Jesus feed the 5000 Lesson for Preschoolers

For our Preschool Extend Worship Care Classes a few years ago I began making Lesson to help our volunteers tell the Bible Story with out a lot of work. What I came up with was lessons I can put in a box and have everything they need in that box.  I named them Bible Box. The Following is the Story I wrote for  John6:1-13, Jesus feeding the 5000, or the Boy shared his lunch.

Materials need for the Bible Box:

Small New Testament Bibles, one per child
Galilee Boat with Apostles ( I purchased mine from Mardels)
Blue material for lake
green material for land and a few rocks and small trees or bushes.
Set up the lake and land using fake rocks or boxes to give the apperance of there being a mountain.
Take pictures of groups of the disciples, make copies, cut out, and laminate. Make a stand my leaving about an half inch on th bottom of the picture and fold under. The groups of people should stand up.
Gather a box that all the above items will fit. Then copy the Bible story to put in the box for the volunteers to follow.

Using the matrial provided in the Bible Story box, retell the Bible story of Jesus feeding the 5000. Follow the pictures below and set up the story. In your own words tell th story to the children as you move the figures.. Make sure to have your Bbile turned to John 6:1-13 and say, "This story inin the Bible and is true. It really happened." Also, hand each child a small New Testament Bible to hold while you tell them the story. This helps them focus on the Bible story as well as connect what you are teaching and the Bible.

1. Jesus crossed the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (The Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the signs he had perfomred by healing the sick. then Jesus went up on a monutainside and sat down with his disciples. (Move the boat across the water to the land. Take out the disciples and Jesus and place them on shore)

 2. ( Place the crowd of people in fornt of the mountain facinig Jesus.) Say, " Jesus looked up and saw a lot of people coming toward him, he siad to Philillip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people?" 3. (I will add a picture of this step as soon as I can take a new one. Place the boy and the basket of fish and loaves in front of Jesus along with two of the disciples.) Andrew, one of Jesus' other disciploes and Peter's brother spok up and said, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many? "

4. (Move the crowd into several groups), then say, Jesus looked at his disciples and looked at the lunch the boy had shard and said, "Have the people sit down," so the disciples helped the people sit on the grass into groups of 50. Jesus then took the loveas and gave thanks. He gave the food to the disciples and asked them to give it to the people who were seated.  Then gave thanks for the fish.

5. (Place the 12 baskets of left overs in fornt of  Jesus, the disciples and the crowd.) Then say, "When all the people had enough to eat, Jesus said to the disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over, Let nothing be wasted." They gatherd them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the bread and fish that were left over.

Comment: "Jesus took five loaves of bread (show the children the Loaves) and two fish (show the fish) and gave thanks to God for it. Jesus showed his love to the people by feeding them. He had enough food for all the people there with 12 baskets left over. This is a miracle. A Mirale is something only Jesus or God can do."

Pray with the children thanking God for all he has given us.

Black light Bible Story/ Acts 11:19-30, A Church Helps

Several years ago I taught  a Mother's day Out preschool 5 class. I wanted to present the Bible Stores in different ways to keep the children's interested in learning the Bible. One way I did was to make different stories in Neon Colors and used a blicklight as I told the stories. . I was looking for them the other the day and could not find them. So, I decided to make new ones. Today the story was about Barnabas and Paul, and the church at Antioch helping others during a famine.

This is how they turned out.

The preschoolers really enjoyed the story and were able to sit while I told the story using the Bible people. Afterwards, I allowed them to play with the people and the storyboard, they had a lot of fun taking turns, with help, retelling the story.

Here are a few pictures of them playing with the story board and people. One of our three year olds said, "This is a lot of Fun."

I will post later how I amde this story and storyboard. I hope you enjoy this and can find someting usefull for your preschool children,

God Bless1

Flowers from Dollar Tree chip plates

Finished Flowers made from a chip dish and pool noodles

I purchased the chip dish and the pool noodles from Dollar Tree. For our VBS theme song we use black light. Our props have to be made from something that will glow under the black light. I took yellow, orange and pink florescent spray paint and painted the bottom of the chip dish. These flowers look really pretty under the black light and are very easy to make.

Supplies pictured, chip dish, pool noodle, 7/8 dowel, 6 inch 2/4 , one large sheet of green fun foam, and clear packing tape. ( I forgot to put the fun foam and the packing tape in the picture.)

To make one flower you will need on pool noodle cut to the desired length, one 7/8 dowel, a piece of 2 x 4, (about 6 inches long with a hole drilled in the middle of the wood, but not all the way through), and a chip dish. After painting the front and letting it dry, I took my 2x4 and using hot glue, glued the dowel to the 2 X 4. Next I took  the pool noodle and cut about 3 inches at and angle so that when I tape the  pool noodle  to the flower it will be tilted out. Using strong clear packing tape, tape the pool noodle to the center underside of the chip dish. The last step is to cut out grass from a large piece of green fun foam and leaves. Cut into the side of the pool noodle at the point you want your leaves, Insert the leaf, and carefully glue the leaf to the noodle. If you use too much it will melt the pool noodle. Then glue the grass to the front of the 2X 4. After the paint dries it only talks 30 minutes or less to assemble the flower and the cost is under $3.00 dollars. Now that is the kind of VBS decorations I like.

Foam Flowers props for Journey off the Map

In January I attended Lifeway's VBS Preview event in Fort Worth, Texas. In one of the rooms they had flowers made from a flower cut from fund foam and  pool noodle through the middle. I like this idea, so when I returned home I began thinking about how I could take this idea and make it my own.



These are the supplies you need. I did not include the pool noodle in this picture or the pattern for the flower.

I found a drink cozy at my neighborhood store along with fun foam that is textured. I like how the texture looks. However, it is a thin foam and the flower wilt very fast. To help strengthen the flowers I purchased a thicker fun foam and glued it to the bottom of the flower. After cutting out the flower with my cricut, I cut out the thicker fun foam with scissors and glued it to the flower top. Then taking the drink cozy, I traced around it in the center of the flower and cut that out. Next take the flower and insertit over the tope of the cozy. To emblish it a little more, I took the center of the thick fun foam and glued it to the top of the cozy and then added a sticker flower. Take a pool noodle and cut it to the size needed, insert it into the bottom of the cozy. I added a little hot glue to keep it in place.

Bird's eye view of the flower

To display the flower, I had a 2 x 4 with a hole in the center of it already cut out. I then took a 7/8 inch dowel and hot glued it to the center of the 2 X 4 and then inserted the pool noodle over the dowel. I will add a picture of this later.

The two on the left and the right side are justed hot glued to the 2 x 4. It was eaiser than me trying to drill two more holes.

These flowers are easy to make and are also inexpensive.
They will look really good in our preschool hall
for Journey off the map decorations.


Completed flowers


 

VBS Camillian

This is what he looks like in Blacklight. I will post a better picture later. All I had was two small blacklight flash lights. 

I haven't posted to my blog in a long while. Our Family has been through some things the past year and a half. God is good and has walked or acutally at time carried us through. I am hoping now to be able to find the time to post more oftten.

This year our Church is going to use the "Journey Off The Map" Vacation Bible School Curriculum. For the past three years we have added Neon decorations to our set. We do the theme song in blacklight. The kids have loved it. I actually love blacklight performances. It allows me to concentrate on the message of the music, not sure why, but I get so much more for the music when it is in blacklight.

Since all the decorations for VBS are larger than live, I deceided to draw and paint a Camillian. I think he is really fun. I used 1/2 inch foam board ( the pink kind) and drew my little guy out. Then using an electric knife, (I find this works best. Hot knives work, but they create an awful smell as you cut.) and cut out my Camillian. Using paint that will glow in the dark I painted him using a green, orange and purple. I also added a darker green, white and black.

I am really looking forward to VBS this year. This is a fun set to create, but most important, is the Biblical contenct is sound and I love how it continues where last years left off. Hope you like you Camillian.

Here are a picture of the finished product not in plack light.

The little guy is the first one I drew and painted. I realized quickly that he was too small.

Hope you enjoy my Camillian! 

God Bless!

Cantilever Ferris Wheel

This summer our church will be using Lifeway's Vacation Bible School curriculum,"Colossal Coaster World." although VBS is not until July 2013, I have been working on decorations for several months now.

The first item that I have completed with the help of my husband, is a Ferris Wheel for our preschool department decorations. My husband built the cantilevered base for the wheel.

Cantilevered Base supplies:
1.) 3 ft piece of 2X4 cut at a 40 degree angle. (Actually my husband informs me the the angel cut on the arm is the radius of the wheel and the distance you want if above the ground.) This is why my engineer husband made the stand and not me.
2.) two 5/16 anchors bolts for the base and but the plastic anchors in the 2 x 4 and counter sink the screws in the bottom of the base so that it will sit flat.
3.) a 5/16 bolt, two plastic spacers and a washer and a nut)
4.) Paint, I used red semi gloss interior paint and a white primer. (After using the primer, I had to used several coats of red so that it actually looked red and not pink.) If I do this again, I will just use the red paint.

First step for the stand is to cut the 2 x 4 at a 40 degree angel, drill a hole.in the top of the 2 X 4 and then two holes in the angle of the 2 x 4 and insert a plastic anchor in each hole. Next, drill a hole in the bottom of the stand. (ours is in the left side in the center) (See picture) insert, a washer onto the screw and then through the stand and the 2 x 4, tighten. Repeat with the other screw.
As you can see from the picture above, I used primer to paint the arm and stand. After that dried I used some left over red semi gloss paint I used last year on our airplane for VBS 2012.

Supplies for the wheel:
1. One white science board
2. One color of duct tape, (I used lime green)
3. blue painters tape
4. three different colors of construction paper for center circles
5. several different colors of construction paper for the chairs (I made 16) (the pattern for the chairs is from Lifeway's VBS curriculum.)
6. brads to attach the chairs to the wheel
7. pencil, yarn, and thumb tack
8. Utility knife
9. white craft glue and tape

First, I took a science board and opened it up. I used duct tape to the seams to reinforce them. You can use a piece of insulation board found at home improvement stores. However, I had the science board and instead of spending more money, I used it.

Next, to draw a circle on the science board, I took a thumb tack and attached a piece of yarn. Then attached it to the center of the science board. Take a pencil to the other end of the yarn and use it like a compass to draw a large circle. Then using a utility knife carefully cut out the circle. I divided the wheel into 16 parts using blue painters paint. About four inches from the top I drew another circle and then put more painters tape on the circle. I then cut three different sized circles from three different colors of construction paper. Depending on how large your wheel is you want the circles to be approximately two inches bigger than the next. The smallest circle in pink is about 2 inch radius and the next, blue circle, is 4 inches, and the last is 6 inches. I did not measure anything as I made my wheel. However, if you want it more precise you probably would want to measure. Attach the circles to the wheel starting with the largest using glue.

Once the circles are attached to the wheel cut 16 pieces of blue painters tape approximately 5 inches. Then refer to the above picture for placement of the tape. They form the spokes of the wheel. Take on piece of tape and attach it at the top of the tape circle at one of the spokes that divide the wheel. The other end is attached on the opposite spoke at an angel. Do this all the way around the wheel. It will look an 8 pointed star.

Drill a hole in the center of the wheel and insert a 5/16 screw and washer through the wheel and screw into the hole at the top of the arm. Place a plastic spacer on the screw before you insert it into the 2 x 4, then place another plastic spacer on the other side of the screw and attach a washer and a nut. Tighten the screw down so the the wheel will still move as you turn it.

I made this Ferris Wheel to decorate the preschool department hallway or one of the preschool rooms during VBS. I was going to have my husband attach a small motor so that the wheel would automatically move. But since it is for preschoolers I did not want them to get hurt so we made it turn by hand.  The final step is to cut out the constructions paper chairs, tape the together, and attach them to the wheel with brads. This will allow the chairs to move as the wheel is turned. I can't wait for "Colossal Coaster World "Vacation Bible School to start this summer.  My next post will be how I made our Enter sign for our VBS.

God Forgives, So Can You!

God tells us to forgive others as He forgives us. “Bear with each other and forgive one another. If any of you has grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” Colossians 3:13

To forgive someone of a wrong is to obey what God commands us to do. In order to obey God we must be in a relationship with Him. David writes in Psalm 63, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you, I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you.” Psalm 63:1. God created man to have a relationship with. He would walk in the garden with Adam and Eve. He wants us to seek Him. He is always there for us to find

.

From the beginning He had plans to redeem us from the fall. That plan was fulfilled in the birth, death, and resurrection of His, Son, Jesus. In order to receive forgiveness, we choose to Trust in God, Believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and confess that we are sinners. Once we ask for forgiveness, God forgive us. He extends us His grace. Although it is undeserved He gives it to us because He loves us.  “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only son into the world that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:9-10.

By not forgiving others or even ourselves we are disobeying God and we also call Him a liar. He tells us to confess our sins, and He will forgive us. We have to trust and believe Him. We do this through faith in Him. Forgiving others and ourselves is not easy, that is why choosing to depend on God and use His strength to forgive is always better than going it alone. When we totally trust Him and allow Him to provide for us, give us strength, and Love for us. Then and only then will we realize the Joy and happiness he has for us.

We must first seek Him, But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33, and realize we are “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), and truly trust Him and he will take control and provide for us. Through Him we will be able to forgive and continue growing towards Christ. We must live in the light with jesus and not hide form Him in the dark as Adam and Eve did when they realized that they had done. By confessing to Christ and those we have hurt. God can and will take this and turn it into good. “ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us form all in righteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

If you are having trouble forgiving someone or yourself, remember God is the one who forgives. He forgives us and does not have to forgive you again for that particular event. You must trust and move on in your life towards His purpose for you. Hanging onto guilt or not forgiving those you have offended only hurts you, causing you to disobey God and continue in sin and in a life of bitterness,. Reach out to God; He has so much to offer you!