Thoughtfulness
Week 19
Planning ahead (3)
In this block we discover that we are thoughtful; we plan ahead, we are kind to others, we can consider others and act upon it, and we can easily share. To highlight these precious traits, we compare these to specific animals that do not exhibit these traits.
Point to emphasize
Koalas only eat and sleep and stay in the trees all day, but we can plan ahead to do healthy activities of our routine of going to bed and getting out of bed.
References
Prov. 21:5; Eccl. 8:6a
Sample content and conversation with children
You can start off the session by having the children guess the animal, koala, by its behaviors (“I’m thinking of an animal that loves to sleep, lives in trees, and eats all the time, and moves very slowly…”)
Then show the children the video clip below of a koala in a tree or pictures of koalas while discussing the following behaviors and how they are different than us:
- Koalas sleep about 18 hours a day. They sleep during the day and then wake up at night time (that’s like going to bed right after breakfast and waking up in the middle of the night).You can ask the children, “Can you imagine just sleeping and eating all day? And when you wake up, it’s already night time and you can’t go anywhere or do anything?”
- When koalas are not sleeping, they are usually eating.
- They spend all day in the eucalyptus trees. It is the place where they get their food and water. Because they live in eucalyptus trees, they don’t have to go anywhere else to get food.
- Koalas don’t need to make their beds. They just find a branch, and their backs are so strong they can just sit and sleep.
We are different than koalas because we can plan ahead to do healthy activities of our routine of going to bed and getting out of bed:
- Ask the children, “Do you stay in bed all day and do everything like eat and play and do homework in bed?” Discuss: “What do you do when you wake up in the morning?” and “What do you do after a day of working hard at school or daycare and playing with your siblings and friends and eating your meals at the right time?”
- You can show a picture of a routine when we wake up in the morning and when we go to bed and talk about it, and/or you can share pictures of your child going through their morning or bedtime routine.
- Below are sample morning and night time routines:
- Morning routines:
- Wake up – Give thanks to God
- Brush your teeth and wash your face
- Make your bed
- Change your clothes
- Comb your hair
- Eat breakfast
- Take your bag for school/daycare, make sure you have everything needed
- Take lunch bag with water bottle
- Bedtime routines:
- Put toys and books away
- Bath or shower time
- Brush your teeth
- Prepare your clothing and school bag or lunch bag for the next day
- Bedtime story or song
- Pray and have a good sleep
- When we plan ahead by preparing the things we need for the next day before we go to bed, our morning is not so rushed and things go a lot smoother. But when we don’t plan ahead, we may rush and forget things and our day would not start off well. So we have a routine for each day. [Share a personal experience of planning ahead.]
- We are not like koalas. We don’t stay in bed all day. We get up to do things; we go to the kitchen to get food; we plan ahead to get ready for our day. And when it’s time for sleep, we get ready by putting on our PJs, getting cleaned up, and so many other things.
Suggested activities/games
Create a visual chart of your morning and bedtime routines. We have provided some sample tasks and charts (click here to see attachment.) Select the pictures of the routine and cut them out. Then paste them in order of your routine. You can also make this into a visual checklist by laminating the list and putting a check mark or sticker on the star below each task to mark it off when the task is done.
Activities via Zoom
- Tell the children, “Pretend we are going to bed and we need the following items.” Ask the children to get these items, one at a time:
- toothbrush
- hairbrush (when drying hair after shower)
- PJs
- blanket
- pillow
- stuffed animal
- story book
- schoolbag or backpack (prepare for the next day)
- Do simple jumping jacks as part of a healthy routine (see pictures):
- Power Jacks (top): Start with knees slightly bent, hands and legs as shown. Jump as high as you can, extending your arms and legs, then land in the starting position.
- Seal Jacks (middle): Start with bent knees and arms as shown. Jump your legs apart, spreading your arms, then jump back to the starting position.
- Ski Jacks (bottom): Move your arms up and down as you would in a standard jack but alternate your feet forward and back with each jump as if cross-country skiing.
Suggested songs
- Before God put the leaves on the trees (can change words if you want to: “Before God put the koalas in the trees…”)
- Heaven’s for Earth
- Oh, I’m just too young to drive a car