Abundant life
Children's Activity
Object:
Teachers or Parents: Teach the children the bedtime prayer
used in the 1 Peter object lesson:
Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray, Thee, Lord, my soul to keep.
Guard me, Jesus, through the night,
And wake me with the morning light.
This Sunday is frequently called "Good Shepherd Sunday" because of shepherd image references in the texts and Psalm.
* Teach the children Psalm 23. If the whole Psalm is too much, memorize parts of it. (Make a game out of memorizing the Psalm as a class. Write the entire Psalm on a blackboard. Erase one word at a time as the class repeats the Psalm. Keep erasing each time through the Psalm until the class either has it memorized as a class or stumbles so that you need to put the words back on the board. Of course, you need sensitivity to your class as to whether the whole Psalm might be too much for the age and learning level of your class.)
* Make a shepherd's staff from a piece of wood that could possibly be trimmed into a shepherd's staff shape. If this is not possible, a straight staff is okay. This staff could be used in this year's Christmas pageant (and possibly today's children's sermon). Talk about ways Jesus is like a Good Shepherd to us.
* Sing a hymn based on Psalm 23 (e.g. "Savior, Like A Shepherd Lead Us," "The Lord's My Shepherd I'll Not Want," "The King Of Love My Shepherd Is," "He Leadeth Me," and so forth.)
Now I lay me down to sleep.
I pray, Thee, Lord, my soul to keep.
Guard me, Jesus, through the night,
And wake me with the morning light.
This Sunday is frequently called "Good Shepherd Sunday" because of shepherd image references in the texts and Psalm.
* Teach the children Psalm 23. If the whole Psalm is too much, memorize parts of it. (Make a game out of memorizing the Psalm as a class. Write the entire Psalm on a blackboard. Erase one word at a time as the class repeats the Psalm. Keep erasing each time through the Psalm until the class either has it memorized as a class or stumbles so that you need to put the words back on the board. Of course, you need sensitivity to your class as to whether the whole Psalm might be too much for the age and learning level of your class.)
* Make a shepherd's staff from a piece of wood that could possibly be trimmed into a shepherd's staff shape. If this is not possible, a straight staff is okay. This staff could be used in this year's Christmas pageant (and possibly today's children's sermon). Talk about ways Jesus is like a Good Shepherd to us.
* Sing a hymn based on Psalm 23 (e.g. "Savior, Like A Shepherd Lead Us," "The Lord's My Shepherd I'll Not Want," "The King Of Love My Shepherd Is," "He Leadeth Me," and so forth.)
