My Self is one of the four cornerstone requirements for each year of adventurers. Little Lambs earn one of the four puzzle patches for each of the four requirements. The other three puzzle patch requirements are My God, My Family, and My World. While teaching about My Self, our goal is to help the kids see what an amazing person God created them to be and how very important they are to Him.
Story: Ten Tiny Toes
Ten Tiny Toes by Caroline Jayne Church is sweet book with simple language and short sentences. There is not very much text on each page (a sentence or less) and will be fast to read as you introduce the topic of my self to your little lambs. It’s a step up from a board book and will be appropriate for even your youngest club members.
Craft: My Self Portrait
I love Barb’s self-portrait art so much that we had to try it. The Little Lambs’ parents took a full-body picture of their child and texted it to me. I used Canva to remove the background and my cutting machine to cut it out. However, these are not essential tools. You can print the picture on your printer (black and white might be ideal here) and cut them out with scissors before your meeting. (Leaving the background in the picture will work just fine too.) Although my sample kid is jumping in the air, I’d recommend less action for your photo – it’s hard to get a good picture when your four year old is in motion!
In prepping for the meeting, I put painters tape on each edge of a sheet of cardstock. This is an optional step that gives the border. The kids used Do-A-Dot markers all over the paper. They left their papers to dry and moved on to the next activity. Once the ink dried, they came back to finish by glueing “themselves” to the page and adding their name with foam sticker letters. I loved how their self-portraits turned out and I love having them hanging in their classroom!
My Self Science Center
We had two science center activities. They can be done in either order and breaking the kids into two groups for this will help the activities run more quickly and smoothly.
Fingerprints are Amazing!
The lambs pressed their finger into an (washable!) inkpad to make fingerprints on the magnifying glass. We had a few different colors available so they could make their magnifying glass colorful. I also added baby wipes to the table to clean fingers between colors and after the activity. If you have magnifying glasses available, pull them out so the kids can get a great look at their very-own-no-one-is-just-like-me fingerprints. This free printable is available at Make Learning Fun.
All About Me
In addition to ink pads and magnifying glasses, our science center had a scale and a tape measure. The Science Center Instructions and the All About Me page are in the free download at the end of this post.
Play: Name Game
This is a simple game from the older Little Lamb Leader’s Guide. All you need is a ball. (And the kids, don’t forget the kids..) Have everyone stand in a circle. Call a child’s name and bounce the ball to them. Have them bounce the ball back to you. Repeat with each kid making sure to call them by name each time.
Preschool Skills Activity: My Name
For this crafty name practice activity, I used the Canva Student Font Dotted in Canva to create the dotted letters of each child’s name. You could also use a regular font in any word processing program and print it lightly. Or handwrite each child’s name. The kids used glitter glue sticks to trace their name. This is both good for name-writing practice and strengthening fine motor skills. A less-messy option would be to use stickers to trace their name. (This activity comes from the older Little Lambs Leader’s Guide.)
Extra Time: Hooray for Me Name Sheet
This worksheet is from meeting four in the the Little Lambs Activity book. You will find the workbook at AdventSource and as a free pdf download from Club Ministries.
Closing Circle Time
Story: God Knows You
God Knows You by Elizabeth Elaine Watson is an older book that is, unfortunately, out of print, but it’s a favorite of mine from when I was little, and it fits the My Self theme so very well. If you have access to this sweet book, lucky you! But, if you don’t, check out Erin’s list of books at Little’s Love Learning. Some of these books are likely to be at your local library too.
Song: Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes
We sang the Sabbath School version of this song. The tune is the same as the very well known song, but the lyrics are slightly different. 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! There are more activities here 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 another all about me activity. Pinterest is a great resource! Your Little Lambs Leader’s Guide will also have ideas for you
What games do you like to play with your Little Lambs when you teach My Self? Please share with us in the comments!