Elementary | Week of February 28, 2021

Welcome to GrowKids Online!
This month is all about LOVE! We’re taking this month to show kids what Jesus taught us about love!

DISCUSSION: The Greatest Commandments
Read: Mark 12:28-34

  • What does Jesus say is the greatest commandment?
  • What about the second greatest commandment?
  • How do we love God? How do we love our neighbors?
  • Read Mark 12:31. Think of a time when you didn’t treat someone the way you would have wanted to be treated. If you come across a similar situation today, what would you do differently?
  • What is something you can do to love God with all your heartand soul this week?
  • What is something you can do to love God with all your mind and strength this week?
  • Who is one person in your life who really needs God’s love? What can you do for that person this week to love them as yourself?

ACTIVITIES

MEMORIZE IT | Memory Verse Memory Game
INSTRUCTIONS: Write the memory verse on a chalkboard or whiteboard and have the recite it. Then, erase the last word of the memory verse and have the recite the verse again. Keep erasing one word at a time and saying the verse together until the board is blank!
“Dear friends” – swing arms open wide 
“Since God” – right arm extended above head 
“So loved us” – hug self 
“We also ought” – point to self with both thumbs 
“To love one another” – hands in heart, “pointing” to others 
“1 John 4:11” – open hands like book

DO IT | Filled Up
INSTRUCTIONS: Head to the bathroom for this next part! Set 4 cups in the bathtub and get a pitcher of water. Each of the cups represents parts of the Bible story, “heart,” “soul,” “mind,” and “strength.”
Begin to fill each cup and try to stop when you think the cup is completely full.
Look how the glasses are filled all the way to the top, some might even be overflowing! The liquid uses up the entire glass! When we love God with ALL of our heart, soul, mind and strength, there is nothing held back! We use everything for God and we might even overflow a bit!

READ IT | 1 Corinthians 9:24-25
INSTRUCTIONS: Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 together as a group. If your kids have Bibles or if you have the Bible passage available for them, have them read along or read aloud. Otherwise, read to them.
Have you ever played a sport or been involved in some type of competition? What is the ultimate goal of the competition? That’s right! To win!
At the end of the day, God wants us to be committed. Making God happy should always be our number one goal. We do this by thinking about every choice we make. And just in case you get lost among all the choices you have to make each day, you can be sure of one thing—love is the best choice!

PRAYER

Dear God, thank You giving us the greatest commandments. Help us to love You with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Show us also how to love everyone around us the way You want us to.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen!

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Early Childhood | Week of February 28

Hi GrowKids! This week in our Real Love series, we learn about the Greatest Commandment. What’s a commandment? A commandment is just a big word for “rule”. Let’s see what God says the most important rule is!

Bible Story

BIBLE STORY | The Greatest Commandment

NSTRUCTIONS: Before group time, make a big heart shape on the floor with masking tape, and ask the kids to sit on the heart with you as you tell them the Bible story. Then, summarize Mark 12:28-34 so it’s easy for the kids to understand. Here’s an example you can use:

One day, a man asked Jesus a question. He asked Jesus, “What is the most important rule?” Jesus said the most important rule was to love God.
But that’s not all. We can’t just love God a little bit. Jesus says to love God with all of our heart (draw a heart in the air), with all of our soul (put your hand on your chest), with all of our mind (put your hand on your temple), and with all of our strength (put your arms up and flex).

Then, Jesus said the second most important rule is to love other people. I know I want to show love to other people. How about you?
I can choose to show love to God. I can choose to show love to people. Love is the best choice.

Prayer

INSTRUCTIONS: Ask the kids to stand up and do some motions with you as you pray together.

God, help me to love You with all my heart (draw a heart in the air)

with all my soul (put your hand on your chest)
with all my mind (put your hand on your temple)
and with all my strength (put your arms up and flex).

Help me to love others (have kids put arms around each other’s shoulders).

Memory Verse

MEMORY VERSE | 1 John 4:11

INSTRUCTIONS: Follow along in the video below.

Big Idea

THE BIG IDEA | Love is the Best Choice

INSTRUCTIONS: Show the kids three overturned cups and then put a heart-shaped toy or paper under one cup. Make it obvious to the kids which cup the heart is under and ask the kids to choose the cup with the heart.

You chose the cup with the heart under it. Great job! Let’s play that game again. Can you choose the heart again? Yes, you did it! Today, we are going to learn love is the best choice!

Activities

Activity: PIECES OF MY HEART

Pieces of My Heart PrintableDownload

INSTRUCTIONS: Before you gather, tear up some red and pink paper into little pieces. Give each kid a copy of this week’s printable. Tell them to glue the torn paper pieces onto their heart.
You can make a great, big heart with all of these red and pink papers. Hearts make us think of love. You can choose to show love. The Bible tells us love is the best choice.

TODDLER HACK: Give the kids the same printable or a heart- shaped piece of paper to scribble with crayons on. Have them say, “I love God” as they do this activity.

Activity: FIND THE HEARTS

INSTRUCTIONS: Prepare a shallow bin filled with shredded paper or dried beans. Hide some foam hearts in the bottom of the bin. Get the kids to search the bin for a heart and then run it to the other side of the room and put that foam heart into a bucket.

Now, this bucket is full of hearts. It has all of the hearts. Jesus said to love God with all of our heart. We have to love God the most, and then show love to the people around us because love is the best c

Activity: JESUS SAYS, BE KIND

INSTRUCTIONS: Ask the kids to stand up with you. Explain how to play Simon Says (such as, “We are going to play a game called, ‘Simon Says.’ In this game, you have to do everything I say when I say, ‘Simon Says’. But if I don’t say, ‘Simon Says,’ don’t do what I say!”).

Simon says, give me a high five (High five the kids)
Simon says, shake hands (Ask the kids to start shaking hands with each other)
Give me a fist bump (Hold out a fist, but then pull it away) Simon didn’t say fist bump!

Simon says, give a hug. (Ask the kids to give each other hugs)
That was a fun game of Simon Says! Does a hug make you feel happy? A hug makes me feel happy. You can make someone else feel happy with a hug, too. Can you show someone you love them with a hug? Yes, that is a very good way to show love!
What is another way to show someone you love them? (You can give a fist bump, a high five, or shake hands.)
You showed love when you gave a high five and when you shook hands and gave hugs. You can show people love. Love is the best choice.

SNACK-tivity

Snack Time: FULL HEART

INSTRUCTIONS: Print out another copy of this week’s printable and glue a piece of parchmentpaper or baking sheet on top, so the heart outline is visible. Give the kids small crackers or oat cereal to put inside the outline of the heart. This yummy heart helps me to remember love is the best choice.

Early Childhood | Week of February 21

Hi GrowKids! Our series is focusing on LOVE this month and this week, we are talking about loving our enemies. Sometimes it’s hard to love our enemies. When someone is mean to us, takes a toy from us, or says something mean, it hurts our feelings, but God calls us to LOVE, and that means even loving someone that seems difficult to love.

Bible Story

BIBLE STORY | Matthew 5:40-48

INSTRUCTIONS: Summarize Matthew 5:40-48 in an understandable way. You can say something
like this:
It is easy to show love to someone who is nice to you. It is hard to show love to someone who
is mean to you. But we can choose to show love to someone even when it is hard.
Jesus told us to “love your neighbor.” Jesus wants us to love the people around us. Jesus also
told us to “love our enemies.” That means we are supposed to be kind to and respect people
who are mean to us. We can pray for them, too.
God shows love to people who are nice and to people who are not nice.
We can choose to show love to people who are nice to us — that is easy to do. We can choose
to show love to people who are mean to us — that is hard to do. But we can show love even
when it is hard.

Prayer

INSTRUCTIONS: Hold your hands outstretched to the ceiling.
You can hold your hands up like I do. We can look up to God and pray like this.
God, we are so glad You give us good things to show us Your love. Help us to show God’s love
to people even when they are mean to us. Amen.

Memory Verse

MEMORY VERSE | 1 John 4:11

INSTRUCTIONS: Follow along in the video below.

Big Idea

THE BIG IDEA | I Can Show God’s Love Even When It’s Hard.

A big hug is a great way to show someone God loves them. Let’s stretch out our arms and then
give ourselves a great, big hug as we say, “I can show God’s love even when it’s hard.”

Activities

Activity: HELLO GAME

INSTRUCTIONS: Greet every kid with a smile and a handshake as you say, “Hello.” Put an emoiji
sticker on the child’s hand or shirt. Then give that kid a strip of stickers to share with the other people in your home. Ask the kids to shake hands with everyone else and give them a sticker, too. Keep repeating the game of a hello handshake and a sticker until every kid has a bunch of stickers on their hand
or shirt.
It felt good when someone gave me a handshake and a hello. I have so many stickers to show how many times I got to say hello to someone. Do you have a lot of stickers, too? This reminds me of how much God loves us! We can show God’s love by saying hello (wave hello).

Activity: SORT THE HEARTS

INSTRUCTIONS: Get conversation heart candies and pastel colored papers that match the colors of the candies. Lay out the colored paper and put one conversation heart candy onto each matching color to show the kids how to do the game (If you have really young kids and are concerned about choking hazards, you might want to use stickers instead). Then, give the kids a chance to sort the rest of the conversation hearts into color groups on the papers.
Did you think it was easy or hard to sort the candies?

Activity: RAIN PLAY

INSTRUCTIONS: Prepare a big, shallow basin to put water in. Add some strainers and scoops for the kids to play in the water with (Be sure to watch kids when they play with water to keep them safe). You can pour water through this strainer and make the water go down into this basin. Look!
You’re making it rain! Do you like rain? God gives good things like rain to everyone. God gives rain to people who act
nicely and to people who act in a mean way, too. Because God loves everyone!
How do you feel when somebody does something nice to you like giving you a turn to play?
How do you feel when someone is mean to you or doesn’t let you play?
Does God want us to share good things like a hello? How about snacks? Or toys?
I am glad God gives us good things like the soft, cool rain. It reminds me I can show God’s love,
too!

#TODDLER HACK: Before your group meets, put water, glitter, and blue food coloring
in a two liter bottle. Be sure to seal the top on with hot glue. Roll the bottle for the kids
to watch the glitter swirl around and talk with them about how God shows us love by
giving us rain.

SNACK-tivity

Snack Time: SNACK TO SHARE

INSTRUCTIONS: Make a big bowl of snack mix with a few types of cereal, raisins, and even mini chocolate chips. Provide a zip top bag to each kid and help them scoop some snack mix into the bag. Tell the kids they can take home the zip top bag to share a snack with someone after church. Then, give each kid their own scoop of snack mix to eat during class. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to share good things I have like toys or snacks. But God told us we should show God’s love even when it’s hard!

Early Childhood | Week of February 21

Hi GrowKids! Our series is focusing on LOVE this month and this week, we are talking about loving our enemies. Sometimes it’s hard to love our enemies. When someone is mean to us, takes a toy from us, or says something mean, it hurts our feelings, but God calls us to LOVE, and that means even loving someone that seems difficult to love.

Bible Story

BIBLE STORY | Matthew 5:40-48

INSTRUCTIONS: Summarize Matthew 5:40-48 in an understandable way. You can say something
like this:
It is easy to show love to someone who is nice to you. It is hard to show love to someone who
is mean to you. But we can choose to show love to someone even when it is hard.
Jesus told us to “love your neighbor.” Jesus wants us to love the people around us. Jesus also
told us to “love our enemies.” That means we are supposed to be kind to and respect people
who are mean to us. We can pray for them, too.
God shows love to people who are nice and to people who are not nice.
We can choose to show love to people who are nice to us — that is easy to do. We can choose
to show love to people who are mean to us — that is hard to do. But we can show love even
when it is hard.

Prayer

INSTRUCTIONS: Hold your hands outstretched to the ceiling.
You can hold your hands up like I do. We can look up to God and pray like this.
God, we are so glad You give us good things to show us Your love. Help us to show God’s love
to people even when they are mean to us. Amen.

Memory Verse

MEMORY VERSE | 1 John 4:11

INSTRUCTIONS: Follow along in the video below.

Big Idea

THE BIG IDEA | I Can Show God’s Love Even When It’s Hard.

A big hug is a great way to show someone God loves them. Let’s stretch out our arms and then
give ourselves a great, big hug as we say, “I can show God’s love even when it’s hard.”

Activities

Activity: HELLO GAME

INSTRUCTIONS: Greet every kid with a smile and a handshake as you say, “Hello.” Put an emoiji
sticker on the child’s hand or shirt. Then give that kid a strip of stickers to share with the other people in your home. Ask the kids to shake hands with everyone else and give them a sticker, too. Keep repeating the game of a hello handshake and a sticker until every kid has a bunch of stickers on their hand
or shirt.
It felt good when someone gave me a handshake and a hello. I have so many stickers to show how many times I got to say hello to someone. Do you have a lot of stickers, too? This reminds me of how much God loves us! We can show God’s love by saying hello (wave hello).

Activity: SORT THE HEARTS

INSTRUCTIONS: Get conversation heart candies and pastel colored papers that match the colors of the candies. Lay out the colored paper and put one conversation heart candy onto each matching color to show the kids how to do the game (If you have really young kids and are concerned about choking hazards, you might want to use stickers instead). Then, give the kids a chance to sort the rest of the conversation hearts into color groups on the papers.
Did you think it was easy or hard to sort the candies?

Activity: RAIN PLAY

INSTRUCTIONS: Prepare a big, shallow basin to put water in. Add some strainers and scoops for the kids to play in the water with (Be sure to watch kids when they play with water to keep them safe). You can pour water through this strainer and make the water go down into this basin. Look!
You’re making it rain! Do you like rain? God gives good things like rain to everyone. God gives rain to people who act
nicely and to people who act in a mean way, too. Because God loves everyone!
How do you feel when somebody does something nice to you like giving you a turn to play?
How do you feel when someone is mean to you or doesn’t let you play?
Does God want us to share good things like a hello? How about snacks? Or toys?
I am glad God gives us good things like the soft, cool rain. It reminds me I can show God’s love,
too!

#TODDLER HACK: Before your group meets, put water, glitter, and blue food coloring
in a two liter bottle. Be sure to seal the top on with hot glue. Roll the bottle for the kids
to watch the glitter swirl around and talk with them about how God shows us love by
giving us rain.

SNACK-tivity

Snack Time: SNACK TO SHARE

INSTRUCTIONS: Make a big bowl of snack mix with a few types of cereal, raisins, and even mini chocolate chips. Provide a zip top bag to each kid and help them scoop some snack mix into the bag. Tell the kids they can take home the zip top bag to share a snack with someone after church. Then, give each kid their own scoop of snack mix to eat during class. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to share good things I have like toys or snacks. But God told us we should show God’s love even when it’s hard!

Elementary | Week of February 21, 2021

Welcome to GrowKids Online!
This month is all about LOVE! We’re taking this month to show kids what Jesus taught us about love!

DISCUSSION: Loving Your Enemies
Read: Matthew 5:40-4

  • What does the Bible say about how we should treat our enemies?
  • How does loving our enemies show we are God’s children?
  • Should we love only those who are kind to us? Why or why not?
  • Read Romans 12:20-21. What are some ways you can “heap burning coals” of kindness on someone this week?
  • Why do you think God wants us to love our enemies?
  • Describe a time when it might be hard to love someone. How can you still show God’s love and be kind in that situation?

ACTIVITIES

MEMORIZE IT | Memory Verse Bop
INSTRUCTIONS: Write the memory verse on separate pieces of paper and set them up like a hopscotch pattern. Play hopscotch and with each jump you take – say the memory verse out loud!

Take some time to learn this month’s memory verse and motions!
“Dear friends” – swing arms open wide 
“Since God” – right arm extended above head 
“So loved us” – hug self 
“We also ought” – point to self with both thumbs 
“To love one another” – hands in heart, “pointing” to others 
“1 John 4:11” – open hands like book

BUILD IT | Kindness is a Domino Effect
INSTRUCTIONS: Find a stone or small rock. Using sharpies, write “Kindness Rocks!” on the stone and decorate however you like! 

This stone is a reminder to you that although showing God’s love to those who aren’t kind to you may be difficult, it’s what Jesus teaches us to do – we can show God’s love even when it’s hard.

PRAYER

Dear God, thank You for giving us Jesus and showing us how much You love us, no matter what. Help us to show Your love to everyone–including our enemies–even when it’s hard

Hey Parents! Make sure you’re staying up to date with all things Grow Kids by clicking the “like” button on our Facebook page and following us on Instagram!

Early Childhood | Week of February 7

Hi GrowKids! Happy February! This month, we will be talking about LOVE – Real Love – that only comes through Jesus Christ! Let’s dive in!

Bible Story

SCRIPTURE | John 3:1-17

INSTRUCTIONS: Make the sign language sign for love by crossing your arms and holding your
fists on your chest in a hugging motion.
Today, we are going to learn all about God’s love.
One day, a man named Nicodemus went to visit Jesus. He asked Jesus how he could become
a part of God’s family. Jesus said, “You have to be born again.” Nicodemus was so confused!
Did that mean he had to become a baby again? No, that’s just silly!
The Bible says God loves everyone so much that Jesus (God’s son!) came to tell everyone
about God. If we believe in Jesus, we become a part of God’s family. That’s what it means to
be born again!
I am so glad that God loves us so much. Let’s do that sign for love again by holding our arms
crossed across our chests and squeezing it tight while we say, “God loves everyone.”

Prayer

Pray this Prayer: God, we are so very glad You love us. Thank You, God, for loving everyone

Memory Verse

MEMORY VERSE | 1 John 4:11

INSTRUCTIONS: Introduce kids to this month’s memory verse, teaching them the motions in the video below.

Big Idea

THE BIG IDEA | God Loves Everyone.

INSTRUCTIONS: Show children these hand motions (or make your own) to help them remember the Big Idea.

God (Point to the sky)loves everyone. (point around to everyone in the room) God loves. . . (name each kid).
Who does God love? God loves everyone.

Activities

Activity: MAKE A FACE

Emoji Face SheetsDownload

INSTRUCTIONS: Print the emoji sheets. Show the kids the laughing face and make a silly giggle. Ask the kids to giggle with you. Show the grumpy emoji and make a grumpy face. Ask the kids to copy each of the emojis with you.
Let’s make a sad face for when people are mean to us. Now, let’s make a super happy face for when we think about how something that makes us happy. Can you make a sad face and then a super happy face?

Today, our story is about how God loves everyone. Which emoji face shows love?

Activity: SHOW LOVE

INSTRUCTIONS: Give the kids some blank sheets of paper and some foam heart stickers. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a while the kids stick the foam hearts on the paper. Challenge older preschoolers by drawing a big heart on the paper for the child to stick the foam hearts on to. God loves us with the best kind of love! Your picture can help you remember God loves you and God loves everyone.

Activity: HEARTS EVERYWHERE

INSTRUCTIONS: Before you begin nb, make as many hearts out of construction paper as there are kids in your group (they should be colorful!). Hide them in the room at a level each of the kids can reach. Show the kids a sample construction paper heart and ask the kids to go find the rest. After all of the hearts are found, get the kids to put them in a line on the floor. Name the color of each heart together and remind the kids God loves everyone.

There is one heart for each of you. We can color or paint on our hearts at the table to help us remember God loves everyone.

# TODDLER HACK: Instead of having toddlers go searching for hearts, try this game. Hide behind a blanket, and as you drop it say, “Peek-a-boo, God loves you!”

SNACK-tivity

Snack Time: HEART SNACK

INSTRUCTIONS: Prepare heart-shaped cheese slices and heart-shaped fruits prior to group time or get heart-shaped cookies. Give everyone a snack.
We learned from the Bible today that God loves us. And we are all different, but that doesn’t matter to God. God made everyone different and special because God loves everyone.

Elementary | Week of February 7, 2021

Welcome to GrowKids Online!
Happy Almost-Valentine’s Day! Can you guess what we’re talking about this month? LOVE! We’re taking this month to show kids what Jesus taught us about love!

DISCUSSION: Nicodemus
Read: John 3:1-21

  • Who was Nicodemus?
  • What did Nicodemus learn from Jesus?
  • How did God show His love for us?
  • Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Which of these love actions (i.e., being patient and kind; not being envious, proud, rude, easily angered, etc.) is the most challenging for you? Why?
  • How do you usually show someone you love them?
  • What do you think is different about how God loves and the way people love?
  • What’s one way you can make God’s love “contagious” to everyone around you this week?

ACTIVITIES

MEMORIZE IT | New Monthly Memory Verse
INSTRUCTIONS: Take some time to learn this month’s memory verse and motions!
“Dear friends” – swing arms open wide 
“Since God” – right arm extended above head 
“So loved us” – hug self 
“We also ought” – point to self with both thumbs 
“To love one another” – hands in heart, “pointing” to others 
“1 John 4:11” – open hands like book

MAKE IT | God Hearts Everyone!
INSTRUCTIONS:On a piece of poster paper, draw a heart in the middle and write “God” inside of the heart. Draw another heart and write your name in it. Then, draw a line connecting your heart to “God.” Continue making hearts for your friends and family. After every name is written down, start drawing lines connecting all of the hearts to each other, too.
The kind of love God has shown us is unlike anything we could ever imagine. But God makes it available for everyone! Let’s follow Jesus’ example and show love to everyone!

READ IT | 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
INSTRUCTIONS: Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 in chunks (see below). God loves everyone, so if we love God, then we need to love everyone, too! But what is love, and how can we show it to others?

  • Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. These verses show us that love is the most important thing. We can have as many toys and electronics, friends, and cool things we can do as we want, but if our hearts are not filled with love, then the Bible tells us that those things don’t mean anything at all.
  • Now, read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. These are all qualities of God’s love, which means we need to have these things, too. We all have moments when it’s hard to show love. But that is what God does and what He wants us to do, too! 
  • Look at 1 Corinthians 13:8-13. God loves us with a love that lasts forever. It never ends and never runs out. When we show others the same kind of love, it’s a sign we are becoming more like Jesus!
  • Give each child an index card – Read the adjectives that describe love out loud once more. Have them write their name on the top of the card and write “____ is” (Hannah is…, Tom is….). Write the words to describe love after their name. 
  • God is love, God is all of the words we find here, God is in you which means YOU are love. Use this index card as a reminder of who you are because of God’s great love.

PRAYER

Dear God, thank You for loving us so much that You sent Jesus to save us all. Just like you helped Nicodemus, help us to understand your great love and to share it with everyone!

Hey Parents! Make sure you’re staying up to date with all things Grow Kids by clicking the “like” button on our Facebook page and following us on Instagram!