Preschool: Advent Week One

Advent Week One
John the Baptist: The Rescuer is Coming!

The week in preschool we began the season of advent with the news that the Rescuer is Coming and that He is coming for Everyone.

A little background. The amazing Matt Whitney made a gorgeous pastel scene for our "reverse advent calendar". Each week we will be adding something to the scene. Each item is a clue about who this rescuer is going to be.

We talked about rescuers. Diego, Batman, Ironman. They all rescue animals or people who are in trouble.

Building on last weeks story about the Prophets, we learned that God's people were in trouble and He is sending a Rescuer. Who is this Rescuer? Each week until Christmas we'll get a clue!

Today's clue was a Horn. It belonged to John (the baptist), a Prophet.
-He lived in the desert
-He ate bugs and honey
-He told people the rescuer was coming
-We imagine he would shout and blow his horn so many people would hear about the rescuer

Thanks to Mark and Jen for helping us with music! Jen brought her trombone so we could hear just how loud a horn can be! We sang:
-go tell it on the mountain
-away in a manger
-silent night

Our craft was to make two horns to remind us "the rescuer is coming"! One was to "play" and one was an ornament for our home Christmas trees. Hope yours made it home in one piece! There will be 4 ornaments in total to remind them of each clue.

Happy Advent!

Preschool: The Prophets

Hey Parents!  Next week starts the season of Advent, so for our last week in the old testament, we talked about the Prophets.  The Prophets were people God would send to tell Israel when they were not listening to God.

We started by talking about some rules we might have at our houses.  Maybe the rule was to wear a helmet when riding a bike, so that if we fell, we wouldn't hurt our head.  Maybe the rule was not to hit other kids, so that our friends would not get hurt.  Maybe the rule was not to jump on the bed, so that we wouldn't fall off and bump our heads.  We thought about how when we break the rules, your mom might say, Hey, you're not listening; you're breaking the rule!  This was the same with God's people, Israel.  God would tell the Prophet to say, Hey, you're not listening to God; you're breaking the rule!

Once we know we're not listening, we have the chance to say, I'm sorry, and we can be forgiven.

In the Old Testament, there were many Prophets who gave that message to God's people.  Jeremiah told Israel that they weren't listening to God, even though God was their maker (like a potter).  But that God would forgive and use them to build something new, like with clay (or playdough). God also sent Israel the prophets Ezra and Nehemiah, to tell them they were forgiven and that they should celebrate with a party!

We had various hands-on lessons today.  We played with play dough, like the clay, to remind us God forgives and will make something new. We had balloons and M&Ms for our party, to celebrate God's forgiveness.  And we drew pictures of the party to remind us of the same.

Next week, we'll start receiving clues to God's secret rescue plan for the season of Advent.  God will give a clue first to Isaiah, who was also a prophet.  When we have all the clues at the end of Advent, we will know God's rescue plan for his people Israel, and for us!

Preschool: Brave Queen Esther

Last week in Sunday School, we heard the story of Brave Queen Esther.

In case you want to sing it at home, our welcome song went like this: (tune: "good-night ladies") Hello, [Anna]; hello [Vera], Hello, [Leto]; I'm glad that you are here.

We talk about times they've been brave by asking, when were you afraid?  When were you brave? What helped you be brave? In the dark, maybe a flashlight, what about a prayer?

Our songs: 
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty there's nothing my God cannot do
Jesus loves me
Away in a manger

Here is the story of Esther (abbreviated version as told to the kids):  Esther was married to the King, who was very powerful and scary.  Esther's cousin, Mordechai, told her that one of the King's friends, Haman, wanted to hurt her people. She needed to be brave and ask the King to save her people. She was afraid, but prayed to God and He helped her save her people.

As the craft, we put together a coloring book of pictures from the story.

Preschool: Abraham's family

Thanks so much to Lydia for covering for me last week!  I really appreciate her stepping in to share the story of God's promise to Abraham (you will have descendants as many as the stars).  Today, we followed up on that story of how God brought Rebeka into his family.  

First we thought about our families-- parents, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren-- babies after babies.  We remembered Abraham, who God promised many babies after babies (after babies, until one very special baby....).

Abraham's son Isaac needed a wife who loved God so that God could grow Abraham's family, just like he promised.  Abraham asked his servant Elizer to go with God to find this woman.  Elizer travel far when he became thirsty.  He asked God to give him a sign if he found the woman: to offer him and his camel a drink of water.  Rebeka was that woman and she agreed to marry Issac.  Elizer gave her bracelets to show she was now part of Abraham's family, which is God's family.

We had Mark and Alex (THANK YOU!) come sing Father Abraham with us to remember how he "had many sons, and I am one of them and so are you, so let's just praise the Lord" (right arm, left arm...).  If you know that song, maybe ask your kids to sing it with you at home (it's fun!).  Also, we sang Away in the Manager, which we are learning for singing at Christmas.

Afterward, we made Cheerio bracelets, like Rebeka's bracelet, to remember that we are part of God's family too.  We also helped make a collage of pictures of families to remember that God loves families.

Anyway-- a lot of metaphors packed in there-- hopefully they remember a little bit of it all, like Abraham having babies after babies, as we prepare for the one special baby.  Advent begins the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so all of our stories from the Old Testament from here on out will point to that very special baby, more specifically after Thanksgiving.

The kids are honestly doing great!  Lots of them today, but they all did really well with a very long story and complicated craft-- whoo hoo!