===================================================================== Title: Primary Sabbath School Program, October 16, 1999 From: NAD Children’s Ministries (author: Lisa Seeders) Date: September 15, 1999 Abstract: Activities to use in place of program helps to teach the lesson, JESUS IS THE GOOD SHEPHERD ===================================================================== Lesson Aim: Jesus takes care of me like the best, most loving shepherd takes care of his favorite sheep. Memory Verse: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” Psa. 23:1, NIV GETTING THEIR ATTENTION - PLAY-DOH PETS Materials needed: Play-doh WHAT THE TEACHER DOES: (To prepare ahead) There are no advance preparations necessary. WHAT THE STUDENTS DO: Give each child a lump of Play-doh. Ask them if they could have any kind of a pet they wanted, what they would choose. Have them form their Play-doh into their “fantasy pet”. As each child shares what their pet is they also share three ways they would take care of and love their pet. In our Bible story today Jesus talks about a shepherd and his many pets, his sheep. GO STRAIGHT INTO THE BIBLE STORY. GETTING INTO SCRIPTURE - STORY DIALOGUE AND SOUNDTRACK Materials needed: None WHAT THE TEACHER DOES: (To prepare ahead) There are no advance preparations necessary. WHAT THE STUDENTS DO: Divide the children into two groups. Assign one group the role of sheep. Whenever they hear you mention the word sheep in the story they get down on their knees and say, “baa”. Assign the other group the role of shepherd. Whenever they hear you mention the word shepherd in the story they stand up, motion an invitation with their arm and say, “come, sheep.” Tell the story from the quarterly pausing as necessary when the children are responding as sheep or shepherds. GETTING INTO SCRIPTURE - SHEPHERDING THE SHEEP MEMORY VERSE TIME Materials needed: Cane Six ping pong balls Permanent markers (black thin-line) (1) sheet of poster board Masking tape Bibles WHAT THE TEACHER DOES: (To prepare ahead) On the six ping pong balls write the following combination of memory verse words: 1 - The Lord 2 - is my 3 - shepherd 4 - I shall 5 - not be 6 - in want Write them small in the middle of the ball. (The children will put ears and eyes, noses and tails on the balls to turn them into sheep.) Roll the poster board into a tunnel shape and masking tape it together. Masking tape one open end of the tunnel to a blank wall in the room so it cannot move. WHAT THE STUDENTS DO: Look up the memory verse in the Bible and review it together several times. Give each child a ping pong ball to decorate as a sheep. Make sure they don’t mess with the memory verse words on the balls. Shake the ping pong balls around in a paper bag and dump them out. Explain to the children that the sheep are scattering. They are the shepherds and they must gather them with the cane back into the sheepfold (the poster board tunnel). Each sheep must be guided back to the sheepfold with the cane. They must be collected in the order that the memory verse is said in. If they roll back out of the sheepfold, they must be re-collected. Whether or not you time the children is optional. ACTING ON SCRIPTURE - Materials needed: Blindfold Chairs (Enough to make a large circle boundary) WHAT THE TEACHER DOES: (To prepare ahead) Set-up chairs or tables as boundaries. All the children will be moving around within the inside circle. WHAT THE STUDENTS DO: Blindfold one child and designate him as the stranger. Place him in the middle of the circle. Designate the rest of the children as sheep. Have them roam around in the middle of the circle. The stranger may call “sheep” five times during his turn. Any time he calls, “sheep” everyone who is designated as a sheep must say “baa-baa” twice. If the stranger has not caught any sheep by the time his five turns are up, another child becomes the stranger. Any sheep caught, sit on the sidelines until all sheep have been caught. Remind the children that sheep do not respond to a stranger’s voice. They love their shepherd and the way he deals with them. Jesus wants us to be careful to only give our full love and obedience to Him.