Let's show RESPECT
When we love someone, we show them respect by treating them the way we want to be treated. (Golden Rule!) Children will learn about how to show respect at church and treat everyone and everything as holy. They’ll pretend to be princes and princesses at God’s special castle! After all our church is God’s home.
Educational Framework: Heart for God
“Let’s Show RESPECT!” Unit: Fruitful Manners
LESSON PURPOSE: We praise and worship God by showing respect at church.
MATERIALS: Picture Book, learning toys, craft supplies
BOOKS: Do Unto Others / Good Manners for a Little Princess Stories about: a Palace / Respect / Positive Behavior / Church
SONG IDEAS: Jesus Loves the Little Children / See Through Children’s Eyes / Grace of the Holy Garden / The Father’s Dwelling Place
AS CHILDREN ARRIVE: Choose 1 Sensory Activity:
Block play: ask children to build a church or castle.
Castle dress up: Prince & Princess dress up & play
Playdough princess: Have children add princess dresses to small characters
Ice Castle Excavation: Pre make a ice castle with items inside of it. Let children pour water, or chip at the ice for sensory fun!
SCRIPTURE: Display the weekly scripture reading, have an older child read it or use it in the lesson as you like.
“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.” -Romans 12:10
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you…” -Matthew 7:12
“Respect all things as holy things. Respect all men as holy men. Respect yourself as a holy person. Respect your mind as holy. Respect your body as holy.” -Sun Myung Moon
INTRODUCE the Lesson:
WELCOME: SONG, PRAYER, TP Greeting
SONG IDEAS: Jesus Loves the Little Children / See Through Children’s Eyes / Grace of the Holy Garden / The Father’s Dwelling Place
REVIEW & TRANSITION:
Last week we learned about Kindness through filling buckets! (& through St. Patrick!) For our final March Manners lesson- we will be learning about RESPECT at Church today, applying everything we’ve learned this month: Manners, Sharing & Kindness.
ATTENTION GRABBER: choose 1:
Church Rules by the Minions- Show this video and ask children why it’s important to have rules at church? Rules help us to show RESPECT to others, our things, our teachers, friends and to God, our Heavenly Parent.
Crowns: Teacher can dress up as a King or Queen. Students can receive crowns, tiaras, dress up to wear. Burger King often gives out crowns for free. ;) Explain that today we will be God’s Princes & Princesses at a fancy castle!
INTRO:
Does anyone know what the “Golden Rule” is? It is so important that it’s shiny and valuable like gold! The golden rule means to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That means we should treat others in the same way we’d like to be treated- this is called being respectful. Showing someone or something Respect- means that we have deep admiration & love for them and want to show them our love and treat them with kind hearts. Let’s learn more about how we can show others respect, especially at church!
CHOOSE 1 OR 2: READ A STORY, SING A SONG OR POEM, WATCH A VIDEO: *Use this before or during your lesson.
VIDEOS: click on the link for educational, sing along or dance videos
Just for Fun:
Kidz Church Rules- featuring fun disney movie clips!
Church Rules by the Minions- a fun silly video that’ll make you laugh and teach about church rules!
Educational:
Put God First- Kids’ Survival Tip #1. Mini lesson on putting God first in your life.
What was life like at Framlingham Castle- Life as a medieval noblewoman teaching about courtesy
Azaleas in Cheong Pyeong- beautiful flowers surrounding the Heavenly Palace in Korea in Springtime
SONG VIDEO:
I Love My Church- dance song
Every Move I Make- worship movement dance
READ ALOUD STORY:
Do Unto Others / Good Manners for a Little Princess Stories about: a Palace / Respect / Positive Behavior / Church
SONG OR POEM:
If You Love Church and You Know It
If you love church & you know it- clap your hands! If you love church & you know it- clap your hands! If you love church & you know it And you really want to show it If you love church & you know it- clap your hands! ...stomp your feet … shout Hooray! … Shout Mansei! … say Amen! … say Aju!
Going to Church Farmer in the Dell
Today we go to church, Oh, glad and Happy day! I like to go to church, To give and help and pray. Our teacher reads God's Word, And tells us of God's love. We sing our church-time songs, And worship God above. I do not run in church; I sit so quietly. Our church is where I meet my friends, Who love the Lord like me.
*TEACH the Lesson:
TEACHING POINT 1: God’s Princes & PRincesses
Cardboard Castle: Build a large castle out of cardboard ahead of time as a backdrop for your lesson! optional
Visualization:
Close your eyes and imagine the most beautiful Palace! What does it look like? Sound like? Feel like? Have you ever been to a Palace? How would you act inside the fancy beautiful royal palace- loud or with inside voices? What would you wear? Would you have walking feet or running feat? Would you use rough hands with your brother in front of the Princess or gentle kind hands? Would you look at the King if he were speaking to you?
I know that you boys and girls would be on your very best behavior! You would use kind words like “Please” and “Thank You”. You would kindly greet the King & Queen with a smile. You would show respect to the palace knights and guards by using walking feet and gentle hands, being careful not to break anything. You would dress beautifully to meet the prince & princess!
When people met Jesus they welcomed him waving large palm tree leaves and bowing as a sign of respect. When we meet True Parents, we stand up and do a half bow as a sign of deep respect. A representative offers flowers to True Parents to show them our love.
What if I told you that every Sunday you are in this beautiful Palace! Our church is like God’s Palace. It is the place we come to meet and worship God, our Heavenly Parent. You are God’s special Princes & Princesses! At church your Pastors, Youth Leaders, Sunday School Teachers, Music Leaders etc are all here to serve us each Sunday and invite us in to God’s house. They work hard to help create a space for us to come to for: prayer, reflection, praise & worship, hearing God’s Words and fellowship. Church is a place for us to learn more about God, build our faith and meet God through the word, songs and others. Therefore, we want to treat our church like a beautiful palace because this is where God, our Heavenly Parent wants to dwell! (Of course God is with us everywhere we go and lives inside each of us- but here at church we have the chance to quiet our minds and experience His love more easily & talk and share with Him.)
TEACHING POINT 2: Respecting God’s Castle- Church *OPTIONAL EXTENSION
What are some things we do at church to show respect? Discuss about expectations for children in the Sanctuary, Sunday School, Hallway, Lunch Room, Bathrooms etc. God wants us to have fun & love church! Many times our teachers and other grown ups give us special permission to play, dance or run during Sunday School, for a party or outside. Other times we are expected to behave like Polite Princes & Princesses in God’s House. (Local rules & expectations may look different in each community. ) As you discuss- model, get up & practice the behavior together. Suggested Discussion Points-
Greeting: We greet others by looking at them, smiling or saying hello when they say hi.
Prayer: Bow our heads, close our eyes & fold our hands when we pray.
Singing: Make a joyful noise on to the Lord through song! (and sometimes dance)
Manners: We use “Please, Thank you, You’re Welcome”...
Listening: We listen to our Sunday School teachers and do our best! They prepare so much for us to have fun together & learn about God.
Friends: We do our best to share, take turns and use kind words.
Sunday School Classroom: We help clean up toys & crafts to keep God’s house beautiful.
Permission: If we ever want to leave the classroom or an activity to go to the restroom- we let a grown up know. We always let grown ups and parents know where we are.
Bathroom: We do our business, flush & wash our hands.
Walking: Walking feet & indoor voices when inside the sanctuary for safety and respect.
Food: We wash our hands, say thank you to God for our food, sit nicely on our bottoms and eat with our mouths closed.
Ask: If we need help, have a question or feel upset- we share our heart with a grown up.
Sunday School Class Rules-
In our Room We Will- creating a classroom Respect Poster- In our room we will “Respect God… Respect Grown Ups… Respect Friends… Respect Things…”
CONCLUSION:
Respect is showing our love for someone or something. At church we can show God, our Heavenly Parent, our love by respecting the people and everything at church. True Father said that we should treat everyone and everything as holy. We are God’s special Princes and Princesses. He loves us so much. God and True Parents want us to be happy and have lots of fun! They also want us to be safe and kind to everyone. everywhere we go and spread God’s love even outside the church in to our homes and communities.
TITHING & PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Parent. Thank you for giving us our church- Your holy home. We want to listen to our parents and teachers because they love us and want the best for us. We’ll do our best to show respect and be your Princes and Princesses at church each Sunday. Let’s show respect, kindness and love to everyone everywhere we go. Amen Aju!
APPLY the Lesson:
GROUP ACTIVITIES: choose 1 :
Church Role Play: Go on a “walk through” together of your church and role play in each area what we should or shouldn’t do. Play “Following the Leader” and have different children show positive examples of the right ways to act in each different space.
Simon Says: Walk quietly, tip toe, pray, sing with all your heart!, sit criss cross, walk in a line, wash your hands, raise your hand, smile, clean up, say thank you...
Busy Bees: Pretend to be busy bees with great BEEhavior! Talk about how bees work together and help each other.
CRAFTS: choose 1
Church Envelope- The envelope opened up and glued on a paper is the church. Place popsicle stick characters inside!
Crown- Make & decorate tiaras or crowns to help remind us that we are God’s special special Princes and Princesses!
Cardboard Castle- Let children tinker with cardboard, toilet paper rolls & tape to create a castle or church. Decorate with stickers, chalk, glitter!
Bee Craft- Promoting Good BEEhavior! Make a bee.
Musical Shakers- “Make a joyful noise on to the Lord!” staple together two paper plates, with beans inside, have children decorate them & use them during music time.
Golden Rule- Free Printable golden ruler rulers
SNACK IDEAS:
Prayer Pretzels: “The shape of a pretzel, reminds me to pray, hands crossed like my snack, I will do it each day!”
Enjoy the lesson! Feel free to submit photos to lgavin@unification.org Love seeing lessons come to life and each community