Learning About God/God Is Strong:

Together Time (2-3 yr olds)

* On a nice day, take your child outside for fun with a water hose. Challenge him or her to hold back the flow of water. Point out that we aren’t strong enough to stop flowing water but that God held back the waters of an entire sea!

* Prepare a “strongman feast” for you and your child to enjoy. Include foods such as Super Spinach, Powerhouse Peas or Potatoes, Might Meat, Brawny Bread, and Powerful Pears. Teach your child that good foods make us healthy and strong but that no one is as strong as God.

* Use a pillow for a “pillar of cloud’ and a flashlight for a “pillar of fire”. Play a game of Follow the Leader, walking around your house or yar. Have the leader hold one of the “pillars” and tell the rest of the players to follow. Point out that the Isralelites followed God’s pillars of cloud and fire.

* Spread a towel on the floor for the Red Sea. Sing this song from class as you and your toddler walk back and forth across the “sea”.

Song

God Is Very Strong (sung to the tune of Row Row Row Your Boat)

God is very strong;

Powerful is he.

God will help us as we walk

Across the big Red Sea.

God is very strong;

Powerful is he.

I’m so glad that God is strong;

Let’s thank him happily.

Following God:

Painted-Path Place Mats: You can make these colorful mats with your child. You will need a flat bx, a marble, sheets of construction paper, and paint. Put a sheet of constr. paper in the flat box. Dip a marble in the paint. Put the marble in the box and roll it around by moving the box. While doing this, talk about the interesting paths of the marble and how God leads us into exciting things. Take out the paper when finished and let dry.

Highways: Turn the wrinkles in your childs sheets into roads. As you tuck them into bed, trace the ‘road’ with your fingers and talk about how God has a plan of exciting things and a path for each person to follow. Talk about the things your child thinks s/he will encounter on God’s path. Thank God together for making a plan for their life.

The Straight Path: Read Psalm 27:11 together. Then hold a baseball bat straight up and down, with one end touching the ground. Put your forehead on the bat and run around the bat 10 times. Then try to walk in a straight line-it’s almost impossible. Talk with your child about the things that make it hard for us to stay on God’s straight path.

—————————————————————————————

Holy Spirit:

Three-in-one twist: Make yummy pretzel twists to remind your child that God is three in one: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Dissolve 1 T. yeast in 1/2 c. warm water. Add 1 t. honey and 1 t. salt. Stir. Add 1 and 1/3 c. of flour. Stir. Knead. Roll pieces into long lenghs and form into a pretzel shape with three twiste in the middle. brush with a beaten egg. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 10 min. @ 425 degrees

Role Model: Use modeling dough to make models of yourself and your child. While you work, talk about the different roles you have. Ask your child to do the same. Talk about how you are a parent, but also a friend, a son or daughter, etc. Relate this to how God did not stop being God to become Jesus and Jesus is still Jesus when the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts. Read Matthew 28:19 to remember what to do now that we believe!

Signed-sealed-delivered: Read Ephesians 1:13-14 with your child. Together, write a letter to a friend or family member, telling him or her about Jesus. Seal the envelope with melted crayon and press your child’s initials into it. Remind your child that when someone believes in Jesus, God identifies that person as his won by giving the Holy Spirit to live in him or her too!

Stormy Weather: The next time there is a storm, watch the weather together. Then read 1Kings 19:11-12. Remind your child that God’s Holy Spirit more often speaks to us in a gentle whisper than in a loud clap of thunder. Pray with your child that each of you would get better and better at listening for God’s still small voice.

—————————————————————————————

Ten Commandments:

“You shall have no other Gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

Help your child recognize what may be a demi god in their life. Do they spend hours in front of the computer or game console? Help them to see how this needs to be done in a balance with the other activities in their life.

Set up a chart for the special things your child enjoys doing. These may be the things that also take time away from the family or God. This will help your child learn how to balance their activities with family time and time alone with God.

Do not be afraid to admit to your child if they see you spending too much time in one area. It is when our children see us admit our errors, ask for forgiveness and correct our errors that they see the word of God alive in our lives and theirs. Children will do what they see us do, regardless of what we say.

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth below or in the waters below. (Exodus 20:4)

Help your child point out the varies gods (idols) many people have today. When watching a movie, TV, or just at the mall many of these can be spotted. Some people wear crystals, some read their horoscope, some believe in mother earth or the power of pyramids. These little idols are all around us. When your child recognizes one of them, stop and pray with your child. Pray against the idol and pray that God’s love will be shown to that person, that they may believe in Jesus and stop worshiping false idols.

Taking the time to pray over these situations, when your child recognizes an idol, can help take away fears your child may have and will strengthen their faith and your relationship.

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.” (Exodus 20:7)

Help your child make up a new word to use when they get angry. Remind your child to use their new word instead of ones they may have heard on the playground. They can even make up more new words, and get a good laugh when they stub their toe.

Remind your child that we can tell what others hearts are like by the way they talk. This can be another child at school, a character on TV or a movie, or a family member. Help the girls to see how the words others speak reflect what is in their heart. This will help them to become better judges of character as well.

Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

One thing you can do with your child is to spend some time each day talking with them about the energy they are spending on different activities. Help them to discern which activities are important in their life and which ones can be deleted from their weekly schedule.

Another thing you can do with your child is to help them pray each night and read or listen to their Bible. Helping your child learn to pray can be a rewarding experience and will help them rekindle their spirits on a daily basis.

Help your child understand how important it is to relax and spend time with God each Sunday (or which ever day your family chooses to set aside). On Sunday, talk with your child about how worshiping God on Sunday brings them closer to Him.

Exodus 20:12 Honor Your Parents

Go through the movie reviews with your child. Talk about whether or not the movie will have appropriate language, and will show honor to the authority figures given in the script. Talk about other movies or TV shows you have watched with your child. Help your child decide if these movies and/or shows are distracting from God’s word and are dishonoring, or if they are appropriate and honoring to God and their parents.

—————————————————————————————

Missionaries:

(1 Peter 2:9)

Happy Send Off: Before a missionary leaves for a mission field, a college student leaves for college or a parent leaves for a long trip, send him or her off in style. Help your child create a send off box by filling a show box with goodies such as trail mix, a magazine, stamped postcards, hand lotion, and a prepaid phone card for a quick call home. Be sure to include notes of encouragement, too.

Prayers Around the World: Use a globe or a world map for a unique kind of prayer. Spin the globe, and have your child close his or her eyes and point to a spot on the globe. Talk about the country your child points to, then pray for the people who are teaching about Jesus in that country. Repeat this process once or twice a week until you’ve prayed for missionaries around the world.

(3 John 5)

Starry Night: Help your child cut several stars from stiff paper. Use glitter or glow-in-dark poster paints to decorate the stars. Poke a hole in the top of each star, and tie thread or fishing line through the holes. Each night at bedtime, look at a map of the world and help your child choose a country. Write the name of the country on the back of a star: Pray for missionaries in that country, then hang the star from the ceiling in your child’s bedroom. Soon your child will have a sky full of glittery reminders to pray for God’s missionaries all over the world!

Around the World: Let your child learn about missionaries and the people they help by making a missionary scrapbook. Staple together three sheets of paper. Photocopy a world map, and glue it to page 1. Have your child color the map, and help him or her label some of the countries. Cut out magazine pictures of people from other countries, and glue the pictures to page 2. Ask your church for names and locations of missionaries it supports. Draw their pictures on page 3, then look on the map to find where they’re serving. Update the scrapbook each time news comes from one of your missionary families.

Bubblin’ Over: Have some bubble-blowing fun with your child. Purchase a small bottle of soap bubbles. Make a bubble wand by cutting two plastic drinking straws in half and then taping the four pieces together. Blowing through the straws will send lots of tiny bubbles in several directions. Explain that the bubbles are like God’s love. When we support missionaries, we send God’s love all over the world.