Family Ties Group
Group Activities

Sermon Title: "Family Ties"

Scripture Reading:  Mark 3:20-35

FAMILY PICK UP: This game can be played like hide and seek or like the game of tag. Either way, one person will start and find or tag another person to JOIN THE FAMILY. They will hold hands each time one is caught and continue to find or tag more and hold hands until the whole class is holding hands and running together.

FAMILY OBSTACLE RUN: Set up a simple obstacle course and have the children all hold hands or stand behind one another and hold on to the shoulders or waist of the person in front of them. The children will run through the obstacle course together without letting go of the person in front of them.

FAMILY COLLAGE: Give the children strips of construction paper to make a border around the edges of a piece of poster board. Have the children cut out pictures from some old magazines to make a family collage with pictures of adults and children. Write words from today's Bible verse or lesson at the top of the picture collage.

FAMILY HUNT: Hide the letters of F-A-M-I-L-Y around the room and tell children to go and find the FAMILY!! When a child finds a letter, they will glue their FAMILY letters vertically on a poster board and create an acrostic about GOD's FAMILY writing a word for each letter of F-A-M-I-L-Y.

HAPPY FACE FAMILY: Provide children with large happy face stickers to stick onto a piece of construction paper or a bright colored recipe card. Children can draw arms and legs on their happy face stickers and write GOD's FAMILY... or write names of their own family over the top or under the happy face stickers.

FAMILY CLOTHES PINS: Give the children several wooden clothes pins to decorate as a "person"... sharp point markers for facial features; small piece of material to glue around as a shirt or dress; and yarn to glue on the top as hair or a cut out piece of felt, etc and cut as a hat. Let the children use their "family people" to tell a story about their family.

FAMILY CUTOUTS: Give the children a piece of construction paper which they will fold back and forth accordion style four times. On the top piece of the folded paper, draw an outline of a person whose hands extend to touch the folds of the paper. Carefully cut around the person, making sure not to cut where the hands meet the folds so that when the "people" are unfolded, they are connected at the hands as a FAMILY. Hang on the families on a classroom wall!

FAMILY TREE: Have the children draw a large tree on a piece of poster board or construction paper. The children will then write the names of people that they know who belong to the FAMILY of GOD. Label their drawing at the trunk of the tree as the FAMILY OF GOD. Add flowers, birds, grass, or flower stickers, etc, as desired.

SING A SONG: IF YOU'RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT; I'M HAPPY ALL THE TIME.

SHARE A SNACK: Each child can be given a round happy face cookie already frosted and happy face drawn on the cookie with frosting gel, or the teacher might let the children draw the happy face.

Song:  "If You're Happy and You Know It"

MP3 piano accompaniment - Right click and save to your computer

Song:  "I'm Happy All the Time"

MP3 piano accompaniment - Right click and save to your computer