Professional Documents
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Permission to photocopy these lessons from Grapple granted for local church use.
Copyright Group Publishing, Inc., 1515 Cascade Avenue, Loveland, CO 80538. For
information, visit group.com/permissions.
Visit our website: group.com
Thanks to our talented Grapple curriculum team!
Jeff Brunacci, Jean Bruns, Sharon Carey, Pam Clifford, Kate Elvin, Nancy Friscia, Becky
Helzer, Stephanie Martin, Peggy Naylor, Pamela Poll Design, Jessica Sausto, Joani
Schultz, Rodney Stewart, Rebecca Swain, Ali Thompson, Joey Vining, Amy Weaver,
Roxanne Wieman, Christine Yount Jones
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Item #: 124840
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Printed in the United States of America.
Introduction to Grapple......................................................................................... 4
our preteens need more than the same old Bible lessons; they need Bible
depth. Grapple is specifically designed to get preteens grappling with tough
questions in meaningful ways so they understand and own their faith. Grapple
gets kids into the Biblelike no other curriculum can!
Introduction
grapple schedule
5 minutes
10 -15 minutes
10 minutes
15 minutes
10 minutes
5 minutes
grapple community
grapple games
grapple time
grapple team time
grapple team reports
grapple prayer and dare
Please note that times are approximate and should be flexible to fit your small
groups needs.
Grapple Community: Kids enjoy snacks and friendship as they spend time getting to know each other. Have your kids choose the music to play during this
time. Then play a three-minute countdown, included on your Grapple DVD,
to let kids know how much time they have until Grapple Community is over.
You can also use the countdowns to wrap up an activity in the lesson.
Grapple Games: Kids vote for the games theyll play. Youve got a great selection of fun games to engage your preteens.
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Grapple Time: Grapple Time is the leader-led experience for your entire
group. Grapple Time involves everyone in making discoveries; the experience gives kids the desire to dig into the Bible for answers.
Grapple Team Time: Kids get into their Grapple Teams of six or fewer to dig
into the Bible with the reproducible Grapple Team Guide.
Grapple Team Reports: Teams vote on how they want to report what they
discovered during Grapple Team Time. Once teams are ready to report,
they get with other teams that chose the other style of reporting. They
then take turns reporting what they learned.
Grapple Prayer and Dare: Kids choose which prayer option theyd like to do.
After the session closes in prayer, give preteens the weekly Grapple Dare
to live out their faith during the coming week.
Introduction
Who leads a Grapple Team? If you have six or fewer kids, stay together
with you as the leader. If you have several Grapple Teams, try these ideas:
Facilitate all the teams by moving around from team to team, assign a
preteen to be the team leader, or recruit adults or teenagers to be team
leaders.
ALLERGY ALERT
This guide may contain activities that include
food. Be aware that some kids have food
allergies that can be dangerous. Know the kids
in your group, and consult with parents about
allergies their kids may have. Also be sure to
carefully read food labels, as hidden ingredients
can cause allergy-related problems.
5
faith fall
Ask everyone to find a partner of approximately the same height and weight. One
person in each set of partners will be the
Faller and one will be the Catcher. The
Fallers need to stay as straight as possible
(without bending at the waist), keep their
arms across their chests, stand with their
backs to the Catchers, and communicate
with the Catchers. The Catchers need to
get in a sturdy stance (usually one leg
in front of the other in a lunge position),
keep their hands right below the Fallers
shoulder blades, and constantly communicate with and reassure the Fallers. Remind
kids that this exercise is a great chance to
trust others and that its not okay to drop
anyone on purpose. Before any fall occurs,
the communication between the Fallers
and the Catchers should be as follows:
Grapple Games
crepe-paper people
Have kids form teams of six or fewer. Give
each team a few rolls of crepe paper. Tell
kids that when you say go, one member
of each team is to wrap the other team
members torsos in crepe paper. Explain
that the first group to have all its team
members wrapped in crepe paper wins.
(The object is for all the team members to
be wrapped together and not individually.)
Grapple Games
104
four on a couch
human tic-tac-toe
lockup!
Divide the group into at least four teams
with at least four members each. You can
use an uneven number of teams; however,
there should be the same number of kids
on each team. Split each team in half, and
have team halves go to opposite sides of
the room. Both halves of each team should
stand in single-file lines facing the other
half of the team on the other side of the
room. Designate a starter from each half
of the team. Explain that starters should
run and lock arms with the first teammate
in line across the room. Both kids are to
return together and lock arms with the next
team member across from them. Have kids
continue this back and forth action until the
whole team is connected. When members
of an entire team are locked together,
they should make one more trip across the
room and quickly sit on the floor.
sing it!
paper sculptures
Challenge kids to fold sheets of paper
into shapes that symbolize something
they like about the group. Suggest that as
kids tell about the shape they folded, they
complete this sentence: Our group looks
like this sculpture because____, but its different from this sculpture because____.
Grapple Games
105
telephone charades
Grapple Games
106
truth matchup
Choose seven kids, and give each one a
piece of paper and a marker. Have each
of the seven secretly write an interesting
personal fact. An example might be I ate
cat food when I was little. Encourage kids
to make their truths interesting and unique
to them. You should have seven papers
with one truth on each paper when kids
have completed this part. Mix the papers
up, and redistribute the papers to the
seven kids.
Then have the seven kids stand in front
of the group and, one at a time, read the
truths on their sheets. Tell kids who are
listening that after all seven kids have
read the truths, listeners will guess which
truth belongs with which person. It might
be helpful to reread the truths before the
groups vote.
Choose seven different kids to play another
round. Play until everyone has had a turn.
Jeffrey Dahmer served for two years in the United States Army before being
discharged for excessive drinking.
Between 1978 and 1991, Dahmer murdered 17 men and boys, culminating in
almost a murder a week by the summer of 1991.
During his prison sentence, Dahmer became a Christian and was baptized. He
was killed in prison.
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