PANTOMIME RELAY: Teams will be chosen to do pantomimes for the other teams and to see how quickly the correct guess can be given. A stop watch can be used to add up all the times and see which team wins. The teacher should have slips of papers for the children to use to tell them what they should be acting out, such as riding a bike, smiling, climbing a tree, painting a house, reading a book/Bible; being a dog or other animal, etc, but NO TALKING!
QUIET BALLOONS: Each child will be given a balloon to pop but NO TALKING. When their balloon pops, they can find the small slip of paper that will have a word from our Bible verse on it and QUIETLY will place it in the correct order on a poster board with the title from our lesson or other words from today's lesson. The children can not talk but still will have to work together to get the words in the correct order.
PING PONG COTTON BALL: Have all of the children sit in a circle on the floor or around a large round table. Place balls of cotton in the center of the circle and give all the children straws to attempt to blow the cotton balls to the other side of the table. Tell children that they can make NO sounds of talking or giggling. Play for whatever time the teacher will allow and then tell today's Bible story about Zachariah being quiet.
SILENT BALL BOUNCING: The children will form a large circle and QUIETLY bounce a ball to each other. If a child bounces a ball BACK to the child who just bounced it to him/her, they are out. If the ball goes OUT of the circle, that child is out. And if the ball hits another child while being bounced to him/her, the child who bounced it is out as well. See how QUIETLY the children can play this game until only one child is left standing!
SIGN LANGUAGE: Before class time, the teacher will use a library book or the Internet to find 3 or 4 easy sign language ideas to teach the children. Use those in a short story or actions for the children to use without talking but to "sign" instead of their voices.
TABLET TALKING: Provide each child with a small poster board or tablet of paper and a marker or pencil. When the teacher asks a question to the children, they can write the answer with words or draw a picture but NO TALKING! The teacher should ask simple questions to the children such as We are to love Jesus with all of our ___________(heart). Who died on the cross for our sins? Jesus is up in ____________ (heaven). Rain comes from _____________ (clouds). How will we feel in heaven? (happy).
MOUTH READING: Gather the children in a circle or have several children form circles if there are many children in the class. ONE leader or teacher can join each circle of children and ask a question and the children will MOUTH the answer without speaking, OR the teacher can ask a short question by MOUTHING the question slowly but without talking and the children can answer out loud! Make sure these are questions about Jesus or our lesson today so that children will be reminded of what they have learned, such as, Who prepared the way for the Lord, or Who was John the Baptist's father; or how do you spell JESUS?
GIFT WRAP: Give the children construction paper to cut out a large square or rectangle to decorate with ribbons, glitter, stickers, etc. A small gift tag can be taped to the ribbon that will say, JESUS THE UNSPEAKABLE GIFT, OR THANK YOU FOR JESUS.
SNACK TIME: When children have received their snack for today, tell them to MOUTH the words please and thank you or if there are several small snacks to choose from, the child can MOUTH what snack choice they would like to have!
SING A SONG: PRAISE TO THE LORD, THE ALMIGHTY; PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD
Song: "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" - Traditional
Words and Music (pdf)
Piano Accompaniment (MP3)
Song: "Prepare the Way of the Lord"
Words and Music (pdf)
Piano Accompaniment (MP3)
