Lesson 2: God Loves My Family

Aim
To learn that every person in a family is important
to know that God loves each family member

Materials
* Story – ‘The Berenstain Bears and Baby makes Five’, by Stan & Jan Berenstain
* Action song – ‘I Love all my Family’
– line drawings of mother, father, brother,sister and baby
– red card, glue, scissors,
* Children’s pictures of themselves when they were a baby.
* pictures of cute babies

Lesson Outline
1. Introduction
2. Story & Discussion
3. Action Song
4. Activity – cut & paste pictures
5. Review aims of lesson
6. Prayer

1) Introduction
Ask children to show you their pictures of when they were babies. Talk about each child’s family.
How many are there in your family? Do you have a baby brother or sister? Is your Mummy going to have another baby? Would you like to have a new baby brother or baby sister? Today’s story is about a Bear family: Papa Bear, Mama bear, Brother Bear, Sister Bear and the new Baby Bear

2) Story & Discussion
* The Berenstain Bears and Baby makes Five – Sister Bear is not happy, because the new baby gets all the attention. When she draws a picture of her family for homework, she misses out the baby.
Mother bear decides to show a video recording of when Sister was a baby, to remind Sister that she was a baby once. After the video Sister no longer feels upset, but is very happy to have a baby sister.

*Discussion
Why was sister not happy with the baby?
What made her change her mind?
Do you remember when someone was a baby in your family?
Do you think it is nice to have a baby in the family ? 
What is sometimes difficult?

Remind
the children that like Baby Bear,
each of them was a baby once.
God loves each person in a family. When we love each other, God wants to be with us. Of all the members of a family, the baby needs the most love and attention. They can’t do anything by themselves. God also made babies to be very cute and easy to love. Having a baby brother or sister can be a lot of fun

3) Action Song .
I Love all My Family – This action song reminds children that family members should love each other. The hearts can be made before the lesson and hidden in the room, or they can be made by the children as a craft activity first.

4) Activities
* Cut and paste pictures for the action song
* Cut and paste pictures of babies

5) Review the lesson aims
To learn that every person in a family is important
to know that God loves each family member

6) Prayer
* Say a prayer to thank God for each member of your family.