My God, My Self, My Family, and My World are the four themes the entire Adventurer curriculum is based upon. In Little Lambs, adventurers get to earn puzzle patches as they work through the investiture achievement requirements. The Little Lambs Leader’s Guide has two programs to fulfill the My God requirement. Only one meeting is required. I like to alternate the two meetings over a two year program. Kids who go through Little Lambs in one year will finish all of the requirements. And kids who start Adventurers at age three will enjoy a variety of awards and topics and will only repeat one or two meetings. This year my Little Lambs learned about the Good Shepherd. Last year they learned about the Jesus as a child.
Story: The Lost Lamb and the Good Shepherd
The Lost Lamb and the Good Shepherd by Dandi Daley Makall is a double sided book. The “front” side is the Lost Lamb and the Good Shepherd. The story is a take on the lost sheep parable from the perspective of the lost lamb. The “back” is the book The Good Shepherd and the Lost Lamb. This story is the same parable but from the perspective of the worried shepherd who searched for his missing lamb.
Many children’s bible story books include this favorite parable.
Craft: The Good Shepherd and His Sheep
This is a simple sticker craft. I printed the sheep on full sheet label paper and cut them on my Silhouette. There are cut files and printables at the end of this post. Don’t have a cutting machine? You could print the page on label paper and cut them by hand or you could buy sheep stickers.
The coloring page discussed below under extra time is a fast coloring craft to prepare – print and provide coloring tools. In previous years, I used a coloring page for the craft.
I have more ideas for you on my pinterest board.
Play: Follow the Shepherd
Follow the Shepherd is the game follow the leader. The leader will hold the shepherd card up. All the followers will hold a lamb card. Preschool kids will love taking turns leading. The cards are completely optional – you can just tell the kids they are lambs, the leader is the shepherd. (The cards are in the printable pack at the end.) This game is very flexible to fit your space. You could stay in your classroom to play, but if you can, the kids will enjoy leaving the classroom and wandering through more of the building. Bunny hop, skip, tip toe, jump, pretend you are on a tight rope, crawl – whatever movements you can think of will be fun.
Preschool Skills: Colors: Sort the Sheep
One of the many skills preschool kids are learning are their colors. Your youngest little lambs will likely find this activity just a little challenging, but not too challenging. Your older lambs will enjoy the review. This can be a simple file folder game at the table. If you want to add more activity into this game, you could put the lambs around the room for the kids to find and add to the sheep pens.
The sheep can be printed on cardstock and cut with a paper trimmer or cut with a cutting machine. I laminated my “file folder” and lambs to use in future years. Laminating is optional (of course).
Activity: Hide and Seek Sheep
Just like the Good Shepherd searched for his missing lambs, your little lambs will love pretending to be shepherds and searching for the missing sheep. Most of the sheep I hid were pretty obvious, but a couple of mine were definitely hidden too well. The kids all worked together to find the sheep around the room and returned them to the sheep pen.
Extra Time
Teaching is easier when we can be flexible with our activities. Sometimes the kids finish everything faster than I expect, so I like to always have a plan. We had the Lost and Found coloring page from the Little Lambs workbook as an extra activity. It’s available from AdventSource (and possibly your local conference) and it’s also a free pdf download at clubministries.org
Little Lambs are also likely to want to repeat Follow the Shepherd and Hide and Seek Sheep.
Closing Circle Time
Story: The Good Shepherd and the Lost Lamb
The Good Shepherd and the Lost Lamb is the other half of the book we started the meeting with.
Song: The Lord is My Shepherd
Perhaps you remember this song from when you were in Sabbath School. Just in case you need a refresher, the first half of this youtube video can teach you the simple melody of the The Lord is My Shepherd. Song Sheets with the lyrics for your teachers and parents are in the printables at the end of this post.
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! There are more activities than are required to complete the award. If you have less time, prioritize a book, a game, a song, and a craft. Add more activities in to fit your time constraints. If you have extra time, you could repeat a fun activity or add in other shepherd and sheep related activities. Pinterest is a great resource! Your Little Lambs Leader’s Guide will also have ideas for you.
1 thought on “My God: The Good Shepherd”