Armor of God
Jumping into June with the Armor of God! This month will be an adventure as we explore God’s Masculine Heart and celebrate Fathers. God, our Heavenly Parent, wants us to be clothed in our invisible armor every day! Through loving God and letting His Spirit and truth dwell in us- we can be protected.
Educational Framework: Heart for God
“Armor of God” Unit: A Father’s Heart
LESSON PURPOSE: We can wear God’s invisible armor every day to protect ourselves!
MATERIALS: Armor, castle blocks, learning toys, craft supplies
BOOKS: Children’s Picture Books on the Armor of God
SONG IDEAS: Song of the Heavenly Soldiers, I’m in the Lord’s Army, This Little Light of Mine, Full Armor of God
SENSORY CENTERS: AS CHILDREN ARRIVE
STEM: Building with toilet paper rolls (with pre made holes) and paper straws.
Castle Building: With blocks, duplos or legos
Castle Sensory Bin: Bin with little rocks and lego or playmobile knight figures.
Sand Castle: Build sand castles out of sand or homemade moon sand.
SCRIPTURE: Display the weekly scripture reading, have an older child read it or use it in the lesson as you like.
“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." -Ephesians 6:14-17
“Marching on Heavenly Soldiers, marching on with His love, Uniting in life eternal with our God in Heaven and Earth.” -Song of the Heavenly Soldiers
INTRODUCE the Lesson:
WELCOME: SONG, PRAYER, TP Greeting
SONG IDEAS: Song of the Heavenly Soldiers, I’m in the Lord’s Army, This Little Light of Mine, Full Armor of God
REVIEW & TRANSITION:
During the month of May we learned all about “A Mother’s Heart!” During this new month of June we will be celebrating Father’s Day and learning how to be super & brave like Daddy! (And other father figures: grandpas, uncles, big brothers…)
ATTENTION GRABBER: choose 1:
Armor: Show photos of armor or put on your own armor. Explain how a long time ago soldiers used to wear very heavy armor to protect their Kingdom. Today they don’t wear that same heavy armor. Ask children what each piece of Armor is and what it protects.
For example: Cooking pot helmet, baking tin breastplate, belt, pot lid shield, umbrella sword, & rain boots or diy cardboard armor.
INTRO:
In Ephesians 6:14-17 of the Bible, we learn about “The Armor of God!” Did you know that every morning when we wake up and get out of bed- we can put on invisible Armor? God, our Heavenly Parent, wants us to be clothed in our invisible armor every day! So we can remember to stand for goodness and protect ourselves.
CHOOSE 1 OR 2: READ A STORY, SING A SONG OR POEM, WATCH A VIDEO: *Use this before OR with your teaching point.
VIDEOS: click on the link for educational, sing along or dance videos
*Armor of God Song Educational chant with Motions
*Bible Stories for Toddlers- Armor of God Simple Educational Animation (simple)
“Armor of God explained to Kids” Educational Video (more in depth)
Armor of God Macarena Dance with Motions
SONG OR POEM:
I’m a Knight in Armor I’m a Little Teapot
I'm a knight in armor, look at me. See how shiny I can be. With my visor up my eyes you'll see. But with it down it protects me.
I may never march in the infantry. Ride in the cavalry. Shoot the artillery. I may never zoom o’er the enemy. But I’m in the Lord’s army (Yes, sir!)
I’m in the Lord’s army (Yes, sir!) I’m in the Lord’s army (Yes, sir!) Repeat!
*TEACH the Lesson:
Discuss the following points together, asking children questions, drawing pictures, using anchor charts or post it notes.
TEACHING POINT 1: Armor of god- Protect Yourself
Discuss about each piece of Godly Armor that we should wear each and every day. (OR choose 1 or 2 to focus in on more in depth.) Can watch a video or discuss the points below with props or drawings of armor. (The points in parenthesis go into more detail and examples for older ones).
HELMET of Salvation
Protects our minds- always remember that God loves us and wants the best for us. (Listening to God’s inner voice, listening to the teachings of Jesus & TP and our parents- helps us to make the right choices and protect our mind.)
BREASTPLATE of Righteousness
Protects your heart. When we love God, we try to keep His commandments. (Always protect your heart from being hurt. Surround yourselves with kind friends and say sorry to God and our parents when we do wrong.)
BELT of Truth
A belt protects our body- helps us to stand in God’s truth. (Through reading the Bible and DP, listening to our conscience and through learning from others who know God. We should always tell the truth too.)
Gospel of Peace SHOES
Shoes protect our feet and help us to walk safely where we want to go. We want to follow in Jesus & True Parents footsteps- live how they live. (We should only go to safe places- never go anywhere that’s dangerous or doesn’t feel right. We also want to be a peacemaker with friends and forgive others and ourselves when we make a mistake. Lastly, if we ever get worried or anxious- we can ask God to give us peace in our hearts.)
SHIELD of Faith
When we believe in and have faith in God, He can protect us like a shield. (By trying to be like Him we can make good choices that protect us and shield us from bad thoughts or temptations.)
SWORD of the Spirit
The sword represents the Word of God & God’s Spirit in us. (Through studying God’s words in Sunday School, reading the Bible or learning in our home and allowing God’s Spirit to dwell in us- it makes us strong and helps us to cut out off anything that isn’t good for us.)
GROUP ACTIVITIES: choose 1
*Object Lesson w/2 Oranges: Place 2 oranges in a bowl of water. Have the children notice how they float beautifully and the fruit is protected by it’s thick peel. Begin to peel away at one of the oranges and say: “Oh no! Some of the orange’s “armor” has fallen off. If someone were to tell the orange something mean today- he would believe it- because he didn’t put on his belt of truth! The orange may now believe this lie instead of knowing that he is wonderfully made by God. Oh oh, the orange will have a hard time standing firm in the water.” Notice that as you peel off more layers of the skin- the orange starts to sink. See the orange’s peel protects it just like God’s armor can protect us!
Castle Games: Play knight games and relay races together- in which each child has to put on all the armor pieces, run, take them off & the next child puts them back on.
TEACHING POINT 2: THe CastLE- Community of Faith *OPTIONAL EXTENSION
Castle- Just like a castle’s walls protect the kingdom, a faith community- church, your family & prayer- can protect you! Our Sunday School community is our invisible castle.
GROUP ACTIVITY:
Giant Castle- Teachers & children work together to build a big castle or several smaller box castles out of cardboard boxes.
CONCLUSION:
Let’s put on the invisible Armor of God every morning when we wake up: Our helmet of Salvation, Breastplate of Righteousness, Belt of Truth, Peace Sandals, Shield of Faith & Sword of the Spirit! Through loving God and letting his Spirit and truth dwell in us- we can be protected. We can face each day with bravery, strength, courage, peace and love in our hearts.
TITHING & PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Parent, thank you for giving us invisible armor to protect us! We want to wear our invisible Armor every day. We love you and want to follow your ways. We know that you love us and only want the best for us. Amen. Aju!
APPLY the Lesson:
CRAFTS: choose 1
Shield of Faith- decorate a shield made out of cardboard, a paper plate or tin foil.
Sword of the Spirit- make a sword out of paper towel rolls or cardboard.
Helmet of Salvation- Make a paper plate helmet mask.
Belt of Truth- Decorate belts of truth out of paper or felt.
Sandals of Peace- Decorate paper or cardboard flip flops with lots of colors.
Tin Foil Soldier- Using a sheet of paper and tin foil have children cut out shapes and glue them on to create the Armor of God!
Coloring Pages- Color in armor, cut it out and glue it on to a drawing of a you.
SNACK IDEAS:
Graham Crackers- Have children use graham crackers to shape castles or armor.
Pretzel sticks & Marshmallows- Build castles out of pretzel sticks + marshmallows.
Enjoy the lesson! Feel free to submit photos to lgavin@unification.org Love seeing lessons come to life and each community
