Practice What You Preach
Group Activities

Sermon Title: "Practice What You Preach"

Scripture Reading:Matthew 23:1-12

DRESS UP RELAY:

Give each team a paper bag or little suitcase with dress up clothes (all the similar and the same number of clothes in each bag. Each member of the team has to run to the bag and put on the clothes and run back to another team player and take off the clothes and the next team member will put the clothes ON! Make sure everyone gets to put on the bag of clothes (shirt, pants, hat, shoes, tie, etc). Make sure to take pictures for the children to see at a later time.

PLAYING CHURCH PICTURE:

Have many props with ties, hats, high heeled shoes and scarves, etc for children to each put on one thing at least and take a class picture. Tell the Bible Story while the children wear their dress-up props.

POEM CARD:

Give children a small card to fold and stand up in front of their seating area. They can color the card and tape a typed copy of today's poem on the card as a reminder of today's lesson!

FELT CHURCH:

Give children different sizes and shapes of various colored felt for children to glue onto a piece of paper and make in the shape of a church. Title the paper felt art as DON'T PLAY CHURCH! Have children tell ways to play church.

"SEE" JESUS ART:

Give children paper, scissors, felt pieces for eye brows and eye pupils, etc, to make large EYES and cut out and glue onto a piece of construction paper. Add felt pieces and use markers to make BIG EYES. Use various colored markers to write each word in a different color and write LET OTHERS SEE JESUS IN ME.

FALL LEAF HEARTS:

Give children some cut out leaves to place in the shape of a heart on a large piece of paper (or altogether for a class project for a bigger heart). Inside the heart shaped by leaves, children can write TELL OTHERS ABOUT JESUS' LOVE FOR THEM! Cut around the outside of the leaf shaped heart and hang by a piece of yarn!

CHURCH DRAWING:

This can be a class project to draw a large church on a poster board on the wall. Let children take turns drawing something INSIDE the church drawing that would be a way to share Jesus' love and to not play church, after discussing how we PLAY CHURCH during the Sunday School lesson today. Children can add grass and flowers or trees and a steeple to their drawing.

PRETZEL CHURCH TREATS:

Give children some pretzels or even "twizzlers' to "build" a church on a piece of paper. As they tell today's story, they can slowly eat their pretzel treat.

Song: "To Be Like Jesus" Traditional

Words and Music (pdf)

MP3 Accompaniment Track

"To Be Like Jesus" is in the public domain and may be copied and reproduced for ministry purposes.