Friendship-Using your words and actions to show others you care
September 2020 • Week 2
Today's Bible story: We're Going to Be Friends (David and Jonathan) • 1 Samuel 20
Monthly memory verse: "A friend loves at all times. They are there to help when trouble comes." Proverbs 17:17 (NIrV)
Memory Verse for 2's - Pre-K: "A friend loves at all times." Proverbs 17:17a NIrV
Life Application: Friendship-Using your words and actions to show others you care
Praise & Pray: Sing along with the provided worship videos and pray. Access songs here
What you might pray: "Dear Lord, you are a great friend. Please help us to see how we can follow after your example so that we can be a good friend to others just as you are to us. In Jesus name we pray, amen."
Read God's Word together: 1 Samuel 20 (Need a kid-friendly Bible? Check out our suggestions.)
Family Devotional & Discussion
What you do: Watch the complementary video together as a family and discuss today's question.
What you discuss: God is our friend and he thinks that we are important. He thought we were so important that he died on a cross for you and for me. "How can you show your friends they are important?"
Pray and bless your family
What you need: Bible; If you chose to do the Friendship Tower activity, gather the blocks with "loving ideas".
What you do: Place the blocks in the center.
- Ask the kids to gather around, grab one of the blocks, and silently read it.
- If you didn't do the Friendship Tower activity, ask the kids to brainstorm ways they can show love to their friends. Read together 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Make sure they include ideas from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.
- Suggestions include: forgiving each other, praying for them, sharing God's love, sharing encouraging words, supporting them through difficult times, standing up for them, keeping promises, sharing time and toys, including them in things you do, not being jealous of them, being patient
- When everyone is ready, open in prayer and encourage the kids to take turns saying a loving activity that you either brainstormed together or have them read what their block has written on it.
- For example: "Lord, today we ask for Your help to be godly and loving friends to our friends, just like David and Jonathan were to each other. Help us to (pause and encourage the kids to take turns reading their block or say one of your brainstormed ideas). Help us know how to best love our friends. Amen!"
What you might pray: "A powerful way to show love to your friends is to regularly ask God to help you be a good friend to them. Be sure to pray this week for opportunities to show love to your friends in the ways you wrote on these blocks or brainstormed. [Bottom Line] Friends love one another."
Additional Activities
What You Need: "Story Outline" Activity Page and "Paper Airplane Folding" Activity Pages (Download Here), paper, pencils, markers
What You Do: Using the "Story Outline," assign each family member a scene or two to draw from today's story on their paper.
- When they finish, encourage the family members to take turns sharing with the family what they drew.
- Challenge family members to fold the best airplane imaginable either on their own or by following the instructions.
- If you have people who are particularly good at folding paper airplanes, let them know they can help their friends out!
- Once everyone has folded their planes, ask family members to pair up and decide who will pretend to be Jonathan and who will pretend to be David.
- Ask the Davids to stand 10-15 feet away from their Jonathans.
- Then, the Jonathans will throw the airplanes toward their David to try and get it past him / her.
- If the airplane falls short, David must pick it up and bring it back to Jonathan then go back to stand in place.
- If the airplane goes past David, Jonathan must yell, "Look! The arrow is beyond you!"
- The first team to accomplish this wins! Let family members switch roles and play again.
What You Need: Bible, blocks and chalk or markers, masking tape
What You Do: Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 together.
- Ask everyone to share ways they can show love to their friends. Make sure they include ideas from 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.
- Suggestions include: forgiving each other, praying for them, sharing God's love, sharing encouraging words, supporting them through difficult times, standing up for them, keeping promises, sharing time and toys, including them in things you do, not being jealous of them, being patient
- As the family members share their ideas, instruct them to pick up one of the unused blocks and a piece of chalk/marker. They will write one word that represents their idea on the block with chalk or with a marker on masking tape.
- Stack the blocks in sets of three until you have built a tower. Each new layer of three parallel blocks should be rotated 90° along the horizontal axis (think of the game Jenga).
- End by playing Jenga® together. If your blocks aren't all the same size, don't worry. It will make the game more interesting!
- Encourage kids to work together to make the game last as long as possible.
What You Say: "Love is an action. When we choose to encourage, share, support, forgive, and keep our promises, it brings us closer as friends. Loving a friend means you DO something for that friend. [Make It Personal] (Talk about a time you and a friend became closer by one of you doing something for the other. Maybe a friend helped you move, or you took care of a friend's dog when they were out of town.) [Bottom Line] Friends love one another. (Hold up a few of the blocks with loving ideas written on them.) Make sure you put one of these ideas into action this week."
What You Need: Popsicle stick, Q-tip, bowl of water, cutting board, cutting knife, dental floss
What You Do: Lay a craft stick on the cutting board. With adult assistance, cut 2 1/16 to 1/8 inch slits side by side on one side near the end.
- Place the stick in a bowl of water. Let it soak for at least 1 hour. Soaking it in water will help to soften the stick. Boiling water may help to soften the stick even more.
- Cut off approximately 12 inches of dental floss. Wrap the dental floss around one end of the slit in the popsicle stick and tie it in a knot.
- Gently bend the stick into a bow shape, tie the other end of the floss, around the other end of the stick, sitting in the slits. Again wrap it around 3 times and tie it tight into a knot. Cut off the hanging off ends, and let the bow dry.
- Using the scissors, cut one end off of the cotton swab to make an arrow. Make as many as you would like.
- Decorate the popsicle stick with markers.
What You Say: "I love this story of two best friends! David was chosen as the next king, but Jonathan, King Saul's son, wasn't angry. He loved David, and even gave David his favorite things. And when King Saul became jealous and tried to kill David, Jonathan stepped up to protect him. Jonathan and David show us that [Bottom Line] friends love one another."
