Psalm 23:3 Brief Explanation

Directions

1. Have the kids pick two colors of construction paper and cut out one big heart and one heart that is just a little smaller than the first one. (see the picture).

2. Give them some bandaids and have them create a cross in the middle of their heart as the picture shows.

3. One thing that will be different than the picture is that the kids should write “He restores” instead of “Jesus heals”. Then they can write little things that are examples in ways that God restores our soul and life. They can decorate the heart however they want beyond that.

4. Lastly, on the backside of the heart, kids should write all of Psalms 23 that they know so far “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lay down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me down the path of righteousness for His name sake.”

Directions

1. Decorate the plate (or paper, cut into a circle) to resemble a compass. Be as creative as you like with markers and stickers, and add a verse or caption to remind yourself of the significance of the compass.
2. Cut out a small arrow shape from construction paper and on the arrow write “Path of Righteousness” .

3. Carefully poke a hole in the plate, after lining up where the fastener might need to go.

4. Place the brad through the paper arrow and the plate, creating a compass that “points the way” to Christ.

Directions

1. Have the kids break up into two teams.
2. With one team member blindfolded, set up chairs to block their path.
3. Have their team members guide them around the chairs, telling them when to stop, go, turn, etc.

Directions

HIDE AND SEEK SHEEP: Tell all the children to run and hide in a designated area. ONE child will be the Shepherd and as the Shepherd finds each "sheep", he will bring him to a gated area for the sheep to stay until the end of the game. When the "sheep" are found, they can "baa baa" while waiting for other "sheep" to be found and put in the gate (the "gate" can be formed with chairs or even colored tape on the floor, etc).

CIRCLE OF SHEEP: One child can be the Shepherd who will stand in the middle of the circle of sheep. The teacher will walk around the outside edge of the sheep circle and pat each sheep on the back and will "secretly" place a sticker on the back of one child without anyone knowing who she picked for the ONE SHEEP that the Shepherd will find. Then the "Shepherd" will guess who has the sticker - that "sheep" will turn around and let the shepherd see if the sticker is on his back; if not, the Shepherd will continue to look for his "sheep" with the sticker. IF the sheep with the sticker is found by the Shepherd, then that sheep will become the new Shepherd and that Shepherd will go back into the circle of sheep. The teacher can continue to place a sticker on different children as time allows. (Make sure to take the used sticker off before continuing to play the game).

COUNTING SHEEP: Divide the children into 2 teams. Give each team a poster board and markers. Teacher will say START. ...or BEGIN and each team will see who can draw 99 sheep in the quickest time. (Provide some M & M's or something small for all their hard work)!

SHEEP GAME: Put a little Vaseline on each child's nose and let them see how many cotton balls they can get stuck on their face and nose in the allotted time that the teacher gives them. Make sure to take a class picture of all the "sheep"! If time allows, the children can then see if they can run back and forth to get cotton balls from their noses to stick on an outlined picture of a SHEEP on the other side of the room. The teacher can have some Vaseline smeared on the outline of the sheep on the poster board for children to stick their cotton balls from their noses on the board -- no hands allowed!

COTTON BALL SHEEP: Give each child an outline of a sheep or the older children could draw a sheep on their own. Glue pieces of cotton on their sheep. Children can then use markers to draw grass, sky, sun, etc and write JESUS NEVER GIVES UP ON A LOST SHEEP.

SHEEP SKIT: Let children act out a skit of today's lesson - some children being the sheep (down on all fours) and one child to be the shepherd and one child as the LOST sheep - hiding somewhere for the Shepherd to find it at that part of the Bible story.