Where in the World?

July 31st, 2016 .:. .:. Room 301

Pathways Kids Weekend Small Groups

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This curriculum is for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders.

This Weeks Scope

Love Will Keep Us Together

Bible Story: Love Will Keep Us Together (One body. One spirit. Jesus is the head.) Ephesians 4:4-6,
15b-16
Bottom Line: The story of Jesus changes how we work together.
Memory Verse: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faithand this is not from yourselves,
it is the gift of God Ephesians 2:8 NIV
Life App: Faithbelieving what Jesus did can change me.
Basic Truth: I should treat others the way I want to be treated.

Welcome Time
Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience
todays story.
Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group
for the first time. If you dont normally pray with other Small Group Leaders before or after Groups, take
a moment to do so today. Ask God to give you ideas for how to work together with other leaders to help
kids build relationships with each other, with God, and with their families.
What You Need: Offering container
What You Do: Collect offering, check in with the kids and read the Bible story.
Ephesians 4:4-6, 15b-16
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one
Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him
who is the head, that is, Christ. 1From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting
ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
What do the kids think this means? Have them keep this in mind throughout small group.

Activity #1
What You Need: Body Buddy Activity Pages; 1 set for every 3 kids
What You Do:
Guide kids to get into teams of three and stand in a line.
Scatter the Body Buddy pieces around your environment.
Tell the teams that their job is to work together to gather the pieces to make a complete figure,
but with a few catches:
o Have the first kid close his eyes, no peeking! Each team must follow child number one
wherever he goes, but child number one wont know exactly where to go.
o Child number two must place her hands on child number ones shoulders. (Guide the
kids to do this.) Child number two directs child number one where to go by voice and by
steering.
o Child number three follows his other teammates, but he may not talk. His job is to pick
up the pieces when his team reaches them.
When a team gathers all its pieces, lead kids to assemble them into a complete figure.
What You Say:
Great job! Did you know that you just gave a great example of our Bible story today? You were a team,
you worked together, each person did their job, and you couldnt have done it on your own.
Paul said that when you believe in Jesus, you become a part of a special team that works together to
do a very special job. He called the team the body of Christ. Becoming part of the body of Christ
doesnt mean that you actually become a finger, a toe, an eye, or an ear. But it does mean that you
become an important part of a big team. And that team is all the people who love Jesus working
together to tell others about Him.
[Make It Personal] (Briefly tell about a time when you saw or experienced the body of Christ
working together to show Gods love.) So remember: [Bottom Line] The story of Jesus changes
how we work together.

Activity #2
What You Need: No supplies needed
What You Do:
[Make It Personal] (Tell kids about a time when you worked with others to do a hard job.
What was the best part of that experience? What did you accomplish together that no
one on the team could have accomplished on his or her own?)
Have all the kids link elbows and squish together to form a human blob.
Explain that youre going to practice Blob Cooperation, which means theyll have to stay
connected at the elbows as they move together in whatever way you tell them. For example, if
you say, Left, the entire blob will move left until you give them another direction to follow.
Call out some of the directions quickly and others slowly. For instance, you might have them
walk to the left for a long time and then quickly go right and then suddenly left again. Some
possible directions might be: right, left, forward, backward, slow motion, double time, jump,
crawl on knees, tip-toe, skip, and hop on one foot.
What You Say:
Best blob ever! Great teamwork, guys! When you all worked together, you were really good at
following my instructions. [Bottom Line] The story of Jesus changes how we work together. People
who follow Jesus should want to use their gifts, skills, time, and stuff to help others know God. But none
of us can do that alone. We have to work together to make sure the story of Jesus is shared with
everyone. It takes blob cooperation! Each person must do his or her part. The family of God is a team.
If youre on that team, youre an important player with wonderful gifts to use to serve God the best you
can every day.

Prayer
Opposites

Time

What You Need: No supplies needed

What You Do:
Remind kids that there are a lot of people working together at your church right now to make
sure people learn about God and His Word.
Ask the kids to name some of the people they know, either by name or position, who are
working in your church, such as: preschool workers, security or check-in volunteers, custodians,
Small Group Leaders, childrens pastors, student pastors, senior pastor, worship leaders, band
members, musicians, etc.
Review todays Bottom Line: [Bottom Line] The story of Jesus changes how we work
together.
Remind kids that with Gods help, we can work together to get His work done. Each person is
special to God. Working together we can do something even better than we could alone.
Tell them that you will say the prayer below, and at the proper time, they can each say the name
of someone who has a job in the church. They can say a general name, like pastor, or they
could say that persons actual name.
What You Say:
Dear God, thank You for all the people who work together here in our church. Some of them we know
by name. Thank You for (let kids take turns saying peoples job titles or names). Help us to also do our
part by working together. In Jesus name, amen.
Lead your kids to large group.