Jesus is the New and Better…
… Daniel
Intro:
What is the scariest thing you can imagine being locked in a room with? We’re going to hear about someone who knew they would be locked in a room with something very scary indeed, but they didn’t try to hide or run away. Instead they kept living the life God wanted no matter how scary it got. Because they knew being on his side was the most important thing.
Games: To demonstrate obedience
Simon Says - A leader must call out instructions, such as: Simon says stand on one leg, Simon says jump up and down, Simon says put both hands on your head, lie on the floor, Simon says wiggle your fingers… When they say ‘Simon says’ before an instructions all the kids must follow it when they don’t say it the instruction should not be followed. In the above scenario the children should have done everything except lie on the floor.
Captain’s coming - A leader calls out a word that has an action attached to it, all the kids must perform the right action or they are out. Jerusalem, Babylon (run to opposite ends of the room), pray three times a day (kneel down), statues (stand still), dreaming (lie down), hungry lions (roar), growing rock (curl up small and then stand up with arms and legs stretched out).
Talk: This short talk is about how God is the real hero of Daniel’s story. And this one aimed at older kids covers Daniel and the Lions den and how obedience to God is always worth it.
Drama:
This drama is the story of Daniel interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
Or if you have younger children or a wide range of ages creating freeze frames for each of these captions about Daniel and the Lions Den is a great challenge and a good way to cover a large amount of story. You could even split into groups and have them take turns to guess at what the current freeze frame represents.
Activity: Get them to design their own boardgame on a track like this one, have them play it with just one rule in the beginning then think and talk about what the rules could be, and how good rules make the game better. The game could be played with a dice or with a spinner or even cards (if you have time). The extra parts of the track can be used as an extension or as a layby that needs to be completed or if the rules involve collecting items as trackers.
Some of the kinds of rules you could use are: to move someone forward or back, to miss a go, they must roll a certain number/colour to continue, they must perform an action every time they roll a certain number/land on a colour, they can swap places with another player, they can choose another player to have their go, they can use shortcuts under certain conditions etc.
Songs:
All through History - Nick and Becky Drake
Be Bold, Be Strong - God’s Kids Worship Band
Memory Verse: Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
All the kids except one can make an archway (face your partner hands together both arms up): it needs to be straight. The one child not in an arch (it may need to be a leader the first time to demonstrate) will say the verse as they walk through. If they get stuck the nearest ‘path’ pair will help them out (the leader will need to demonstrate this too).
“Worship the God who rescues
Own up for the times you have disobeyed and done things you know he doesn’t want.
Thank him for making a way (through Jesus) for you to be rescued
Ask him for help to trust him like Daniel and Jesus did”