This lesson is about the Fruit of the Spirit. Your preschoolers will learn how God wants us to live and treat others. This lesson takes approx. 45 minutes.
Fruit of the Spirit Lesson Plan
Scripture Reference: Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) ~ "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
Key Memory Verse: God wants me to be good.
Story
Preparation: For the story, bring in a ripe banana that looks really yummy and a rotten banana.
Say: Boys and girls, if I offered you this piece of fruit (holding up the rotten banana), would you like to eat it? Let the children answer. Of course you wouldn't. This banana is yucky and rotten. We want to throw that banana away. What if I offered you this banana (holding up the ripe banana)? Would you like to eat this one? Let the children answer. I bet you would like to eat this banana. It is yellow and ripe, and probably tastes really yummy. Our life is like these two fruits. On one hand, we have people who do bad things and make us feel sad. While on the other hand, we have people who like to do good things, like help others and be nice to others. Which fruit do you think God wants us to be, the rotten banana or the ripe banana? Let the children answer. God wants us to be good fruit. Paul writes to us in the Bible about the Fruit of the Spirit. He talks about the way Christians should treat others and how we should do things that make God happy with us!
Discussion
How does God want us to treat other people? Let the children answer. He wants us to be kind and help others. Why don't we want to be rotten bananas? Let the children answer. Rotten bananas are like people who try to hurt others and are not nice to us. Who tells about the Fruit of the Spirit in the Bible? Paul tells us the things we should do to be good Christians.
Game - Musical Fruit
Preparation: Have two copies of nine fruit shapes. Within each shape write one of the traits of the Fruit of the Spirit. Make sure your two copies match.
Say: Today we are learning that God wants us to be good "fruit" or good helpers and kind to people. We are going to play a game to help you learn what the Fruit of the Spirit are.
Instructions: Play like musical chairs, except you will have a chair for each child to sit in. On the back of each chair, tape a fruit shape that has one of the Fruit of the Spirit on it. For instance, an orange that says "Joy" and a strawberry that says "Love," etc. Make similar shapes for a bag that you will pull from. Play music and have the children go around in a circle. When the music stops instruct the children to sit in a chair. Pull a fruit from your bag and whichever child has the matching fruit on back of their chair wins that round! You can give small fruit candies as a prize, if you like. Keep playing until every child has won the game.
Snack
A good snack for this lesson would be some fresh fruit and a cream cheese and/or chocolate dipping sauce.
Art Center - Scented Fruit Pictures
Materials:
- Coloring page with fruit shapes (click)
- Kool-Aid packets (orange, banana, etc.)
- Paint brush
- Water
- Small paper cups
Directions:
- Print the coloring page on cardstock paper for better results.
- Mix the Kool-Aid packets in the small paper cups with a tiny bit of water (just enough to make it wet, but not like you would drink it).
- Let the children paint the Kool-Aid paint on their picture matching the Kool-Aid flavor with their fruit. Let dry.
- Every time the children scratch their fruit, it will smell fruity!
Prayer
- Dear God,
- Help me know your way
- And be kind to others every day.
- Show me how to be very good
- And do the things I know I should.
- Amen.
Check out crafts for Famous Women of the Bible and Creative Bible Crafts!
