• Know they are part of a family • Know they are greatly loved by our Heavenly Father • Feel that they are special • Know God made them as they are and has an important plan and purpose for them. DOWNLOAD Lesson #1

Let children go on a COLOR HUNT around a designated area to find strips of colored cloth. When they find a colored strip of cloth, the child will run back to the poster board on the classroom wall and will glue the strip of cloth to the board. Tell children to continue to hunt and glue strips to the board and try to make a coat with their many colors, so actually it will just be long rectangle strips for the most part, with added strips for the arms of the coat. Some child may enjoy drawing a head with beard, etc, on the top of the coat when they are finished so they will have a picture of JOSEPH for our story today.

Supplies needed:
• Different colour strips of cloth.
• Safety pins to make a coat.
• A large piece of paper, glue and crayons.
• Print the Joseph coat Visual Aid and get the children to colour.
• Print the Joseph stickman Visual Aid and colour.
• Black blindfold.
• Thumb tacks.
• Small pieces of paper, pencils
• Print out musical lyrics.
• Print Twi 'Bible Verse Visual Aids' for the children of Ghana and get a child to colour them prior to the class.
• Print the English 'Activity Book'
• Print 'A favorite son becomes a slave' Twi colouring pages for the children of Ghana
• Print the Twi 'Take Home Bible Memory Verse' for the children of Ghana
• Print the English 'Keeping children safe during a flood' Adult Educational Handout
• Print Chapter #1 of 'And Puppy' for the Story Teller
• Create a ‘Heaven Corner’ with a gold cloth on a chair with Jesus’ crown and a wooden cross, covered with a red cloth to represent His blood

1. GAMES: (10 minutes) PIN THE COAT ON JOSEPH: Print the Joseph stick man and print the Joseph coat and get the children to colour before Game #1 DOWNLOAD Game #1 'Stick man'

Take turns being blindfolded and trying to pin the COLORFUL coat onto Joseph stickman! DOWNLOAD Lesson #1 Game #1 Visual Aids

DOWNLOAD Lesson #1 English Visual Aids

DOWNLOAD Lesson #1 Twi Visual Aids

2. TEAM GAMES: (10 minutes) ROBE RUN: The teacher will have two poster boards - one for each team. Draw a very large outline of a coat with stripes. Divide the class into 2 teams. Children will run a relay to take turns in coloring ONE stripe with colored marker or crayon of his/her choice and then run back to the team for the next player to run to the coat. Continue until all the stripes are coloured, the team to finish first is the winner.

a. Review (5 minutes)
(This being Lesson 1 there may not be a review unless this teaching comes after previous teaching)

b. Learn a Bible Verse (5 minutes)

Adapted from Bible for Children

c. Teach the Lesson (15 minutes)

Adapted from Bible for Children

Bible Reading: Genesis 37: 3-4; 12-13; 17b-24

Joseph was a part of a family. Even though Joseph grew up in a messed-up family, he did not allow his unusual and dysfunctional family background to get in the way of serving God. He refused to use his family history as an excuse.

We are also part of an earthly family as well as a Christian Church family. We are the brothers and sisters of Jesus The Church is a family bound together by love for God, their Heavenly Father, and for one another.

One day Jesus was together with his disciples in a house. When Jesus' mother and brothers arrived at the house, they sent someone inside to look for him. They told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” Jesus looked around at the people seated around him and answered, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother & sister & mother.”

Did Jesus love his real mother and brothers? Of course he did, but he also realized that he had another family. It was a family made up of those who loved his Heavenly Father and did his will.

You and I love our families, but we also have a wonderful family of faith made up of brothers and sisters who love God and love one another. It is wonderful to be a part of "The Family of God."

https://www.sermons4kids.com/we_are_family.htm

Joseph was loved by his earthly father, he gave him a very special present, can you remember what that was? (A coat of many colours)

But Joseph was also very important to God who loved him and you will learn later in this teaching God never left him even in Joseph’s times of difficulties.

God knew Joseph before he was even born and He had a great plan for Joseph just like He has for you.

Jeremiah 1:5a “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart”

Jeremiah 29:11
“ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Joseph's father loved him more than his brothers and Jesus was the beloved son and preferred one of the Heavenly Father.

Optional: Download ‘Joseph coat of many colors’ video

STORY TIME:

The Story Teller reads "And Puppy' Chapter #1 'The Slave Hunters'

SLAVERY:

Enslaved families were separated at an owner's or auctioneer's whim, never to see each other again. Slave children, under their parents and masters, lived in fear of punishment and isolation. Though circumstances widely varied, they often worked in fields with adults, tended animals, cleaned and served in their owners' houses, and took care of younger children while their parents were working.

Allow the children to share the feelings that the 'Slave Hunters' story and video created in them.

6. APPLICATION / ENCOUNTERING GOD:
One child will start and tag another child and say “JOIN THE FAMILY”. They will hold hands each time one is caught and continue to tag more and hold hands until the whole class is holding hands thanking God for your family. We are not born God's Children. We are adopted by Him through Jesus. We will learn how to become God's Children

CLOSING PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, we thank you for our families and we pray for thier protection in the journey of life. We thank you for our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

NEXT WEEK: We will learn that sometimes bad things happen to good people. Joseph is betrayed by his brothers and thrown into a pit and separated from his father.

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