Showing Our Love For Jesus Group
Group Activities

Sermon Title: "Showing Our Love for Jesus"

scripture Reading: John 14:15-21

WALK IN ANOTHER'S SHOES: Have the children sit in a circle and put all of their shoes in the middle of the circle. When the teacher blows the whistle, children can run to the middle and find a PAIR of shoes that are NOT their own and run back to their place in the circle and try to put the shoes on their own feet. Children can then be told to WALK in those shoes for a little bit. Then gather in the circle again and talk about our story time today and tell the children that forgiving others is easier when we have "walked in their shoes".

HUNTING FOR GOD'S LOVE: Before the class begins, the teacher/leader will place slips of paper in balloons with ways we can show our love for Jesus written on them. (Praying, going to church, sharing Jesus with others, helping, giving, etc). After the children return to the circle, have them burst their balloons and read what is written on the slips. Discuss the ways we can show love to God.

WALK IN THESE FOOTSTEPS: Give the children sheets of construction paper in which to trace their feet and place all the FEET in a long walking line for children to make a game out of to see how quickly they can WALK without missing or stepping off of the foot trail.

SERVING JESUS WITH OUR HANDS AND FEET: Have the children make hand and foot prints with ink pads or tempera paint as a reminder that the things we do with our hands and the places we go with our feet should SHOW Jesus that we LOVE Him. These hand and foot prints could be taped to the classroom wall for a reminder!

BAD FEELINGS DISAPPEARING: Give each child a coffee filter and markers. Draw pictures or lines of color and then spray with a mist and watch the colors fade or disappear, just as bad feelings do when we forgive others.

FORGIVENESS MAN: Children can add movable eyes and draw on a big round circle representing a face. Tape that face in the middle of a long rectangular piece of card stock about 4-5" by 18" (to look like outstretched arms) . Children can trace their own hands on another piece of construction paper and tape to the end of that long rectangle for outstretched arms. In the middle of the rectangle (below the round face), write words from todays lesson about loving God and forgiveness to a piece of colorful paper and tape to the middle.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER NECKLACE: Provide the children with yarn and small colorful beads to make a necklace with a cut out heart for the middle of the necklace. Children can write LOVE ONE ANOTHER on the heart and add glitter or sequins to decorate.

STOPLIGHTS: Each child will cut out a green, yellow and red circle to put on a long black strip of construction paper vertically to represent a traffic signal. On the green GO light, children will write "GO and tell others about Jesus".

CELL PHONES: Give the children paper and markers to draw a cell phone: Happy face stickers can be added to the phone. The children will write, "TALK TO JESUS" below the picture of the phone. Pictures of a cell phone can be provided to show children ideas for their craft.

GOD'S WORD: Children can cut out a colored piece of paper of one size and a white piece of paper a little smaller. Tape the smaller piece on top of the colored piece and add a red ribbon down the middle to create the look of a Bible. The children can add rick-rack, or other ideas for borders to the edges of their Bibles for decoration. Write or trace letters that will say, "READ GOD'S WORD DAILY" on the white "pages" of the Bible.

LOVE GOD CROSS: Give a construction paper cross for younger children, or a sheet of construction paper for older children to cut into the shape of a cross. The letters for the cross going DOWN will be L O V I N G and the letters going across will be G O D - the O on each word will be in the middle of the cross. Colorful glitter or other decorative trim can make this book marker very special.

HEART-SHAPED COOKIES SNACK: The teacher will make heart-shaped cookies for a snack. Tell the children that the cookies are to remind us that we show our love for Jesus by loving one another.

Song:  "Oh How I Love Jesus"

Words and Music (pdf)

MP3 Accompaniment Track

Song:  "This Little Light of Mine"

Words and Music (pdf)

MP3 Accompaniment Track