Story Idea: Word Snail & Bible Reading

- Have the kids guess words relating to the story (eg. food, seed, harvest, knowing Jesus) using a game of word snail

- Draw dashes on the board corresponding to the letters in the word

- Have the kids guess letters

- If they guess a letter from the word, write it on it's dash location in the word, if they guess incorrectly - draw the next part of the snail

- If the kids can't guess the word or phrase before the snail is complete, they are too slow!

Quiz Questions:

1. Is food important for life?

Yes

2. What did Jesus say is like food for Him?

Doing what God wants

3. Do you think Jesus is talking about God's work as harvesting food crops, or is he talking about something else?

Something else

4. What work does God want us to do?

To show an tell others about Him

5. When telling others about Jesus, who is like the one who plants the seed?

The first person to make somebody think about Jesus

6. When you plant a seed, does it produce fruit straight away?

No

7. How do we help something grow so that it can produce fruit?

Look after it and water it, put it in the sun etc.

8. Who is like the person who harvests the crop?

The person who helps someone make a decision to follow Jesus

9. How can we show and tell others about Jesus

Tell them what He has done for us, tell them Bible stories, live how God wants us to so they can see how He has changed us, pray for them, bring them to church etc.

10. When we show and tell others about Jesus, do they always decide to follow Him straight away?

No

11. Should we keep praying for them, showing them God's love and telling them about Him?

Yes

12. Why do we want to tell others about Jesus

Because we want them to know Him too

13. Why is following God and doing what He wants important for us?

We love Him and are thankful for what He has done so we want to serve Him, the way we live is evidence of that

14. If we think we are having trouble living how God wants us to, what can we do?

Pray and ask Him to help us, get to know God more - and the other stuff will come

Game Idea: Harvest Hunt

- Before the lesson, hide a series of food items that could be harvested around the room and have the kids search for them, then bring them back and out them in a harvest pile

- To make it more interesting, give items point values by sticking a piece of masking tape with a number on the item - smaller or harder to find things are worth more points!

After all the items have been found discuss:

- Did it take the same amount of effort to find all of the food pieces or did some require more time? (Some took more time)

- Is it faster to find all of the food when just one person is looking or when lots of people are helping? (Lots of people)

Explain to the kids that different people learn about and decide to follow Jesus differently. Some people hear the good news about Jesus just once and decide to follow Him and others take longer... but we should never give up praying for people, sharing God's love with them and telling them about Him because we want them to know Jesus like we do! God wants all of His people to help show and tell others about Him so that many people will hear the good news!

Activity Idea: Seed Planting

- Before the lesson, use pencils to poke drainage holes in the bottom of paper cups

- Download and print the seed verse template on coloured paper and cut out the boxes

- Allow the kids to decorate their cups using, pencils, paint or collage, then glue on the verse

- Help the kids fill the cups with potting mix or seed raising mix

- Provide some seeds for them to plant in their cup (eg. dwarf bean, lettuce, mustard greens or something else that readily grows - plant a couple in each cup so that at least one will sprout)

- Have the kids take their cups home and place them in the sun, watering them every few days to help them sprout