NT-03

"The Birth of Jesus”

Big Idea

God's Son, Jesus, came to live with us.

 

Verse

John 1:14a - "The Word became a human being. He made his home with us." (NIrV)

Materials

Large amount of playdough,   Small table,   Digital camera

Setup

Set the table in the middle of the teaching area. Form the playdough into a ball and set it on the table.

Activity

1. Write the verse on a chalk/wipe board and read it as a group once.

2. Explain the following:

    Our big idea today is "God's Son, Jesus, came to live with us." One of the names the Bible sometimes calls Jesus is "the Word." Do you see how the word "Word" in this verse is spelled with a capital letter "W"? That's because when it says "the Word," it means Jesus. This verse said that Jesus, God's Son, became a human being. He made his home with us.

    To help us remember God's Son, Jesus, became a human being, we'll slowly turn this lump of playdough into a person while we learn the verse. And we'll take pictures of it at each stage so we can see our progress. (Use the digital camera to take a picture of the lump of playdough.)
    

3. Erase one word from the verse on the board. Select a volunteer to come forward. As you read through the verse as a group, instruct him/her to begin to form that lump of playdough into the shape of a person. Allow him/her to continue doing this for a few seconds after the group finishes reading. From the same angle as before, take a picture of the playdough.

    Continue this process, erasing a word and having a volunteer shape the playdough each time through the verse. Continue until all the words of the verse have been erased. If the children are able to make the playdough into a human shape early on, encourage each volunteer to add details such as eyes, ears, and hair.

    Later, send the pictures of the playdough man's progression to the children and their parents by email or by posting it on a blog.