Sunday School / Church Camp

Program Outline

©2014 Quiz Worx

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INTRODUCTION

Overview

This document is designed to give you some ideas on how to use the Big Concepts Kids Talks as

a series of 3-4 sessions that could be used for Sunday School, Church Camps or other events.

This document has been adapted from a program that we used for a Church Camp kids

program for a small group of children aged 3-12 years old. Please get creative and adapt these

ideas to suit your needs!

Why Teach Kids Big Words?

You might be wondering why we would bother teach kids these big words.

As this is a program that has been designed for children who belong to a church family, and

thus have some understanding of the gospel, teaching these words can be valuable. This

program gives children the opportunity to extend their understanding of the gospel, along with

their vocabulary.

When I first used this program on a church camp, there was a boy in my group who was in his

first year at school (ie. 5-6 years old). One afternoon the children joined the adults for a

question time with the speaker. During that time the word predestination was used. This boy

put up his hand, and when the speaker directed his attention to him, he proudly told everyone

that predestination means that God chose us to be his friends before the world was made. This

anecdote is an example of how teaching these words can be a valuable tool for children's

growth in the gospel as they are more equipped to relate to the big conversations happening

around them. In addition to this, Knowledge of these words helps children to become better

Bible readers, as these are concepts and words that are found in the Bible.

If you would prefer, you could adapt this program to exclude the 3 big words, while still

teaching the concepts if you think that it would be more suitable for the children in your group.

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SONGS

Chose a mixture of songs that the children will be familiar with as well as some new ones.

Below are a few songs from Quiz Worx that you might like to use. All songs are available at

www.quizworx.com or on iTunes.

From A Mighty Shout:

"His Choice"

"God is Great"

"Jesus Loves Me"

"Imitators of God"

From Living 4 Jesus:

"Living 4 Jesus"

"His Name is Jesus"

"Acts 16:30"

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GAMES

There are many options for games, here are a few ideas to get you started.

Heads or tails

Can be used to introduce the idea of ‘choosing’ (predestination).

What you need

2 coins

How to play

A leader stands in front of the children and explains that they are going to toss two coins. The

children have to choose what combination of heads and tails they think the two coins will land

on. The way they make their choice is by doing the following actions. For heads they put a

hand on their head, for tails they put a hand on their bottom. Three combinations are possible.

1. Two hands on your head if you think both coins will land on heads.

2. One hand on your head and one on your bottom if you think the coins will land on one

of each.

3. Both hands on your bottom if you think both coins will land on tails.

The children must make their choice and then the leader can toss the coins. When you

announce what the coins landed on, children who have guessed the combination incorrectly sit

down. Children who guessed correctly remain standing and the process is repeated until a

winner is found.

Choose a colour

Can be used to introduce the idea of ‘choosing’ (predestination) .

What you need

Four pieces of paper, each of a different colour

Four balloons that match the colours of the paper

Music

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How to play:

Place one balloon in each corner of the room. If playing outside place them in visible places to

create a square. As the music plays children dance around the room. When the music stops,

children run to a corner and stay there. The leader stands in the middle of the room/square

and without looking randomly selects one of the coloured pieces of paper. The children who

are in the corner that matches the colour of the paper sit and watch the rest of the game. The

game ends when only one child is remaining.

Follow the leader

This game can be used to introduce the idea of ‘turning away’ (propitiation). This game is

particularly great for younger children.

What you need

Music

How to play

Get the children into a line. Choose one person to be the leader. The leader moves around the

room doing an action of their choice. At your signal, or the change of the song. The line turns

around and the last person becomes the leader and chooses a new action. Change the order of

the line so that all the children have a turn at being the leader.

Sock hockey

This game can be used to introduce the idea of taking someone’s place (substitution)

What you need

2 rolled up news paper bats

1 pair of rolled up socks

2 hokey goals, could be cones, chairs or tables.

How to play

Divide the children up into two teams, give each child a number. Pick a number and those two

children compete to try and get a goal. At whatever time you choose call out ‘substitute 3’ (or

another number) and the children who were given that number take the place of the two

previous players and continue the game. The team that scores the most goals at the end are

the winners.

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BOOKLETS

Using the pictures from the Big Concepts talks, you can create booklets for the children. These

provide the children with something to take home with them at the end of the sessions to help

remind them of the big things that they have learnt and so they can show their friends and

family.

Depending on the amount of time you have with the children, they could make the books

themselves with cardboard, paper and a hole punch. Print out the pictures from the story (4

per page) and the children can cut them out, colour them in and make them into their book.

Encourage older children to write out the story in their own words. To save time during the

sessions, you could prepare the booklets for the children, so all they have to do is colour it in

and add their own writing.

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POSTERS

In each session, there is a time for children to decorate posters and write things they have

learnt on them. Each poster can be very simple. Here are our designs to give you an idea:

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MEMORY VERSE

“He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”

1 John 2:2

This is taken from the ESV, which is one of the only translations that uses the word

propitiation. You may prefer to change the words to match the translation that most children

will have in their bibles (Probably NIV or CEV) . If you choose to use the ESV, it would be a good

opportunity for the children to learn about different Bible translations. An example of how you

could do this to older children is below. The best time to do this would be when the children

are looking up the memory verse in their bibles during the session times.

Leader: Have you ever noticed that sometimes someone's bible might use different words to your bible, even when you are reading the same verse? That is because some bibles use different translations.

Does anyone know what the word translation means?? A translation is when something is written or spoken in one language, is turned into another language. All of our Bibles that we have in English, are translations. That is because when the bible was first written, it was not written in English it was written in other languages, languages that the people in that time could understand. The Bible was mostly written in languages called Greek and Hebrew. If we were reading the bible in the language it was first written in, our memory verse would look like this (show manuscript picture on page 19).

Thankfully, we don't have to learn how to read another language to read the Bible, because lots of people who learnt how to read these other language, have spent a lot of time carefully re-writing those words into English, they translated it for us so that we could read it too.

If you have a look at your Bible, on the front, it will tell you what sort of translation it is. It might say that it is a NIV or maybe a CEV or maybe something else. That tells you the name of that translation.

When different people translate things from one language to another, they sometimes use slightly different words and sometimes they might put the words in a different order, some people when they translated the bible used words that we are not used to hearing, and some people translated using words that would be easy for children to understand. The important thing is that even though they might use different words, it still gives us the same message. That is why when you read the same verse in different Bibles, it might use different words but it still has the same meaning!

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There are many ways to teach a memory verse, below are a few ideas to get you started:

• Make up some actions and a chant to go with the words. Practice saying it together

with the actions.

• Write out the memory verse on a piece of paper. Cut it up like a puzzle, make it as hard

as you like. Hide the pieces around the room. The children have to find the pieces and

put it together.

• To make this harder (for older children), in the same handwriting, write out a short

story or a nonsense sentence on a piece of paper. Cut it up the same as the memory

verse and hide it around the room. This will be very confusing for the children as they

have to solve the memory verse puzzle and the decoy puzzle.

• Write out the memory verse in five sections on paper and number them. Place the

pieces of paper in obvious locations around the room. Tell the children to choose a

piece of paper to stand next to. When you say go, each child reads in a loud voice what

is written on their piece of paper. They then run to the next piece of paper and read

that aloud. They keep going until they are back to where they started. For example, if

you start on number 4, you then go to number 5, then 1 …. After each round change the

location of each piece.

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SESSION 1: PREDESTINATION

Games

Songs

Video - "Christ Loved Us"

This video is available from www.quizworx.com.

Explain to the children that we are going to be looking at the cross, and we are going to be

looking at some big words that help us to understand more about Jesus, and what He did for us

when he died on the cross and rose again.

Introduction

Leader: This week we are going to be thinking about the big, amazing and wonderful things Jesus did for us when he died on the cross and rose again. To help us with this we are going to be learning some BIG words that teach us BIG things. These three words are predestination, propitiation and substitution. Lets practice saying those words together now.

Today we are going to start with the first word, predestination. We will learn about the other two words over the next few days. The second word, is in our memory verse… for now let's just learn it.

Memory verse segment

Introducing predestination

Ask children if they can think of a time where they were chosen for something, or a time when they were not chosen. Ask them how it made them feel. Share a personal story.

Leader: Today we are going to see that God has chosen us! In fact the Bible tells us that God chooses us to be his people before we were born! To help us think about this we are going to hear a story about a dog called Mutt.

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Story - Mutt and His Owner

Use the provided script and images.

Bible time

Read Ephesians 1:1-5.

Poster

Fill in the poster, give each child a chance to write down something that they have learnt about the word predestination. Refer in conversation to Eph 1:1-5. (an example of the posters are found above)

Discussion questions

Did Mutt choose his owner Rob? Or did Rob choose Mutt?

Do we choose God? Or does God choose us?

Why do you think Rob Choose Mutt?

Did God choose us because he knew that we were going to be good people? Why then did he choose us?

What was the first thing Mutt did after he saw Rob for the first time?

Now that we know that God chose us, before the creation of the world, how does that make you feel?

What should our response be?

Encourage children to write their answers on the poster.

Prayer

Encourage each child to think of one thing to pray about or to say thank you to God.

Booklets

As the children complete their booklets, continue with discussion questions. Ask if they have any questions.

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SESSION 2: PROPITIATION

Games

Songs

Memory verse segment

Introducing propitiation

Ask children if they can think of a time where they were chosen for something, or a time when they were not chosen. Ask them how it made them feel. Share a personal story.

Leader: Today we are going to look at the big word that is in our memory verse, propitiation. Can anyone guess what this word might mean?

We are going to see that propitiation means God turning away his anger by the paying of a price. And we are going to see how Jesus does that for us. To help us think about this we are going to hear another story, this time about a boy called Billy.

Story - Billy and His Dad

Use the provided script and images.

Bible time

Look up the memory verse in the bible and read it together. (see 'Memory Verse' above to help

with discussion on translation issues).

Poster

Fill in the poster, give each child a chance to write down something that they have learnt about the word propitiation, referring to 1 John 2:2.

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Discussion questions

Why was Billy's dad angry at him?

Why is God angry at us?

What was the punishment for Billy breaking the skateboard and the TV? Could he do what his

father asked of him?

What is the punishment for our sin? Is there anything we could do to turn away God’s anger?

What did Billy’s dad do for Billy to turn away his anger?

What has God done to turn his anger away from us?

What does it mean that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins?

What should we do, now that we know that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins?

Prayer

Encourage each child to think of one thing to pray about or to say thank you to God.

Booklets

As the children complete their booklets, continue with discussion questions. Ask if they have any questions.

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SESSION 3: SUBSTITUTION

Cooking - Substitution Cookies

This is an optional activity designed to be a fun way to introduce the idea of substitution.

• Print out the recipe on page 17 and the 'substitution cards' on page 18. Or you can make up

your own versions.

• Divide the children into groups of 2 to 4. Try to put younger children with older children.

• Children make the cookies, using the substitution card of their choice.

• Bake the cookies while you finish the rest of your session.

• Share your substitution cookies with the adults on camp and encourage the children to

explain to adults what they have learnt about substitution.

Games

Songs

Memory verse segment

Introducing propitiation

Ask children if they can think of a time where they were chosen for something, or a time when they were not chosen. Ask them how it made them feel. Share a personal story.

Leader: Today we are going to be learning about substitution. Does anyone have any ideas of what this word might mean?

In the cookies that we just made, we substituted some of the ingredients for other things, that means that the lollies took the place of the choc chips. That is what substitution is, when one thing takes the place of another. We are going to see that when Jesus died on the cross, he was taking our place, to help us think about this we are going to hear a story, about a mongoose.

Story - The Mongoose, The Weet-Bix and the Judge

Use the provided script and images.

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Bible time

Read Mark 15:6-15. This is a great way to see how Jesus was the substitution for Barabbas, and for us.

Poster

Fill in the poster, give each child a chance to write down something that they have learnt about the word propitiation, referring to Mark 15:6-15.

Discussion questions

What did the mongoose do wrong?

What was the price he had to pay?

Who took his place and paid the price for him? Was this surprising?

In the bible reading, who was the substitute for Barabbas?

What have we done? What price do we have to pay?

Who took our place and paid our price?

How do you feel about this?

What should our response be?

Prayer

Encourage each child to think of one thing to pray about or to say thank you to God.

Booklets

As the children complete their booklets, continue with discussion questions. Ask if they have any questions.

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SESSION 4: RECAP

(Optional)

If you have time for a fourth session, you could use the opportunity to recap what you have

already taught. Help the children prepare something to share with the adults in church, or to

share with other groups. Help the children write out in their own words what have learnt

about each of the three big words. The children will love impressing others with their new big

words and at the same time it will help them remember what they have learnt. The posters

made in the previous three sessions can be part of the children presenting what they have

learnt to the others.

As in the other session, play games and sing songs if you have time. Spend some extra time in

prayer, encourage the children to pray and thank Jesus for dying and rising again for them.

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SUBSTITUTION COOKIES RECIPE

150g butter

1 cup white sugar

1tsp Vanilla extract

1 egg

1 ¾ cups plain flour

1 cup choc chips Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Use a spoon to make cookie shapes on a tray.

Cook for 15-18 minutes at 160 degrees.

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SUBSTITUTION COOKIES CARDS

Substitute 1cup of brown sugar for 1 cup of white sugar

Substitute 1 cup of berries for 1 cup of choc-chips

Substitute 1 tbs of cocoa for 1 tsp of vanilla

Substitute 1 cup of Lollies for 1 cup of choc-chips

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MANUSCRIPT PICTURE