Thank You God For . . .  

Thanksgiving Lessons, Games, and Craft Activities

Thank You, God for my Ears

Activity: What's in the box?
Materials: Three small boxes containing different items.

Have the children take turns shaking the boxes and guessing what may be in them. Ask them how you can find out what is really in each one. Open each box and discuss if guesses were correct or not, and why. Talk about how God made our ears so that we could hear the beautiful things all around us!

Activity: Ways we make music
Talk about the different ways we are able to make music for people to hear (whistle, hum, sing, etc.) Choose a song that everyone knows well and let the group try making music for the song in different ways.

Activity: Make musical instruments
Materials: Plastic Eggs, Rice and Beans, Scotch Tape, Music with player. H

Help the children make shakers using the materials provided. Play the music and let the children sing and play their instruments!

Activity: What's that noise?
Materials: Different Items Needed to Make Noises: balloons, coins, a bell, a book. 

Have the children close their eyes and turn their heads while you make certain noises (whistle, drop a book on the table, jingle coins, pop a balloon, ring a bell, etc.) Have children guess the object making the noise.

Activity: Listening
Materials: Plain paper, 1 per child; Crayons.

Give each child a plain piece of paper and some crayons. Tell the children that God gave them their ears to listen with. Tell them that they need to listen to your instructions carefully so that they can do this activity. Give the following instructions slowly and clearly, allowing enough time for the children to complete the activities:
1. Draw a blue circle in the middle of your paper.
2. Draw a red flower inside the blue circle.
3. Draw a sunshine on the bottom of your paper.
4. Draw a green heart somewhere on your paper.
5. Write your name on the back of your paper.

Activity: Time to Listen
Materials: A Clock
Hide a clock that ticks loudly. Have the children find the clock by listening for the ticking sound!

Thank You, God, for my Eyes

Art Activity: Rainbow Mobiles
Materials: Paper Plates, cut in half (1 per child); Paper Streamers; Tape; Crayons.
Ask the children if they have ever seen a rainbow. Tell them that a rainbow happens when light shines through tiny raindrops and is bent. The light bends in certain ways that make it glow in different colors and form a rainbow in the sky. Make colorful rainbow mobiles by having the children color the paper plate rims and attach streamers to it. Then, loop a piece of yarn through the top to make a mobile. Say a prayer together to thank God for the beautiful colors He gave us and for our eyes to see his beautiful world.

Lesson: Storybook
Materials: Book About Sight.
Read the book out loud to the children and talk about how some people cannot see well and must wear glasses, or contacts. Talk about how some people are blind and must read Braille. Explain Braille and let children feel the example. Talk about other aids blind people may use, such as seeing-eye dogs and canes. Let the children know that God made our eyes and He takes care of all of us. God takes special care of those who cannot see, and He has promised that they will be able to see in Heaven!

Art Activity: Visors
Materials: Sun-visors, 1 per child; Stickers.
Talk with the children about the importance of protecting your eyes from the sun. Help the children decorate the sun-visors with stickers and wear them home to help protect their eyes.

Game: "I Spy With My Little Eye."
1. Teacher looks around the room and finds something red, but doesn't tell the children what it is.
2. Teacher says, "I spy with my little eye something that is red."
3. The children try to guess what it is the teacher has seen.
4. Children take turns doing the "spying." (Have each child whisper to you what they are looking at, or they may keep changing their object to keep others from guessing it J)

Song: O Be Careful
Sing this song with the children and have them do motions to it.
O be careful little eyes, what you see
O be careful little eyes, what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love,
So be careful little eyes, what you see!

Ears. what you hear
Mouth. what you say
Hands. what you do
Feet. where you go

Thank You, God, for my Nose

EVEN THOUGH THERE IS NO SCHEDULED "STORY" TODAY, REINFORCE THE FACT THAT GOD
GIVES US GOOD THINGS BECAUSE HE LOVES US. REMIND THE CHILDREN OFTEN THAT GOD
GAVE US THE SENSE OF SMELL TO HELP US STAY SAFE AND HAPPY :o)

Activity: What's that smell?
Materials: Several different items for the children to smell.
Let the children take turns smelling each item and guessing what it is. Show and tell them what each item is before they smell the next item. Tell the children that God gave them the sense of smell so that they could enjoy smelling pleasant things, like roses and cookies baking, and also so they could tell when they were near danger! We can smell if a skunk is nearby or if something is burning. Say a prayer together to thank God for our noses and our sense of smell.

Craft: Sweet Flower
Materials: Precut flower shapes, 1 set per child; Cotton Balls; Spray Cologne; Glue; Plain Paper, 1 per child.

Help the children put the shapes together to form a flower on their papers. Help them glue the pieces on. Next, put glue on the cotton for them and help them stick the cotton to the center of their flowers. Help the children spray the cologne on their flowers, then set aside to dry well until time to go home.

Activity: Taste Test
Materials: Items to smell from the first activity.
Tell the children that how something smells may tell you what it would taste like. Let the children smell each thing and decide if it would be something they would want to eat or not. Next, ask them if they've ever seen anyone hold their nose when they are taking medicine. Tell the children that if you hold your nose when you eat something, it loses part of its taste! God made our senses of taste and smell work together!

Activity: I dink I bite hab a code
Tell the children that everything in their heads is connected: ears, nose, throat, etc. Tell them that when they get a cold, their ears may sound stuffy and they may talk a little funny. Say the following to the children, one line at a time and have them repeat it to you in their "cold" voices!

I dink I bite hab a code.
By ears are stunfy and by dose is rudding.
I keep coughing and sdeezing all the dime.
Yep, I dink I bite hab a code.

Thank You, God for my Mouth!

Activity: Taste Test
Materials: One food item per child.
Let the kids taste different items without knowing what they are and have them guess what each item is.

Taking care of your Mouth
Talk about taking good care of your mouth by brushing your teeth. Give each child a new toothbrush.

Prayer of Thanks
Talk about the different things you can do with your mouth: sing, talk, eat, whistle, yell, give kisses to mom and dad, blow (on hot food, or on a dandelion), pray, etc. Say a prayer to thank God for your mouth. 

Sing "If You're Happy and You Know It," use the following actions:
If you're happy and you know, sing "la la"~ "la la!"
If you're happy and you know say "hello" ~ "hello"
If you're happy and you know it, pretend to eat~ "yum, yum!"
If you're happy and you know it, try to whistle~ "whool-whool"
If you're happy and you know it, give a yell~ "yahoo!"
If you're happy and you know it, say a prayer, "Amen!"
If you're happy and you know it, blow a kiss, "Mmmwahh!"

Make a Mouth Collage
Materials: Magazines, Scissors, Glue, Construction Paper
Cut mouths from old magazines and let the kids make collages. 
Write the Bible Verse: Job 8:21, "He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy."

Thank You, God, for my Hands and Feet

Activity: Finger Painting
Materials: Finger paint, Plain Paper, Bucket of Water, Paper Towels, Garbage Bag Cover Ups.

Tell the children that God gave them hands and feet! Talk about all the different things you use your hands and feet for, then say a prayer together to thank God for them. Cover the children's clothing with the garbage bags and then let them finger paint. Use the bucket of water and paper towels to clean up. Take the children to the bathroom to clean up more if necessary. Place the paintings in the window sills to dry.

Activity: Footsteps Bible Verse
Materials: Bible Verse Feet Cutouts [Make these by cutting out foot shapes and
writing each word of a memory verse on one of the feet shapes], Masking Tape.

Tell the children that we can use our feet to go to places we shouldn't be, or we can use our feet to go to good, happy places~ like church or Grandma's house, etc. Have the children help you tape the memory verse feet to the carpet in the hall and then take turns walking on the feet as you say each word of the verse.

Game: Keep It Up
Materials: Balloons

Have the children try and keep a balloon up in the air. When it comes down, have them get on their knees and try to keep it up. When it comes down, have them sit on the floor and keep it up. Next, have them lie down and use their feet to keep it up. BE CAREFUL TO PLACE CHILDREN WHERE THEY CANNOT KICK OTHER CHILDREN!

Activity: Hop, Skip, and Jump
Tell the children to walk, hop, skip, etc. until you say "Stop!" Then they should freeze. Remind the children that it is very important to stop when parents tell them to because they could be walking into danger.

Activity: Helping Hands Relay Game
Materials: Laundry Basket, Items of Clothing

Line the children up and place the clothing items at one end of the line and the basket at the other end. Tell the children that when everyone helps with something, it is easier! Give the first child an item of clothing and have him pass it to the next child, and on down the line until the last child puts the clothing into the basket. Continue until all clothing is in the basket. Remind the children to use their hands and feet to help this week!

Copyright 2004 Angie Simmons
nazkidsinaction@yahoo.com

Return to the Sermons and Lessons page.

You can make a difference!
Your purchases and donations to the site help to distribute our children's ministry resources to churches across the world.

Subscribe to our Newsletter - Learn More

Site Map