An Angel Visits Mary

Luke 1:26-38

God sent the angel Gabriel to visit a young woman.  Her name was Mary.  She was scared.  She had never seen an angel before.

Gabriel said, “Don’t be afraid.  You are very special to God.  You will become pregnant and give birth to a son.  You must name him Jesus. 

He will be called the Son of the Most High God.”

Mary asked, “How can it be so?  I am not married.”Gabriel answered, “With God, all things are possible.”

Mary said, “I love God.  I will do what he has chosen me to do.”

Discussion Questions

God sent an angel to visit Mary.  What was his name? Gabriel

What did Gabriel tell Mary? That she was going to have a baby boy.

What did Gabriel tell Mary to name him? Jesus

Mary wanted to know how this could be without being married?  Gabriel told her with God all things are possible.

Did Mary love God?  Yes and she told Gabriel that she will do what he has chosen me to do.

Prayer

Dear God,  thank you for the story of the Angel that told the good news.  Thank you for sending your son, Jesus.  Amen

Memory Verses

“God loves us and sent his son”  1 John 4:10

Science: Flashlight Lantern 

Materials: 

One clean plastic milk jug Scissors

A flashlight with batteries A Variety of sticker

Guide Your Child To: 

Help you cut off the top portion of the jug above the handle. 

Which Animal? 

Decorate the sides of the jug with stickers. 

Set the flashlight in the jug with the light on, pointing down. 

Hold the lantern by the jug handle to carry it, or hang it by the handle. 

Talk About: 

Where does light come from? Who made light? 

When do you need light most? What kinds of light to you have in your house? 

What kind of light was in our story? What happened? 

Unwrap the Gift 

Place enough treats in a box so there is one for each family member. Wrap the box with several layers of wrapping paper. Have the family sit in a circle. Instruct them to pass the gift around the circle while you play Christmas music. When the music stops, whoever is holding the gift unwraps ONE layer of wrapping paper. When all the layers are unwrapped, let the everyone enjoy the treats inside. 

Talk About: 

What was God’s very best gift to us?

Who is Baby Jesus?

How did the angels find out about him?

How did the shepherds know where to find him?

What are some ways we can thank God for Baby Jesus? 

Thanksgiving

“Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”  Psalm 106:1 

As the name indicates, Thanksgiving is a time for us all to pause and give God thanks for the blessings we have received in the past year. 

Each one of us on the Children of Hope staff is blessed by the precious little ones you bring to this school. We are thankful for them, and for all of you — parents and caregivers — for giving us the opportunity to teach them the basics they’ll need for Kindergarten, but more importantly, about Jesus. 

This issue of “Hope @ Home” is simply an assortment of ideas for you to use or be inspired by to praise to the Lord for His goodness, and to help teach our children to do the same. 

Thanksgiving Thank You Note 

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to show others how much they’re appreciated. With a little help, preschoolers will enjoy writing thank you notes to special family members and friends this holiday season. The Thanksgiving thank you note activity is a wonderful exercise to help preschoolers take stock of the blessings in their life and is certain to become a cherished holiday tradition for both the thank you note writer and the recipient. 

Thanksgiving Tablecloth Family Activity 

Give thanks as a family this holiday season by creating a uniquely personal tablecloth for your Thanksgiving table. For this family activity, invite family members young and old to preserve festive drawings and sentiments of thanks with crayons on a paper tablecloth, prior to sitting down to your Thanksgiving meal. This activity could also be done using paper placemats instead of a paper tablecloth. 

Activity: Make a Thankfulness Turkey 

Materials: 

Several sheets of construction paper in fall colors (brown, orange, red, & yellow) Black marker

Scissors Glue 

Pinking shears or decorative scissors (optional) Directions: 

Trace your child’s foot on a brown piece of paper and cut each one out. This part will be the head and body of your turkey — the heel is the head and the toes are the belly. 

Draw on the eyes with the marker. Write on the body “(child’s name) is thankful for...” 

Using the pinking shears, decorative scissors, or regular scissors, cut out 5-6 “feathers” from the additional construction paper. It seems to be easiest make them “football” shaped and each one should be about the same length as the body. 

Cut out the red “waddle” and an orange triangle for the beak from the scrap paper, and glue them on the face. 

Help your child write one thing on each feather that he is thankful for. Glue one end of each feather to the back side of the body so you can see the writing from the front. 

This makes a great decoration for Thanksgiving, as well as allows us to think about all the things with which God has blessed us. 

The Burning Bush

Exodus 3

When Moses was a man, he left the palace.  Pharaoh was still being mean to the Israelites.  Moses tried to protect them, so Pharaoh tried to kill Moses. 

Moses escaped from Egypt.  He went to a place called Midian and became a shepherd.

One day, while Moses was watching his sheep, he saw something strange.  A bush was on fire, but it wasn’t burning up.  From the inside of the bush, God spoke, “Moses, bring my people out of Egypt.  Take them to a new land that I will show you.  This new land is called Canaan.”

Moses was worried that Pharaoh would not listen.  God told Moses to throw his staff on the ground.  When he did, the staff became a snake!  God told Moses to reach down and grab the snake.  It became a staff again!  God said, “I will use signs like this to show Pharaoh I have sent you.”

“But I cannot speak very well,” complained Moses.  God said, “Do not worry.  Your brother Aaron is a good speaker.  I will send him with you.”

So Moses returned with Aaron to Egypt.  When they arrived, Moses told the Israelites what God had said.

Discussion Questions

• Pharaoh tried to kill Moses.  What did Moses do? He escaped Egypt and went to Midian to become a shepherd.

• What happened while Moses was caring for his sheep? There was a burning bush that talked!

• Who was speaking from inside the bush?   God

• What did God ask Moses to do?  Take his people from Egypt  

• Moses was worried that Pharaoh would not listen.  God told him he would use special signs to get Pharaoh to listen.  What is one example? The staff turned into a snake

• Who helped Moses speak to Pharaoh? Moses’ brother Aaron

Prayer

Dear God, thank you that you are all-powerful and the beginning of everything! Thank you that you care about us and that you love us!  Amen 

Memory Verse

“Be strong and brave.  The Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”   Joshua 1:9

Song: My God is so Big

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God cannot do

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God cannot do

The mountains are His, the rivers are His

The stars are His handiwork too

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God cannot do, hey, hey

My God is so great, so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God cannot do

My God is so great, so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God cannot do

The mountains are His, the rivers are His

The stars are His handiwork too

My God is so great, so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God cannot do

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God cannot do

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God cannot do

The mountains are His, the rivers are His

The stars are His handiwork too

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God cannot do

There's nothing my God cannot do

There's nothing, nothing, nothing He can't do