SCRIPTURE: Malachi

STORY POINT: Malachi told the people to remember God’s promises.
 
CHRIST CONNECTION: Malachi was a messenger for God. He told about another messenger—John the Baptist—who would get people ready for the last messenger, Jesus! Jesus is God’s Son who came to rescue people from sin.

KEY PASSAGE:  "...but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name." John 20:31

BIG PICTURE QUESTION: What is the Bible about? The Bible is about God’s plan to save people through Jesus.

Directions:
Invite the kids to search through the bin to find all the letters they can, and to place the letters neatly on the table as they find them. (This gives space for the kids to be around the bin at different times and also allows for body movement). If the kids find letters they know be excited with them, for example if they know they found the letter their name begins with.

Say: 
What are some of the letters that you found in the bin? [Allow responses.] Letters make up words that we can read or speak. In our Bible story, a man named Malachi talked to God’s people. Malachi told the people to remember God’s promises. Malachi told everyone that another messenger, John the Baptist, would come to get people ready for Jesus, God’s Son, who came to save people from their sins.

Directions:
There will be heart halves taped up around the room, have the kids find the halves and then come back to the rug, to match up the halves to create a heart.

Say:
What does a heart shape remind you of? [Allow responses.] Hearts remind me of love. Today we will hear a story from the Bible about a time when God’s people wondered if God really loved them. God did love them, but they had been doing wrong things. We will learn about the special message God had for them that He gave to Malachi. Malachi told the people to remember God’s promises.

Directions:
Play music as you invite preschoolers to move around the room. Stop the music. Instruct children to stop moving and stay as still as possible. Wait a few moments, (letting the children know “you have to wait for the music!) and then start the music again. Encourage preschoolers to begin moving. Continue playing as time allow and the kids have interest.

Say:
Was it hard to wait and be still when the music stopped? [Allow responses.] In today’s Bible story, we heard that God’s people were waiting for God to bless them, but nothing had happened. God sent Malachi to give the people a message. Malachi told the people to remember God’s promises. Malachi told about a messenger God would send who would get people ready for Jesus! The people would have to wait 400 years for the next messenger to come.

Directions:
Place the 3 cups upside down on a table. Place a table tennis ball underneath one cup. Move the cups around to shuffle the order. Invite preschoolers to guess which cup the ball is under. Reveal the correct cup. Continue playing as time allows. Consider allowing preschoolers to shuffle the cups.

Say:
In this game, there was a table tennis ball hidden under a cup. You had to guess where the ball was. God did not keep His message hidden from His people. He used prophets like Malachi to send messages to His people. God would later send John the Baptist to prepare the way for the last messenger, Jesus!

Directions:
This will be an activity on a table set up for play time. There will be a giant map that has Israel on it. Allow the kids to play with the boats, animals and people, allowing them to walk around and play in Israel. During activity time, bring the map out and say below:

Say:
Did God’s people return back to Israel, the land God promised? Yes! God’s people returned to Israel. The teachers were not telling the truth about God, so God sent Malachi to help the people.

Directions:
For Go & Serve Saturday we planted flowers outside the Early Childhood classroom. There are mini watering cans you can use to take the kids outside and water the flowers. This is an ongoing activity for the season. There is a hose outside by the flowers you can use to fill up the cans. (It’s also nice to do this ahead of time if you want.)