Fruit of the Spirit
Fruits all around! Teaching children about the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians. Children will explore and learn through fun, play, song and crafts. Let’s become fruitful by bearing good fruit!
Educational Framework: Heart for Others
“Fruit of the Spirit” Unit: A Mother’s Heart
LESSON PURPOSE: Let’s beAR healthy, delicious, ripe fruits! To teach children that through a relationship with God we can bear the Fruits of the Spirit in our hearts.
MATERIALS: fruit, learning toys, craft supplies
BOOKS: Fruit of the Spirit & 9 Fruits Alive both by Mindy MacDonald
SONG IDEAS: He’s Got the Whole World, Happy Sunny Side of Life, Harmony Can be A Way of Life, This Little Light of Mine, Fruit of Spirit Preschool Worship Song
SENSORY CENTERS: AS CHILDREN ARRIVE
Fruit Playdoh- Let children mold different fruits out of playdoh! Fruit scented playdoh.
Scented Markers- Have children color fruit printables or cut out using smelly markers and guessing the fruit flavors.
Farmer’s Market- Play “farmer’s market” with play fruits, baskets, bags, pretend money.
Fruit Sort- In a sensory bin, have children sort play food by color, type or size.
SCRIPTURE: Display the weekly scripture reading, have an older child read it or use it in the lesson as you like.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” -Galatians 5:22-23
“A tree is fruitful when it becomes mature and bears fruit. Similarly, a fruitful individual is someone who is spiritually, intellectually and emotionally mature and bears the fruit of love, wisdom and goodness. Such an individual personifies God's own nature and heart.” -Rev. Sun Myung Moon
INTRODUCE the Lesson:
WELCOME: SONG, PRAYER, TP Greeting
SONG IDEAS: He’s Got the Whole World, Happy Sunny Side of Life, Harmony Can be A Way of Life, This Little Light of Mine, Fruit of Spirit Preschool Worship Song
REVIEW & TRANSITION:
We have been learning all about God’s loving Motherly heart this month. Who are some women we’ve learned about? (Mothers! True Mother!) What are some foods that Mothers like children to eat? That’s right- Mothers care about you and want you to eat healthy delicious foods such as FRUIT!
ATTENTION GRABBER: choose 1:
Fruit Basket- Show children a basket holding a Bible & fruit. Can write words on each fruit such as “love”. Ask children to name each fruit and it’s color. Is it sweet or sour? Hard or soft? Juicy? Explain that the Bible is God’s holy book. It teaches us lessons in how to live a good life. Today we will learn about a Bible lesson on fruit! (Read the words on the fruits during the teaching point.)
Smell Test- Have children smell different fruit flavored markers, playdoh or other scents and guess which fruit flavor it is!
Blindfolded Taste Test- Have children taste a piece of fruit & guess which one it is!
INTRO:
In Galatians 5 of the Bible, God teaches us about the “Fruit of the Spirit”. When we invite God to live in our lives- the Fruit of the Spirit lives in our hearts. Have you ever had a rotten or old fruit? How did it taste? Yucky! Yes, God only wants us to have delicious, good fruit. Rotten fruit resemble things like anger, selfishness or jealousy. “Fruit of the Spirit” include actions like love, patience and kindness. So talking about delicious, fresh fruit helps us to remember the kinds of traits God, our Heavenly Parent wants us to have.
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
Educational:
Bible Theater: Galatians: Fruit of the Spirit Educational Animation by LifeKids
For Fun:
Fruit of Spirit Preschool Worship Song with Actions by KidSpring Children’s Ministry
Fruit if the Spirit Song for Kids Fun Educational Dance Song by Starskills
Fruit of the Spirit- Children’s Song Silly Dance Song by Upward Bound Ministry
SONG OR POEM:
Fruit Salad (Have children pick a fruit to add!)
Let’s make a fruit salad, fruit salad, fruit salad!
Let’s make a fruit salad, gather all the fruit!
Let’s add in some oranges, oranges, oranges
Let’s add in some oranges- mix it all around!
Let’s add in some… strawberries, watermelon, grapes, berries, bananas, kiwi … Yum! Let’ eat it!I Like to Eat Eat Eat Apples & Bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas. I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas.
I like ate, ate, ate ayples and banaynays. I like ate, ate, ate ayples and banaynays.
I like to eat, eat, eat eepples and beeneenees. I like to eat, eat, eat eepples and beeneenees.
And I like to ite, ite, ite ipples and bininis. I like to ite, ite, ite ipples and bininis.
I like to ote, ote, ote, oplles and bononos. I like to ote, ote, ote, oplles and bononos.
And I like to ute, ute, ute upples and bununus. I like to ute, ute, ute upples and bununus.
*TEACH the Lesson:
Discuss the following points together, asking children questions, drawing pictures, using anchor charts or post it notes.
TEACHING POINT 1: Fruit of the Spirit
(Teach an overview of all of the fruits of the spirit or choose to focus more deeply on 1 or 2. Use a fun visual to help teach the lesson.)
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” -Galatians 5:22-23
When we learn to love God (through prayer, song, church, study) we naturally want to love others. God’s love in our lives helps us to bear good fruit. Show a fruit with the written word or printout image as you speak about each one. Ask children what each word means and briefly discuss together:
Love- Let’s show love to my family & friends! Being thoughtful & thinking of others.
Joy- Being happy for my friend or being joyful even when I’m tired or grumpy.
Peace- Having a peaceful heart- not worrying. Playing peacefully without arguments.
Patience- Joy comes in waiting! Waiting patiently for my birthday present.
Kindness- Show kindness to everyone, even those hardest to love.
Goodness- Being a helper to my parents and others, even when I don’t feel like it.
Faithfulness- Spending time with God in prayer, song or study.
Gentleness- Using gentle hands and gentle words when playing with my friends.
Self-control- Listening to my parents when they know what’s best for me & being content with what I have. (Not eating too much candy, watching too much tv or always wanting more toys.)
“Just like a tasty banana, apple or pear- Our hearts bear good fruit when the Spirit lives there!” The fruits of the spirit are evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. When God is in your life- it’s easier to be patient, loving, kind… because Let God’s light shine through you!
GROUP ACTIVITY: choose 1 or 2
Beach Ball Toss: “Fruit of the Spirit is...Love!” Write each child’s name on part of the beach ball and toss it to each child. Check where the child’s thumb lands- the child should share what they love about that person.
Patience Game: Have children sit across from a partner. Instruct them to sit quietly and not make a sound. Have them try to make each other laugh. Whoever makes the other child laugh first wins. Play a few rounds. Share that sometimes our time of patience is a quiet time- but they joy will come in waiting!
Hot Apple: Play hot potato with an apple or other fruit, sitting in a circle and passing it around to music. Pause the music and whoever is holding it is out until 1 player remains.
Fruit Basket: Have children sit across from each other in 2 rows or a circle of chairs. Give every few children a fruit name like “Banana, apple, pear, grapes”. When you call “bananas!” all the children that are bananas have to get out of their seat and run to a new empty seat! (If you have 1 less seat available- it can be a competition. Or if you have enough chairs for all kids- it’s just fun to run around & switch when your fruit is called.)
Fruit Sort: Have “ripe” fruit labeled “love, patience…” and have “rotten” fruit labeled “anger, jealousy, impatience etc.” Have children help you sort them into 2 large hula hoops.
TEACHING POINT 2: Being Fruitful*OPTIONAL EXTENSION
“A tree is fruitful when it becomes mature and bears fruit. Similarly, a fruitful individual is someone who is spiritually, intellectually and emotionally mature and bears the fruit of love, wisdom and goodness. Such an individual personifies God's own nature and heart.” -True Father
True Parents teach us in the Divine Principle about the 3 Great Blessings. In the first Blessing God asks us to “Become Fruitful”. Discuss what it means to become fruitful and True Father’s words above. Becoming fruitful- is growing in our relationship with our Heavenly Parent. We want to strive to become the best people we can be and grow beautiful hearts, spirits and minds just like a healthy tree grows delicious fruit- we want to be fruitful!
GROUP ACTIVITY: choose 1 or 2
Discuss: What does a unhealthy tree look like? Slumped over, dried out, thirsty, fragile. What does a healthy tree look like? Tall, green, luscious, with deliciously ripe fruit. We want to be like that healthy tree! What does a “fruitful person” look like? Someone who loves others, is patient, loves God, thinks of someone else before themselves, is unselfish etc. Someone who loves like God our Heavenly Parent does. Jesus & True Parents are examples of being fruitful.
CONCLUSION:
God gave us a lot of delicious fruit to eat! And just like we love ripe fruit- God wants us to have the “fruits of the spirit” in our hearts- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These are all traits and actions that can help us to grow and become fruitful. If we practice building a relationship with God we will bear the fruits of the spirit & become beautiful sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parent!
TITHING & PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Parent, thank you for love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Thank you for loving us and teaching us about the Fruits of the Spirit so that we can learn to be the best kids we can be! We want to let your light shine through us and bring joy to you and everyone around us. Amen. Aju!
APPLY the Lesson:
CRAFTS: choose 1
Kool Aid Painting- Mix KoolAid fruit flavored powder with water and children will smell fruit flavors as they paint!
Fruit Basket- Use a paper plate to create the basket & print outs or cut outs of fruit. Color using dot markers, bubble wrap with paint, stickers or gluing on streamer bits.
Fruit Painting- Cut fruits in half. Match the paint color to the fruit. For example: apples- red, lemons-yellow, oranges-orange, pear-green.
Find more fun Fruit of the Spirit crafts, activities, games, visuals here! ;)
SNACK IDEAS:
Fruit salad: Pre-cut several different colored fruits and serve them in little cups.
Fruit cones: Fill ice cream cones with pre-cut fruit! Each child receives a fruit cone.
Enjoy the lesson! Feel free to submit photos to lgavin@unification.org Love seeing lessons come to life and each community