Grateful for My Family!
“Grateful for My Family!” Unit: Living in Gratitude
LESSON PURPOSE:
MATERIALS: Toy figurines, building blocks, family photos, craft supplies.
BOOKS: God Gave Us Family / Me and My Family Tree / Thanksgiving is for Giving Thanks / The Blessings Jar
SONG IDEAS: The Family is of God / Put A Little Love In Your Heart / You Are My Sunshine / If You’re Thankful and You Know It
AS CHILDREN ARRIVE: Choose 1 Sensory Activity:
Toy Figurines: Have children play “family” with playmobile characters, barbies, lego characters etc.
Building Blocks or shapes: Have children build homes.
Fort Materials: Work together to build a fort home.
Family Playdough Mats: Print & laminate the family Play-Doh mats. Have children make faces and decorate their family member suing Play-Doh.
SCRIPTURE: Display the weekly scripture reading, have an older child read it or use it in the lesson as you like.
“Family is the school of love.” -Rev. Sun Myung Moon
“The first experience of God's invisible love for the individual is through his parents' unconditional love.” -Rev. Sun Myung Moon
"Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord." - Colossians 3:20
INTRODUCE the Lesson:
WELCOME: SONG, PRAYER, TP Greeting
SONG IDEAS: The Family is of God / Put A Little Love In Your Heart / You Are My Sunshine / If You’re Thankful and You Know It
REVIEW & TRANSITION:
Did you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families? (Let children share with a partner or their group about their favorite Thanksgiving memory.) Thanksgiving is such a special time to enjoy delicious foods and be reminded of everything we’re grateful for- especially our family! Our family is who we celebrate with and do life with. Our family is where we learn and grow. It is the first place we experience love. And God’s love dwells in the family.
ATTENTION GRABBER: choose 1
Show & Tell: Invite children to bring a family photo ahead of time & share them in class.
Draw a house. Ask children- what is inside house? Talk about furniture, rooms, toys etc. What’s the most important thing in a house that makes a house a home? My family! That’s right, family fills up our home with love! Ask children who is in a family? (Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, Daddy, Brother, Sister, Baby, Auntie, Cousin…)
Puppets! Have your puppet introduce the concept of family. The puppet can be very excited, loving & cuddly and give hugs to all of the kids to show love.
INTRO: TODAY WE WILL LEARN How GOD GAVE US FAMILIES!
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 Made Families Sing Along
God Gave Us Family Read Aloud Story
Family Finger Song Fingerplay
READ ALOUD STORY:
SONG OR POEM:
Family Finger Song w/fingerplay motions! DADDY finger, daddy finger, where are you? Here I am, here I am. How do you do? MOMMY finger, Mommy finger, where are you? Here I am, here I am. How do you do? BROTHER finger, Brother finger, where are you? Here I am, here I am. How do you do? SISTER finger, Sister finger, where are you?Here I am, here I am. How do you do? BABY finger, Baby finger, where are you? Here I am, here I am. How do you do?
My Family: If you peek into my room at night, (tiptoe as if you are peeking) My family you will see, (nod head) They kiss my face and tuck me in tight (kiss into the air) Why? Because they love me! (hug yourself)
*TEACH the Lesson:
TEACHING POINT 1: God Gave us family
God gave each one of us a unique and beautiful family! And every family is different. Jesus’ had a small family: Daddy Joseph, Mommy Mary & Baby Jesus. True Parents have a BIG family. True Father, True Mother & 14 Children! Poem: “Some families are large. (spread arms out wide) Some families are small (bring arms close together) But I love my family (cross arms over chest) best of all!”
Discussion:
How many people are in your family?
Are you the oldest, middle or youngest child?
What is something special your family likes to do together?
SONG in a Circle: Sung to: "The Muffin Man" Ask each child what they like to do with their family and sing about each one using the child’s name & what they like to do!
Tell me what you like to do. Like to do, like to do. Tell me what you like to do. With your family. Ed likes to rake the leaves. Rake the leaves, rake the leaves. Ed likes to rake the leaves. With his family. (Susi likes to go camping…. Beni likes to go play games…. Ann likes to go shopping…etc)
TEACHING POINT 2: The Purpose of Family
TEACHING WITH DISCUSSION: Each person in the family has a special role!
What do the different people in your family do? (Daddy works, Mommy packs my lunch, Brother plays with me, Grandpa reads me stories...etc) Everyone has a special role. In some families mommy stays home and daddy works. In others daddy is home or both parents work. Each person plays a special role- you do too!
The Bible says that Children are a gift from God! (And that’s why we celebrated “Children’s Day” recently!)
Your parents’ job is to love you and take care of you, to help raise you into a wonderful child of God. Your parents knew you since you were in their belly, when you were a baby and a big kid. Your parents love watching you grow and learn new things.
Children can honor their Father and Mother by listening to them, respecting them and bringing joy to them! True Father teaches us that there are “4 Great Realms of Heart” in the Divine Principle. Right now you are in the phase of “Children’s Love”.
How can we be a good child to our parents? (listen well, clean up without being told, finish our meals, ask nicely, use manners, say thank you, be grateful…)
We show our family we love them through kind words, hugs, cuddles & kisses! How can we love our siblings? (be kind, share, forgive, be patient, forgiving…)
Our families are happiest, when God is at the center! Families can bring joy to God by loving each other and praying together.
Optional Visuals-
Family Jobs: Draw a Mommy- list the things the children say their Mommies do. Draw a Daddy, brother, sister, baby…
Togetherness: Draw a large circle or heart. And draw or write each child’s favorite thing to do with their family.
Have, Can, Are: Make an anchor chart together “Families Have… Can… Are…”
CONCLUSION:
God gave us our family! Our family is a gift from God! Children are a gift to their parents! Each family is unique and beautiful. Families go through ups and downs together. Even if we aren’t perfect and sometimes make mistakes, or get upset within our family- family still sticks together and is always there for you! To show we are grateful, we love our parents and brothers and sisters. We grow through sharing, taking turns, being an example, listening and loving others in our family! We can experience God’s love in our family.
PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Parent, Thank you for giving us families to love and grow with! Thank you for each family here today. Thank you for all the mommies, daddies, big brothers and sisters, little brothers and sisters, babies… You love each one of us so much and we are so grateful for the role we play. Please help us to be our best and to experience your love in the family. Amen. Aju.
APPLY the Lesson:
GROUP ACTIVITIES: choose 1
Drawing Homes- Children draw a house with their family in it on a white board.
Showing Families- children take turns showing their family using toy figurines.
Pretend Play-
Go Camping: Set up a tent. And pretend to go camping, make a fire, roast smores, star gaze, sing campfire songs.
Driving a Car: Have children pretend to all drive in a car. Give one child a “steering wheel” Have them take turns driving the family to their favorite place!
CRAFTS: choose 1
Family Tree: Use a print out or make a tree out of construction paper. Have children add an apple or leaf for each family member, write names or draw.
My Family House: Draw your family on a white square sheet. Add a triangle roof.
Popsicle Stick House: Have children draw a picture of their family. Create a Popsicle stick house and tape the family drawing inside the house.
Leaf Family: Have children take as many popsicle sticks and fake fall leaves for each of their family members. Children then glue on googly eyes on to each leaf and each leaf on to a popsicle stick to make a leaf family.
Stick Family: Collect enough sticks for each member of your family. Glue on googley eyes. Tie them together with a sign “Family sticks together”.
SNACK IDEAS:
Stick People- Ritz crackers for the head and cheese or carrot sticks for arms + legs.
Enjoy the lesson! Feel free to submit photos to lgavin@unification.org Love seeing lessons come to life and each community
