September 27: God's Promised One is Announced

August 23: God's Blessings Grow

Ask students to describe a really fancy house- keep notes on chart paper for reference. Encourage ideas of grandeur, shiny, gold-encrusted things; things they've seen on TV or movies but likely don't have at their houses.

Review with kiddos that God had promised Abraham three basic things: 1. His family would become a great nation 2. God would give them a special place to live and 3. God would make them a blessing to all the people on the earth.

A few weeks ago God began giving Abraham his great nation. Last week God gave them a special place to live. This week we're talking about how God continued to bless His people.

Read Part 9 of The Big Picture Story Bible "God's Blessings Grow." Discuss how King David {remind them of the kid-David we've talked about previously and explain this is him all grown up!} wanted to build God a special house, but God wanted David's son, Solomon, to build it instead.

Go back to your brainstorm list and explain that students will be drawing the temple Solomon built for God. Read over a few specifics and have kids discuss why he made it so fancy. Encourage students to take their time and use the whole sheet of paper to show details.

Make sure students put their names on their temples- we'll need them next week!

August 16: Going into God's Place

July 19: God's Big Promise

We reviewed how so far God had created humans and they chose to disobey Him. Over time, people continued to disobey so He sent a great flood and save the only obedient family: Noah's. After some time, people began to disobey God again and He wanted to honor Abraham, who had chosen to obey Him when so many others chose not to. He had a big blessing promised for Abraham and his wife, Sarah. 

How many stars are there in the sky? After reading the story, we discussed that God told Abraham that he would have many descendants (kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, etc.) The kids estimated about how many descendants they thought he might have. Many thought that 2-3 kids, 5-10 grandkids, and about 20 great-grandkids would be adequate for God's blessing.

We discussed how God told Abraham to look at the stars in the sky- he would have as many relatives as there are stars! Most of the kids guessed 10-1,000,000 stars, so we created our own starry nights to see about how many stars there might be.

We did this by going outside and flicking white paint from dollar-store toothbrushes onto blue or black construction paper. The older kids had a blast using the toothbrushes for "play" instead of work (haha!) and although some of the little ones used it more as a paintbrush, everyone agreed their artwork looked like a night sky.

Then week came back inside and had snack as our paintings quickly dried. After eating, I asked the kiddos how many stars were in their skies. Many started (and tried miserably!) to count but everyone decided there were just too many to count.

And that's the whole point, I told them! God wanted to bless Abraham, just like he wants to give us blessings today. We are okay with little things in our lives, just like Abraham would be happy with an extended family of 50, but God wants SO MUCH MORE for us. If we love and obey God He wants to give us His blessings. They might not come in the way of money or fame, but He gives us mercy, grace, patience, love, the list goes on. And the more we honor God, the more He will bless us by giving us the things we really need while we're on this earth.

July 12: Life Outside the Garden

I promised the kiddos time outside on our recently refurbished playground, so we simply read the story, answered questions, and had rice-krispie treats outside today!