The purpose of the Bible Friends award is to learn about friendship through learning about friends in the Bible. This is one of those awards that can be easy for over-thinkers to get overwhelmed with quickly. There are so many friends you could learn about!! My best advice is: Don’t overthink it! There are many “right” ways to teach this award. I scheduled this award in February, so there is a tiny nod to Valentine’s day in one of the activities. I’ve also taught it in Autumn – it fits nicely wherever you need it.
Story: Ruth and Naomi
I chose the story of Ruth and Naomi because it’s a story of love and loyalty and, as we have so few stories with women as the leading characters, I want to make sure they get highlighted. Our little girls and boys need to see that God works in the lives of everyone who seeks Him – regardless of gender. The first half of the activities are based on the story of Ruth and Naomi.
We used the Beginner’s Bible for both of our stories this week. I find this book to be a helpful resource in teaching Little Lambs. (Fortunately, my favorite little lamb shares her copy with me!)
Crafts: Ruth and Naomi Sequence
We used Karen’s Ruth & Naomi Bible Sequence Cards from PreKinders for our craft. I precut the strips. The kids colored the pictures, cut out the squares, put pictures in the correct order, and glued them in place. (So much educational goodness in the things preschoolers naturally love to do!)
Game: Gathering Grain
I was inspired by Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station when I created this game.
Ruth worked as a gleaner after she and Naomi returned to Israel. A gleaner is someone who would gather the grain the harvesters left behind in the fields. We’re going to pretend to be gleaners like Ruth and search our room for grain. When you find grain, you can put it in this bowl.
Supplies: Paper “wheat” (see the pdf or the silhouette zip file at the end of this post) or tan pom poms and a bowl.
Toss out the grain for the kids collect. If they are having fun, you could take some grain from the bowl to toss out, so they can continue collecting.
Add-on ideas:
- Practice counting. Have each child find (count) 5-10 pieces.
- Hide the grain to find.
For groups larger than 4-5, I’d recommend dividing into smaller groups.
Preschool Skills: Pre-Writing: Friendship Mazes
Simple mazes are wonderful for preschool kids. Not only do preschoolers usually love them, but mazes are excellent for strengthening pre-writing skills. I laminated them, cut them apart, and put them on a binder ring to make them reusable. (You also could just print them on regular paper to lower your prep-work, obviously. Cut the pages and staple the edge for a little booklet.) We gave the kids a Crayola (washable) marker to do the mazes. They clean up easily with a baby wipe. You could keep them for next year or send them home with the kids. One parent added her child’s book to her purse to pull out whenever she needed a few minutes of quiet!
Extra: Coloring Page – Fun With Friends
I printed the Fun With Friends page from the workbook just in case they needed another activity. This page is about David and Jonathan. You can find the workbook at AdventSource (and possibly your local conference) and it’s also a free pdf download at clubministries.org. My class didn’t use this activity this time – they chose to make cards and play with the balloon instead.
Extra Time:
- Repeat the gleaning game.
- Make cards for our elderly church members
- Play with a balloon together.
Closing Circle Time
Story: Best Friends
For our second story, we read about David and Jonathan in the Beginner’s Bible.
Song: Let’s Find a Friend
This song suggestion is from the Little Lamb’s Leader’s Guide. It is sung to the tune of The Farmer in the Dell. The lyrics are in the pdf below.
If You’re Happy and You Know It
My Little Lambs co-teacher many years ago insisted that we end Little Lambs with If You’re Happy and You Know It. And ever since, it’s always seemed like the right way to close a meeting.
Prayer
We finish each Little Lambs meeting with an abbreviated version of the Lord’s Prayer.
Reminder
I chose these activities to fit my club’s meeting length and needs. Your club is different than mine! I have more activities here than are required to complete the award. If you have less time, prioritize a book, a game, a craft, and a song. Add more activities in to fit your time constraints. If you have extra time, you could repeat a fun activity or add in other friendship-related activities. Pinterest is a great resource!
What is your favorite game to play with your Little Lambs when you teach Bible Friends? Please share with us in the comments!