SCRIPTURE: Ezra 1-3

STORY POINT: God brought His people back to Jerusalem.

CHRIST CONNECTION: God kept His promise and brought His people back to Jerusalem. One day, God will bring all His people together in a new, perfect place where no one will cry anymore, and everyone will worship Him forever.

KEY PASSAGE PHRASE: It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isaiah 25:9

BIG PICTURE QUESTION: How did God plan to fix what sin broke? God planned to send Jesus.

Directions:
Have the kids search through the bin to find all of the silver and gold pieces and collect them together.

Say: 
When King Cyrus announced that God’s people should go rebuild God’s house in Jerusalem, he sent the people with gold, silver, and other special treasures to use for the temple. These amazing gifts helped God’s people build a beautiful temple for God. One day, those whom have trusted in Jesus will live with God in a perfect place where the streets are made of gold and there is no more sadness or pain.

Directions:
There will be the outline of a house on the ground with blue tape. Have the kids trace the outline with the craft sticks to “build the house”. You can remove the sticks and have them do the activity again if they want.

Say:
You followed the tape and built a house. God wanted King Cyrus to help rebuild God’s house, the temple, in Jerusalem. The king told his people to give the Israelites silver and gold to help them in this task. God brought His people back to Jerusalem. The people worked to rebuild the temple. After the first part of the temple was built, the people celebrated! They played cymbals and trumpets and sang, ‘The Lord is good. His love for Israel lasts forever!’

Directions:
Designate one area in the room as “home.” Choose an area on the opposite side of the room for children to stand. Choose a way in which the preschoolers will travel “home” (walking, skipping, hopping, giant steps, and so forth). Say “go home,” and encourage the class to travel to the designated wall with you. Repeat with different ways of traveling as time allows. (You can also play this outside)

Say:
We moved our bodies in different ways to travel home! Which movements did you enjoy doing? [Allow responses.] In today’s Bible lesson, God’s people traveled home to Jerusalem. They built an altar to worship God for keeping His promises. God has also promised that one day He will bring all His people together in a new, perfect place where no one will cry anymore, and everyone will worship Him forever. 

Directions:
Play a matching game with the kids. Lay out one set of cards on the rug. Stack the other set upside down in one pile. Have the kids take turns drawing one card from the top of the stack and finding it’s match. Be sure to name the pictures on the cards, using words from the story.

Say:
That was a fun game, wasn’t it? We could all name something we would take with us if we had to move to a new place. In our Bible lesson, we learned that God brought His people back to Jerusalem after they were away for many years. The Bible tells us the people were given gifts of gold, silver, and animals to take back with them. They worked to rebuild God’s house. God kept His promise and brought the people home. One day, God will bring all His people together to a new, perfect place where no one will cry anymore, and everyone will be happy and worship God forever.

Directions:
Have the kids color the front of the suitcase and then glue the items inside.

Say:
God’s people lived in exile in Persia for 70 years. God brought His people back to Jerusalem. What kinds of things do you think they would need to take with them? The Bible tells us they took gifts from the people in Persia. They gave them gold, silver, and animals. The king gave them back the items taken from God’s house as well. What would you pack in your suitcase if you were moving?

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.)