Lydia--Arcade

Scripture: Acts 16:13-15

Memory Verse for this rotation: “Be good soil. Good soil represents honest, good-hearted people. They listen to God’s words and cling to them and spread them to others who will soon believe.” Luke 8:15

Concepts to be learned by children:
* We are to be like Lydia; listening, learning, and applying all we can about Jesus.
* Lydia is good model of Godly behavior.

Materials:
• Doughnuts, Water, Glasses, & Napkins (found in the kitchen)
• Journals (with Shepherd)
• Pencils (with Shepherd)
• Bibles—one per student for grades 3-6th.
• Activity Cards
• Memory Verse Prompts

Objectives:
* Older Students will practice finding the story in the Bible.
* Students play a game that encourages them to be like Lydia; listening, learning, and teaching others.
* Students will participate in a reflection/closing prayer time.

Presenter Preparation:
Prior to Sunday Morning:
1. Read the scripture passage and do the Leader’s Bible Study
2. Read through the lesson plan provided and ask Stacy about any questions you have.
3. Plan your opening and closing prayers, if you decide not to use those provided.
4. Consider the age group you’ll be working with each week and any adjustments you’d like to make to the lesson.

Sunday Morning:
1. Get cups, doughnuts, and pitcher(s) of water from the kitchen.
2. Be sure the room is set up as you desire.
3. Look through supply box to familiarize yourself with its contents
4. Do any other preparations you feel necessary.
5. Know that we are thankful you are teaching!

Procedure:
A. Welcome & Introductions at approximately 9:50 a.m.
1. Have the appropriate number of snacks available for each of the participants prepared before they arrive.
2. Greet the children and introduce yourself, wear a name tag if possible. Shepherds have name tags for the children in their bags. If necessary, ask the shepherd to supply children without tags with a temporary badge.
3. Explain that today they’ll be listening, learning, and teaching others while playing a game.
4. Open with a brief prayer. An example might be: God, we want to follow you, and listen closely to what you teach. Please help us to be like Lydia; having an open heart o learn. Amen.
5. Give the students their snack

B. Story Review/Telling at approximately 9:55 a.m.:
1. Prep for Learning—How many of you have been baptized? When? Do you remember it? Have you ever seen someone get baptized? Today we’re going to read about Lydia who was baptized because she loved Jesus so much.
2. Review how to find stories in the Bible. (They have done this in the past.)
a. Pre-K-2nd grade show them where the story is located in the Bible. Explain that it is in the New Testament.
b. Grades 3-6th—make sure everyone has a Bible. Help the students to find Acts. Remind them that the Bible is made up of books, which are divided into chapters and verses. After they’ve found Acts, help them to see that the first digits are the chapter (16) so they find Chapter 16, then that the second numbers are the verses (13-15).
3. Before you begin the Bible story you can provide some background for the story. Some points you may include are:
a. Acts is a book in the New Testament, which means this story happened after Jesus was alive.
b. When this story took place; Jesus had actually been crucified and had risen to heaven. His disciples were going around trying to teach others about Jesus.
4. Read the story
a. PreK through 2nd graders: you may read from the Bible.
b. Grades 3-6th—go ahead and read the story from the Bible, pausing to allow them to chime in on key words as they follow along. (It is possible to have the children read, but this often leads to other children not listening.)
c. A Few Notes—For the first week or two of the rotation, at least, you will need to read the story to them. If you read, ask them to try to follow along with you, even if the words are slightly different in their version. As the rotation continues and the children have heard the story in other rotations, you may skip the scripture reading (your choice) and simply practice finding the scripture and then review the story by asking several questions. Some questions you might use are:

A. When did they go out by the gate by the river? On the Sabbath day.
B. Why did they go there? They supposed there was a place to pray.
C. When they got there, who was there? A group of women. Lydia.
D. What did they do when they got there? Started talking about Jesus.
E. What do we know about Lydia? She was already a worshipper of God. She was from Thyatira. She sold purple cloth.
F. What did the Lord to do Lydia? Opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.
G. What did she and her household do because of what she had learned? They were all baptized.
H. What did Lydia encourage the men to do? Come and stay with her at her house.

C. Application:
1. We know that Lydia was already a worshipper of God…she already loved him before even hearing what Paul had to say, but when she was listening to what he was saying, God opened her heart so she could understand even more. But, what is really amazing is THAT WASN’T IT! She took what she had learned and didn’t just bottle it inside herself; she took what she had learned and shared it with others. Because of what Lydia had taught them; her entire household was baptized and came to know God.
2. Today we’re going to practice being like Lydia…we’re going to listen closely, learn, then, like Lydia, we’re going to show others how to do what we’ve learned.
3. Steps for the Game/Activity:
A. If there are enough kids, you can divide them into groups, if there aren’t enough kids you can just play it as a large group and enjoy the experience.
B. Once they are in the groups, you can explain the rules of the game.
1. The first person in the line will be shown a card that has an activity/something to teach. They will either read the card or you can quietly read it to them so that others cannot hear.
DARCEY: With the younger kids you can just tell them things to do. Some ideas may be: Touch your nose and jump on one foot. OR Rub your tummy and sing “Jesus Loves Me.”
2. The first person will then tell the next person, who will tell the next person, who will tell the next person, etc. until the last person in the line receives the message.
3. When the last person has gotten the message, on the count of three the first person and the last person will SHOW the activity. Are they similar? Are the different team’s similar?
C. You may play this several times with the people in the line rotating down so that they take turns being the first/last person in the line.

D. Reflection:
1. What made this activity difficult? Why was it hard to learn the activity through so many people?
2. How is this activity like the story of Lydia? We tried to tell other people information and tried to listen closely like Lydia.
3. How was this activity unlike the story of Lydia? We had to go through many people; Lydia spoke directly to the people of her household. What does that teach us about how we should tell others about Jesus? We can’t expect others to share the good news, we must be the ones to tell others about Jesus and his love for those around us.
4. Pass out the journals and ask shepherds to pass out pencils.
i. Younger Students: Younger students can draw a picture of them listening closely to God.
ii. Older Students: Older students can answer the question…what is something you know about Jesus that you could share with those around you?

D. Closing:
1. Ask the students to close their journals and sit quietly.
2. Recite the Bible memory verse: “Be good soil. Good soil represents honest, good-hearted people. They listen to God’s words and cling to them and spread them to others who will soon believe.” Luke 8:15
3. Close with a prayer. Encourage children to offer petitions. An example might be: God, we are thankful for the many stories your Bible holds that help us to learn the right way to live. Please help us to be obedient children. Amen.

E. Tidy and Dismissal:
Ask children to help clean up before they go. Be sure that they find a responsible person and that everyone has found one such person before you depart. Please take all supplies and put them in the cardboard box and return the box to the white cart.

THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR FAITH WITH OUR YOUNG PEOPLE!

Arcade Activity Cards
CAPITALIZED are for 3-6th graders
Normal are for PreK-2nd Graders

Kids are also welcome to come up with their own instructions!

TAP YOUR NOSE,
TAP YOUR TOES,
WIGGLE FINGERS,
SAY “ZINGERS”


TUG ON YOUR EAR THREE TIMES
BEEP YOUR NEIGHBOR’S NOSE
AND TELL THE COLOR OF THE SKY.


SLAP YOUR KNEES
SING “LA, LA”
HOP TWICE
SQUEAK LIKE MICE


CLAP FOUR TIMES
NOD YOUR HEAD,
GIGGLE LOUDLY


Say, “Jesus loves me”
Jump three times.

Slap your knees
touch the floor.

Touch your face
Wiggle your fingers

Hop like a bunny
twist your body like a pretzel.

Pretend to brush your teeth,
while your jump in place.