The Birth Story of Jesus
Games Workshop
Summary of Lesson Activities:
Play a quiz game on the Bible story of Jesus’ birth. This quiz highlights the difference between what the Bible tells us and what people think the story says, in a fun way. (Updated for 2011; note in the first post, the use of a different key verse than the 2006 lessons in this set.)
For scripture and objectives, see above.
Leader Preparation:
- Read the scripture for this lesson.
- Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson.
- Gather the materials
Supplies List:
- Game wheel
- Bibles (for 3rd grade and up)
- For 1st & 2nd graders: The Word & Song Bible & The Read With Me Bible
- A Bible bookmarked to the portions of the story
- White board/easel and appropriate markers
- Game questions (downloaded from rotation.org, see resource link at end of lesson)
Before Start of Class:
- Write the key Bible verse on the easel.
- Decide what point values to assign to the four colors of the game wheel. Write this info on the white board/easel.
Presentation
Opening- Welcome and Lesson Introduction:
Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the Games Workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults. Pass around a basket to collect any offering.
[Note: The Shepherd will be quietly taking care of attendance, etc. while you are starting your lesson.]
Say: We will be playing a game today about the story of Jesus’ birth. Let’s start with prayer.
Ask for any prayer requests.
Say: We will use the Lord’s Prayer as the ending to our prayer time.
A prayer suggestion: Holy Lord God, thank you for bringing all of us here today. Be with our class members who couldn’t be here. We are thankful to be able to learn about how you sent us your son Jesus, because you love us! Thank you for this precious gift. Then pray for requests. Now I invite you to pray with me as Jesus taught us. End with the Lord’s Prayer. Amen.
Dig- Main Content and Reflection:
Say: We are going to be playing a game today that will see how well you know the story of Jesus’ birth.
Ask: Do we need to review our story before we play our game?
Let the kids decide if they want to review the story. At some point in the game playing you likely will need a little story review. It is ok to wait until that time to tell whatever portion of the story needs going over. Add the following when you do story review…
Prelude to story review for all ages: Ask: Where in the Bible would we read about Jesus’ birth, in the New Testament or the Old Testament? (NT) What are the names of the first four books of the New Testament? What do we call these first four books? (the gospels) Say:The word Gospel means “good news.” The good news is that God loves us so much, that he gave us his son Jesus. Jesus lived on earth as a human, just like us – teaching us about God and about how we should love others. Jesus also died for us so that our sins could be forgiven. That is definitely good news! For story review: Say: Stories about Jesus’ birth are found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. To review about… For 3rd-6th graders [1] For 1st-2nd graders [2] Mary & angel Luke 1:26b-38 The Word & Song Bible, pg 269-271 Joseph & angel Matthew 1:18-23 Word & Song, 275-276 To Bethlehem Luke 2:1-5 Word & Song, 277 Jesus is born Luke 2:6-7 Word & Song, 278 Shepherds Luke 2:8-18 The Read w/ Me Bible, 260-265 Wise men Matt 2:1-1, 9-12 Read w/ Me Bible, 271-276 Escape to Egypt Matt 2:13 Read w/ Me, 277-279 |
Play the Game:
Divide the class into several teams of 3-5 players.
One member of a team spins the wheel. While the wheel is spinning, (don’t wait for it to stop!) ask the question of the team. All the people on a team should confer/work on an answer. Checking Bibles is encouraged! Remind the children that only the team in play should be talking. Ask the Shepherd to keep score. Take time for any discussion that may arise.
If the spinner guesses correctly, award her team the points she spun for, if she answers wrong, no points.
After spinning, the player goes to the end of his team’s line, one spin, and one question per turn.
See link at end of lesson for questions.
Grade 1: Offer just 3 of the multiple-choice answers with each question.
Grade 2-3: Use the multiple-choice answers provided with the questions.
Grade 4-6: Only offer multiple choices if they’re stumped.
If the kids are taking too long to answer, give them a 30-second limit.
Leave 4 minutes for the closing.
Closing:
Ask: Did you learn something new about what the Bible tells us about Jesus’ birth? (accept a few replies)
Say:When we study the Bible we learn about how God would like us to be. God really wanted us to know how much he loved us, so God sent his son Jesus to live on earth. Immanuel was God with us! At Christmas, we say happy birthday Jesus!
If you have extra time:
First, explain that the letter “b” means that this is the 2nd part of verse 23.
Practice the key verse by repetition, starting from the end and adding more and more. A backwards way of learning a verse! Have them repeat after you:
Say: Matthew 1:23b.
With us. Matthew 1:23b
God is with us. Matthew 1:23b
Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23b
And they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23b
--- (for 1st and 2nd graders consider stopping here)---
To a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23b
Give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23b
She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23b
Resources:
- MacQueen, Neil. “A Christmas Quiz.” 2002. (for game questions)
A lesson written by Carol Hulbert for First United Methodist Church
Ann Arbor, MI
Copyright 2011 First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI.
Permission to copy materials granted for non-commercial use provided credit is given and all cited references remain with this material
If you use this material, even in a modified form, please include the following reference:
Hulbert, Carol. "The Birth Story of Jesus: Games Lesson." Rotation.org. 2011. Place URL where lesson found inside angle brackets<>.
A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.
