Thoughtfulness
Week 18
Sharing (2)
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
I can share my toys and snacks with others, not like the leopards that climb trees to keep their meal to themselves.
References
Hebrews 13:16; 1 Timothy 6:18
Sample content and conversation with children
(For virtual meeting) Ask the parents beforehand to have a snack for their child. Sample conversation: “What snack do you have today? (Child: An apple!) Wow, it looks delicious! Hmmm, will you eat that apple all by yourself? Maybe we can share our snack with our mom, dad, or sibling. How do you think we can share our snacks? [Possible answers: cutting slices, some cookies for me and some cookies for my mom…] Isn’t it nice that we can share our food and eat together!”.
(For in-person time) Set out one plate for each child and ask them to help you distribute the snack on the plates. Sample conversation during or after snack time: “Thank you for helping set the table today. I noticed that you did not put all the crackers on one plate, but you put some on each plate. Why did you do that? Right! We share our food with others! I am so happy that you didn’t take all the cookies for yourself!
- I want to show you a video. Let see if you can see what this animal is doing. [While you are watching, lead the children in a discussion to discover what they see the leopard doing.] Can you see that leopard at the bottom of the tree? What is it doing? Whoa! Did you see how it jumped so high up that tree? It’s so impressive! I don’t think I can climb trees like that, so high! But why did it climb the tree? What was it doing on the tree? Leopards like to climb trees, and mostly they do that for one reason. Do you know what it is? They like to climb trees to eat their food! Why do you think they do this? They do this so they don’t have to share their food with the other animals! Almost no other animal can climb trees like the leopards. So, they climb up high to be far away from all the others, and then they are able to eat all their food, all by themselves!
- Sample story: [Insert your own personal story of a time someone shared toys or food, or you can tell this story in the third person. For this example, we would bring seashells or a picture of seashells with us to show to the children.] One day we went to the beach with other families. It was so much fun to play in the sand, watch the waves, sing together, and have s’mores! My youngest daughter’s favorite thing to do at the beach is to collect seashells. Well, that day she was collecting seashells with her friend. They were having such a good time! Until it was time to go home. Then, they were not happy. Do you know why? Because they both wanted to keep the big shells they had collected! Oh, such a beautiful day was almost ruined at the end because they both wanted to keep the big shells all to themselves! How sad! But, this story does not have a sad ending! One of them said, “How about we split the big shells and the small shells. Half for you and half for me!” Oh, they discovered that the best way to solve this problem was to share the seashells! How would you all share these shells? [Let the children come up with ideas about how they would share the shells, maybe by size, color, etc.] Wow, I am so glad that I can choose to share with my friends!
Suggested activities/games
- Snack Use the snack time as a time to prompt the children to discover how they can share.
- Prepare a fruit salad together. Ask each child to help distribute/serve the snack for someone else. (For in-person meeting)
- Activity Time. Just like during snack time, use this time to lead the children to discover how they can share, and that they are happy when they do share! Play games that foster taking turns, sharing the ball, etc. Sample conversation during or after the activity: Did you enjoy the game? I especially liked that no one tried to keep the ball to themselves! That way we all could play together. We can share the ball and take turns to play!
- Hot Potato.
- Sit on the floor and roll a ball to each other.
- Use a parachute or large sheet to bounce the ball.
- (For virtual meeting) Pass the clap. The game would be the equivalent to passing the ball virtually. It begins by one person “sending the clap” to someone else. They may say something like, “I’m going to send the clap to…” and call out someone. The other person “receives the clap” by clapping once, and then continues: “I’m going to send the clap to…” The game continues until everyone has passed the clap. Variations can be increasing times they clap, change the clap for a motion like hands up, bend over, etc.
Suggested songs
Blessed to give (just the low part)
When we share with others… God is glad *
* You can ask the kids to name things they share
When I share my apples…
When I share my toy truck…