A Preschool Bible Lesson for Valentine’s Day

This week I have a Preschool Bible lesson on love for you . . . just in time for Valentine’s Day!  I hope you enjoy it and that, if you are looking for something to do with your Sunday School class, children’s church, or even your own family for Valentine’s Day you will be able to use it! It uses Valentine’s Day to share the gospel with the youngest of our kids!

You also might want to print off these Sports-themed Valentines with Bible Verses to give to the kids in your class – or print off the black and white ones and let your kids color them and give them away to their friends. This is a great way to help the kids in your class share God’s love with their friends this Valentine’s Day!

Have a great Valentine’s Day and keep passing the faith on to the next generation . . .

Cheri

A Preschool Bible Lesson on Love

Opening Activities:

1. Today we are going to talk about LOVE! Let’s start by doing some special LOVE exercises! Stand up tall and stretch your arms in the air! Does anyone know what letter “Love” starts with? What sound do you hear? (say LLLove). It is an “L”! Let’s make the letter “L” with our bodies! Teach the kids how to use their bodies to make an L. Then do that with the rest of the letters of the word “LOVE”. Start out slowly and have them “spell” love one letter at a time . . . then speed it up. How fast can they go? (For added fun, when they have finished with this activity, have them lie on the ground, each one forming a different letter so that they spell out “Love”. Stand on a chair above and take a picture!)

2. What are some ways that we show someone else that we love them? Discuss. Let’s play a little game to see if you can tell if someone is showing love or not. You have to listen very carefully in this game and do exactly what I say. Are you ready? Use the following statements (or make some of your own) to see if the kids can tell if someone is being loving or not. Some of the kids might want to do the activity even if it is not with a “love statement” so make sure you talk about each statement briefly afterward. You might also want to substitute your own kids’ names for the names suggested (but be sure to do that only for the positive ones!)

• Hunter gave his grandma a big hug. If he was showing love, stand on one foot!

• Addison did all the dishes for her mom without complaining. If she was showing love, jump up and down!

• When Logan’s mom asked him to put his toys away, Logan got mad and ran out of the room. If he was showing love, clap your hands.

• Caleb got mad at his brother and hit him in the arm. If he was showing love, jump as high as you can.

• Wesley shared his toys with his friend. If he was showing love, spin around in a circle.

• Kylie made a nice card for her aunt who was sick. If she was showing love, hop to your chair and sit down!

Good job! You all know that you can show love by the way you act and the things you do! Can you think of any other ways to show someone you love them? Discuss.

Bible Lesson:

Before the lesson, hide several construction paper hearts around the room. Four of the hearts should have pictures on them (as follows) and the rest should just be plain hearts.

• One heart that is colored black or has black marks going through it . . . or simply scribbled and made to look really ugly (it represents sin)

• One heart that has a picture of a cross on it

• One heart that has a picture of an empty grave or Jesus in the clouds

• One heart that has a picture of a child on it

Say: I have hidden several construction paper hearts around this room. They look like this. (Hold up a sample that looks like the hearts you have hidden). Let’s see if we can find all these hearts and bring them back here! Are you ready? Let’s go!

Help the kids find all the hearts. Make sure every child has a heart as they all come back and sit together for the lesson.

Say: Good job! You found all the hearts! Now you are going to use those hearts that you found to help me tell teach today’s lesson!

Let me read you a verse. (Use your own Bible to read Romans 5:8). Did you hear what I just read? That verse says that GOD LOVES US!!! God loves us so much that He did something very special! Did you hear what it was? (If the kids can’t answer, read the verse again). God loved us so much that He sent Jesus, His Son to DIE for us! (Read the verse again).

What does it mean to be a sinner? Discuss. When you sin, you do something wrong. It makes your heart all ugly. Does anyone have an ugly, scribbled on heart? (Help the kids look at their hearts to see who has it. Have that person bring that heart up to the front, and hold the heart for all to see.) Do you see all these marks on this heart? Those marks are things that we do wrong! Maybe I tell a lie – that’s a sin! (Take a marker and make another mark on the heart). Maybe I don’t listen to my mom or dad – that’s another sin! Can you think of any other sins? (Discuss. You might want to let kids come up and make another mark on the heart if they mention a sin).

Wow! Look at this heart! It is ugly and filled with sin! When someone sins like this, they should be punished, shouldn’t they? What do you think should happen to someone who has this sin? (Discuss)

Yes, someone who has sin should be punished! But what did my verse say? (Read Romans 5:8 again). God showed us He loved us by sending Jesus for us. Jesus came and took our punishment! He was punished so that we don’t have to be! Who has the heart that has a picture of a cross on it? (Help the kids find that heart. Have the kid who has that heart bring it up front.)

This is a picture of a cross. Do you know why there is a cross on this heart? It is because Jesus died for us by being nailed to a cross. He died for us! He was dead for three days and then something special happened. Does anyone know what it was? He became alive again! He ROSE from the dead! He showed that He is stronger than anything – even death! Does anyone have a heart that shows how Jesus rose from the dead? (Help the kids find this heart. Bring it up front and show it to everyone)

So, let’s take a look at these hearts that we have up here. What does this heart tell us? (Point to the one that is black and marked up). Yes, it reminds us that we all do things that are wrong. What does this heart tell us? (Point to the one that has the cross). Yes, it tells us that Jesus took our punishment for us. He died on the cross for us. What does this heart tell us? (Point to the one of the empty grave). Yes, it tells us that Jesus didn’t stay dead! He rose from the dead! But there is one more heart with a picture on it. Who has it?

Find the heart with the picture of the child. What do you think this picture means? (Discuss) This picture is YOU. God loves you so much that He sent Jesus for YOU. Jesus took YOUR place and died for YOUR sins! Now YOU can love others, too.

What are some ways that you can show love to others? (Discuss. You might want to give some ideas . . . share toys, say nice words, be kind, help around the house, etc)

There are some empty hearts here. Let’s make our own pictures! On these hearts, we are going to draw ways that we can show love to other people. (Help the kids draw ways they can show love to others on each of the empty hearts. When they finish, put the hearts up with the others. Optional: Post all the hearts together in the shape of a cross.)

Will you listen to me read this verse one more time? Maybe you can say some of it with me? Read Romans 5:8 one more time. Then say a short prayer thanking God for His love for us and asking God to help each of the kids (and you) show love to others.

Additional Activities:

1. Make Valentine’s Day Slime! Let the kids help you make it and then let them play in it.  You can apply today’s lesson by talking about how, when we sin, we are slimy and gross . . . just like this slime! But God can forgive us and wash our sins away, making us something pretty cool . . .. just like this slime is pretty cool looking and fun to play with now!

2. Play a “candy heart” application game. Here are a couple ideas:

• Give each child some candy hearts and a mason jar (or some other container). The kids have to stand above the mason jar and drop the candy hearts in to the container. Have them say one way they can show love before dropping each candy heart.

• Have a bowl of candy hearts at one end of the room and an empty bowl at the other. Give all the children plastic spoons. They need to put a candy heart on their spoon and race to other end of the room where they will drop the candy heart in the empty bowl. When they drop the empty heart, they should say “Jesus loves me!” (or any other phrase you want them to say).

3. Have the kids make a Valentine’s Day Card for someone they love . . . and encourage them to share the message that Jesus loves them in the card, too! For even MORE fun, have the kids make the card in class, and then collect the cards and send them out to the person who is going to be receiving them so that that person gets a special card in the mail! (For really young kids, you might have to provide a template, or have several hearts cut out that they can use).

4. Sing any version of “Jesus Loves Me” with the kids that you want. There are many out there, or you can use this one: