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Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Growing With God God’s Beautiful World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Animal Parade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 God Made Me! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 It Makes Sense! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Tender Care . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 God Makes Things Grow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 God’s Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 My Special Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 God Hears Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Lots to Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The Best Teacher! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Busy as Beavers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Color Me Happy! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Prayer Gloves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Suprise Blessings! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Number One! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Follow Me! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Just as I Am! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Oh, Promise Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Song in My Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Just About Jesus God’s Only Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Our Best Friend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Jesus Can Do Anything! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Heavenly Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

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Love ’Em All! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Sharing Shows Caring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Love’s Eraser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Always Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Happy Followers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Prayer Gardens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 No Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 This Little Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 Caring-n-Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Come to Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Jesus’ Followers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Peacemakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Serve Up Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Alive and Well . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Home Sweet Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Tell the News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Seasonal Surprises A Sweet Story (Christmas) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Wise Gifts (Christmas) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Swirls of Love (Valentine’s Day) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Crown of Life (Spring/Easter) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Welcome, Jesus! (Palm Sunday/Easter) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Seeing Clearly (Summer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Bubblin’ Up (Summer) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Harvest of Love (Autumn/Harvest) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Thanks Be to God! (Thanksgiving) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Lively Leaves (Autumn) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 I-Can-Learn-God’s Word cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

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God’s Beautiful World Make these neat, sticky vests and discover God made the world!

Point to Make: God made the world.

Simple Supplies: You’ll need a preschool Bible (such as My Good Night ® Bible from Standard Publishing) or children’s Bible, scissors, a roll of clear self-adhesive paper, tape, and construction paper. You’ll also need copies of I-Can-Learn-God’s-Word Card A from page 106.

Before class, plan a walking route for you and your kids, such as through the church yard, playground, or nearby school. Children will be collecting twigs, grasses, flowers, leaves, and small pebbles and sticking them to “vests” made from self-adhesive paper as they discover some of the wonders God made in the world. After your walk, kids will turn their vests into take-home pictures that serve as colorful, tactile reminders that God made the world.

Making the Craft Clue children into message time by singing the song on page 5. When children are seated, say: I have a riddle for you! See if you can guess what I am.

I am huge and round and as big as can be; (hold arms in a circle over your head) I hold meadows and mountains and flowers and seas. (make wave motions) What am I? After children tell their ideas, say: I am the world or the earth! And who do you think made the world? God made the world! God made the land and mountain and seas; God made the animals, flowers, and trees. God made the whole world, and he made it good! What are other things God made in the world? Encourage children to name things such as insects, butterflies, birds, fish, kitties, puppies, people, and foods that grow such as apples and corn.

Say: God made the world and all the things we see and enjoy in nature. Let’s make sticky vests to wear on a special walk. The vests will help us collect our favorites things God made in the world.

Cut 1-by-2-foot squares of clear, self-adhesive paper. For each mock vest, simply pull off the paper backing from the adhesive paper and fold back the top inch of the sticky paper. Stick the folded-back edge to the front of a child’s shirt, then repeat the process by folding back the bottom edge of the sticky paper and pressing it in place along the bottom of the child’s shirt. Tell children not to touch their sticky vests. As you amble along on your walk, encourage kids to pick up leaves, grasses, flowers, and small pebbles and to stick their treasures to the sticky vests.

After children have acquired a lovely collection of God’s treasures, return to the classroom and gently peel the sticky vests off the children’s shirts. Have kids help tape their papers to sheets of colorful construction paper.

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Learning the Message Form a circle and have children hold their nature pictures. Use the pictures to play an identification game. Repeat the following rhyme, filling in the blank with the name of an item from the picture, such as a flower. Then have children point to that item on their own pictures.

Here is something God made for me— Can you find the (blank)? It’s easy to see!

After several repetitions, invite children to take turns calling out the names of items, then have everyone find those items on their pictures. When everyone has chosen an item, read aloud the story of creation (Genesis 1) from a children’s Bible or a preschool story Bible. Then say: What a wonderful world of treasures God made for us to enjoy! Ask: ■ Who made the world?

■ Why do you think God made the world so nice?

■ How can we tell God loves us when we look at the world?

■ How can we thank God for making the world and all that’s in it?

Say: Let’s share a prayer and thank God for making the world such a nice place to live. Pray: Dear God, we’re glad you made the world And everything that’s in it; We see your love through all you’ve made Each and every minute! We love you, God. Amen.

I-Can-Learn-God’s-Word Card Hold up I-Can-Learn-God’s-Word Card A and read the verse aloud. Then lead children in repeating the verse with you. Tape a card to each craft item for children to take home and learn with their parents’ help.

Choose-n-Use Options ■

Make small color copies of round globes (from a book or perhaps from a picture of a world globe from the Internet) and cut out the circles. Glue the paper globes to the round tops of orange-juice cans or margarine tubs. Tape satin cords on the globes and let children wear the globes as fun reminders that God made the world.

■

Tape large leaves and flowers to sheets of white shelf paper. Have kids sponge paint over the items, then carefully remove them. Write “God made the world for you and me!” across the tops of the pictures and help kids read the words. Identify which shapes are the largest and smallest.

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