Children's Love
A wonderful lesson on the Child’s Realm of Heart. Children will learn about how to receive love & return beauty and honor their parents. Children will learn that they were created in God’s love through their parents and are a part of the 4 position foundation.
“Children’s Love” Unit: 4 Realms of Heart
LESSON PURPOSE: Understanding the Child’s realm of heart
MATERIALS: Picture Book, learning toys, craft supplies
BOOKS: God Gave Us You / God Gave Us Family / How Do I Love You
SONG IDEAS: God Loves Me Veggie Tales / See Through Children’s Eyes / Jesus Loves the Little Children / This Little Light of Mine / God’s Love Is So Wonderful
AS CHILDREN ARRIVE: Choose 1 Sensory Activity:
Dolls: Baby dollies, diapers, bottles, blankets, stuffed animals.
Cars: cars, road tape, traffic signals.
Playdough: playdough & heart cookie cutters.
SCRIPTURE: Display the weekly scripture reading, have an older child read it or use it in the lesson as you like.
“Children experience and learn the heart of true love as they attend their parents in daily life…” -Rev. Sun Myung Moon
“The children have a strong conviction that, no matter what the world says about their parents, they are the most wonderful champions of God.” -Rev. Sun Myung Moon
“Honor your father and mother”- which is the first commandment with a promise.” -Ephesians 6:2
INTRODUCE the Lesson:
WELCOME: SONG, PRAYER, TP Greeting
SONG IDEAS: God Loves Me Veggie Tales / See Through Children’s Eyes / Jesus Loves the Little Children / This Little Light of Mine / God’s Love Is So Wonderful
REVIEW & TRANSITION:
What church holy days did we celebrate this month? That’s right, True Parent’s Birthday & Heavenly Parent’s Day! We learned all about the heart of a Parent. Today, we are going to learn about our role- the heart of a child!
ATTENTION GRABBER: choose 1:
Baby Photos! Collect baby photos from the children (& teachers). Mix them up & play a game of guessing which baby is who! Reveal the answers & have fun! (Idea: turn it into a fun class bulletin board!) Talk about how much each child has grown & changed!
Draw 4 Position Foundation: Draw a picture of the 4 Position Foundation & have children help you fill in the blanks. Use fun drawings, cut outs or photos. Use hearts instead of circles. Use yarn to connect them together! God made our family! God created you through your parents.
4 Realms of Heart DIY Flip Book: Make a 4 realms of heart mini book and read it to the children!
INTRO:
Your parents came together centered on God’s love and created you! Not only are you a gift to your parents but you’re a gift to God & the world! There is no one else like you! Let’s see how old you all are. (Can hold up numbers or fingers for visual.) Raise your hand if you’re 2, 3, 4, 5!... Wow that’s so exciting! What big boys and girls you are becoming. Your parents are so proud! Today we’ll talk about the realm of “Children’s Love” and your relationship between you and your parents. And learn about how you can be a good son or daughter of God, our Heavenly Parent.
CHOOSE 1 OR 2: READ A STORY, SING A SONG OR POEM, WATCH A VIDEO:
VIDEOS: click on the link for educational, sing along or dance videos
God Gave Us Family Read Aloud on how God gave each of us a different family to be loved by.
God Gave Us You Storytime on how Mama and Papa prepared for, prayed for and welcomed their little baby.
Part of My Heart Read Aloud on being created out of our parents love, parents’ falling in love with watching your heart grow and seeing you one day become a parent too.
READ ALOUD STORY:
Read a story about how God gave us family, Parent & Child Relationship or about Honoring & Obeying our parents. Can be a simple sweet board book on Love.
SONG OR POEM:
I Love You (Barney theme song) I love you. You love me. We’re a happy family!. With a great big hug. And a kiss from me to you!. Won’t you say you love me to?
Jesus Loves the Little Children Jesus loves the little children. All the children of the world. Red, brown, yellow. Black and white. They are precious in His sight.. Jesus loves the little children of the world.
*TEACH the Lesson:
TEACHING POINT 1: REceiving love
TEACHING WITH DISCUSSION: (Optional Props: baby doll, diaper & bottle)
In the realm of a Child’s Heart- the most important thing to do is to RECEIVE love! Do you know who the most selfish person is in the world? True Father always said a “baby” is! And that’s ok! That is part of God’s design. Babies only think about themselves- when they need milk or a diaper change! Babies receive so many cuddles & love from everyone. As you grow up, you begin to learn how to do more things! Sometimes there are things you wish you could do but you have to wait until you get older. And that’s okay! As a child, God wants us to receive LOTS of love in to our hearts. The more love we receive as a child- the more love we can learn to give as we grow up to our siblings, friends, future spouse and children. Sometimes we “push away” our parents’ love by whining, complaining or not listening. But how can we receive our parents’ love as children? By showing them our gratitude & returning beauty.
What are some ways we can receive our parents’ love & return beauty to them?
Hugs & Kisses
Say thank you! Give compliments!
Smile. Say “I love you!”
Draw pictures, make gifts
Listen to Mommy & Daddy
IN ACTION: optional
Let’s practice receiving love! I have this super love-able, cozy, cute stuffed animal here. It represents love. I am going to share it with each of you. And I want you to practice receiving it by: waiting patiently for your turn, accepting it with two hands, giving it a big loving hug, (you can give it a compliment like “I love you!” “You’re so nice”) feeling its cuddles and love and then returning it to me with a big grateful smile & “thank you!”, so I can share this love with the next child. Let’s practice receiving love. <3 And talk about how nice it felt to receive that special attention.
TEACHING POINT 2: Honor & Obey Your Parents *OPTIONAL EXTENSION
TEACHING WITH DISCUSSION:
God also wants us to honor & obey our parents. This is the first of the 10 commandments. Our parents love us and want the best for us- so we should listen to them and respect them because they know what’s best for us. Sometimes they ask us to do things we don’t always want to do, (ex: Mom- “Please put your toys away!”) but a good filial son or daughter will listen by:
Doing it immediately! (Putting toys away right away)
Doing it cheerfully! (“Ok mom! I’ll do that!”:)
Doing it completely! (Putting away ALL toys, not just a few.)
Doing it without complaining! (Instead of saying “I don’t want to” or “Oh man” say “Got it mom!”)
Having a positive attitude & “just doing it” gets things done and makes everyone happy. :) Especially your parents will be so proud! And after you’ve completed what your parents asked you to do, there will be more time for fun & play!
CONCLUSION:
Our parents love us so much! God, Jesus & True Parents love us through our parents. As a child we want to receive our parents love! We also want to respect, honor and listen to our parents! Our parents (Grandparents, Aunt & Uncles) are guiding us in to becoming wonderful sons and daughters of God!
TITHING & PRAYER:
Thank you Heavenly Parent for giving us our parents! We love our Mommy & Daddy so much and want to make sure they know it! We want to give them lots of smiles, hugs and kisses to show them our grateful hearts and be good listeners. Amen. Aju.
APPLY the Lesson:
GROUP ACTIVITIES: choose 1 :
Laundry Basket: dump a laundry basket of clothes and practice cleaning up the laundry “immediately, cheerfully, completely & without complaining!” This can be a fun race! Young ones can just throw all clothes back in or have older ones fold all the laundry! Talk about how fun it can be to make a game out of chores and helping!
Follow the Traffic Signs car game! Using toy cars or real ride on cars- have children take turns 2 at a time following a road and road signs. Notice how when children follow the road signs, everything is smooth! When they miss a road sign- there are accidents. Our parents guide our life with lots of “road signs”. They know what’s best for us- so we should listen to them and follow their rules to keep us safe, healthy & happy.
Role Play: Teachers be “parents” and students be “children”. Parents say and do things for the children and have them respond by receiving your love with a smile, hug etc.
CRAFTS: choose 1
Love You to Pieces: Have children make a heart for parents! Rip up little pieces of paper and glue them to fill the heart!
Heart or Flower Bouquet: Children can make heart shaped or flower bouquets for their parents. Decorate with gems, stickers, markers, tissue paper.
Thumprint- “Thumbody loves you!” Turn the thumbprint in to a drawing of you!
Painted Footprint- “Love you to the moon & back!” Turn the footprint in to a rocket!
4 Position Foundation: using photos or drawings- have children draw out their family 4 position foundation! God- Dad & Mom - Children.
4 Realms of Heart: using hearts & drawings to create a 4 realms of heart craft!
4 Realms of Heart Flipbook: craft for older children using heart doillies, different sized heart cut outs, a marker & stapler.
SPECIAL: optional
*Extra time- Build a fort and play house. Play dolls or other characters. Play with cars. Read stories about family and being a good child. Do extra clean up time- practicing immediately, cheerfully, completely & without complaints! ;)
SNACK IDEAS:
Valentine themed healthy snacks!
Enjoy the lesson! Feel free to submit photos to lgavin@unification.org Love seeing lessons come to life and each community
