Teach your preschoolers that everyone is a neighbor through interactive games and Bible crafts, plus much more!

The ideas below may help you when teaching a lesson about learning who your neighbors are and how to love your neighbor. Feel free to use these ideas to supplement your current curriculum or to make your own lesson.

Story Suggestion

Teach children that the Bible says that we should love our neighbors. Our neighbors do not have to be the person living right next door to us, but can be anyone in our community who is in need. Helping the community and others can be as simple as being polite to someone or helping a senior citizen clean up their yard in the spring. You can talk about the different things the church does to help others and things that children can do to make a difference.

Game Ideas

Community Helper Charades

Directions: On slips of paper, write down as many community helpers that you can think of. This can include teacher, veterinarian, doctor, nurse, preacher, mother, father, grocer, farmer and even the trash collector. Explain how each helper makes a difference in the community. Call the children up one by one and let them draw a slip of paper. Have them act out the community helper. The child that guesses correctly will play next.

Mirror, Mirror

This game shows children that what they do affects others.

Directions: Have children get into pairs. You will then call out activities such as "brushing your teeth" and the children will act it out as if they are looking into a mirror. Both partners must do the exact movement.

Snacks

A good snack for this lesson would be:

Homemade Rice Krispy Treats

Follow the directions for rice krispy treats and have the children use cookie cutters to cut the treats into heart shapes. Wrap one up to take home and let them share it with a neighbor.

Another good snack for this lesson would be:

Heart Shaped Sandwiches

Make simple sandwiches using turkey or ham and cheese. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut them into a heart shape.

Art Center Ideas

Neighbor Paper House

Materials:

• Construction paper
• Pictures of people cut from magazines
• Markers
• Glue

Directions: Cut a basic house shape out of construction paper and cut out several windows and doors. Have the children select pictures of people from magazines and glue them in the windows and doors. Let them decorate the house with markers.

Love Your Neighbor Person

Materials:

• Empty toilet paper tubes
• Construction paper
• Glue
• Yarn
• Wiggly eyes
• Scraps of fabric

Directions: Have your children think of a neighbor who has helped him or her in some way. This could be a favorite teacher, a doctor or even mom or dad. Wrap the toilet paper tubes in construction paper, add a face and have the children use fabric, buttons and other craft supplies to decorate the tube.

Suggested Prayer

Dear Lord, please help me love my neighbors both far and wide. Amen.

See more Sunday School lesson ideas and great Bible crafts here!