Unit 5: Lesson 1 · 2018. 10. 29. · UNIT 5: PRAYER LESSON 1: PRAY AT ALL TIMES 4 Story......

Unit 5: Lesson 1

Please note that these files are subject to copyright, and each Sunday School must own a copy of the Teaching Little Ones: Promises CD-ROM in order to use these files. Please do not forward these files or print a copy for anyone who is not a teacher in your Sunday School. You may, of course, print as many copies of the material as are required to teach children the lessons within your Sunday School. See the ‘Copyright.pdf ’ file on the CD-ROM for more details. An introduction to the Promises syllabus, including hints and tips for running lessons, can be found in the file ‘Promises introduction.pdf ’ on the Teaching Little Ones: Promises CD-ROM. A list of all activity materials, including photographs, can be found in the file ‘Activity materials.pdf ’ on the Teaching Little Ones: Promises CD-ROM. More information about teaching Sunday School to young children can be found in Stephanie Carmichael’s book, Their God is so BIG, available from Matthias Media. For more details visit www.matthiasmedia.com.au.

© Matthias Media 2006

UNIT 5: PR AYER LESSON 1: PR AY AT ALL TIMES 3

Unit 5: Lesson 1

Pray at all times Bible reference… 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Lesson aim… To talk about prayer and what it means to ‘pray at all times’, emphasising that we can pray at any time in the day.

Main message… We can pray at all times.

Memory verse… 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17, ‘pray at all times’. See page 7 for actions and page 8 for a copy of the verse.

Story preparation… You will need your class Bible (Good News Bible) and either another teacher or a puppet/soft toy for the Introduction. Print pages 10-16 to use as picture cards when telling the story.

Introduction...

The purpose behind this Introduction is to communicate the idea that we feel different things throughout a day—we can feel happy and then sad and then tired or mad or sick etc. In the story we will be talking about how we can pray at all times—when we are happy/sad/sick etc. The phrase ‘at all times’ may not be immediately understood by the children, so we’re helping to make it meaningful.

So you will need a soft toy or puppet, or another teacher to take the place of the puppet. If you have a puppet/soft toy, the way the puppet communicates is that you hold him to your ear and pretend that he is whispering to you. Then you say aloud what he has ‘said’. The advantage of another teacher is that they can speak for themselves!

Introduce your puppet/soft toy to everyone. Ask him how he is feeling today. He can say/whisper that he is happy this morning—he’s glad to be at Sunday School meeting everyone. He then says/whispers that before Sunday School he felt tired because he woke up too early. Then he remembers that on his way to Sunday School he felt sad because one of his friends was going away for a holiday and he wouldn’t see him again for weeks and weeks.

Then he can tell you about yesterday: first he felt tired because he woke up too early again, then he felt happy because he was playing with his friend, then he remembers he felt sick (he ate too many jelly beans with his friend!!).

“We can feel lots of things in a day, can’t we?” [Teacher/puppet nods]


Story...

“[show page 10] We’re going to talk about prayer today. Prayer is talking to God. A part of the Bible with a very difficult name—1 Thessalonians—talks about prayer. Here is 1 Thessalonians [show children where 1 Thessalonians is in the Bible]. I’ll read 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17—that sounds long doesn’t it, but the verse is actually very short... ‘pray at all times’. Let me say it again… ‘pray at all times’. This part of the Bible says something else about prayer that we will read next week, but just for now let’s think about what it means to ‘pray at all times’.

[show page 11] “Do you think it means that all day long we pray and we don’t do anything else because we are praying? No ... because we need to eat and sleep and do lots of other things. Let’s think about a day. There are times in the day when you eat. There are times in the day when you play. There are times in the day when you are at school. [show page 12] Then at night we sleep. When it says ‘pray at all times’, God is saying that we can talk to him at all different times. [show page 13] We can talk to God at breakfast time, we can talk to God at school time, we can talk to God at playtime, we can talk to God at dinner time and we can talk to God at bedtime. We can talk to God at any time in the day or the night. We can pray at all times.

[show page 14] “We do lots of things in a day, and we also feel lots of different things in a day. There are times in the day when we feel happy. There are times in the day when we might feel sad or lonely or scared. We can talk to God when we feel happy or sad or lonely or scared. We can talk to God anytime in the day. We can pray in happy times and in sad times and in lonely times and when we’re feeling sick or when we’re feeling mad. We can pray at all times.

[show page 15] “It’s great to talk to God at the same time everyday—like before we eat and go to sleep—because that means that we remember to pray. But we can also talk to God at any other time in the day. God doesn’t want us just to talk to him at the same time every day and only then. It’s a bit like with your friends ... you don’t say to them, ‘I can’t talk to you until just before you go home’, instead you can talk to them anytime you are with them. It’s wonderful that God wants us to talk to him.

[show page 16] “God hears us when we pray. We can talk to God however we are feeling and wherever we are. We can even whisper a prayer in our heads—God can still hear that. We don’t have to talk to God out loud.

“When we pray what can we say to God? We can ask God to help us and look after us. We can ask God to help and look after our family and friends and other people we know. We can also say ‘sorry God’. There are lots of things that we do that make God sad—sometimes we’re naughty, sometimes we do the wrong thing, sometimes we’re unkind, sometimes we disobey—whenever we do these things we need to say ‘sorry God’. We’re going to hear about other things we can say to God in the next lessons at Sunday School.” [Please note: we will be talking about thanking God next week and praying for others the week after.]


Conclusion...

“God wants us to talk to him and God hears us when we pray. We can talk to God any time... we can pray at all times.”

What about us?…

At this point have a discussion with the children about times when they could pray and what they could pray. Then talk about praying at the same time every day and what things you could pray then—that is, regularly praying for people like our family and friends. You could read a copy of the prayer booklet (activity #3) to the class.

You may wish to refer back to the Introduction and relate what you have said to the other teacher/puppet ... “If you feel happy like ... (name of teacher/puppet) felt, you can pray... If you feel sad like ... (name of teacher/puppet) felt when his friend went away, you can pray...” etc.

Action rhyme… We can pray outside or inside. point out a window, and then in the room

We can pray at dinner time. pretend to eat

We can pray at bedtime. hands together at side of face, eyes open

We can pray at all times! hands outstretched

Pray...

Thanking God that we can talk to him at any time in the day. Thanking God that he wants us to talk to him and that he can hear us when we talk to him. Pray that God will help us to remember to pray to him.


Activity suggestions...

1. We can pray at…

This activity is suitable for younger children (though you might want to enlarge the page). Print page 17 for each child. In the lesson the children colour the pictures.

An alternative for older children is to print page 18 for the children to draw the pictures. You will need to read the text on the page first to ensure that the children know what each caption says. Then they turn the circle into a clock by drawing clock hands and numbers (they probably won’t be in the correct places).

2. Faces

Print page 19 for each child to add features to each face by drawing things like hair, hats, ribbons etc. An alternative for older children is to use the pictures on page 19 as a guide for the children to draw their own faces on page 20.

3. Prayer booklet

Print pages 21 and 22 for each child. In the lesson, give each child page 21 for them to draw a picture of themselves and a picture of their family. Then give the children page 22 for them to colour the pictures. Once completed, the pages can be stapled together.

4. Clock

This activity is suitable for older children. (There is a suggestion below suitable for younger children.) Give each child a cardboard circle or paper plate, and cut out two hands for the clock. Also print page 9 and cut out a caption for each child. See guidelines on page 23 for ‘hands’ for the clock. Before the lesson make a clock yourself, writing the numbers clearly around the edge, or make up the clock on page 23. In the lesson show the children your clock. The children then write the numbers around the edge of their circle/paper plate. You might need to help some children by writing say ‘12, 3, 6, 9’ on their clock and they fill in the other numbers. Once completed the children could draw some decorations on their clock. Then the teacher (without the child’s help, as we want the split pins in the clock and nowhere else!) attaches the two hands for the clock with a split pin.

An alternative for this activity is to print page 23 for each child and cut out the clock and the hands for them to decorate the clock in the lesson. The teacher then attaches the hands with a split pin. If you want this clock to be stronger, then paste the circle onto cardboard before the lesson. Attach the captions from page 9 to the back of each clock.

An alternative for younger children, is to print page 23 and cut out a clock face, hands and caption (from page 9) for each child. Paste the caption and clock face in the centre of a


large piece of paper or cardboard (could be the back of a cereal box). Before the lesson, you will also need to go through old magazines and cut out pictures of people doing different things, pictures of different places and pictures of things which imply a certain time of day (like a plate of food, a bed etc). In the lesson, the children paste the pictures around the clock (and not over—hence for very young children the teacher will need to place the glue). Once completed the teacher attaches the hands of the clock and covers the ends of the split pins with tape for safety. If the children are likely to rip the hands off (!!) you might prefer to draw two hands on the clock before the lesson (this also means less work for the teacher attaching clock hands). For a group with careful children, the hands can be attached before the lesson, but they might be a distraction.

Memory verse..

1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17, ‘pray at all times’.

A note on the actions:

Please note that ‘Thessalonians’ is a long and tricky word to say, so you might want to just practise that a few times first. The actions for the word ‘times’ will depend on the age and understanding of the children. Children may only be familiar with times that end in ‘o’clock’ (6 o’clock, 12 o’clock). When children pretend to make their arms like clock hands the accuracy will vary. It doesn’t matter, as they are just pretending to make a time (and some children will have limited understanding of the clock face anyway). If your children are too young to understand time or a clock face, then you could talk about different times of the day (eg. dinnertime, playtime, bedtime) and before the memory verse is said, a child could choose a time and all the children do an action for that time on the word ‘times’ (eg. Hands together at side of face for ‘bedtime’, pretending to eat for ‘dinnertime’, pretending to throw a ball for ‘playtime’).

Actions to accompany memory verse:

‘1 Thessalonians’ show one finger

‘5, verse 17’ show five fingers, then seven fingers, then ten fingers

‘pray’ hands together

‘at all’ outstretch arms

‘times’ use two arms as if clock hands and make a time with them (eg. 6 o’clock would have one arm extended upwards and the other arm extended downwards) or do an action for a time of day (like pretending to eat for ‘dinnertime’).

8

1 T

hess

alon

ians

5, ve

rse 1

7,

‘pra

y at

all t

imes’

.

9

Caption for activity #4

We can talk to God at any time.

We can pray at all times.

1 Thessalonians 5, verse 17


































10

1 T

hess

alon

ians

5, ve

rse 1

7,

‘pra

y at

all t

imes’

.

We’

re g

oing

to

talk

ab

out

pray

er t

oday

. Pr

ayer

is

talk

ing

to G

od.

A p

art

of t

he

Bib

le w

ith a

ver

y dif

ficu

lt n

ame—

1

Thes

salo

nian

s—ta

lks

abou

t pr

ayer

. H

ere

is 1

Thes

salo

nian

s. I

’ll r

ead 1

Thes

salo

nian

s 5

, ve

rse

17—

that

sou

nds

long

doe

sn’t

it,

but

the

vers

e is

act

ually

ver

y sh

ort.

..’pr

ay a

t al

l ti

mes

’. Let

me

say

it a

gain

....

‘pra

y at

all t

imes

’. T

his

par

t of

the

Bib

le s

ays

som

ethin

g el

se a

bou

t pr

ayer

that

we

will re

ad n

ext

wee

k, b

ut j

ust

for

now

let

’s t

hin

k ab

out

what

it

mea

ns

to ‘p

ray

at a

ll t

imes

’.

11 Do

you

thin

k it

mea

ns t

hat

all

day

lon

g w

e pr

ay a

nd w

e don

’t

do

anyt

hin

g el

se b

ecau

se w

e ar

e pr

ayin

g? N

o ...

bec

ause

we

need

to

eat

and s

leep

and

do

lots

of

other

thin

gs. L

et’s

thin

k

abou

t a

day

. Ther

e ar

e ti

mes

in

the

day

when

you

eat.

Ther

e

are

tim

es in

the

day

when

you

pla

y. T

her

e ar

e ti

mes

in

the

day

when

you

are

at

schoo

l.

12

Then

at

nigh

t w

e sl

eep.

When

it

says

‘pra

y at

all

tim

es’,

God

is s

ayin

g th

at w

e ca

n ta

lk t

o him

at

all dif

fere

nt t

imes

.

13

We c

an t

alk

to G

od a

t bre

akfa

st

tim

e, w

e c

an t

alk

to G

od a

t

schoo

l ti

me, w

e c

an t

alk t

o G

od

at p

layt

ime, w

e c

an t

alk

to G

od a

t

din

ner

tim

e a

nd w

e c

an t

alk t

o

God

at

bedti

me. W

e c

an t

alk t

o

God

at

any

tim

e in

the d

ay o

r th

e

nigh

t. W

e c

an p

ray

at a

ll t

imes.

14

We

do

lots

of

thin

gs in

a day

, an

d w

e al

so f

eel lo

ts o

f dif

fere

nt t

hin

gs in

a day

. Ther

e ar

e ti

mes

in

the

day

when

we

feel

hap

py. T

her

e ar

e ti

mes

in

the

day

when

we

mig

ht

feel

sad

or

lone

ly o

r sc

ared

. We

can

talk

to

God

when

we

feel

hap

py o

r

sad o

r lo

nely

or

scar

ed. W

e ca

n ta

lk t

o G

od a

nyti

me

in t

he

day

. We

can

pray

in

hap

py t

imes

and

in

sad t

imes

and

in

lone

ly

tim

es a

nd w

hen

we’

re f

eel

ing

sick

or

when

we’

re f

eeling

mad

. We

can

pray

at

all ti

mes

.

15

It’s

gre

at t

o ta

lk t

o G

od a

t th

e sa

me

tim

e ev

eryd

ay—

like

bef

ore

we

eat

and g

o to

sle

ep—

bec

ause

that

mea

ns t

hat

we

rem

emb

er

to p

ray.

But

we

can

also

tal

k to

God

at

any

other

tim

e in

the

day

.

God

doe

sn’t

wan

t us

jus

t to

tal

k to

him

at

the

sam

e ti

me

ever

y

day

and

onl

y th

en. I

t’s

a b

it lik

e w

ith y

our

frie

nds.

... y

ou d

on’t

say

to t

hem

, ‘I

can

’t t

alk

to y

ou u

ntil

just

bef

ore

you

go h

ome’

,

inst

ead y

ou c

an t

alk

to t

hem

any

tim

e yo

u ar

e w

ith t

hem

. It’

s

won

der

ful th

at G

od w

ants

us

to t

alk

to h

im.

16

God

hea

rs u

s w

hen

we

pray

. We

can

talk

to

God

how

eve

r w

e ar

e fe

elin

g an

d w

her

ever

we

are.

We

can

even

whis

per

a

pray

er in

our

hea

ds—

God

can

sti

ll h

ear

that

. We

don

’t h

ave

to t

alk

to G

od o

ut lou

d.

When

we

pray

what

can

we

say

to G

od?

We

can

ask

God

to

hel

p us

and

loo

k af

ter

us. W

e ca

n as

k G

od t

o hel

p an

d loo

k

afte

r ou

r fa

mily

and f

rien

ds

and o

ther

peo

ple

we

know

. We

can

also

say

‘sor

ry G

od’.

There

are

lot

s of

thin

gs t

hat

we

do

that

mak

e G

od s

ad—

som

etim

es w

e’re

nau

ghty

, so

met

imes

we

do

the

wro

ng t

hin

g, s

omet

imes

we’

re u

nkin

d, so

met

imes

we

dis

obey

—w

hen

eve

r w

e do

thes

e th

ings

we

need

to

say

‘sor

ry G

od’.

We’

re g

oing

to

hea

r ab

out

other

thin

gs w

e ca

n sa

y to

God

in

the

nex

t le

sson

s at

Sun

da y

Sch

ool.

17

We c

an t

alk

to G

od a

t an

y ti

me.

We c

an p

ray

at a

ll t

imes.

1 T

hess

alon

ians

5, ve

rse 1

7

We c

an t

alk

to G

od a

t pl

ayti

me.

We c

an t

alk

to G

od a

t sc

hoo

l ti

me.

We c

an t

alk

to G

od a

t bre

akfa

st t

ime.

We c

an t

alk

to G

od a

t bed

tim

e.

We c

an t

alk

to G

od a

t din

ner

tim

e.

18

1 T

hess

alon

ians

5, ve

rse 1

7

We c

an p

ray

to G

od a

t …

… p

layt

ime.

… s

choo

l ti

me.

… b

reak

fast

tim

e.

… d

inne

r ti

me.

… b

edti

me.

… a

ny t

ime.

We c

an p

ray

at a

ll t

imes.

.

19

I can pray when I’m...

happy sad

scared mad

grumpy sleepy

‘pray at all times’

1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 17

20

I can pray when I’m...

happy sad

scared mad

grumpy sleepy

‘pray at all times’

1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 17

21

Dear God,

Please help me and look after me.

Please look after my family and help us to love each

other.

22

Please look after my friends and help us to be kind to

each other.

Please help us all to love you. Thank you that you love

us. Amen.

23


Unit 5: Lesson 1 · 2018. 10. 29. · UNIT 5: PRAYER LESSON 1: PRAY AT ALL TIMES 4 Story......

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Transcript of Unit 5: Lesson 1 · 2018. 10. 29. · UNIT 5: PRAYER LESSON 1: PRAY AT ALL TIMES 4 Story......