Mini Church - Spring Term

Spring 1 Week 1 God has a plan for my life – God’s Promise to Abraham

Play	Core activities: Blocks, cars & mat, dolls house, kitchen, books, puzzles etc
	Themed activity: Baby dolls and pushchairs
	Craft Table: Make Star hats from Paper plates
Praise	Tots & Mini Church CD
Move	Hunt for stars. Hide different coloured stars around the room before the session begins. The children need to collect as many pairs of the same colour as they can – the child with the most pairs wins.
Share	Have you ever broken a promise? Or has anyone ever broken a promise they made to you How did it make you feel?
Listen	Mr. Star was feeling sad. His friend had promised to come and play at his house but he had not come! Mr. Star’s mummy gave Mr. Star a BIG hug and reminded him that God never breaks his promises and told him a story about a man called Abraham. One day the Lord came to talk to Abraham. God promised Abram and his wife Sarah that one day they would be parents, even though they were old and had no children. God wasn't sure that Abraham understood.  So that night He took him outside, and said, "Do you see all the stars that are in the sky"?  When Abram looked up, the whole night sky was full of stars, so many in fact that he would never be able to count them.  Then God said, "That is how many children you will have". Some years later God told them again that they would be parents and that they would have a boy. This time Abraham laughed, we are too old! One day three visitors came to Abraham's house.  While the visitors were eating, they asked Abraham, "Where is your wife Sarah?"  Abraham thought this was a little strange, but he replied, "She's in the other room". Then one of the men spoke and said, "I will come back to see you at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son. Sarah said to herself, "How can I have a child, I'm almost one hundred years old?" Sure enough a year later Sarah had a son.  She and Abraham named him Isaac, which means "he laughs."  They were very excited, and remembered to thank God for Isaac. God kept his promise to Abraham!
Pray	Give each child a laminated star to stick up, write their names on each one. God made all the stars in the sky and he made each one of you and just like your mummy’s and daddy’s love to listen to you when you talk to them our father God loves it even more when we talk to him, he will never be too busy to listen! Thank you God that you listened to Abraham and that you kept your promise to him and Sarah. Pray and blessing over each child that they would know God love and follow Jesus.
Rest	Water & Rich Tea Biscuit for those with permission

Spring 1 Week 2 God has a plan for my life – Joseph the Dreamer

Play	Core activities: Blocks, cars & mat, dolls house, kitchen, books, puzzles etc
	Themed activity: Pharaoh dressing up/Crepe paper jail
	Craft Table: Make an Egyptian Collar
Praise	Tots & Mini Church CD
Move	Try to drop Joseph into the well! Use a paper cup and a small figure. Children sit on the floor and attempt to drop Joseph into the well from the height of their arm.
Share	Do you have any brothers or sisters? Do you always get on with them? What do you like to do with your family?
Listen	Mr. Star had been fighting with his little brother! Mr. Star’s mummy told him that he should be kind to his brother and she told him a story about a man called Joseph whose brothers were very unkind to him. Joseph was sold to Potipher, an helper to the Pharaoh (king) of Egypt by his brothers. He was a slave, but the Lord was with Joseph and He helped him do everything right. So Potiphar made him his very important helper, and put him in charge of everything that he owned. But Potiphar's wife lied about Joseph to her husband, so Potiphar had Joseph put into jail. While he was in jail Joseph helped the prisoners to understand their dreams. Joseph was brought to Pharaoh. "Can you understand dreams?"  Pharaoh asked.  "Yes because God helps me."  Joseph replied.  Joseph helped Pharaoh to understand his dream and told him what to do. Pharaoh believed all that Joseph told him, and put him in charge of all the land of Egypt. People came from all countries to buy grain from Joseph, because the whole world was in need of food.  Some of those people were Joseph's brothers. Then Joseph said, "Come here.  I am your brother, the one you sold!  Do not worry, and do not be angry at yourselves for selling me, because God has put me here to save people from starving." God had a plan for Joseph even when bad things happened to him!
Pray	Joseph forgave his brothers even though they had been horrible to him. God had a plan and looked after him. Write the name of the child’s brother, sister or other family member if they are an only child on to a hand print, stick up and prayer for each of them by name, thanking God for giving them us and always looking after us even when things are hard. Pray and blessing over each child that they would know God love and follow Jesus.
Rest	Water & Rich Tea Biscuit for those with permission

 Spring 1 Week 3 God has a plan for my life – Moses’ Journey

Play	Core activities: Blocks, cars & mat, dolls house, kitchen, books, puzzles etc
	Themed activity: Making Manna with play dough
	Craft Table: Make a flying quail http://bibleclasscreations.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/manna-and-quail.html
Praise	Tots & Mini Church CD
Move	Catch the manna/quail – using laminated manna/quail children attempt to throw/catch manna & quail in a bucket. Can be made into a team game.
Share	Look at different types of bread, describe the bread, touch, taste (check for allergies!) smell. What is their favourite?
Listen	Mr. Star was very hungry and tired! He was going to visit his Grandma and Grandpa and had been in the car for a long time! Mr. Star’s daddy promised that they would stop for something to eat and while they waited he told him about how God looked after a man called Moses when he and his friends had to make a long journey. Moses and his people had walked for weeks across the desert; they were walking to their new land that God had promised them. They were hungry and starting to grumble! God heard the people grumbling and said to Moses ‘Tell the people I will give them meat to eat every evening and bread every morning’. That evening flocks of birds, called quails landed on the people’s tents and they were easy to catch. So that night everyone ate roast quail! In the morning the ground was covered with small white seeds. The people collected them, ground them into flour made it into bread and baked it! They called the bread ‘manna’ because it was food which came from Heaven. It was very good to eat and tasted like honey! Every day the same thing happened. The people ate bread in the morning and roasted quail in the evening! God looked after the Hebrew people all the years they were travelling to their new land!
Pray	God will give us everything we need just like he gave Moses and his people everything they needed in the story. Use some visual aids – God gives us food (bread), our clothes (clothes) water to drink (water) but most of all he gives us love (laminated heart). Thank you God that you give us everything we need Pray and blessing over each child that they would know God love and follow Jesus.
Rest	Water & Rich Tea Biscuit for those with permission

 Spring 1 Week 4 God has a plan for my life – David the Shepherd King

Play	Core activities: Blocks, cars & mat, dolls house, kitchen, books, puzzles etc
	Themed activity: Make shakers, cups with lids in the big tray and different seeds, objects to put inside the cups to make a new sound!
	Craft Table: Making David’s harp
Praise	Tots & Mini Church CD
Move	Play musical statues
Share	What is your favourite musical instrument? Listen carefully to some different musical instruments, what do they sound like? Loud, quiet? Can you play them in different ways? Explore the instruments.
Listen	Mr Star was playing with his musical instruments one day, ‘I love making my own songs’ Mr Star said to his mum! His mum told Mr. Star about a little boy in the bible who loved to write songs to God – his name was David and he became an important King!  One day a man called Jesse was sent by King Saul to visit David’s family. Jesse was looking for the next King! Jesse met all of David’s brothers from the youngest to the oldest but couldn’t find the person God wanted to be the next King. David was out in the fields looking after his sheep when he was called to meet Jesse. God told Jesse that David was to be the next King, he was especially chosen by God! Even though David was the youngest in his family God chose him. He had a plan for David and he has a plan for you!
Pray	Give each child a ‘sticker’ which says ‘God has chosen me!’ Just like God chose David for a very special job God has also called us by name and chosen us to be his children. Thank you God you have chosen me and that I am very special to you – John 1. Pray and blessing over each child that they would know God love and follow Jesus.
Rest	Water & Rich Tea Biscuit for those with permission

Spring 1 Week 5 God has a plan for my life – Daniel and the Lions

Play	Core activities: Blocks, cars & mat, dolls house, kitchen, books, puzzles etc
	Themed activity: Wild animals in large sand tray/building dens for lions
	Craft Table:
Praise	Tots & Mini Church CD
Move	Play sleeping lions - All of the children (except one or two hunters – leaders to start with) lie down on the floor in sleeping positions. Once they are settled, they are not allowed to move. The hunters walk through the room and try to make the sleeping lions move by making them laugh, telling them jokes, and so on. The hunters are not allowed to touch the lions. Once the lions have moved, they get up and join the hunters.
Share	Have you ever been to the zoo, an animal park or even on safari? Look at some pictures of animals that they might have seen.
Listen	Mr. Star and his family went to the Zoo. They saw lots of different animals but Mr. Star’s favourite animal was the lion! Mr. Star’s daddy told Mr. Star a story in the bible that had lots of lions in it and a brave man called Daniel. Daniel loved God and always talked to him and followed what God said. The King of a place called Babylon saw that Daniel was a good man and gave him a very important job to do. Lots of people were very jealous of Daniel. They told the King to make a new law so that anybody who disobeyed him would be thrown into a den of lions! The people who were jealous of Daniel spied on him and told the King that Daniel was praying to his God who he thought was greater than the king! This made the King very sad because he knew that he would have to punish Daniel and throw him into a pit of lions! In the pit of hungry lions Daniel still prayed to God and obeyed him even though everything was going wrong! The next day the King went to see what had happened to Daniel. Daniel was alive. God sent angels to close the lion’s mouths so they couldn’t hurt him!
Pray	God loved Daniel and when he was in trouble he helped Daniel, he stopped the lions from hurting him. God loves you (name each child by name). Ask the team, parents to bless each child asking God to keep them safe just like Daniel in our story. Pray and blessing over each child that they would know God love and follow Jesus.
Rest	Water & Rich Tea Biscuit for those with permission

 Spring 1 Week 6 God has a plan for my life – Jonah & the Big Fish

Play	Core activities: Blocks, cars & mat, dolls house, kitchen, books, puzzles etc
	Themed activity: Water play with sea animals in the big tray
	Craft Table: Whale socks/collage paper plate whale
Praise	Tots & Mini Church CD
Move	Lucky dip! The whale has swallowed lots of things - but can you find the figurine of Jonah? Bucket filled with shredded paper
Share	Ask children to put hands in the tray of water (gently!), what does it feel like? Is it cold, hot?
Listen	Mr . Star had been given a VERY important job to do! He had to give his mummy a very important message from his teacher at school! As soon as Mr. Star saw his mummy he told her his message. Mr. Star’s mummy told Mr. Star about a special person in the bible who also had the job of giving people important messages from God! His name was Jonah and he was a Prophet. One day Jonah had been told by God to go to a place called Ninevah. But Jonah didn’t want to go! He did not want to help the people in Ninevah because they were not nice people. Jonah thought ‘Why is God sending me to Ninevah to speak to people who don’t listen to him!’?  Jonah was very grumpy and decided to ignore God. He got on a boat and travelled across the sea away from Ninevah! But God had a different plan!  Because he loved the people in Ninevah so much he wanted to help them say sorry and live good lives so God sent a storm (Get the children to rock side to side, make storm noises using their instruments). Jonah realised that God wanted him to go to Ninevah so to stop the storm Jonah let the sailors throw him into the sea! The storm stopped and the sailors were safe. Jonah sank deep into the sea, where a big fish came and swallowed him up!  Jonah knew that God had sent the big fish ‘help me, help me!’ he prayed. The fish spat Jonah onto dry land and this time Jonah went to Ninevah. Jonah told the people of Ninevah that he had an important message from God and that they needed to stop all the bad things they were doing. The King heard the news and he ordered everyone to stop being bad. God forgave everyone.
Pray	God spoke to Jonah in our story. God loves to speak to us and we have to learn how to hear what he is saying. Let’s ask God to help us to be able to hear him when he speaks to us. Ask the children to touch their ears and ask adults to pray over each child that as they grow they will be able to hear God speak to them. Pray and blessing over each child that they would know God love and follow Jesus.
Rest	Water & Rich Tea Biscuit for those with permission