SUNDAY MORNINGS January 20, 2019, Week 3 Grade: Kinder

What Would You Say? Social: Providing Time for Fun Interaction (Small Groups, 15 minutes) Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience today s Bible Truth. Before kids arrive, take a few moments to pray for them. Ask God to help kids understand the consequences of not choosing their words carefully. Pray that they would have hearts that seek to build up relationships with others, not tear them down. Ask God to provide opportunities for kids to choose their words carefully and to give them the self-control to act on what they learn today. 9:00 & 11:30 Sword Fight What You Need: Long inflated balloons What You Do: Divide kids into pairs. Give each kid a balloon. Tell kids they re going to have a sword fight. The rules are: o They can t hit the other person in the face. o When someone gets hit in the torso (between waist and neck) three times, they re out. Kids who are out sit down. Winners pair up with someone else and do it again. Play until one kid is left. What You Say: That was fun! And thankfully, our swords were so soft they couldn t hurt anybody. That s not true with real swords, though. They can really hurt people. [Transition] Let s go to Large Group, where we ll learn something about swords. Lead your group to the Large Group area. 10:15 Early Arriver Idea What You Need: Wet wipes What You Do: Let kids use the wet wipes to clean their hands. Challenge kids to hold their tongues with their fingers while saying various phrases. o Say tongue twisters: She sells seashells by the seashore. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? o Answer questions of your choice. o Tell jokes. o Sing songs. Lead your group to the Large Group area. 2

What Would You Say? Bible: What Would You Say? (Choose your words carefully) Proverbs 12:18 Bottom Line: Choose your words carefully. Memory Verse: His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. 2 Peter 1:3a (NIV) Life App: Self-control choosing to do what you should even when you don't want to. Basic Truth: I need to make the wise choice. Bible: Communicating God s Truth in Engaging Ways (Large Group, 25 minutes) Engage kids hearts through a dynamic and interactive Bible Truth, worship, and prayer experience in a Large Group setting. CG: Theme Loop Video CG: Countdown Video CG: Theme Video Host is on stage, welcoming the kids as they enter. Opener HOST: What s up, everybody? Welcome to The Treehouse. My name is [Host s name], and I m so glad you re here with us today. We ve got a LOT of fun stuff planned! We re going to start with..praise and worship! Up on your feet everyone! Worship CG: Go CG: Everywhere I Go CG: Oceans Great Job everyone! Have a seat. We ve been talking this month about our operating system not the kind of operating system in a computer or tablet, but the operating system in each of us. When something happens to you, you ve got to choose how you re going to react. When things don t go your way, you can get really upset or angry. You might say or do things you shouldn t. OR you can make a different choice. You can update the way you react. You can react with self-control! CG: Life App Video Self-control is choosing to do what you should even when you don t want to. CG: Theme TransBack Video 4

Just like an update on a computer or tablet gives you the very best version, we want to be the very best version of ourselves. We can do that with self-control. We can do it with God s help! Here to tell us more is [Historyteller s Name]. Host exits. Historyteller enters. SETTING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: Hi, everyone! Believe it or not, there s something you re carrying around with you right now that s so sharp and so dangerous that it s like you re carrying one of these. Hold up the toy sword. That s right. There s something you re carrying right now that could hurt people just like a real sword. Yikes! But it s true. (Hold up Bible.) Check out this verse from Proverbs 12:18. CG: Proverbs 12:18 Slide Open the Bible to Proverbs 12:18 (NIrV) and read. The words of thoughtless people cut like swords. But the tongue of wise people brings healing. Okay. So what do we have that cuts like a sword? (Pause for response.) Right. Our words. When we re thoughtless when we say things without thinking our words can be like swords. It s like they cut others. If we re not careful, our words can really hurt someone! This is another verse in Proverbs from King Solomon, who was one of the wisest people who ever lived. King Solomon used a lot of word pictures in his writing. That means that when he was trying to explain something that might be difficult to understand, he would often use words and ideas we already know. He knew that most people would understand that a sword could hurt someone, so by saying that thoughtless words are like a sword, it helps us to understand just how dangerous and powerful our words can be I want you to watch this video so you can have a better idea of what Solomon was saying and what we need to understand. CG: 252 Story WRAPPING UP THE BIBLE TRUTH HISTORYTELLER: It s so important to control the words we say. We need to think before we speak. We need to make sure that the words we re about to say will help and not hurt. CG: Bottom Line Slide Remember to [Bottom Line] choose your words carefully. But even though we might know the right words to say, it might be hard to say them. We need God s help. Let s pray and ask God to help us have self-control with our words. 5

CG: Blank Bottom Line Slide Pray HISTORYTELLER: God, thank You for giving King Solomon such great wisdom to share with us. Please help us learn to use self-control and [Bottom Line] choose our words carefully. Help us to use our words to bring healing to the people around us. We love You, and we ask these things in Jesus name, amen. If you have an offering with you today, raise your hand and we will bring the bucket over to you. Historyteller exits as Host enters. Closer HOST: You know, we can t take back our hurtful words once they ve been said. Hold up the bottle of baby lotion. Just like you can t get all of the toothpaste back in it s tube if you squirt it out. It never goes back in the same. Never. It s easy for us to just use words without really thinking about them. We don t always realize how hurtful or helpful they can be. It seems crazy to think that our words could have so much power. But they do! CG: Bottom Line Slide That s why it s so important to [Bottom Line] choose your words carefully. When we get angry or upset, it can seem almost impossible to be able to control our words. We ve got to stop and think first, so we can use healing words instead of hurtful words. Remember, we get to choose the words we say. And we don t have to do it on our own! We know that God has promised to be with us and to help us with everything along the way. He can help us [Basic Truth] make the wise choice with our words. Look at our memory verse: 2 Peter 1:3a. CG: Blank Memory Verse Slide CG: Memory Verse Slide His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. (NIV). It s so good to know that God is always there to help. He has given us everything we need! You ll get to talk some more in Small Group about choosing your words carefully. Have a great time! CG: Small Group Slide CG: Full Video (If needed) Dismiss children to their Small Groups. 6

What Would You Say? Bible: What Would You Say? (Choose your words carefully) Proverbs 12:18 Bottom Line: Choose your words carefully. Memory Verse: His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life. 2 Peter 1:3a (NIV) Life App: Self-control choosing to do what you should even when you don't want to. Basic Truth: I need to make the wise choice. Groups: Creating a Safe Place to Connect (10 minutes) Create a safe place to connect and learn how the Bible Truth applies to real life experiences, through interactive activities and discussion questions. 9:00 & 11:30 Kindness Cards What You Need: Cardstock, markers/crayons, stickers What You Do: Set out the markers, crayons, and stickers, and give each child a piece of cardstock. Tell kids they re going to make a kindness card for someone today. Challenge them to think of someone they haven t always said kind things to in the past. It could be a sibling, a parent, or a friend. (If they can t think of someone, that s okay. They can still make a card to give to someone in the future.) Guide them to make a card for that person that says something kind. Help with writing as needed. Encourage kids to decorate the card in a way they think that person would enjoy. [Make It Personal] Do this activity with the kids. If appropriate, tell them who you said something unkind to, and let them see what you say in your card to that person. (NOTE: You don t actually have to give this specific homemade card to the person, but we hope you will give them another card or follow up with them in some other way!) What You Say: Those are some great kindness cards! I want you to take that card home with you and give it to the person you made it for. I think you just might make their day! When we don t choose our words carefully and we say something unkind, it can hurt others. We don t want to do that. But when we do and we all do sometimes it can help our relationship with that person when we apologize and when we say kind things to them and do kind things for them. But the important thing to remember is to just say kind things in the first place! [Bottom Line] Choose your words carefully. 7

10:15 Tossing Words Around What You Need: Crumpled Sentences Activity Pages, parachute/sheet, trash can What You Do: Lay out the sheet on the floor, and guide kids to stand around it so they re spread out evenly. Tell kids to grab the edge of the sheet and hold it at waist height. Hold up a crumpled paper and explain that all of the paper balls have sentences on them. Some are kind, and some are not so kind. Toss the crumpled paper balls onto the sheet. Instruct kids to lightly shake the sheet so the balls bounce around. Then tell them to shake it a little harder and see if they can get one of the balls to bounce off the sheet and onto the floor. When a ball hits the floor, tell kids to stop shaking the sheet and sit down where they are. Open the paper ball and read the sentence. Ask kids if you just read a kind thing to say or a not kind thing to say. If it s unkind, toss it into the trash. If it s kind, you can either smooth it out and place it into a pile, or you can give it to a child. Repeat the process until all sentences have been read. What You Say: There are SO many things we say to other people each day. Almost all of them are kind, or at least they re not mean. But sometimes we can get angry or upset, and we want to say not-so-nice things. When that happens, do you remember some things we talked about last week that we could do to help us not lose our temper? (Stop and think. Count to ten. Tell the angry monster inside us to calm down.) Yes! We can use our self-control and stop before we say something mean. We ALWAYS have the choice to keep from saying things that will hurt others or make them sad. This week, when you get angry or upset, remember to [Bottom Line] choose your words carefully. Pray and Dismiss (10 minutes) 9:00 & 11:30 What You Need: Kindness Cards from earlier activity What You Do: Hand out the kids cards from the Kindness Cards activity. Give kids 15-30 seconds to silently pray for the person they re giving the card to. Give them some suggestions for what they might pray: that the person would know God, if they don t already; that they would feel God s love; that they would have a good week; etc. Close with the prayer below. What You Say: God, we thank You for loving us and for loving the people we made these cards for. Thank You for forgiving us when we sin and don t choose our words carefully. Help us to be kind to people and not let our anger overflow onto other people. Help us to use Y our power to have self-control. In Jesus name, amen. This week, I hope you remember to [Bottom Line] choose your words carefully. 8

As adults arrive to pick up, tell them to ask kids why they made the cards and why it s important to choose your words carefully. 10:15 What You Need: No supplies needed What You Do: Ask kids to think of someone that they have a hard time being kind to sometimes. Give kids 15-30 seconds to silently pray for that person. Give them some suggestions for what they might pray: that the person would know God, if they don t already; that they would feel God s love; that they would have a good week; etc. Close with the prayer below. What You Say: God, we thank You for loving us and for loving the people we were just thinking bout. Thank You for forgiving us when we sin and don t choose our words carefully. Help us to be kind to people and not let our anger overflow onto other people. Help us to use Your power to have self-control. In Jesus name, amen. This week, I hope you remember to [Bottom Line] choose your words carefully. 9

You re so awesome! I love the way you did that. What to Do: Print and cut apart one set for each group. Sentences 1/5 January 2019, Week 3, Small Group K-1 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Thank you for being my friend. Would you like some help? What to Do: Print and cut apart one set for each group. Sentences 2/5 January 2019, Week 3, Small Group K-1 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

That made me angry, but I know you didn t mean to do it. I forgive you. What to Do: Print and cut apart one set for each group. Sentences 3/5 January 2019, Week 3, Small Group K-1 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Ugh. I can t believe you said that. I don t like you! What to Do: Print and cut apart one set for each group. Sentences 4/5 January 2019, Week 3, Small Group K-1 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Why do you have to be so stinky? That answer was SO wrong. What to Do: Print and cut apart one set for each group. Sentences 5/5 January 2019, Week 3, Small Group K-1 2018 The rethink Group, Inc. All rights reserved.