They will say:
What it was
Who gave it to them
Why it was meaningful
Who else can share a gift they loved receiving at Christmas time?
Remember God's Gifts from Term 1?
Do the following:
Choose a coloured texta to write with
Create groups of 4-6
On large sheets of Butcher's paper (one per group) silently write a list of gifts God has given - these could be physical or spiritual
You have 3 minutes - go!
At the end discuss what each group found - what was the same or different?
Read Romans 5:6-9 - what is the greatest gift?
Read the following story "The Man and the Birds":
-Is this a meaningful gift for you? Why or Why not?
-Is it a meaningful gift for a baby?
Teaching Point: Meaningful gifts are timely.
God's generous heart caused Him to make a plan so that the meaningful gift of Jesus, His Son, would be given at just the right time.
Why do you think this was the right time?
Who is the woman who gave birth to baby Jesus?
Prophecies had told when Jesus would arrive. God's timing is always perfect
Can you see the point on our Epic Timeline when God sent his Son into the world?
As a class brainstorm as many characters in the story of baby Jesus as you can remember.
Watch this video:
This is the backstory of the shepherds who visited Baby Jesus when He was born.
The shepherds back then were considered very low and uneducated, yet they listened to the angel and were the first to visit Baby Jesus and honour Him!
Over the next few lessons we will find out about the next lot of visitors that came to Baby Jesus, and find out how they were the exact opposite of the shepherds.
Their gifts were very meaningful...
Imagine that you were one of the shepherds and went to visit baby Jesus the night that He was born. Use your senses to imagine what it was like in the stable - what do you see, what do you hear, what do you smell/taste/feel? Glue the picture of the manger (or draw your own) into your exercise books, and write around it, what you imagine you would experience.
Hand out the following Wise Men Fact Cards to each student. Play some fast music and when the music stops each student finds someone and shares their fact with them. Play a few times.
Here are maps of the Middle East and Asia. Iraq (Persia), India and China were all possible homes of the wise men in the story of baby Jesus. All of these places meant very long periods of travel (over 1400 km away). Camels can only travel 30km in a day so this trip would have taken SOOOO long!
What characteristics would the wise men have needed to get through this long travel?
Scroll through and answer these questions together:
Read and write out this Treasure Verse.
What made these gifts meaningful? Let's find out:
Show the gift of GOLD
Read through the gold facts:
Gold tells us that Jesus would be our KING!
Gold was given to kings and important people as gifts - it is worth a lot of money.
The wise men believed Jesus was the King of all Kinds, so gold was the right gift to give this King.
Mary and Joseph were poor. The gold could be used to help them live and to buy animals or food.
Research some gold facts of your own!
Show the gift of FRANKINCENSE
Gift for a Priest
The High Priest in the Tabernacle would burn frankincense on an altar as a symbol of prayers sent to Heaven.
Jesus is like a high priest in Heaven. He does special work in Heaven for us like removing our sins when we pray for forgiveness.
Frankincense was very expensive and when sold the money could help Jesus and his family live in Egypt.
Can you find out any other facts about frankincense?
Show the gift of Myrrh
Gift for a Saviour
Myrrh was used for healing
Jesus is our Saviour who heals and saves us from our sins
See if you can research any other Myrrh facts
Sing along with this video then watch the story of the 3 Wisemen: