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How Do Great Things Start?

Unit 15 / Lesson 1

How Do Great Things Start?

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Teacher's Prep

  • Games

    • Breakfast Scramble

      • See this YouTube video to see how the game works

      • Find one cereal box per 8-10 children. Note: you can make two puzzles out of one cereal box, because a cereal box normally has two usable sides, which are the largest faces of the box with pictures on them.

      • If you don't have a cereal box, any colorful picture will do, e.g. from a magazine. You can also print something out. A cereal box has the benefit of thicker paper, vivid colors, and a familiar picture.

      • Make a reasonable number of puzzle pieces, e.g. a 6x6 grid. Pieces do not have to be perfectly rectangular. You can cut pieces freely without worrying about their exact size and shape. Between 35-40 pieces per puzzle should be good.

      • Set up tables so that each table can have 4-5 children working on a single puzzle. In the absence of tables, this game can also be played on the floor.

    • Balloon Caterpillar

      • For the concept of the game, watch this video:

      • Materials: 

        • One balloon per child, with a few spares besides.

        • Four chairs.

      • For a smoother experience, you will want to have the balloons inflated before the lesson.

    • Oven Mitt Challenge

      • Materials:

        • Two tables

        • Two sets of oven mitts

        • Hershey Kisses -- at least one per child.

      • Please watch this video for a minute starting at the 2:00 mark to see what the game is like:

  • Main Activity: Movie Night Part 2

    • Materials (optional): snacks, such as popcorn and drinks

    • Note: it is normally illegal to play a regular movie in a classroom setting. However, there are legal alternatives:

    • You can search Youtube for the "VeggieTales Official" channel, and select a full-length VeggieTales film.

    • You can make a trial account on Rightnow Media and search the selection of Christian videos for children. You may be interested in The Adventures of Ryan Defrates, season 1, episode 1.

    • There are other shows, such as 3-2-1 Penguins and Superbook, which can be watched for free on YouTube.


    Intro

    SLIDE 1

  • Gathering

    • How was your week?

  • SLIDE 2

  • Intro Game: Breakfast Scramble

    • Instructions

      • Teacher: you may want to set up tables with a puzzle on each one, so that each group of 4-5 can access their puzzle.

      • We'll start our lesson with a game! It's called Breakfast Scramble. We'll form teams of about 4 people, and your team will put a puzzle together. We'll see how quickly you can finish the puzzle.

      • Teacher: you may want to play multiple rounds, with the children switching stations each round so that they have a fresh picture to work with.

    • Debrief

      • In this game we played, we started off with a bunch of pieces. The pieces were a bit confusing when we first started. But we kept putting them together, and every piece fit together in the end.

  • Relevance

    SLIDE 3

    • And that's a bit like real life. When we start following Jesus, we’ll be confused about a lot of things. But, sooner or later we will see how everything works together. It's just more challenging in the beginning when you don't see what's ahead. So it helps to know that we are on the right track. It helps to know the little things are just the beginning of something great.

  • SLIDE 4

  • Big Question

    • Our big question today is: how do great things start?

  • Big Idea

    • Our big idea today is: Great things start small.

      • Great things start small in our hearts and minds.

      • So, we do small acts of love with our heart, and we look after small details with our minds.

  • Series Intro

    • Our Bible story today will be from the book of Esther. We’ll be studying the book of Esther for the next couple of months.

    SLIDE 5

    • The book is about a girl named Esther who eventually became the queen of her country. But, actually, the biggest hero in the book is her cousin Mordecai. Mordecai made Esther great and powerful, and by the end of the book Mordecai was actually greater and more powerful than the queen. Our lesson today will be more about Mordecai.

  • Bible Reference

    • Our story today is about a time when the King of Persia was looking for a new queen. So, he held a big beauty contest to see who would be the next queen.

    SLIDE 6

    • Esther 2:5a, 2:7-11 (CEV)

      • 5 At this time a Jew named Mordecai was living in Susa. . . . 

      • 7 Mordecai had a very beautiful cousin named Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah. He had raised her as his own daughter, after her father and mother died. 8 When the king ordered the search for beautiful women, many were taken to the king’s palace in Susa, and Esther was one of them. Hegai was put in charge of all the women,

    SLIDE 7

    • 9 and from the first day, Esther was his favorite. He began her beauty treatments at once. He also gave her plenty of food and seven special maids from the king’s palace, and they had the best rooms.

    SLIDE 8

    • 10 Mordecai had warned Esther not to tell anyone that she was a Jew, and she obeyed him.


    Point 1

  • The first thing we learn from our Bible story is:

    • Great things start with small acts of love.

  • Game: Balloon Caterpillar

    • Instructions

      • Let’s start this point with a game. It’s called the Balloon Caterpillar! Let's watch how it works.

    SLIDE 9

    SLIDE 10

    • Everyone on your team will have balloons in between them.

    • We will set up four chairs at the corners of the room, and your goal as a team will be to have one person touch all four chairs before your caterpillar falls apart. If your caterpillar falls apart, you need to start again at zero, and try to reach all four chairs.

    • Teacher: form teams of about 4-5 each.

    • Debrief

    SLIDE 11

    • We played this game because it really makes us think about our team. We can't just think about ourselves. We really need to think about the person closest to us. That’s the only way to win, if we can work together as a team.

    • Our Bible story is about a man named Mordecai who didn't just think about himself, but he thought about his cousin who needed him. Let's read a bit from our story again.

  • Bible Reference

    SLIDE 12

    • Esther 2:7 (CEV)

    • Mordecai had a very beautiful cousin named Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah. He had raised her as his own daughter, after her father and mother died.


  • Explanation

    • This verse tells us that Esther’s parents had died. So, her cousin Mordecai decided to take care of Esther. That was a really big choice that Mordecai made. It's a lot of work to raise a child who is not your own.

    SLIDE 13

    • Imagine if you’re Mordecai: every time you want to play, you have to help your baby cousin with their homework, or cook for them or clean up after them and you have to spend money on them.

    SLIDE 14

    • If you have parents who do these things for you, you should give them a hug and say thank-you. It will make their day.

    • It's a lot of work to take care of someone. But, the reason Mordecai was okay with doing all the work was because he knew God wanted him to do it, and he knew that God is good to those who trust Him.

    SLIDE 15

    • Later on in the story, God used that special friendship between Mordecai and Esther to save thousands of lives. But, at the beginning of the book, Mordecai just didn't know it yet. He was just doing small acts of love every day.

  • Application

    • That's how it works with us. Little acts of love lead to big things later on. Without little acts of love, the big moments don't happen.

    SLIDE 16

    • So, we should always try to show love in small ways. We should pay special attention to the people nobody cares about. Maybe nobody else will notice, but God will notice, and He will use those little acts of love for bigger things.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 17

    • Let's pause for a discussion question:

      • What is something small you can do for people this week?


    Point 2

  • Our second point is, great things start with small details

  • Game: Oven Mitt Race

    • Instructions

      • Teacher's setup:

        • Two tables

        • One pair of oven mitts for each table

        • One or two Hershey Kisses per child

      • Let's start this point with a game! It's called the Oven Mitt Race!

    SLIDE 18

    SLIDE 19

    • In this game we'll have two teams, and each team will have one table and two oven mitts.

    • The goal of this game is to have everyone on your team unwrap a Hershey Kiss using the oven mitts.

    • You will unwrap one, and then you pass the oven mitts to someone else. 

    • If you get really stuck, you can pass your mitts to someone else.

    • When you have unwrapped all the Hershey Kisses, you win! Your team can share the candy as a snack.

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because it's about the little details. We had to look for the tiniest opening in the candy wrapper, and work on that. And,once we worked on that opening, it became bigger and things got easier.

      • So in real life, the little details matter because they lead to bigger things. That's what Mordecai knew in our Bible story, and what's why he gave Esther a piece of advice. Let's read from our Bible story again.

  • Bible Reference

    SLIDE 20

    • Esther 2:10 (CEV)

      • Mordecai had warned Esther not to tell anyone that she was a Jew, and she obeyed him.

  • Explanation

    • Mordecai was a very wise man. He really loved God, but he knew the details of what was going on. He knew that it was the wrong time for Esther to talk about herself. She was a Jew, which means her people had a special relationship with God. And that’s a great thing, but sometimes it’s the wrong time to talk about these things.

    SLIDE 21

    • See, Esther was in a beauty contest, but if you know the details it was actually a really horrible beauty contest because none of the girls were going home afterwards. They were all stuck in the king's palace for the rest of their lives. They had been taken away from their families, and they could never marry another man other than the king. Only one of the girls would become the queen. Esther needed to become queen, so she needed to stay quiet about being a Jew. If she let people know her secret, they could do mean things to her.

  • Application

    • Even nowadays, it's normally the wrong time to talk about God! If you're in a classroom and people are doing schoolwork, it's probably the wrong time to talk about God. If you're outside and people are playing games, it's probably the wrong time to talk about God.

    SLIDE 22

    • The best time to talk is usually when you're eating with someone and you're having a conversation about life. If you're friends with someone, those conversations happen. Then, you can talk, and people will listen to whatever you have to say.

    • But you need to know when to talk and what to talk about. So, you need to be wise like Mordecai. You need to pay attention to details.

    SLIDE 23

    • So, keep learning, and keep trying to get better at whatever you do. Pay attention to the details, because small details make you wise and good at helping people.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 24

    • What's something you'd like to learn a lot more about?

      • Let's pray that God will use our learning to help people.


    Conclusion

  • SLIDE 25

  • Let’s wrap up our lesson by going over the big ideas again. 

  • Our big idea today was: Great things start small. 

  • So, we do small acts of love with our heart, and we look after small details with our minds.


    Main Activity (Movie Night Part 2)

    SLIDE 26

  • And now it's time for our main activity. Today is our second movie day! In a moment, we'll keep watching our movie.

  • A movie reminds us that sometimes little things matter, especially in the beginning. Little attitudes in our heart make a big difference in what we choose. And, little details matter too. If we’re sharp with little details, they can save us from a lot of trouble.

  • Now let's keep watching!

  • Teacher: if you had a movie from the previous week, you may want to continue where you left off. Otherwise, you may want to pick a second short film, or do another activity.

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