Fruit of the Spirit - Love
Games Workshop Sketch
Week 2
Summary: Stuck Like Glue Game, God First Object Lesson, then Love Toss Game.
Supplies: clipboards, balls or bean bags.
Lesson
Game #1: Stuck Like Glue
Have everyone get a partner with someone in their family, preferably one parent and one child, but any combination will do. For children without parents present, have them link up with another child who doesn’t have a parent with them.
Have the partners put the palm of their right hands together and start saying this chant: “I love you, so we’re stuck like glue.” Keep saying it and encourage them to say it with you.
Then tell them that you’re going to give them other instructions. You’re going to say 2 body parts and whoever is older of the 2 partners will do what the first body part says, younger will do the second body party.
Try an example: “I love you, so we’re stuck nose to shoulder.” The older person of the 2 would put their nose on the younger person’s shoulder.
Continue in other patterns like:
Knee to chin, chin to elbow, ear to nose, shoulder to ankle, etc.
Play for a short time, then have them sit in family groups.
Have families get a Bible and find and read Matthew 22:37-38, the greatest commandment. Ask if they know any other verses about love. Look them up and read together.
Ask: I wonder why we should love God? I wonder what are some ways that we can show our love to God?
God First Object Lesson
Give each family an index card. Show how to fold the card in half, short ends together. Unfold, and to the left of the fold, draw a heart about 2" wide. Just to the right of the fold, write the word "GOD". Hold the card at arm's length, stare at the center fold, and slowly move the card toward your face, letting your eyes go out of focus. Watch how "GOD" jumps into the heart. God wants to be first in our hearts.
Journal:
If there are any kids without parents in attendance, have them get with another family but use their own journal page.
Distribute pencils and clipboards.
Distribute the page titled LOVE. Tell them to create a Top Ten Love List … listing 10 things they love. Each family member should contribute to the list. Then write down 10 ways to show others love … like their parents, children, teachers, friends, people at church, people they don’t know, etc.
Give them about 3-5 minutes to complete writing.
Ring the bell to signal time’s up.
Game #2 - Love Toss Game
Have families put their journals to the side and find another family and form a circle with them.
Distribute balls or bean bags – one to each circle. Tell them that when you say “go” the person with the ball should toss it to someone in the other family. When the person catches it, that person should name one of the things on their family’s Top Ten Love Lists. Then that person tosses the ball to someone in the other family and the person who catches it says something on their family’s Top Ten Love List.
After a short time, have the families switch and find a new family to circle up with. Repeat the same process but this time they should name something from the list they made of “how to show love”.
After a short time, have them all sit in their family group.
Say: In this last game Love-Toss, we don't hold on to the ball, we pass it on. In the same way, if we have Jesus living in us, we must pass on his love to those around us!
Closing:
If time, have them return to their journal page and have each person write down one way that they will share God’s love today. Encourage them to take the page home and add it to their journal. For those who don’t have a journal yet, give them one.
Hand out a Love Sticker to each family, if they have not received one yet, to go on their cover page.
Fruit of the Spirit - Love
Video Workshop
Week2
Summary: The Best Love Magic Trick object lesson followed by watching “The Gourds Must be Crazy (15 min.).
Supplies: ordinary Deck of Cards, popcorn and drinks, “Are You My Neighbour VeggieTales DVD” (includes The Gourds Must be Crazy), Love Sticker/family (*make your own or purchase Fruit of the Spirit stickers on-line – you will need a set of all nine fruits per family.)
Lesson
The Best Love Magic Trick
Practice and plan ahead:
For this effect you will need to practice!!! This is a sleight of hand effect. Get an ordinary deck of cards. Find the Ace of hearts and place it on the top of the deck. Place the deck in your left hand with the top of the deck facing your fingers and the bottom of the deck facing your thumb. One of the long sides will be resting in your palm. Place the middle finger of your right hand on the short side facing away from you and your thumb on the short side facing toward you. Pull up on the center of the short sides of the deck with your right hand middle finger and thumb while allowing your left hand middle finger to gently press on the top card (Ace of Hearts). This will keep the Ace of hearts on the top of the deck.
Presentation:
(Choose someone to help you.) Who do you think cares about you more than anyone else? That's right, God does. God loves you more than anyone else could ever love you. Even more than your parents love you, if you can imagine.
God will never let you down. He will never hurt you, because He will always love you. I have an ordinary deck of cards here in my hand. (Fan through the deck to show the many different cards.) I am going to start shuffling the deck. When I ask you, I want you to choose a place for me to stop shuffling. We will then take the card from the top of the deck to see what you have chosen. Are you ready? Okay, select a place for me to stop shuffling. (Be very obvious that you are taking the top card, so that the children cannot say that you took the card from somewhere else.) You have chosen the Ace of hearts. Since the hearts represent love, then you have chosen the biggest and best card filled with the most love. You made the best choice possible. That is exactly what will happen when you choose to love God. You will find that He is the best person for you to share your love with, because He will always love you.
Watch video - The Gourds Must be Crazy
Say: Since God loves us, God wants us to love others. Distribute Bibles and have families look up Matthew 22:27-40. Today our video is about loving others.
Distribute popcorn and show: Veggie’s Tales – The Gourds Must be Crazy (15 min.) - this is the second half of the Veggie Tales video called "Are You My Neighbor".
Closing
Hand out a Love Sticker to each family, if they have not received one yet, to go on their cover page.
Jan @ First Presbyterian Church, Napa CA
Some ideas for this lesson were adapted from:
Christianitytoday.com
Chrisitancrafters.com, S. A. Keith
Msscrafts.com and its links
rotation.org
Bible Zone by Abingdon Press - Fruit of the Spirit
A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.
