Antidotes for Mom: Finding Your Flock, Children's Ministry Lesson

I know it's been a long time since I've done any posting. I mean a LOOOOOOOOONG time. We've legitimately been quite busy. Good busy. Productive busy.

I've also become really involved in our amazing local church. I love it! Our kids love it! We all love it!

I have been having a lot of fun creating fun lessons for the kids. Hands on activities to help relate the stories.

Here is one that went over really, REALLY well!

Jesus is our Shepherd. We are the flock.

John 10:14-16 (NLT)
"I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me,
just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep."

Luke 15:3-5 (NLT)
So Jesus told them this story:
"If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it?
And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders."

After talking to the kids about Jesus being our shepherd. How a good shepherd always looks after his flock and takes care of them. Protecting them, and providing for them. If one gets lost, he always goes looking for them.

I dyed cotton balls all different colors. See below.

After the story and the discussion, I put all the different colors of cotton balls into a paper bag and let the kids each pick one.

That color "cotton ball" was actually their color of sheep. They had a "missing" herd hidden all over the room and they were in charge of going and collecting all of their lost sheep.

The kids really enjoyed finding them, and not only that, they really took care to help out one another.

After all the sheep had been collected, we played a few more games with them sheep.

We played "Popcorn Sheep." Where all the sheep get tossed into the air, and everyone has to gather their sheep as fast as they can.

We also had a little relay where we put the sheep at one end of the room and their cups or "homes" at the other end. They were allowed to race each other and only pick up one sheep at a time and bring it home.

After you play all the games of finding your herds of sheep, follow up with the questions of what a shepherd is and does, and how Jesus is our amazing shepherd.

Hope you've enjoyed this lesson!

Check out the other kids ministry lessons I've got on my blog!