As kids leave, ask them about Joseph, and all the ups and downs of his life!

August 20-21, 2016

Genesis 37-48, Lamentations 3:22-23

Extreme Earth Unit: Joseph

God is always with us.

GUESS WHAT?● Divide kids into small groups.● Put a sticker on each kid’s back without them seeing it (Each sticker has a different

object. It might be a banana, a cat, a motorcycle, a pencil, etc.)● Tell kids to find a partner within their group, and let them see the sticker on their

back. (Remind kids that they should not know what’s on their sticker.● Give kids the following rules:

○ Each partner will take turns guessing what is on their own back:○ To guess what’s on your back, you can ask your partner yes or no questions

like, “Is it a food?”, “Is it an animal?”, “Is it yellow?”, etc.○ Keep asking questions and guessing until you guess correctly! If you’re

having trouble guessing, your partner can give you clues. (For example, “It’s yellow,” or “You use it at school,” etc.)

● Kindergarten adaptation: If your kids are too young to know which questions to ask/which clues to give, do the activity as a small group, together. Have one kid at a time get in front of the group, while the leader facilitates the group giving that kid clues to help them guess the sticker on their back.

TALK ABOUT IT● What was hard about guessing the object on your back?● Do you like to know how things will turn out, or do you like to be surprised?

Goal: Kids will (1) understand that God was with Joseph during good and bad times, (2) recognize that we all experience goodness and hardship alike, and (3) identify how God is ALWAYS with us, no matter what happens.

Why? Kids are going through incredibly difficult, and oftentimes traumatic experiences at younger and younger ages. It’s important to show them that no matter what happens to them, God is always with them.

Tip: Be ready and listening for kids to open up to you about difficult things they go through.

REVIEW THE STORY 1. How did Joseph's life have ups and downs? (He was his father's favorite son; he

was sold as a servant by his brothers; his boss put him in charge of the household; he went to prison; God helped him figure out people’s dreams; he figured out Pharaoh’s dreams and Pharaoh made him his special assistant; his brothers came to him for help and he forgave them.)

2. Did God ever leave Joseph? (No!) Why not? 3. How do we know God was with Joseph? (God had a plan for Joseph's life; God used

all the good AND bad things in his life to save a whole country of people; God took care of Joseph and protected him, no matter what.)

4. When is it hard for you to follow God’s plan? When is it easy?5. When have you felt God was with you lately? What was happening (good or bad)?

MAKE IT PERSONAL ● Spread out the picture pages and point out how they show different parts of

Joseph’s story.● Tell kids that you’re going to give them special instructions, and they have to work

together to obey the instructions and arrange pictures in the right order.● Tell kids to do the following:

○ Round 1: Put the pictures into two groups:■ The GOOD things■ The HARD things

○ Round 2: Put the pictures in two new groups:■ When people liked Joseph■ When people didn’t like Joseph.

(Continued on next page.)

○ Round 3: Pick out all the pictures of Joseph's dreams.○ Round 4: Put the pictures in order of the story.

■ Once the pictures are in order, give each person in the group one picture. Go in order and have the kids go around the table and retell the story based on the picture that they have. If you have a lot of kids, they may have to have to pair up. If you have more cards than kids, you can ask if anybody wants to go twice.

○ Let kids choose one of the pictures and write/draw on the back one thing they have gone through, good or bad, when God was with them! Let them take it home.

Extra time? Have kids do a coloring sheet. After that, have kids play some “prediction” games:

● Rip up some paper into little pieces, hold them behind your back, and have kids guess how many pieces you have.

● Tell kids to guess the least amount of steps they can reach the opposite side of the room in, and then count how many steps they can actually do!

● Have kids guess how many seconds they can stand on their tippy toes for, and then time them! To make it harder, have them stand on their tippy toes on only one foot!

Here are links to today’s videos:

God’s Story / Joseph:https://vimeo.com/66760375

*Click to play intro music.● Welcome: Hi everybody! Welcome to Kids’ Club. We’re so

glad to have you here!● Say: I hope you had fun figuring out what was stuck to your

back in that Connect Time game! ● Ask: How many people were able to guess what was on

your back? (Let kids respond.) Nice job! What did you have to do to guess what the object was? (Let kids respond.) Yep, you had to ask questions, or your partners had to give you clues so that you could figure out the answer.

● Say: Sometimes when we guess something, we have NO idea what the answer might be. For example, if I asked you to guess what number I’m thinking in my head, you would have to guess it with no clues at all! Now go ahead and guess! (Let kids guess and then tell them the number you thought of.) Good try everybody!

● Say: There are other times when we DO have some clues, and they help us know what the answer is! I’m going to think of a number in my head, but this time I’m going to give you a clue! It’s between 1 and 10. Okay, now take another guess! (Let kids guess, then tell them your number.) Good guesses everybody!

● Say: When we make a guess, we’re trying to figure out the answer. We want to know what’s going to happen!

WELCOME AND INTRO

Main Goal: Review Connect Time and introduce the lesson.

Notes:

STORMS

Main Goal: Understand what predictions are, and how we use them in real life.

Notes:

● Say: There’s something else that people try to guess, or predict, all the time…..storms! Why do you think people would want to know when a storm is about to happen? (Let kids respond.) Yeah, so that you can get shelter and make sure you’re not stuck out in a storm! There’s rain, and thunder and lightning….let’s look at a video of some storms right now!

● Video: Edge of Stability● Say: Storms can be really cool….but they can also be kind

of scary. It might be hard to get through a storm when it’s raining and lightning and thundering really loud! You can’t go outside to play, and it might even be hard to sleep.

INTRO: JOSEPH

Main Goal: Introduce Joseph and understand that he went through a lot of ups and downs in his life!

Notes:

● Say: You guys might be wondering why we’re talking about storms! Well today we’re going to learn about a guy who went through a lot of storms in his life, but not real storms.

● (Click to show image of Joseph.) ● Say: This is Joseph. Can you say, “Joseph”? (Let kids

respond.) Joseph had a lot of ups and downs in his life. Remember how we talked about how people need to prepare for storms, because they can be dangerous? Well the storms that Joseph went through, he couldn’t really prepare for, because he had no idea they would happen. They were really hard things. But he also experienced some really good things too!

● Say: Joseph thought his life was going to look one way, but it turned out totally different than he could have ever imagined! Like a sunny day that suddenly fills with rain clouds. There was no way to guess what God was going to do with him.

● Say: Let’s watch a video about his life right now. As you watch, pay attention to when God is with Joseph.

● Video: God’s Story / Joseph● Say: So when do you think God was with Joseph during

that story? (Let kids respond with varying answers.) Yep, he was with Joseph through EVERYTHING. Whether times were good, or bad, God was always there.

JOSEPH’S UPS AND DOWNS

Main Goal: Understand specific ways that God was with Joseph during good times in his life.

Notes:

● Say: Let’s go through all the high points and low points of Joseph’s life! Whenever I put a picture up, if you think it was a good time in his life, stand up and lift your hands up, like you’re raising the roof! (Demonstrate for kids, with your palms facing upward.)

● Say: But if you think the picture was a hard or painful part of Joseph’s life, then lay flat on the ground. (In between motions, have kids return to a sitting position. If your room is too crowded to lay down though, you can make up another motion for kids to do!):

○ (Click to show image of Joseph.) Joseph was his dad’s favorite son, and he got an amazing coat! Then he had a dream that he would one day rule over his brothers, which must have felt pretty awesome. Do you think this was a good time, or a hard time? (Let kids respond with standing motion.)

○ (Click to show image of Joseph in pit.) Then, his brothers got jealous and mad, so they threw him in a pit, and sold him as a servant. Do you think this was a good time, or a hard time? (Let kids respond with laying down motion.)

○ (Click to show image of Joseph and Potiphar.) When Joseph became a servant, his boss, Potiphar, made put him in charge of the household! Do you think this was a good time, or a hard time? (Let kids respond with standing motion.)

○ (Click to show image of Joseph in jail.) After becoming the head servant, he got accused of something he didn’t do, and was thrown in jail! Do you think this was a good time, or a hard time? (Let kids respond with laying down motion.)

○ (Click to show image of Joseph with guard, Joseph with Pharaoh, Joseph in charge and Joseph and brothers.) In jail, the guard put Joseph in charge of other prisoners; then Joseph helped Pharaoh figure out what his dream meant, and he put Joseph in charge of all the country’s food! After that, Joseph’s brothers came to him for help, and he forgave them for what they did. Do you think this was a good time, or a hard time? (Let kids respond with laying down motion OR hand motion.) This was probably hard but ALSO good!

● Ask: Do we go through good AND bad things, just like Joseph did? (Let kids respond.) Yes, we sure do. Sometimes we have happy days, and sometimes we have sad days.

● Ask: Do you feel close to God when you’re going through a really good time in life? How does that feel? (Let kids respond with varying answers.)

● Say: Yeah, when we’re going through something good, life is easier! We probably feel happy, and it’s easy to see how God is taking care of us.

● Ask: Is it easy to feel God with us during hard times? (Let kids respond.) No, not always. It can be really tough.

● Say: The thing is, when we’re going through a hard time, that’s when we need God the most. It’s when we have to rely on Him, because we can’t do everything on our own! Even if it feels like things aren’t going the way we want them to, that’s when we need to keep obeying God, and following him no matter what.

● Say: If you all agree that God is with us, even when things are hard, or painful, or sad, give me a big thumbs up! (Let kids respond.)

WE ALL GO THROUGH HARD TIMES

Main Goal: Recognize that we all experience difficulty, but God is still with us.

Notes:

● Ask: Was God with Joseph during all those GOOD times? Was He taking care of Joseph? (Let kids speculate.)

● Say: Yep! God was making sure that Joseph had a dad who loved him, and God provided Joseph with what he needed! Do you think Joseph felt close to God then? (Let kids respond.) Yep, he probably did!

● Ask: Now what about those HARD times, the storms that Joseph went through? Was God with him then? (Let kids respond.) Yes! Even though Joseph might have felt sad, or lonely, and he didn’t have good things all around him, was God still with him? (Let kids respond.)

● Say: Yes he was! Maybe when Joseph felt sad or lonely, God comforted him. When Joseph was working as a servant, God made sure he still had a roof over his head and food to eat. All those times when something bad happened, God turned it into something good! He walked with Joseph and protected him throughout his whole life. And God does the same with us.

GOD WAS WITH JOSEPH NO MATTER WHAT

Main Goal: Show that no matter what happened to Joseph, God was always there with him.

Notes:

● Pray: God, we love you so much! Thank you for always being with us, and loving us no matter what happens. Amen!

● Set up worship: Since God is always with us, I think that’s reason to celebrate! Let’s stand and sing loud to Him through worship, and show him how much we love him!

● Music Video: All That You Need● Music Video: I’m Not Afraid

WRAP UP AND WORSHIP

Main Goal: Close the lesson with prayer and worship.

● Say: Now let’s look at our verse this month, which tells us that God’s love for us NEVER ends. He will be with us no matter what we go through, good or bad!

● Slide: Lamentations 3:22-23 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

● Say: Let’s all take a minute and talk to God on our own. Close your eyes. (Let kids respond.) Now, we all go through both good and bad things, easy and hard! Right now, ask God to help you and be close to you no matter what you go through. Maybe even ask him to help you with one specific thing that’s hard right now! (Let kids respond.)

RESPONSE TIME

Main Goal: Give kids a chance to actively respond to God.

Tell me about Joseph.When was God with Joseph?

1. Summer Series Extreme Earth Unit song slide: for when kids enter the room (All that You Need instrumental; mp3 only; can be downloaded on website)

2. Video: Edge of Stablility (0:24-1:01; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QnsRXUbsK4) 3. Image: Joseph4. Video: God’s Story / Joseph (https://vimeo.com/66760375) 5. Image: Joseph6. Image: Joseph in pit7. Image: Joseph with Potiphar8. Image: Joseph in jail9. 4 images on one slide:

a. Joseph with guardb. Joseph with Pharaohc. Joseph in charged. Joseph and brothers.

10. Slide: Lamentations 3:22-23 The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

11. Music Video: All That You Need (https://vimeo.com/153814189) 12. Music Video: I’m Not Afraid (https://vimeo.com/121403086)

Per kid: 1 sticker of a picture (printed in BW on 5294 avery template; I will create a set of stickers with different pictures so that kids within each small group have different stickers of pictures) (Page 12)

Per Group: Bible