Ideas/Scripts For Teaching Young Children About God - #2 Gifts For God
Materials Needed:
A small, cheap, wrapped gift for each child. Something little and cute from the dollar store will be fine.
What To Do:
Sit your kid(s) down on the floor with you.
Have all of the wrapped gifts concealed in a bag or a box.
What To Say:
Setting a LOVING & FUN tone - "Wow. You guys are really great. Do you know one thing I noticed that you did really well today? Robert, when I gave you your cereal this morning you said, "Thanks Mom." That's excellent Robert. You are a wonderful boy. It's so good to say, "Thank you," for the good things we get. (Say similar things to each child.) I LOVE to be with you guys. I LOVE to be your dad/mom."
Hook - "I have some things in this bag to show you. There are some things in here that I think you're going to be pretty excited about. It's actually something that I'm going to give you. Check it out."
(Take out the present(s).) "It's a gift. A present. It's a special something that I wanted to give you. Gifts are special, right? We LOVE getting gifts and LATER I'm going to let you open this and it will be yours to keep. I love you and I love giving gifts to you.
Transition - "Have you ever given someone a gift? Who have you given a gift to? What was one of your favorite gifts that you ever gave someone?" (Let the children answer. Behavior TIP: if they start moving around a lot or chaotically call out answers, say, "whoever has this pencil (or any other random object that is close at hand) can answer first. I'll hand this pencil to someone who is sitting like Daddy is sitting and they can answer. Then, after they've answered, I'll hand the pencil to the next person that is sitting nicely like Daddy.")
The TRUTH - "We can give gifts to lots of people and we can give gifts to God. (pause) You might be thinking, "Huh!? How can we wrap a present up for God?" Well, you're right. We might not wrap a present and put it on God's lap. But we CAN give God gifts. VERY special gifts, too. There's so many ways to give God a gift. When we sing a song to Jesus, THAT'S a gift. Whenever we remember Jesus and think about him or start to talk to him, THAT's a gift. Whenever we say, "God I don't want to pick what I want to do. What do YOU want me to do?" THAT'S a gift."
"Now in a little bit I'm going to let you open up this gift. Before I do, can you think of anything else that we can do that would be a gift for God?" (Let children answer.)
"Let's listen to (or sing this) song. If you don't know the song, you can come to my lap and rest your head on my shoulder. When the song is done, I will pray for you and you can open your gift."
What To Sing:
(Note to Parents: clicking the song link below will take you to a YouTube video. We recommend that you have the song already loaded to avoid unwanted ads/commercials that might distract the children. Preview the song so you know what to expect.)
What To Pray:
"Jesus thank you for the gifts you've given us. Thanks that we can give gifts to you. Thank you that you like the gifts that _________ gives to you. Thank you that you like the gifts that _________. (Fill in the blanks with the names of your children.) We love you God. Amen."
Let the children open their gifts.
Extension Idea For Older Children
Read 2 Samuel 24:18-25 and discuss what it says about gifts for God. How can young adults sacrifice things for God?
