The Whistle
Group Activities

Sermon Title: "The Whistle"

Scripture Reading: Matthew 16:21-28

CROSS CRAFT:

Children can tightly wrap yarn around two craft sticks that are shaped like a cross and glue the end of the yarn to stay in place.

CROSS NECKLACE:

Decorate a heavy cardboard/poster board small cross and put yarn through the punched hole and let children wear their cross, with our Bible verse written on the back to remind them of today's lesson.

FOAM DOOR HANGERS:

Children can use foam pieces to decorate a door hanger with a foam cross glued to the "hanger" and encourage children to hang on their door at home to remind them to "carry our cross" for Christ.

CHALKBOARD CROSS:

Teacher can draw a very LARGE cross (use side of chalk) and decorate with other colors of chalk. Have lines at the bottom and sides of the cross for children to come to the board and write their name on a line to show that THEY want to follow Jesus. They could draw a small cross by their name if desired!

BIBLE VERSE CROSSES:

Teacher can write words of the Bible verse on many paper crosses and then hang them at random around the room for children to find and place in order on the Bible Verse POSTER on the focal wall. If crosses remove easily, teacher can remove one at a time to see if children can remember their Bible verse.

COUNT THE COST $$$$$$..... FOLLOW JESUS POSTER:

Teacher can have small foot prints on the poster with the title just listed here: On each foot print, a child can write one thing on each print for "counting the cost" or the teacher can write for a younger child: ex: giving up a friend who makes bad choices; moving; not having a big house, going away, leaving family behind, not driving a fancy car, etc.

PAINTED CROSS:

Class project could be to use various colors of paint and paint a very large cross for the classroom. Children could write FOLLOW JESUS or CARRY HIS CROSS or BE JESUS' DISCIPLE or our Bible verse for today around the painted cross!

PENNY FINDINGS:

Scatter pennies around a dark designated area. Children can use small flashlights or battery charged candles to find all the pennies and then put the pennies on the classroom table in an order to spell JESUS, or another short word from our lesson today.

WHISTLE STOPPING:

All the children can scatter around the room and every time the teacher/leader blows a loud whistle, the children will quickly SIT on the floor; blow the whistle and children will jump up and hop, skip or jump around until the whistle blows again. Children will quickly sit down and continue to play as time allows. Then children can sit in a circle and hear today's lesson about the whistle.

PUTTING FIRST THINGS FIRST:

Let children divide into teams and give each team a box of items that will need to be placed in an order of what goes first, such as small blocks up to bigger blocks; or a penny, nickle, dime, one dollar bill, 5 dollar bill, 10 dollar bill, 20 dollar bill; or small books to larger books, etc. Then teams can walk around and see what each team did while putting first things first.

FIRST PLACE POSTER:

Children will be given a large piece of paper and a piece of construction paper to cut out a number 1 (one). Tape the large "1" on the large piece of paper and let children write that JESUS IS NUMBER ONE always, or PUT JESUS FIRST

FROSTED CROSS:

Teacher could bake a cake and cut it in the form of a cross and let children frost and decorate( with sprinkles, etc,) the cake and then eat it at the end of class for a special treat. While eating the cake, discussion and questions about today's lesson!

Song: "Take Up Your Cross" by Charles Kirkpatrick

Words and Music (pdf)

MP3 Accompaniment Track

This song is © Sermons4Kids. It may be copied and reproduced for ministry purposes. Not to be sold or distributed for profit.

Song: "Take Up Thy Cross and Follow Me " (chorus) by Alfred H. Ackley

Words and Music (pdf)

MP3 Accompaniment Track

This song is in the public domain and may be freely copied and reproduced.