Jesus Loves the Little Children

Preschool Sunday School Lesson Ideas

May 31, 2007 Denise Oliveri

Jesus wanted the little children to surround him. He gave them hugs and blessed them. Teach your preschoolers that Jesus loves them, too, with these ideas.

The ideas below may help you teach a lesson on Jesus Loves the Little Children. Feel free to use these ideas to supplement your current curriculum or to make your own lesson.

Story Suggestion

Jesus (Matthew 19:13-15)

Suggested Songs

"Jesus Loves the Little Children."

"Oh How He Loves You and Me."

Find lyrics to many great Sunday School songs!

Game Ideas

Newspaper Walk

Instructions: Players line up behind a starting line about 15 feet from a turning line. Give each player two squares cut from newspaper. At the signal, the children place the newspapers on the floor, one in front of the other. They must then place one foot on the first square and the other foot on the second square. To move forward to the turning line, pick up the rear newspaper square, move it in front of the other, step forward on to it, then continue this way to the turning line. When a player reaches the turning line, have them say their memory verse, "Jesus loves the little children." Then they must go back to the beginning. Preschoolers will need some direction for this game, but they will have lots of fun playing it, even if they do not get the actions exactly right.

The Biggest and the Smallest

Instructions: Divide the students into groups of 2 or 3. Instruct your students to conduct a search for the smallest and largest items in various categories. For example, have them find the smallest book in the classroom and the biggest book in the classroom. Keep a record of their findings.

Snacks

A good snack for this lesson would be "Bible" graham crackers.

Items Needed: 2 graham crackers for each child, peanut butter, and a tube of white icing.

Directions: Make a graham cracker and peanut butter sandwich. Take the icing and outline the sandwich. Finally, with the tube of icing write "Bible" in the center of the top graham cracker.

Another good snack could be painted cookies.

Items Needed: Sugar cookie dough (Pillsbury works great), egg whites, food coloring, sprinkles, and clean/new paint brushes.

Directions: Mix food coloring with an egg white. Give each child a slice of cookie dough and a paintbrush. Let them decorate their cookie with the food coloring mixture. Top off with sprinkles. Bake according to package directions (either using the church oven or a toaster oven that is constantly monitored by the teacher).

Art Center Ideas

Jesus' Crown

Materials:

• Green paper plates
• Construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue

Directions:

1. Cut eight flower shapes from construction paper.
2. Cut a slit in the center of each paper plate and then cut it in triangle slices like a pie. Bend the triangle shapes up to form leaves.
3. Glue the flowers onto the tips of the leaves.

Sugar Cube Cross

Materials:

• 15 sugar cubes per child
• 1 strip of green construction paper 6 inches long 3/4 inches high
• White Glue , a glue stick, or just a bit of water to make the cubes stick together (water seems to work best for small children)

Directions:

1. Cut the green construction paper so that one long edge is jagged (to look like grass).
2. Glue 9 cubes into a 3x3 square. This will be the base of the cross.
3. Take the remaining cubes and glue 4 into a row.
4. Take the remaining cubes and glue them to each side of the row so that a cross is formed.
5. After the glue on the base is dried, glue the green construction paper to the base so that it surrounds the base.
6. Glue the cross to the middle cube of the base.

Suggested Prayer (or do your own)

God will always love me. No matter what I do. He will take good care of me. And take good care of you.

Visit God Made Families and God Made Me for more great Sunday School lesson ideas!

The copyright of the article Jesus Loves the Little Children in Protestantism is owned by Denise Oliveri. Permission to republish Jesus Loves the Little Children in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Jesus with little children