thanksgiving
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Leftovers Relay
Materials Needed
- 2 large bowls of mashed potatoes
- 2 clear Tupperware containers
- 10 Plastic spoons
Setup
Fill two bowls with mashed potatoes and place them on a table. At the other end of the room place the empty storage containers.
How To Play
Here is a fun Thanksgiving-themed relay race where kids will try to fill their leftovers containers up. You will have two teams of five and give each person with a plastic spoon.
When you say “go” the first person in line will use their spoon to take a scoop of mashed potato and run to the container on the other side of the room. There they will deposit their scoop of potato into the container and run back and tag their teammate and then go tot he end of the line. The teammate will then scoop up come mashed potato and do the same thing.
You can give the players 60 – 90 seconds to run this relay.
Once the game is over measure to see who has the most mashed potato in their storage container.
Ten Lepers
Key Verse
Luke 17:11-19
Additional Verses
1 Thessalonians 5:18; Psalm 136:1; James 1:17
Materials Needed
- Gauze or elastic bandage
Preparation
Wrap your arm up with the gauze or bandage.
Object Lesson
(Show your arm all wrapped up.)
Leprosy was a very bad skin disease that many people had long ago in the Bible times. It was very contagious so when someone had leprosy they would send them away from the town so that no one else would get infected. Whenever someone would walk by the lepers would yell “unclean” so that everyone knew that they should stay far away.
This was a very lonely life for the lepers because they had to leave their friends and families behind and life in the wilderness. Often the lepers would make friends with each other and start to live together, but they always wanted to go back home.
One day there were ten lepers who were wandering around and saw that Jesus as He was walking towards Jerusalem. They began to shout out to Jesus saying, “Jesus have mercy on us!”
When Jesus saw them he felt bad for them. They had bandages all over their body like this one that is on my arm. Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the high priests. Back in those days the priests would be the people who would decide if the person was healthy enough to be allowed to live in the village or not.
The ten men began to walk to the village to go and see the priest and as they walked back they realized that they were feeling better. (Unwrap your arm as you say the next part.) They unwrapped their bandages and realized that they had been healed! They were all so excited because they knew that meant they could go back home to their families and loved ones. They all began to run with excitement!
However, one of the men stopped running and he turned around and ran back to see Jesus. When he saw Jesus he fell down at His feet and he thanked Him. He was so grateful that Jesus had healed him. Jesus was happy that the man returned to thank Him, but He also wondered where the other men were, and why they didn’t return to say “thanks” as well.
How do you think that made Jesus feel when those nine people who He healed didn’t even bother to come back to say “thank you?” I would be pretty disappointed if I was Jesus. Do you thank Jesus for the things that He does in your life? Are you like that one that came back with a heart of gratitude or are you like the nine that were ungrateful?
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Magnetic Thankfulness
Key Verse
Ephesians 5:20
Additional Verses
1 Thessalonians 5:18; 1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalm 107:1; Philippians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Psalm 103:2
Materials Needed
- Magnet
- Several pieces of metal. Nails, screws, paperclips, etc.
Object Lesson
Have you ever given someone a gift before? How would it make you feel if they took your gift and didn’t thank you for it? Or if they just took it and threw it in the garbage? That wouldn’t make you feel very good would it? Would you ever want to get them a gift again? Probably not!
If that person was very thankful to you how would that make you feel? Probably a lot better. In fact, you would probably want to bless them even more because they were so thankful to you.
God blesses us in so many ways, but so often we just ignore his blessings. We don’t say “thank you.” We don’t express gratitude. We just go on and totally take it for granted.
Do you think that attracts God’s blessings? No!
(Show the magnet and spread out the objects.)
When we are grateful to God for the great things He has done for us it is like being a magnet for God’s blessing. (Wave the magnet over the objects and let the magnet pick the things up.)
When we tell God how thankful we are He will continue to bless us even more. W should have a heart of thankfulness like it says in Ephesians 5:20 and we show thanks to God continually. When we have this magnetic thankfulness God will pour His blessings on us even more because He loves it when we are grateful for the things He has done.
5 Kernels of Corn Thanksgiving
Key Verse
Ephesians 5:20
Additional Verses
Psalm 107:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; Philippians 4:16; Psalm 107:1; Psalm 100:1-5
Materials Needed
- Candy Corn (or real corn if you prefer)
- Small plastic bags (optional)
Preparation
Fill bags with 5 pieces of candy corn so you can pass them out to everyone.
Object Lesson
(Show everyone the 5 kernels of corn.)
In the winter of the 1620s the Pilgrims came to New England on the Mayflower. They did not have very much food at all that winter and many days they were only allowed to eat 5 kernels of corn. Do you think that is enough food? No! But they were still thankful to God for allowing them to be in a new country. They continued to trust in God no one of them died that winter!
The following year they raised crops and livestock and when harvest time came they had more than enough food. God had truly blessed them. To show how thankful they were they had a celebration. At the beginning of the meal they all had five kernels of corn on their plate to remind them of when that was all that they had to eat.
Each person would give 5 things that they were thankful for, one for each kernel of corn.
What are you thankful for? (Give opportunity for people to respond with some of the things that they are thankful for.) Are you thankful for your home? Maybe you are grateful for the food and drink that you have to eat and drink? We can be thankful for our friends and family. How about being thankful for your church? Most importantly we should be thankful for Jesus and the sacrifice that He made for us!
This Thanksgiving maybe you could do that also? You can put 5 pieces of corn on each plate and have each person in your family list 5 things that they are thankful for. God has been so good to us and have blessed us in so many ways. We should give thanks to him for the great things He has done!
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The Black Spot
Key Verse
Philippians 4:8
Additional Verses
Ephesians 5:20; Romans 8:28; 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Materials Needed
- Sheet of paper with black dot in the center. You could make several of these and hand them out if you prefer.
Object Lesson
(Hold up the sheet of paper with the spot on it).
Can anyone see what I have here? (Wait for responses. The kids should say “a dot,” or “a black spot.)” Is that all you can see?
You missed what I really have! I actually have a perfectly good piece of paper here but the only thing that most of us could see was the little tiny black dot.
Often times when we look at our life the only thing we can see is the black dot. The bad things. The negative. And then we focus on them.
We don’t look at the good things that God has done. We don’t count our blessings. We just focus on the bad.
Tell me some things that are good in your life? Some things that you have to be thankful for. (Wait for responses and then write a bunch of the good things on the paper and hold it up.)
See! There is a lot more good than bad here. The Bible tells us in Philippians 4:8 to think about the good and positive things in our lives, not the bad things.
Did you know that God can even make the things that seem bad work out for Good? He says so right in Romans 8:28! He says that he will work everything together for good for the that love Him. Do you love Him?
(Draw a cross over the top of the spot.)
See, even the things that were bad in our live God works out for good!
The next time you are tempted to complain, instead try to look at the good things that are going on. And you want to watch God work in an amazing way!
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D5 Creation