ndations: B ible Fou

Summer 2011

or Teaching Bible Truths to Babies Through Kindergartn ers A Guide f

The Tent Church Bible Focus BIBLE STORY The Tent Church Scripture Reference: Exodus 25:1,10-20; 36:1-38; 37:10; 38:1,17

BIBLE TRUTH God planned for churches.

LIFE APPLICATION I can help at church.

BIBLE PHRASES (Babies–2s) I like to go to church. Psalm 122:1 We are helpers. 2 Corinthians 1:24

BIBLE VERSES (3s–Kindergarten) It is a good thing to give thanks to God. Psalm 92:1 I was glad when they said, “Let us go to church.” Psalm 122:1 We are helpers. 2 Corinthians 1:24

Week of June 5, 2011

Bible Study for Teachers Biblical Setting (Exodus 25:1,10-20; 36:1-38; 37:10; 38:1,17) After God freed His people from slavery in Egypt, He led them to Mount Sinai. There He gave them the Ten Commandments and other laws about how to live and worship Him. Because the Jewish people were on a journey to the promised land, they could not build a permanent place to worship God. To meet their need for a place to help them worship, God gave them directions for making a portable worship center, a tabernacle or tent of meeting (see Ex. 25:9—30:38). When God had given Moses all the instructions needed for constructing the tabernacle, Moses called the people together. He reminded them about keeping the Sabbath day holy (see Ex. 20:8-11). Then he encouraged them to bring the materials needed for building the tabernacle and volunteer to help with the construction of the portable worship center and all its special furnishings. The tabernacle was to be a large tent surrounded by a courtyard made of curtains hung on wooden frames. The courtyard was to be about 150 feet long and about 75 feet wide. Inside the courtyard was to be placed the altar for the animal sacrifices. Several other items were to be positioned in the tabernacle itself. These included the golden table for the special bread and a golden lampstand with seven lamps.   The most important item to go inside the tabernacle was the ark of the covenant. This furnishing was a small wooden chest about four feet long and about 2 and one half feet wide, covered with gold. The lid for the chest was to be solid gold and to have images of two angels facing each other. God told Moses to place the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments inside the chest.   How did the people respond to Moses’ instructions (36:5)? ___________________________________________   After hearing Moses’ call for an offering and workers, the people returned to their tents to collect the items for the tabernacle’s construction. Then they brought these items as their offerings to God. The people were so generous in their giving that the workers had to tell Moses they had received more than they needed to finish the project. Moses then told the people not to bring any more offerings. After the people gave their offerings, who actually built the tent (v. 8)?___________________________________ _____________________   The tabernacle was to be made of four layers of material. The first layer, the layer that could be seen inside, was comprised of 10 sections made of linen. The second layer consisted of 11 sections made of goat hair. The third layer was made of ram skins dyed red, and the fourth from the hides of sea cows. Wooden frames about 15 feet long formed the shell of the tabernacle and were designed to support the weight of the layers of material. The skilled workers cut the various materials and then sewed them together to form the exact sizes specified in the directions God had given Moses. The individual sections of each layer were then connected together through a series of loops and hooks.   While one group worked on the actual tent with its various layers, others worked on the furnishings to go in the courtyard and in the tent. The workers used Moses’ guidelines to build the golden table on which the priests would place fresh bread each Sabbath. The bread was to serve as a reminder of God’s presence and His daily provision. The people also built the altar that was to go in the courtyard to be used for the animal sacrifices, and they completed the curtains and frames that would form the courtyard around the tabernacle.

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Week of June 5, 2011

The Tent Church

Use Bible conversation as babies and 1s are involved in activities.

• God wanted the people to have a church. • God told his helper Moses how to build the church. • The people worked. They built a tent church just the way God said.

Before the Session

•  Review the Bible conversation and Bible story. •  Use the Allergy Chart (Pack Item 44) to inform parents of the fresh flowers to be used today. Display the chart outside the door. •  Drape a small sheet or tablecloth over a crib, some chairs, or a table to make a tent in the books center. •  Prepare the Church Picture (Pack Item 10) and People Figures (Pack Item 11). •  Use a craft knife to cut a window in one side of a large box. Cut a door high enough for 2s to walk through.

Teaching TIP

Babies & 1s Toys

PLAY WITH BUILDING TOYS Watch a baby tap on the bench toy. Comment: “God gave you GATHER: hands to hold the hammer. People used their hands to help build Bible, baby’s hammering our church. Thank You, God, for our church.” bench toy, People Figures   While another child shakes a baby rattle, sing these words (Pack Item 11), Church Picture (tune “London Bridge”): “It is fun to come to church, come (Pack Item 10), baby rattles to church, come to church. It is fun to come to church to learn about God.” Shake a rattle or clap your hands.   Older babies and 1s will enjoy looking at the people figures. Talk about people preschoolers know. Show them the church picture and talk about your church. Tell the children that people helped build the tent church.

Nature

TOUCH AND SMELL FLOWERS Lay the flowers on a sheet of waxed paper. Invite children to touch and smell the flowers. Talk about how beautiful they are. GATHER: Help a child hold a flower or put one in the vase. Say: “Thank Bible, Allergy Chart (Pack Item 44), fresh flowers, waxed you, Gracie, for helping. The flowers look pretty in our room paper, plastic vase, Picture: The at church. The Bible says, ‘We are helpers.’ You are a good helper.” Show her the picture of the tent church as you tell the Tent Church (Pack Item 6) Bible story.

Books

“READ” IN A TENT Place the Bible and books inside the tent. Explain to a preschooler that the people in the Bible story went to a tent GATHER: church. Seat a baby just outside the tent opening. Turn in the Bible, tent, books What We Do Bible to Psalm 122:1. Say: “Here in the Bible we read the at Church (Pack Item 4) and words ‘I like to go to church.’ I’m glad you came to church Going to Church (Pack Item today, Anna. Thank You, God, for our church.” Read the books 2), one or two books about as children show interest. building

Children learn about the world around them in many ways. Some learn and retain knowledge best by hearing, while others learn best through visual and other sensory modes. Be sure to give each child the resources and guidance she needs to learn about God’s love.

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Bible Foundations:  Preschool Leader Guide

2s

Week of June 5, 2011

The Tent Church

Tell the Bible story in brief segments as 2s participate in activities.

Moses and the people did not have a church. God knew the people needed a church. God told Moses how to build a tent church.   Moses told the people to work together to build a beautiful church. The people worked and worked to build the church. Everyone helped build the tent church.

Art

DECORATE A BOX CHURCH Invite 2s to use crayons to decorate the GATHER: box church. As they work, tell them Bible, large box, crayons, they are helping. Show the picture of Picture: The Tent Church (Pack the tent church. Say: “God told Moses Item 6), books about churches to make a tent church. The people (see Pack Items 2 and 4) helped build the church. They made it beautiful because they loved God.”   Place books in the box for the children to enjoy when they finish decorating. Open the Bible to Exodus 25 as you tell the children the Bible story.

Homeliving

CLEAN THE ROOM Place markers in the Bible at Psalm 122:1 and 2 Corinthians 1:24. Pour an GATHER: Bible, June Bible Phrases (Pack inch of water in each bottle. Set the bottles and washcloths on the table. Item 27), two small spray    As friends play in the center, bottles, two washcloths remark: “I need some helpers. Who can be a helper at church?” Give each child a cloth and spray bottle. Suggest that the friends use the cloths to clean the table and other surfaces in the room.    As preschoolers work together, make up a song about helping. Turn to 2 Corinthians 1:24 and say the Bible phrase “We are helpers.” Talk with the children about ways they can help at home. Pray: “Thank You, God, for friends who help at church and home.” Tell the Bible story as 2s continue to clean the room.

Nature

PAINT WITH WATER Take one or two children at a GATHER: time outdoors to paint with water. Bible, small buckets of water, Encourage the children to paint the wide paintbrushes church building.   While 2s enjoy painting, relate their activity to the Bible story. State: “The people worked together to build the tent church. People worked to build our church.” Say: “The Bible says, ‘I like to go to church.’ ”

Puzzles

WORK TRANSPORTATION PUZZLES While children work puzzles or match GATHER: cards, talk to them about church. Ask Bible, puzzles featuring cars the preschoolers what they like to do and trucks; Church Matching at church. Talk about people at your Cards (Pack Item 5) church and what they do to help. Say a thank you to God for helpers at church. Open the Bible and tell the Bible story for 2s.

BIBLE STORY PLUS

Get 2s’ attention by singing these words (tune “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”): “Build, build, build a church, God said, ‘Build a church. Build it high and build it long, Build a church for Me.’ ”    Create a “courtyard” by tying yarn or crepe paper streamers to sturdy chairs. As children sit or stand in the courtyard, tell them the Bible story. Remark: “The new tent church had a special courtyard. The people put beautiful ropes around the courtyard.”    Pray, thanking God for your church and preschoolers who help at church.

CO NT I NU E •  Thank parents for bringing their children to church today. • Describe some of today’s activities and suggest that families talk about church with their children.

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Week of June 5, 2011

Session Schedule Arrival Activities (5-10 min.) Choose two Explore Bible Truths activities to use as the children arrive. (Note: Continue these two activities along with additional activities during the Explore Bible Truths time.)

Learn Together (10-15 min.) •• •• •• •• •• ••

Work picture puzzles. Hear a Bible story. Talk about the Bible story. Sing a song about church. Name fun things to do at church. Thank God for churches.

Explore Bible Truths (25-35 min.) Children explore today's Bible truth as they enjoy these Bible-related activities in centers. •• Make decorations for church. •• Play in a tent church. •• Work church puzzles/read. •• Examine stones, jewelry, and wood. •• Look at people pictures.

Clean Up (5 min.)

3s—Kindergarten Before the Session

•  Choose the activities that will best match the children’s abilities. •  Study the Bible story so that you will be able to tell it in your own words. •  Make Bible story picture puzzles. Mount the June Bible story pictures from Live & Learn onto different colors of paper. Laminate the pictures and cut them into jigsaw pieces. •  Display the June Door Poster (Pack Item 26) outside the door to your room. •  Look in magazines and on the Internet for pictures of people from other ethnic groups. •  Locate a CD featuring African music.

Learn Together

•  Walk to the various centers and distribute pieces of the Bible story picture puzzles. Tell preschoolers to take their puzzle pieces to the group-time circle. •  Say: “Each of you has a puzzle piece, but you can’t finish the puzzle without your friends’ help. Let’s work together.” Show uncut pages from Live & Learn as a guide. When the puzzles are put together, remark: “One picture shows the tent church. It looks different from our church, doesn’t it?” •  Open the Bible to Exodus 25 and tell the Bible story in your own words. (Tell the boldface portions only for 3s and younger 4s.)

Apply Bible Truths (5-10 min.) •• •• •• ••

Recall today’s Bible story. Hear a missions story. Play a music game. Pray for missionaries.

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Bible Foundations:  Preschool Leader Guide

The Tent Church Scripture Reference:  Exodus 25:1,10-20; 36:1-38; 37:10; 38:1,17 God told Moses to build a tent where the people could come and learn about Him.   God had special plans for the tent church. God told His plans to Moses. Workers had to make each piece an exact size. The covering of the tent was made of ram skins. Inside the tent church, the curtain was made of blue, purple, and red yarn. God wanted a special table and altar in the tent. The workers made each item just like God wanted it. The tent church and the things in it were very nice. Most of them were made from wood and then covered in gold!    All the people were told to help build the tent church. Moses sent for two special builders God had chosen to build the tent church. Moses sent for other workers who knew how to build and who wanted to work on the tent church.    The people gave offerings of gold, silver, yarn, and jewels. Day after day, the people gathered more offerings. They brought so much to Moses that they were told to stop bringing offerings! •  Help children think about the story by asking questions such as: “Whom did God tell to build the tent church?” “How did the people know what to build?” “What were some of the things the people gave to help build the tent church?” •  Sing this song about church. (Use the tune “The Farmer in the Dell.”) “I can *help at church. I can help at church. I can help pick up the toys, I can help at church.” * Name other actions like “sing at church” or “pray at church.” •  Invite each child to tell his favorite thing to do at church. Say: “Many people gave money and gifts for our church. Others helped build our church so that we would have a place to learn about God.” •  Pray, thanking God for your church.

Week of June 5, 2011

Explore Bible Truths

Offer several Bible-related activities to help children explore today’s Bible truth. Use simple Bible story conversation to connect activities to the Bible.

Art

MAKE DECORATIONS FOR CHURCH Invite children to use the art materials GATHER: however they wish to create something Bible, children’s scissors, thick special for God’s church. (You might paper, crayons or washable suggest things like pictures, window felt-tip markers, yarn, fabric designs, mobile pictures, place mats.) scraps Whatever preschoolers choose to make, encourage creativity. Help only when asked and refrain from making “finishing touches.”   As the children work, say: “We are helpers. God wants us to take care of our church because it is a special place.”

Homeliving

PLAY IN A TENT CHURCH Set up a tent in a safe area of your room. Place the Bibles just inside the GATHER: tent with the CD player nearby. 2 or 3 Bibles, play tent (or   Invite a few children at a time to light tablecloth draped over go in and out of the tent. Suggest that a table), CD player, CD of children’s church songs, small they “read” the Bible or sing along basket, toy microphone (opt.), with the music. While children enjoy playing, comment: “The tent reminds Live & Learn page me of the tent Moses and the people built long ago. The people needed a place to talk about God and sing songs to Him. The Bible tells us, ‘I like to go to church.’ ”   Kindergartners who have attended worship services with parents might like to use the toy microphone to talk to the friends at the pretend tent church. Give the basket to a child and suggest he pass it to friends at church to collect offerings. Relate this to the offerings and gifts the people gave to Moses for the tent church. Remark: “People at our church give offerings to help, too.” BONUS Idea! Before the session, invite your pastor or other church helper to visit and tell the Bible story to children playing in the tent church. (Give the visitor a copy of the Live & Learn page to review the story highlights.)

Puzzles

WORK CHURCH PUZZLE/READ Place markers in the Bible at the GATHER: pictures “Samuel Went to Church,” Read to Me Bible for Kids, 2 or “King Solomon Built the Temple,” 3 books about churches, puzzle and “Jesus Read the Bible at Church.” The Tent Church (LifeWay,    When a child seems interested, 001276463) invite her to open the Bible at the markers and look at the different churches.   As a child works the puzzle depicting the tent church, say: “It is a good thing to give thanks to God. Thank You, God, for our church.”    While other children look at books, talk to them about your church and things in your room. Remark: “People at our church help one another just as the people in the Bible story did.”

Nature

EXAMINE STONES, JEWELRY, and WOOD Arrange the materials on the cloth. Encourage the children to feel each GATHER: item and note how it looks. Mention Bible, large colorful stones, that the people in today’s Bible story gold and silver jewelry, wood took beautiful stones, jewelry, and sticks, solid-color fabric wood to the tent church. The people wanted their church to be beautiful for God.    As a child handles a piece of jewelry, explain that the people in today’s story melted their jewelry to use in decorating the tent church. Talk about things children see at your church that are decorative and colorful. Remark: “The people worked together to make the church beautiful. We are helpers at church, too.”   When a preschooler examines the wood sticks, ask him to look around the room to find wood used in your church building. Caution: Supervise the children at all times while they examine the materials.

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Missions

LOOK AT PEOPLE PICTURES Place the paper or bags on the floor GATHER: to represent wooden logs. Invite Bible; brown construction a couple of children to sit on a paper or paper grocery bags; “log.” Explain that in some places pictures of people from people sit on logs rather than chairs different ethnic groups; book when they are at church. Show Where I Go to Church (Pack the children the people pictures, Item 28); globe or world map commenting on any that show

outdoor churches. Perhaps your church has had an outdoor service that children may recall.   While children sit on the “logs,” read the book. Get the globe or map and point to Africa. Comment: “People in this place can learn about God just as you do. Sometimes they can go to outdoor churches to hear Bible stories.” Repeat the Bible verse “I was glad when they said, ‘Let us go to church.’ ”

Clean Up

Go to each center and quietly tell the children that it is cleanup time. Give each child a specific job. Sing this song (tune “Mulberry Bush”) as the children clean the room and put away their things: “This is the way we clean our room, clean our room, clean our room. This is the way we clean our room when it’s time to hear a story.”

Apply Bible Truths •  Show the children the picture on today’s Live & Learn page. Ask a child to hold up the picture of the tent church (Pack Item 15). Ask questions about the pictures to help the children recall key events of the Bible story. •  Invite one child to open the Bible to a marker placed at Psalm 92:1. Read the verse “It is a good thing to give thanks to God.” Remark: “God wants us to say thank you to Him. We can thank God for our church and for churches everywhere.” •  Say: “We have talked about a special tent church built long ago. And we have talked about our church. Let’s hear a story about a church far away.” •  Before you tell the following missions story in your own words, open the book Where I Go to Church (Pack Item 28) and show the picture of Kalena in front of her African church. Kalena is a young girl. She lives in Africa, a place far away from where we live. In many parts of Kalena’s country, the people are poor. There are very few buildings, but there are some churches. Some churches are outdoor churches. The people meet under trees or under canopies and they sit on tree logs. Some churches meet in huts made of tree branches or mud.   

  In Africa, people live together in groups called tribes. There are many tribes of people in Africa, and they all speak a different language. But you know what? God hears and understands all languages. He knows what the people are saying.   Many missionaries go to Africa to tell the people about Jesus. They want the children there to learn more about God just as you do when you come to church. •  Play African music as you pass the wood sticks among the children. Stop the music, asking the children who are holding sticks to give them to you and change places with a friend. •  Pray, thanking God for sending people to Africa to tell children about Jesus. •  Continue to play music and pass the sticks until parents arrive.

CO N T I N U E •  Give each child a copy of today’s Live & Learn page to take home. •  Give each family a copy of the June Parent Letter (Pack Item 29) that tells about worshiping at home. •  Contact absentees with a personal note and this week’s copy of today’s Live & Learn page.

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Bible Foundations:  Preschool Leader Guide