Unit 15 / Lesson 6
Leadership
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Teacher's Prep
Games
Scoop the Snowballs
Watch this video to see what it is like
Materials (for each group of four):
1 bowl
2 large spoons
1 table
About 50 cotton balls
A blindfold
Note: instead of a single scoop which you see in the video, each player will have two large spoons. This adjustment should make the game easier for young children.
You will want to have this game set up before the lesson starts
Electricity
Watch this instructional video before the lesson (about 3 minutes long)
You will need an object to grab, like a stuffed animal or a paper cup. It is probably best if this object is on a chair, so people don't bump heads while reaching down.
Matchstick Puzzles
For every four children, print the two pages of puzzles at the end of this lesson (see appendix).
Materials needed:
about 50 toothpicks per child. Toothpicks are preferable to matchsticks because they are not a fire hazard.
Main Activity (Fancy Hot Chocolate):
Suggested ingredients
Hot chocolate powder
Mini marshmallows
Sprinkles
Candy canes
Whipped cream
Caramel sauce or chocolate sauce
Suggested equipment
Cups
Spoons for mixing
A source of hot water.
A large water heater would allow you to serve many cups of water at an appropriate temperature. Alternatively, you may be able to heat up water in a microwave or in a pot.
Intro
SLIDE 1
Gathering
How was your week?
Intro Game: Scoop the Snowballs Challenge
Instructions
Setup
For every group of four, set up
A table
A bowl
2 large spoons
About 50 cotton balls
A blindfold
A table
A bowl
2 large spoons
About 50 cotton balls
A blindfold
We’ll start our lesson with a game! It's the Scoop the Snowballs Challenge!
SLIDE 2
Let's watch a video to see what it is like:
SLIDE 3
Here's how it works. You will be in teams of 4. In each of your teams, you will gather around a table, and you will take turns being blindfolded and scooping the snowballs into a bowl.
Each of you will have two minutes to scoop as many snowballs as you can. You won’t be able to see the snowballs, but your teammates can give you hints! You can use two spoons at the same time to make it easier.
Teacher: run four rounds of the game so that each child can have a turn. Each child will have two minutes to get as many snowballs as they can into their bowl.
Debrief
In this game we played, sometimes we needed to listen to instructions, and sometimes we needed to help other people with instructions.
You could say, sometimes we needed other people to lead us, and sometimes it was our turn to lead.
But could you imagine what the game would be like if nobody gave you instructions? It would be so hard! We need someone to lead us. A good leader makes a big difference.
Relevance
SLIDE 4
And life is like that too. We all need leaders. And, eventually we all need to BE leaders. But the quality of the leader really matters.
A bad leader will make things harder for everyone.
An okay leader won't make much of a difference.
But, a great leader can help a lot of people.
And we can all become great leaders.
SLIDE 5
Big Question
Our big question today is: what makes a great leader?
Big Idea
Our big idea today is that great leaders have:
1. A hurting heart, and
2. A multiplying mind
Bible Reference
We’ll see this in the book of Esther.
Let's watch a quick video that helps us understand the whole book of Esther.
SLIDE 6
Teacher: show this YouTube video:
Esther - Bible Story, by Saddleback Kids
Today we're going to focus on the end of the story that we watched.
Now let’s read it from the Bible. Our Bible story today is about what happened right after they got rid of Haman.
SLIDE 7
Esther 8:1-8 (CEV)
1 Before the end of the day, King Xerxes gave Esther everything that had belonged to Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Esther told the king that Mordecai was her cousin. So the king made Mordecai one of his highest officials 2 and gave him the royal ring that Haman had worn. Then Esther put Mordecai in charge of Haman’s property.
SLIDE 8
3 Once again Esther went to speak to the king. This time she fell down at his feet, crying and begging, “Please stop Haman’s evil plan to have the Jews killed!” 4 King Xerxes held out the golden scepter to Esther, 5 and she got up and said, “Your Majesty, I know that you will do the right thing and that you really love me. Please stop what Haman has planned. He has already sent letters demanding that the Jews in all your provinces be killed, 6 and I can’t bear to see my people and my own relatives destroyed.”
SLIDE 9
7 King Xerxes then said to Esther and Mordecai, “I have already ordered Haman to be hanged and his house given to Esther, because of his evil plans to kill the Jews. 8 I now give you permission to make a law that will save the lives of your people. You may use my ring to seal the law, so that it can never be changed.”
Point 1
The first thing we learn from our story is that:
Great leaders have a hurting heart.
Game: Electricity
Instructions
Let's start this point with a game. It's called "Electricity." Let's see how it works
SLIDE 10
Teacher: play the first 1:30 of this video:
Electricity, by Youth Ministry Great Games
SLIDE 11
Teacher: While the video is playing, set up a chair at one end of the room with an easily grabbed object (e.g. paper cup, plastic water bottle, or stuffed animal)
The first thing you need to do is find a partner! You and your partner will go on opposite teams.
Your teams will line up, so that I can squeeze your hand on one end, and you will be able to grab the object at the other end.
If your team is the first to grab the object, your team wins the round. BUT, if I don't squeeze, and you grab the object, the OTHER team wins the round. So, you need to be careful to only pass the squeeze on when your hand has been squeezed.
Teacher: play several rounds. After each round, the person in front can rotate to the back of the line. That way, everyone will have a chance to be at the front and back of the line. If one team is consistently winning, you may want to add people to the fast team, because more people on a team makes for a slower signal. Or, you may want to shuffle the teams.
Debrief
SLIDE 12
In this game we played, we're all part of a team. And, we have to do our best for each other. Because, if we don't do our job, our whole team will lose.
And that's what it was like for Queen Esther in our story.
Bible Reference
Let's read the first half of our story again.
SLIDE 13
Esther 8:1-3 (CEV)
1 Before the end of the day, King Xerxes gave Esther everything that had belonged to Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Esther told the king that Mordecai was her cousin. So the king made Mordecai one of his highest officials 2 and gave him the royal ring that Haman had worn. Then Esther put Mordecai in charge of Haman’s property.
SLIDE 14
3 Once again Esther went to speak to the king. This time she fell down at his feet, crying and begging, “Please stop Haman’s evil plan to have the Jews killed!”
Explanation
SLIDE 15
Our story tells us that the king got rid of Haman, and the king gave Haman's land and money to Esther and her cousin Mordecai. So, Esther and Mordecai were safe, and they became super rich just like that.
SLIDE 16
But Esther knew that her work wasn't done. There was still a law to kill all of God's people, and she had to go to the king one more time to ask him to help.
Every time Esther went to the king, she was risking her life. There was a law that everyone who went to the king like that would die -- unless the king reached out his golden scepter to save them. If the king thought she was asking too much, he could just let her die. So, the safe thing for Esther to do was just to sit back and enjoy all of Haman’s money.
SLIDE 17
But, instead, Esther risked her life again. She had to go back to the king. She couldn't stand the thought that all of God's people were going to be killed off, even if she was going to be okay. Her heart was hurting for other people. That's the first key to being a great leader. A great leader has a heart that loves other people a lot, even more than they love themselves.
Application
SLIDE 18
Sometimes in life we find ourselves in a spot like Esther was in. We have to pick between helping ourselves and helping other people. Sometimes if you want to help other people, you could get hurt yourself. But great leaders will take a risk to help other people.
Discussion Question
SLIDE 19
Now let's pause for a discussion question:
What’s something that happens to other people that makes you sad?
Teacher: you may want to make this observation to the class:
We all have different things we are sensitive to. God has made us different, and that's a good thing, because we can care about different things and help people in different ways.
Point 2
Now, if we really want to help people, we can't just stop at a hurting heart. That brings us to our second point.
Great leaders have a multiplying mind.
SLIDE 20
Game: Matchstick Puzzles
Instructions
We'll start off this point with some matchstick puzzles. Let's take ten minutes and see how many of these puzzles we can solve as a class.
Teacher: set out puzzle sheets and toothpicks on tables, so that four children can work on each table.
Debrief
We started this point with puzzles because a lot of times leaders have to think like they are solving puzzles. We need to be creative when we are leading people. We also need to spread out the work so that everyone can do their part. That's what Esther and her cousin Mordecai did in our story.
SLIDE 21
Bible Reference
Let's read the last verses of our story. It tells us what the king said to Esther and Mordecai.
Esther 8:8 (CEV)
[The king said:] I now give you permission to make a law that will save the lives of your people. You may use my ring to seal the law, so that it can never be changed.”
Explanation
If you keep reading that chapter of the Bible, you'll see that Esther and Mordecai wrote a new law. And, the new law helped God's people to protect themselves. Esther couldn't fight all the bad guys on her own. But, with her new law, she helped all the good guys to fight for themselves. You could say she had a multiplying mind, because she helped thousands of other people to do their part.
Application
SLIDE 22
We will have to do that too when we become leaders. Sooner or later, we will have to share the work. Great leaders don't just do all the work by themselves. But, they split up the work so that everyone can do their part.
If you want to get better at splitting up problems and working together, it helps to play a lot of games. Games can teach us a lot about life. But, we have to make a point to learn from our games. Don't just play for fun. Treat a game as a lesson for life, and take time to reflect on the lessons you learn. Often you will learn about teamwork, communication, and strategy. That's one of the reasons why we play a lot of games when we’re together. We are sharpening our minds so that one day when we need to solve big problems, we will be ready.
Discussion Question
SLIDE 23
Now let's pause for a couple of discussion questions:
What's your favorite game?
What real-life skills can we learn from the games we play?
Conclusion
Let's wrap up this lesson by going over the big ideas again.
Our Bible story today taught us a lot about leadership.
SLIDE 24
The first thing we learned is that great leaders have a hurting heart. That means we care about other people and it really bothers us when other people are in trouble.
SLIDE 25
The second thing we learned is that great leaders have a multiplying mind. That means we spread out the work, and we help other people to do their part.
And if we can become that kind of leader, then people will want to follow us. We will be able to help a lot of people, and we will be happy in the end because we were leading God's way.
SLIDE 26
Main Activity: Fancy Hot Chocolate
Now it's time for our main activity! Today we are making fancy hot chocolate. We'll be mixing hot chocolate powder in with some water, and we'll be adding toppings to make it more fancy.
When we make hot chocolate we can remember, someone else did the hard work for us. Someone else made all the ingredients, and someone else made all the cups and all the spoons, and we just need to put them together. And that's what great leaders do. Great leaders do the hard work so that someone else can put the last part together. And, we can do that for other people.
Teacher: make fancy hot chocolate with the children.
Appendix
Teacher: In the following pages are Matchstick Puzzles for the beginning of point 2