side.
Some choice options:
Coke or Pepsi
flip flops or tennis shoes
cookies or ice cream
two sports teams
football or baseball
reading a book or watching a movie
science or math
dogs or cats
beach or mountains
What are some choices you make every day? Some choices are easy—what kind of cereal should I eat? What shirt should I wear? What should I watch on TV? What choice did God give Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? (They could eat from any tree in the garden, except one; they could choose to obey or disobey His rule; etc.)
Satan tempted Adam and Eve and they made a wrong choice. They ate from the forbidden tree. We will be tempted to do wrong things, and we are always the ones who make the final choice. Choose well!