Nursery Lesson 1 I Am a Child of God
This helpline is for lesson 1 in the I Am a Child of God manual. It helps teachers who use it in the nursery to adapt the lesson to a nursery audience and schedule. It gives the recommended schedule for nursery from the lesson manual and shows where to place each part of the lesson and how to adapt to the needs of nursery age children. Naturally, these are only suggestions. You should take into consideration the needs of your own students as you develop the nursery.
Welcome
During the welcome, greet children and let parents get the child started on an activity. Encourage the parents to leave when the child is settled.
Playtime 35 minutes
Allow the children to play freely during this time. Watch over them and assist when problems arise, but in general, allow them to choose what to do. Follow the instructions given in the front of the manual. If you plan to have a craft, playtime can be a good time to do this. One nursery leader should remain free to watch the children. The others can bring one child at a time to them to do the craft. Not all children will be interested, so have some crafts premade. Don't force a child to do a craft.
Suggested craft for this lesson: Enrichment activity 3, making a crown that says I am a child of God. Do not give the crown to the children to wear, since they will tear it. When they're finished, tell the children it will be placed in a safe place for them to take home later. Be sure to put their names on their crowns.
Gathering time: 10 minutes:
Opening Prayer. Use I Am a Child of God for the opening song, since it's taught in the lesson. The children may not sing, but it should be sung to them. Use the first learning activity after the opening song--the beanbag toss. Then use the second enrichment activity in the additional activities--the verse If You're Very, Very Tall. If you have additional time for gathering, use enrichment actitivy one, showing pictures and asking who is a child of God.
music time: 10 minutes
Teach I am a Child of God. Use simple packet pictures to teach this song--A picture of a child, a home, parents with a child, a child learning from a parent, a picture of Heaven. For a wiggle song, teach Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, which is used in lesson two. There are other wiggle songs in lesson two, so if you have more time, you might want to introduce one of them.
snack time: 10 minutes:
Don't try to teach during snack, but do have a blessing on the food and remind children that Heavenly Father gave us our food because he loves us.
lesson time: 10 minutes
Use the material in the first bold heading:We are Spirit Children of Heavenly Father. Keep this short and simple. Ask children who Heavenly Father is (Most won't answer, so you may have to answer your own question.) Show the picture of the world as you talk. Read Psalm 82:6, even though the children are small. You can invite a child to come up and "help" you read--repeating the words after you as you say them, or just helping you hold the Bible. Next, use the rhyme Heavenly Father Knows Me. Let the children stand so they can wiggle a little. The next section, We can be like Heavenly Father, can be done with a few pictures of baby animals.
The last section is rather long. Tell briefly about Moses, using pictures. Then do the action rhyme, Little Baby Moses, with the children. Tell them Miriam's work was to take care of Moses. Moses' work, when he grew up, was to be a leader. Tell them Heavenly Father has work for them to. You can then do the activity in the last section in which each child comes up and repeats the phrase from Moses 1:6. Most children won't do it, so you'll need to just say it. If there is time, play I Lived in Heaven on the CD while you show pictures. Nursery children love pictures.
activity time: 15 minutes
Begin this with the pantomime game at the very end of the lesson, in which children act out what they want to be when they grow up. Many children won't participate, but that's okay. Have pictures of the things you want to do, instead of asking them, and show them how to do it.
Repeat the action verses the children liked best.
Play a group game, which doesn't have to be on the topic of the lesson. For instance, you might have them put a very soft ball on a small blanket. The children gather around, holding the blanket, and bounce it to make the ball bounce. When the game ends, tell them it makes Heavenly Father happy when they play so well together.
Closing: 10 minutes
Review the parts of the lesson the children liked best. Little ones will happily do the same thing over and over, so don't worry about repeating. It just makes it more familiar to them. Use Enrichment Activity 2, teaching that Heavenly Father knows and cares about each child. Then use enrichment three. You already made the crown, so after the explanation, help the children put the crowns on their heads to show their parents. Have the closing prayer and gather anything the children made during the day. If you send home a newsletter, have it ready. While the children wait to be collected, play a simple ball rolling game.
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