Fear, Inc.

October 2nd, 2016 .:. .:. Room 301

Pathways Kids Weekend Small Groups

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This curriculum is for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders.

This Weeks Scope

Basket Case
Bible Story: Basket Case (Birth of Moses/Mom and Miriam with the basket) Exodus 2:1-10
Bottom Line: You can do what you should even when you dont know what will happen next.
Memory Verse: Be strong and brave. Do not be afraid. Do not lose hope. I am the LORD your God. I
will be with you everywhere you go. Joshua 1:9b, NIrV
Life App: Couragebeing brave enough to do what you should do, even when youre afraid.
Basic Truth: I can trust God no matter what.

Welcome Time
Welcome kids and spend time engaging in conversation and catching up. Get ready to experience
todays story.
Before kids arrive, pray for each regular attendee by name. Pray for those who might visit your group
for the first time. Some kids are in situations like divorce or foster care where theyre not sure what will
happen next. Pray for those kids not to give in to the temptation to shrink back in fear, but to move
forward in courage.
Bible Story: Exodus 2:1-10 just as a reference
Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a
son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him
no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child
in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what
would happen to him. Then Pharaohs daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants
were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to
get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. This is one of the
Hebrew babies, she said. Then his sister asked Pharaohs daughter, Shall I go and get one of the
Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you? Yes, go, she answered. So the girl went and got the
babys mother. Pharaohs daughter said to her, Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay
you. So the woman took the baby and nursed him. When the child grew older, she took him to
Pharaohs daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, I drew him out of the
water.

What You Need: A deck of regular playing cards.

What You Do:
Show the kids the face cards of the deck. Point out what the jacks look like.
Then shuffle the deck thoroughly.
Slowly turn over one card at a time onto a flat surface. When the jack comes up, the kids try to
be the first one to slap the jack with their hand.
The person with his or her hand on the bottom of the pile is the winner and takes all the cards in
the stack below the jack. The jack gets shuffled back in to the remainder of the deck.
Any person who slaps a card that is not a jack has to give back all the cards they have. The
winner is the person who has the most cards when the entire deck has been gone through.
What You Say:
In this game, you dont know when a jack is going to come up. It is always a surprise. You also dont
know if you will get your hand down first. Sometimes surprises can be good or even fun, like in this
game. But in general, when you dont know what is about to happen, it can be scary. [Transition] In
Large Group time today we are going to learn about a time when someone in the Bible didnt
know what was about to happen. It could have been very good or very bad. Lets go into Large
Group and find out.
Lead your group to the Large Group area.

Activity #1
What You Need: A pool noodle
What You Do:
Put the pool noodle down.
Guide the kids, one at a time to balance on the noodle as they walk from one side to the other.
Walk beside them as they go across.
Have them imagine that the noodle is a balance beam crossing over something dangerous, like
a lava pit, a raging river, or a pen full of raptors.
Point out to the kids that you are walking with them and will save them if they fall.
Give them a high five when they make it all the way across. If they fall, catch them and put them
back up on the noodle.
What You Say:
What if you fell off the noodle? Did you really have to be scared of what would happen? No. It was only
imaginary and you also knew that I would catch you if you fell. In this imaginary game, if you fell off into
the raging river or the animal pit, Id catch you, but wed still both be in the river or in the pit. Its easy to
not be scared if we always expect to be rescued. But we dont always know what will happen when we
are in real-life scary situations. The reason we dont have to be afraid to do the right thing is not
because nothing bad will ever happen to us. It is because, no matter what happens, God is with us and
loves us. When we dont know what will happen, we dont have to be scared because God will be with
us no matter what. Remember our Bottom Line: [Bottom Line] you can do what you should even
when you dont know what will happen next.

Activity #2
What You Need: No supplies needed
What You Do:
As a group, create a story with each kid adding one sentence at a time. After one kid adds a
sentence, you can cue the next kid by saying, What happens next?
Kids can act out their sentence as they say it.
Story starters could be:
o I was looking out my window when I saw a spaceship land in my yard. (Put your hands
to your eyes as if you are peering out a window) What happened next?
o I went to introduce myself to my new neighbors who just moved in next door. (Walk in
place as if you are walking to your neighbors house and knock on a pretend door) What
happened next?
o I went to our kitchen to get breakfast and there was a giant spider sitting at my kitchen
table reading the newspaper. (Make a face of shock and horror.) What happened next?
o I signed up for the soccer team even though my friends were signing up for baseball.
(Pretend to write your name on a sign-up sheet.) What happened next?
What You Say:
You created some great stories and the whole time you were creating them, you didnt know what the
ending would be but you kept adding to the story. Sometimes, when you are afraid, all you need to do is
take the next step. You may not know how you are going to do on a spelling test or if you will make the
soccer team, but [Bottom Line] you can do what you should even when you dont know what will
happen next. You still study your spelling words, you still practice soccer in your backyard to get ready
for try-outsyou take the first step.
In our Bible story today, Jochebed and Miriam didnt know how it would turn out when they put Moses
in the basket in the river, but they knew Moses wasnt safe in their house so they had to do something.
Even though they were still afraid, they did what they could even when they didnt know what would
happen next. Responding with couragebeing brave enough to do what you should do, even when
youre afraidis one way to show the world God is bigger than your fears and you trust Him no matter
what.

Prayer
Opposites

Time

What You Need: No supplies needed

What You Do:
Give kids a few moments to think of a time when they might need courage this week. Maybe they are
having a test in school or they have a concert or a game. Maybe there is a kid in their class who isnt
very nice to them. Maybe there is stuff going on with their parents or family and they dont know what is
going to happen next.
Give kids an opportunity to share with the group if they want to.
Close in prayer, asking God to help us have courage and to be brave enough to do what we should,
even when we dont know what will happen next. Be sure to pray for the specific concerns kids may
have shared with the group.