The Wise Still Seek Him

Games Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Learn story details by playing a game of Bible bowling.
[Note: 1st – 3rd graders visited this workshop.]

For scripture, objectives, and background- see post at top of page.

Leader Preparation:

• Read the scripture for this lesson.
• Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson.
• Gather the materials.
• Before the start of class, create a short masking tape line on the carpet at least six feet from where bottles/pins will be. Set up bottles/pins in the manner of a “ten-pin” game of bowling.
• With a marker, write the key Bible verse on index cards (one or two words on each card); load in the pocket chart.

Supplies List:

• For 3rd grade: Bibles; One purple Adventure Bible with tabs (Law, History, etc.); Bible tab writing kit: tabs, fine-line Sharpie pen
• Story Bible for younger students: Read With Me Bible
• Game questions
• Easel; Appropriate marker
• Ten plastic 2-liter bottles (empty & clean) or a set of bowling pins
• Ball
• Masking tape
• Index cards
• Pocket chart (hanging on wall)

Presentation

Opening- Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the Games Workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults.

Ask: Do any of you give gifts at Christmas?
Why do you give gifts? (accept any answers)

Say: It is thought that the practice of giving gifts at Christmas traces back to the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh that were given to Jesus by the Magi.
Ask: Who were the magi?
Say: The magi are sometimes called kings. They probably were not kings. They are also often called the wise men. Let’s read more about these magi. Then we will play a game of Bible bowling that will test how wise we are!

Dig- Main Content and Reflection:

Ask: Since the Magi visited Jesus, where in the Bible would we read about them, in the New Testament or the Old Testament? (New Testament)
What do we call the first four books of the New Testament? (the Gospels)

Say: The word gospel means “good news.” These first four books of the New Testament tell the story of the good news about God’s love for us. God loves us so much that he sent Jesus to us.

Ask: Who can tell me the names of the first four books of the New Testament?
Say: The four Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are named after their authors. Our story about the magi can be found in the Gospel of Matthew.

For 3rd grade:
Distribute Bibles.
Say: If you have your own Bible today, be sure you receive a tab for the Gospel section of your Bible. [Show the classroom Bible with tabs. Have the Shepherd do tabs for students who bring their Bibles. Use the classroom Bible with tabs as an example.]
Have them find the story in Matthew 2:1-12.
Have students take turns reading verses.

For 1st and 2nd grade:
Read them the story in the Read With Me Bible on pages 271 – 276 showing the pictures as you read.

For all students:
Say: For the Word of God in scripture, for the Word of God among us, for the Word of God within us…
The class says: Thanks be to God!
Remind the class that those are the words that are spoken in the worship service after the Bible is read. We say those words in class so that we will be used to saying them when we hear a Bible story read in the worship service.

Discussion:
Ask: In this story, the wise men found Jesus by following a star. Who led the star? (God)
So who led the wise men to Jesus? (God)
Who leads us to Jesus? (God)
Do you suppose that God leads us to Jesus by providing us with a star? (accept any answers)
Say: It would be great if God would always provide us with a “star” to find where we should go. But that doesn’t always happen.
Ask: What are some of the ways God provides for us to get to know Jesus? (studying the Bible, prayer, learning about Jesus in Sunday’s Cool, attending worship services, talking to other people who believe in Jesus)
Say: We can think of all of those things as “stars” which lead us to Jesus and to God.
God reaches out to lead us even though we may not be aware of it.

Play the Game:
Divide the kids into teams of 3 to 5 players (you might call them the Wise Ones, The Magi, the Yonder Stars, etc.). Have the team with the person whose birthday is closest to today’s date go first.

Each team answers the questions below together, in turn. All the people on a team should confer/work on an answer. Checking Bibles (for readers) is OK! Remind the children that only the team in play should be talking. Use all chances to add discussion to these questions!

If the team answers correctly (from memory), one person from that team gets two chances to knock down the pins. If they get it right with help of a Bible, they get one chance to knock down the pins; If they get it wrong - no chances. If it is a “strike” and they have two chances to knock down the pins, set up all 10 pins again for their second chance. If they knock down 9 or less, the second attempt is with the remaining pins.

To make the game more challenging for older students, read the question only – offer choice of answers only if the team is stumped.

To save time, have one team's members reset the pins while the next team answers their question.

If desired, keep score (number of pins knocked down, or number of correct answers).

Closing:

Say: Let’s close with prayer.
Ask for any prayer requests. Ask if anyone would like to lead the group in prayer. Be prepared to say a prayer yourself, working in prayer requests. Use the Lord’s Prayer as the ending. A suggestion: “Dear God, Thank you for the story of the wise men who journeyed a long way to find Jesus. Thank you for helping all of us to find Jesus in our lives. (End with everyone joining in on the Lord’s Prayer.) Amen.”

If you have extra time:
Using the key verse in the pocket chart, practice it once or twice with the group. Then have a student take a turn removing a word(s) – a card of the verse. Then have everyone say the verse including the missing word. Continue until all words are gone!

Resources:

• Faith Quest Lesson Sets at Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church. “Wise Men – Antioch Arcade.” 2003. http://www.kirkofkildaire.org/...enAntiochArcade.html (We used questions # 1-18 and #26 from this source.) PDF attached.
• Read With Me Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1993.

A lesson written by Carol Hulbert for First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI
Copyright 2008 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 Wise Still Seek Him: Games Lesson." 2008. Place URL where lesson found inside angle brackets<>.

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