True Love
“True Love” Unit: 4 Realms of Heart
LESSON PURPOSE: What is Love?
MATERIALS: stethoscope
BOOKS: “God’s Love In My Heart” / God Gave Us Love / Any picture books about “Love”!
SONG IDEAS: Looking At My Heart / Open the Eyes of My Heart / Put a Little Love In Your Heart / God Loves Me / I’ve Got the Joy Joy Joy / You Are My Sunshine
AS CHILDREN ARRIVE: Choose 1 Sensory Activity:
Valentine’s Sensory bin: pink, red & white- hearts, ribbon, pom poms...
Valentine’s Ice Bin: Icy sensory play with ice cubes! (Pre-filled with valentine’s things)
Playdough hearts: Have children use cookie cutter hearts and playdough.
Water Beads: Moving pink water beads into a heart cookie cutter.
SCRIPTURE: Display the weekly scripture reading, have an older child read it or use it in the lesson as you like.
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” -1 Corinthians 13:4
“Why do we want true love so much? It is because true love will fulfill God and ourselves...Once you have true love in your hands, you have absolutely everything else in the universe...true love is the key to world peace and harmony. More than that, true love is the source of joy and happiness.” -Rev. Sun Myung Moon
INTRODUCE the Lesson:
WELCOME: SONG, PRAYER, TP Greeting
SONG IDEAS: Looking At My Heart / Open the Eyes of My Heart / Put a Little Love In Your Heart / God Loves Me / I’ve Got the Joy Joy Joy / You Are My Sunshine
For older kids: Give Me Your Eyes
REVIEW & TRANSITION:
Last week we learned about opening the eyes of our hearts to let God, our Heavenly Parent, dwell within us! Now that we have God’s love in our hearts- we’re going to learn about what LOVE is and how to share it with others!
ATTENTION GRABBER:
Draw a heart. Ask children what you drew. That’s right, a heart! Where is your heart? Show a stethoscope (fake or real) and listen to each child’s heart! Let children listen to each other’s hearts.
INTRO:
Who knows what we use our heart for? (Song from previous lesson: “We use our hearts to love! We use our hearts to love! Hi Ho Did you know? We use our hearts to love!” tune of Farmer in the Dell) We use our heart to LOVE! So, “What is Love?”
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 Love Read Aloud Story Video
Cute Kids Answer- What is Love? Love Explained by Kids
Looking At My Heart Fun Dancing Worship Song
READ ALOUD STORY:
“God’s Love In My Heart” / God Gave Us Love / Any picture books about “Love”
SONG OR POEM:
Love Is A Circle Poem- Love is a circle, Round and round (make a circling motion with arm) Love goes up, (raise arms up) And Love comes down, (lower arms) Love is on the inside, (pull hands inward towards chest) Trying to get out, (pull hands away from chest) Love is whirling and twirling about!" (move hands in a spinning motion)
There's a Big Red Heart Song- Sung to: "It's a Small World" There's a big red heart down inside of me, (Draw heart shape in air, then point to chest) There's a big red heart no one else can see. (Cover eyes with hands) It is filled to the brim with love from within, (Spread arms) And now I give it to you. (Point to another person)
*TEACH the Lesson:
TEACHING POINT 1: What is Love?
Choose 1 Interactive Learning Activity:
DISCUSSION: Ask children- What is love? And listen to their sweet responses! Can write down their answers. (A hug! When mommy & daddy kiss! Giving a gift! Helping someone! Daddy playing with me! Mommy folding my clothes! Cuddling with my baby!) Who do you love? (Mommy, daddy, brother, sister, friend, Grandma, cousins, classmates, teacher...etc) That’s right, there are many different types of love!
DRAWING: Provide children a piece of paper and coloring utensils. Ask children to draw “Love”. The first thing that comes to their mind. See what they draw and discuss and share about it together! (Better for older children)
True Parents teach us that “love” is the most important thing! (Love, Life, Lineage) Where does our love come from? Love comes from God, our Heavenly Parent! It flows from Him through Jesus, True Parents and our own parents to us! Love is not just a warm fuzzy feeling we feel inside but it’s an ACTION! (Kindness, sharing, caring, helping, hugging, taking turns…) True love loves even when we are hurt or upset. True love always thinks of others. If Mommy or Daddy get frustrated at something you did- they still love you right? That is True Love, like God’s unconditional love.
TEACHING POINT 2: 1 Corinthians 13:4 *Optional Extension for older children
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” Write each trait on a heart and discuss about its meaning:
Patient- Love is waiting my turn in line.
Kind- Love is saying uplifting words. Showing kindness through helping someone.
Does not Envy- Love is not being jealous when my friend wins. But being happy that we had fun together playing and maybe even happy for him that he won!
Does not Boast- Love is not bragging when I won! But being happy inside so my friend doesn’t feel sad by my bragging. Love is humble.
Is not Proud- Love is selfless. It’s thinking of my friend before me. Offering my friend a candy before taking one myself.
CONCLUSION:
Today we were reminded that we use our hearts to love! Love comes from God and love is not just a feeling but True Love is an ACTION! What are some ways we can practice True Love at home this week? This month we’ll learn all about the different types of love! Like sibling/friend love, parental love & children’s love. We’ll be celebrating love in February! As well as 2 special holidays coming up- Valentine’s Day & True Parents’ Birthday.
TITHING & PRAYER:
Thank you Heavenly Parent for loving us each day. We are grateful for your love and we want to practice living in true love. Help us to love others everywhere we go! We pray that our love can spread joy and happiness around the world!
APPLY the Lesson:
GROUP ACTIVITIES: choose 1 :
Heart Stack: Put on a timer for 1 min- see how many candy hearts each child can stack!
Heart Treasure Hunt: Provide clues on hearts leading to a special prize or treat. Give clues by saying hot, warm, cold.
Love Charades: Act & guess different Love Actions: Pray for a friend, sweep the floor, hug someone, read the Bible, hold the door open, wrap a gift...
Straw Transfer: Have volunteers or all children play. Moving candy hearts by sucking through a straw from one large heart to another.
CRAFTS: choose 1
Valentine’s Mailbox- Have children decorate mailboxes to pass out valentine’s next Sunday! They can be made out of tissue boxes, cereal boxes, plates etc (You can have children bring Valentines or make them next Sunday).
Touch & Feel Hearts- Children decorate hearts with different textures: pom poms, foil, paint, tissue paper, glitter, cotton etc
Shaving Cream & Paint hearts- paint hearts with paint & shaving cream!
Valentine Sun catchers- use watercolors to paint white heart doilies. Let dry & hang.
Love Is- Coloring or Writing Pages
SPECIAL: optional
VIDEO: Fun idea! Take video clips of the children saying “Love is…..” and share it at Sunday Service in February! ;)
PERFORMANCE: Fun idea! Sing “I Can, I Can”, “Open the Eyes of My Heart” or other Valentine songs as a little performance on your upcoming holy day celebration! Older children can also memorize & recite some of the scripture readings.
DECORATE: Decorate the room or a bulletin board for February- with lots of hearts!
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
