LESSON 13: SPIRITUAL GIFTS: THE BODY OF CHRIST Leader Guide for Ages 3-6 Classroom: Monkeys 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 07/25/2021 Teachers Dig In Dig In to the Bible Read: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 In This Passage: In a letter to the Corinthians, Paul compares the church to a body. In this body, Jesus is the head and each Christian is a part of his body. Each part is important and couldn’t function well without all the other parts. Just as the hand needs the eye and vice versa, we need each other. Bible Point: We need each other. Summary Verse: “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:4-5). Dig Deeper You’ll Be Teaching: We need each other. Kids are often pulled out from the rest of the church. Most kids don’t go to “big church” these days and may not feel much like they’re part of the larger church body. Help them see how they have an important role in the body of Christ! Think About: Which body part are you in the body of Christ? Why? Dig In to Prayer Ask God to help your kids see their value to the church. Quick Tip Help your kids see how they’re part of the church as a whole. Give them a tour, have a special week where they do a presentation in “big church,” let them watch clips from a service so they can see the elements of “big church,” connect them with adult mentors or prayer partners, and invite pastors from other parts of the church to come say hi during your Sunday school class. 1 of 15 This Lesson at a Glance OPENING Preschoolers share about a topic related to the lesson. Supplies Bible large gift box from Week 10 paper crayons CORE BIBLE DISCOVERY Preschoolers explore their senses and sing a song. Supplies Bible flowers (1 per adult or teen helper) music music player photographs of nature (1 per adult or teen helper) squishy toys (1 per adult or teen helper) juice boxes (1 per child) LIFE APPLICATION WRAP-UP Preschoolers sing a song about God’s family. MUSIC VIDEO Preschoolers sing songs of praise to God. Supplies “Stand Together” (watch or download here) “Living by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25) (watch or download here) “Let’s Go!” (Ephesians 2:10) (watch or download here) TALK-ABOUT VIDEO Recommended for elementary kids. Supplies “Teamwork” teaching video (watch or download here) HIGH-ENERGY GAME Preschoolers play hoop-ball. Supplies Easy Prep hula hoops (1 for every 10 kids) Tape hula hoops to the back of chairs so they chairs (1 for every 10 kids) stick up in the air. Place the chairs on opposite duct tape sides of the room. foam balls (1 for every 4 kids) 2 of 15 upbeat music (optional) music player (optional) LOW-ENERGY GAME Preschoolers work together to bounce balls on a parachute. Supplies parachute (1 for every 10 kids) small balls (5 for every 10 kids) upbeat music (optional) music player (optional) OBJECT LESSON Preschoolers need each other’s arms and help to support a bunch of stuffed animals. Supplies variety of stuffed animals (2 per child) DEEPER BIBLE Preschoolers work together to find every piece of a puzzle. Supplies Easy Prep Bible Remove a central piece from each puzzle, and preschool-friendly, interlocking puzzles (1 for hide it somewhere in the room. every 5 or 6 kids) CRAFT Preschoolers make a puzzle with handprints on the back. Supplies Easy Prep “Friendly Puzzle” handout printed on card stock (1 Make a sample craft to show kids. per child) (download here) washable ink pads wet wipes or access to a sink child-safe scissors washable markers sandwich-size resealable plastic bags (1 per child) *Marked supplies can be reused from Core Bible Discovery Let's keep kids safe! You can help by using supplies as instructed for only ages 3+, purchasing child-safe items, and being aware of allergy concerns. 3 of 15 OPENING [5 min] Welcome Supplies Bible large gift box from Week 10 paper crayons Welcome Thank kids for coming. Make announcements. Introduce new kids. Collect the offering. Introduce the Lesson Say: Today we’ll find out we need each other. Show the gift box. We’ll find out each of us is a gift to God’s family. Give each child a sheet of paper. Say: We all have special talents and skills we can use to help one another. Draw something special about you. Allow time. Say: Each of you is unique—that means you’re special and different! That’s why we need each other. It’s a gift to have one another! Lead kids to place their pictures in the gift box. Share Say: The Bible helps us think about why we need each other by talking about our body parts, like hands, feet, eyes, and mouth. Each body part is important and does something different. Let’s think about something silly. I wonder what it would be like to have an extra body part. Ask: • Would you rather have an extra eye or an extra arm? Share which body part you’d rather have an extra of, where it would be, and why. In leader-led small groups, have preschoolers share whether they’d rather have an extra eye or an extra arm, where it would be, and why. After small groups have discussed, have adult or teen helpers share with the whole group what they talked about in their small groups. Summarize Open a Bible, and say: It would be pretty silly if we had an extra eye or arm. Every body part is important, just like everyone in our church is important. We need each other. Today we’ll learn more about that. Pray, thanking God for reminding us that we need each other. You can now get rid of the gift box. 4 of 15 CORE BIBLE DISCOVERY [20 min] Spiritual Gifts: The Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-27) Supplies Bible flowers (1 per adult or teen helper) music music player photographs of nature (1 per adult or teen helper) squishy toys (1 per adult or teen helper) juice boxes (1 per child) Tip If you used the Music Video block, consider repeating the songs from today’s lesson during the game. You can find the downloadable album here. Explore Our Senses Gather children in leader-led groups (as many as you have adult or teen helpers). Show the Bible. Say: Today we’ll learn that we need each other. The Bible tells us each one of us is important. We’re all God’s friends, and each of us has a special job in God’s family. The Bible says God’s family is like a body. Say: A body has a smiling face. Ask: • What’s good about a smiling face? Lead kids to smile and point to the sides of their mouths. Say: A body has legs and feet. Ask: • What do legs and feet help us do? Lead kids to march in place. Say: A body has arms and hands. Ask: • What do arms and hands help us do? Lead kids to clap their hands together. Say: But what if our bodies were made up of only hands? Point to your head. Instead of a head, we had a hand here. Point to your leg. Instead of a leg, we had a hand here. That would be silly, and we could do only what hands do. We couldn’t walk or eat or listen, like we do with our ears. Let’s do something to help us think about that. Ask: • What do our noses help us do? Have adult or teen helpers lead kids to pass their group’s flower around, each child smelling it and sharing how it smells. After all groups have finished, say: Our hands can’t smell, and our ears can’t smell. We need our noses to smell! Ask: • What do our ears help us do? Say: Listen to this. Turn on a song for about 20 seconds. Our noses can’t hear, and neither can our feet! We need our ears to hear. Ask: • What do our eyes help us do? Have adult or teen helpers lead kids to pass their group’s photograph around and discuss what they see in the photograph. After all groups have finished, say: Our knees can’t see, and neither can our elbows. We need our eyes to see. Ask: • What do our hands help us do? Have adult and teen helpers pass around the squishy toys and have each child squish and feel them. Kids can talk about what the squishy toy feels like and what they can do with it with their hands, such as squeeze or drop it. After all groups have finished, say: Our eyes can’t pick up a squishy toy. And our ears can’t either. We need our hands to feel and pick up things. We need our hands to write and draw, too. Ask: • What do our mouths help us do? Distribute juice boxes, and invite kids to take a sip. Encourage them to share what flavor they taste in their mouths. Say: Our toes can’t taste the flavor of this juice, and neither can our belly buttons! We need our mouths to taste flavors! 5 of 15 Ask: • What would happen if our whole body was made up of only eyes—what could we do, and what could we not do? Say: We need all our body parts.