I remember the Christmas Eve my granddaughter was given a beach bucket.  The gift was from 94-year-old Oma and there were so many great-grandchildren we set a five-dollar limit. My granddaughter unwrapped it and exclaimed, ‘I can’t believe I have my own bucket!’  Now that’s gratitude.  When something wonderful happens in our family we still quote my granddaughter’s comment. 

We have just returned from a few days away at a seaside village on the northern coast of New South Wales.  It’s winter and for me, too cold for swimming in the ocean, but we walked along the beaches and dipped our toes in the waves.  We watched the trawlers leave in the evening and return in the morning. We saw pods of dolphins. We stood behind a waterfall. We had many ‘I can’t believe I have my own bucket’ moments!  It wasn’t long before the floor of our unit had a fine coating of sand. I was reminded of Psalm 139 and a beach-themed lesson for pre-schoolers titled ‘God is Thoughtful’ and it requires a beach bucket!     

You’ll find the lesson, the illustrations and the craft sheet here: https://cooeekidsministry.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/God-is-Thought-Full.pdf

God is Thought-Full

Here’s a beautiful lesson about how much God thinks about His children.  The story provides lots of fun for your Pre-schoolers as there’s plenty of humour and the opportunity for interaction.   

Activity:  Sand Play

Set up a sand pit in a plastic or blow-up pool. If you’re indoors, sit the pool on top of a large tarpaulin to make clean-up easier.  Add lots of sand pit toys.  If your Church has a playground with a sand pit make it extra special for the program by sprinkling powdered paint of all colours in patches here and there.  (Lightly spray with water so the sand can absorb it.)  As leaders and volunteers play in the sand with the children, talk about the sand.  Try counting the grains!  How much sand do they think is in the sandpit?  One billion, trillion, squillion grains?

Story:  Beachcomber

Bible Reference:  Psalm 139:17&18a

You will need to dress for the beach.  Wear a hat and a bright Hawaiian-style shirt.  Carry a beach bucket and spade.  The bucket has a little sand in the bottom and is filled with pictures of objects that will be visual aids for the story.  I’ve provided the royalty-free pictures for you to cut out and laminate.  You could use real or toy objects (partly blow up the floatie in front of the children).  The script is very interactive.  You can tone it down or whoop it up – whatever you’re comfortable with depending on how many helpers you have.

Props:             Large beach bucket

                        Spade

                        Sand in the bottom of the bucket

                        Picture of floatie

                        Picture of oyster and pearl

                        Picture of thongs

                        Picture of coconut

                        Picture of crab

Storyteller:     (Enters carrying bucket and spade)

Wow!  I’ve just come from the beach.

I was digging in the sand with my spade.

I wanted to fill my bucket with sand to make….

  …a pizza! (Pause)  No, that’s not righI wanted to fill my bucket with sand to make…

  …a scarecrow!  (Pause) No, that’s not right either.

  I wanted to fill my bucket with sand to make…

  (wait for the children to help you answer) …a sandcastle!

   Do you like going to the beach and making sandcastles?

 There’s lots of sand at the beach, isn’t there. 

All that sand made me remember something wonderful.

In the Bible, God says,

            ‘How precious are your thoughts about me, O God,

            They cannot be numbered!

             I can’t even count them;

             They outnumber the grains of sand!’

 Do you know what that means?

It means God is thinking about you.

God is thinking about you a lot.

God is thinking about you so many times

His thoughts are more than the number of grains of sand.

Let me try to count how many thoughts that would be.

(Use the spade to dump a little sand on your hand)

You help me count.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…

(Keep counting with the children as far as they can go)

There is too much sand here to count.

And it’s only a little pile of sand in my hand.

Think about the beach. 

How much sand must be on the beach?

Think of all the beaches around the world.

How much sand must be on all those beaches?

Think about all the sand on the bottom of the sea.

How much sand must be under the water?

 Too much sand to count!

And God thinks about you MORE than all that.

Do you know what God is thinking about you?

I’ve collected some things from the beach.

I’ll use them to tell you what God thinks of you.

(Pull out the pearl in the shell)

 God thinks you are precious.  (Psalm 139; Isaiah 49:16)

  Just like the beautiful pearl in this shell.

You’re valuable, loved, important and treasured.

God made you just the way you are and He loves you.

 (Pull out the floatie)

 God thinks you are worth saving.  (1 John3:1a; Romans 5:8; John 3:16)

He sent His Son Jesus to take away every bad thing you’ve ever done.

God saved you from sin so He can be your Heavenly Father and you can snuggle into Him.

(Pull out the thongs/flip flops)

 God thinks about the plans He has for your life.  (Jeremiah 29:11)

  You’re going places!

He’s going to walk with you as you grow.

  God knows what you will be when you grow up.

  He has given you gifts and talents to get the job done.

  (Pull out the coconut)

God thinks about giving you everything you need to grow.  (Matthew 6:25-34)

Food to eat.  Water to drink.  A house for you to live in.

  He doesn’t want you to worry about a thing.

   God has thought of everything!

    (Pull out the starfish)

God thinks you’re a star!  (3 John verses 3-5; 1 Chronicles 22:13; Zephaniah 3:17)

 He is going to help you achieve lots of things in your life

and be with you to finish what you start.

He is going to help you have lots of victories.

You will win over sin, sickness and the Devil.

God thinks you are brilliant!

(Pull out the crab)

God thinks about how He will never, ever let you go.  (Hebrews 13:5)

You belong to Him.

He will always be with you.

He will never, ever leave you.

Oh no! 

The crab has my finger.

It’s not going to let go!  Never, ever.

I think I’d better take this crab back to the beach.

Ouch. 

Still not letting go…

(Exit)

Ministry to the Children:

Leader:  Remember, God is thinking about you more than there are grains of sand.  That’s more than Mum or Dad.  That’s more than even Grandma, Grandpa, Nanna or Poppy!  God thinks about you more than you think about yourself.  Let’s pray and thank God for His wonderful thoughts about you.   (Pray)

Transition:

Call a child up to the front and pray over them…

‘How precious are your thoughts about (child’s name) O God,

            They cannot be numbered!

            I can’t even count them;

            They outnumber the grains of sand!’

Game:  Stuck in the Sand

(This is the same game as the classic Stuck in the Mud)

Choose one child to be ‘it’.  If you have a large number of children you can choose two.  All the other children scatter around.  The child who is ‘it’ must run around and tag as many people as he can.

When tagged, a child must freeze and stand with his legs and arms apart.  The only way to be freed is for a non-tagged child to crawl through the tagged child’s legs.  Children are safe while crawling under legs and cannot be tagged when in that position.  The game ends when all children have been tagged and are ‘stuck in the sand’.

Craft:  Coloured Sand Picture

You will need:

• Coloured sand (see instructions for making your own below)
• PVA Glue
• Brushes
• Teaspoons and cups (separate colour in each cup)
• Trays
• Dustpan and brush

What to do:

• Give each child an A3 photocopy of the beach scene on page 4 (it is copyright-free) or create your own
• Brush the PVA glue on one section of the illustration at a time
• Sprinkle the sand on top of the glue using a teaspoon
• Gently shake off the excess sand over a tray (you’ll need your helpers to assist the children with this.  The excess sand can be scooped up and reused)

Recipe for Coloured Sand:

• Colour sand by dividing light-coloured sand into zip-lock bags
• Dampen the sand so it will absorb the colouring
• Add a few drops of food colouring into each bag
• Close the bag and shake and squeeze to mix the colour until it is evenly distributed through the sand
• Transfer the sand to baking trays, trays or shallow dishes
• Bake at 90C for 5 to 10 minutes and allow to cool