NT-06

"Young Jesus at the Temple”

Materials Needed

Resource: Handshake cards,   Thumb tacks/poster putty,   Small table

Setup
1. Spread out the Handshake cards face down on the table.

Description

1. Explain the following:
    Our big idea is "Nobody's perfect except Jesus." Jesus perfectly obeyed God his entire life here on earth. That means he always followed God's directions in the Bible. We, on the other hand, haven't perfectly followed God's instructions in the Bible. Some of us have lied, some of us have stolen. Other of us have said mean things in anger, and probably most of us have disobeyed our parents. It's certainly a good thing for us that the Jesus, the God we follow, is perfect because we're nowhere near perfect!
    To help us remember our big idea and how it means that Jesus perfectly followed God's directions for us in the Bible, we're going to play a little game where we'll see how well we can follow directions.

2. Explain the following:
    Have you ever done a secret handshake with someone? It usually involves a bunch of crazy things you do with your hands when you meet a good friend. It's usually something only you and a good friend know how to do. And it usually has a list of steps to follow.
    Two of you will come up here and make up a new secret handshake with four parts. You'll find out what four parts make up your handshake by drawing four cards. Then, you and your partner will do your best to follow the secret handshake directions as best as you can, saying today's big idea as you do them.

3. Have two volunteers come up front and turn over four Handshake cards. Describe to them how to do what is written on each of these cards. (Descriptions for each card are written at the bottom of this resource sheet.) Let them place them on the board (using thumb tacks or poster putty) in any order, left-to-right, that they wish. Then, have them perform the secret handshake together, saying one word of the big idea as they do each part of the handshake.
    Place the cards that you used face down again on the table and repeat the above process with two new volunteers.
    If time allows, you can have two children attempt to do a much longer secret handshake, using more cards. Then, explain to them how Jesus following God's directions perfectly his entire life would be like doing a secret handshake with a million different parts and not messing up once!

Handshake Descriptions:

Fist bump: Both children form fists with their right hand and lightly punch them together.
High five: Children smack each other's hand above their heads.
Low five: Children smack each other's hand below their knees.
Handshake: Children shake each other's hand.
Wristgrab: Each child extends a hand and grabs the other child's arm by the wrist.
Handshake Fake: Children pretend like they are going to give each other a handshake, pulling their hand away at the last minute and rubbing it alongside their heads, as if fixing their hair.
Shooter: Both children form "guns" with both hands, point them at the other child and say "Hey!" like a 1950's-era tough guy.
Pinky lock: Each child extends only his/her pinky and then hooks it around the other child's.
Touch index fingers: Each child points with his/her index finger, touching the other child's finger.
Wiggle fingers together: With the fingers of one child's hand touching the fingers of another child's hand, the children wiggle their fingers at the same time.
Thumb Touch: Both children make a "thumb's up" sign, perform a "fist bump," (see above) and then press their thumbs together.
Top and Bottom Bump: Both children form fists. One child holds his/her fist still. The other child uses his/her fist to lightly bump the top, then the bottom, of the first child's fist.