This lesson is designed to encourage children to be thankful for God around Thanksgiving. It encourages kids to focus on the love of Christ by using the verse, Psalm 107:1. This lesson would be best utilized in a Sunday School or Kid’s Church Setting.
Objective: To teach kids to be thankful for the love of Christ
Targeted Age Group: Elementary Students
Memory Verse: At this point the kids can recite the verse that they took home last week. Give them this verse to take home and memorize, “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 107:1, ESV)
Prayer: Dear God, thank you for our friends and family as we gather together to celebrate Thanksgiving. Help us to dig deep into your word and to continually be thankful for the deep love that you have for us. We love you LORD, amen.
Worship: Please note: if you do not have a copy of these songs then you can find them on YouTube for free.
- One Way
- You are My All in All
- Thankful
Game: Bobbing for Apples: fill a bin with water and place as many apples in the bin as there are children. The children need to stick their faces into the bin and pick up an apple using only their teeth. They can keep the apple once they pick it up.
Lesson Reinforcement: Print out a picture of a cross, a picture that says, “He has risen,” and a picture of a heart (symbolizing love). Have three pumpkins and as you talk about each of these picture pin the pictures to the pumpkins using a thumbtack.
Lesson: Does anybody know why we celebrate Thanksgiving? (give them time to answer). We celebrate Thanksgiving because God has provided us with a good harvest. Do you know what a harvest is? (give them time to answer). A harvest is the food that grows, but today we are going to talk about something else we should be thankful for. We should be thankful for Jesus and the deep love that He has for us.
Jesus loves us so much that he died on the cross for us, does anybody know why He did this? (give them time to answer). Jesus died on the cross for us because we are sinners, we do things that are bad and sin separates us from God. What does it mean to be separated from God? (give them time to answer), it means that we can’t be close to him. This made God sad and so God came up with a plan, He sent His Perfect Son, Jesus, to earth to pay the punishment of death so that we can be close to God once again.
Is that the end of the story? (give them time to answer). You are right, it is not the end of the story because Jesus rose from the dead. Do you know what it means to rise from the dead? (give them time to answer). It means that Jesus came back to life and the reason He came back to life is because He is perfect and therefore death could not keep Him.
Isn’t it amazing that Jesus had such a deep love for each of you that He was willing to die for you? His love is deep, wide, and perfect. He loves you more than you can ever imagine. We should celebrate Jesus’ love for us because it is the best gift that we have ever been given!
The Bible says,
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 107:1).
Questions:
- Why did Jesus die for us? (Answer: Because He loves us)
- Why should we celebrate Jesus’ love? (Answer: Because it is the best gift we have ever been given)
- How does it make you feel knowing that Jesus loves you?
Application: You can talk to God whenever you want, it’s called prayer. The next time that you are praying you should thank Jesus for the amazing love that He has for you!
Craft: Give each kid a pumpkin and permanent markers. Have them write or draw all of the things that they want to thank God for this Thanksgiving.
Snack Suggestion: Pumpkin pie and apple juice
I love this site, thank you to ministry to children, I’m a child care provider and the children in my care don’t go to church so they don’t know much about Jesus except Christmas and Easter. Your site has helped me teach them through play and activities. The lessons are simple and easy to teach, but more over easy for them to understand.
Thank you so much, Cherry