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Creative Teaching Ideas

Thanksgiving: Count Your Blessings

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Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Not once a year, but every day, we need to count the blessings God has sent us.
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What You Need

  • A blank sheet of paper and something to write with for each person
  • A timer

What to do – Game

  1. On your signal to begin, everyone should write down everything they are thankful for that can be described in two words or less.
  2. Set a timer, for two minutes (or less) and tell them to begin.
  3. When the timer goes off each youth must count how many items they have.
  4. The person with the most items should read their list and if anyone else has those items on their list also, then everyone who has the items must cross them off the list. Only unique items remain.
  5. The next person continues in the same way, calling out the items that remain on his/ her list. If the item is unique it remains. If someone else has the same item, then all who have it cross the item off their lists.
  6. Continue until everyone has gone, then each person must count up the unique items he or she has on the list.
  7. Award a prize for the person with the highest number of unique answers.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Make it Spiritual

* What was the most surprising thing that someone was thankful for?
* How did creating your list affect you?
* Did you have more or less items than you thought you would have?
* How did it make you feel when you discovered that others felt blessed for the same things as you?
* Of all the things on your list, which is most significant for you? Why?

Make it Personal

CREATE A BLESSINGS JAR

  1. Give each youth a blessings jar. While a small jar is nice, any container with a lid will work. Place a label on it “Blessings Jar.” And maybe tie a ribbon on it. You can just as easily decorate a Pringles can or another container. Or even better, have materials for the youth to decorate their own jar.
  2. Give each youth 30-40 small slips of paper. You can also buy a small notepad.
  3. Encourage the youth to start today and for each day from now until the end of the year, at the beginning of each day, to write something down they are thankful for, or that was a blessing for them on the previous day. Place it in the jar each day. Then at the end of the year, encourage them to open the jar and recall the blessings of God for the last few weeks of the year.

SCRIPTURES

Ephesians 5:19-21
“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Colossians 3:17
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Creative Holiday Ideas
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan not only your next Fall Festival or Thanksgiving Celebration, but also most of the other common holidays. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for the holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

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Icebreakers

Connected Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving is an American Holiday when people come together, treasure the relationships with those close to them, and thank God for his blessings over the past year. While the New Year celebrates new opportunities and a chance to start over, Thanksgiving reminds us how far we have come and how God and others have helped us to get where we are.

This Thanksgiving Activity encourages youth to remember things for which they are thankful and also reminds us that we are also connect to those around us and need to be thankful for them as well. Being Thankful isn’t just for Americans and Canadians. It’s something all of us should take time to do!

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What You Need

  • Ball of string or yarn

What to do

  1. Sit the youth group on the floor in a circle with everyone facing inward toward the center of the circle.
  2. Ask the youth to think about the past one year. What have been some of the best times, the highlights, the celebrations? What are some things from the past year that they are thankful for? Give them a few moments to think and then ask them all to think of one thing each and to hold it in their thoughts.
  3. Then choose one youth to begin and hand them the ball of string. The chosen youth must tell everyone in the circle ONE THING they are thankful for.
  4. Then, holding firmly to the end of the string, he or she must toss the ball of string to someone else in the circle who has not yet received the string.
  5. The person receiving the string gives ONE THING he or she is thankful and does the same — holding firmly onto the string, he or she tosses the ball on to another person who has not received it yet.
  6. The string should be held tightly and above the ground at all times.
  7. Continue until everyone has received the string once and has told the group one thing they are thankful for.

VARIATION: In addition to the one thing they are thankful for, have youth to think about one person in the circle they are thankful for and one characteristic of that person that they appreciate. For example: “I am thankful for my family and I am also thankful for Bob, because he makes me laugh all the time.”

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Just as in this game, many of the blessings of the past year are shared and connect us together. When one person is blessed, the joy is shared and we often bless others as a result. Smiles are contagious. Joy is shared. And a heart of gratitude reminds not only us, but others of the source of our blessings which is God.

There are a lot of things in life to be thankful for.  James 1:17 reminds us “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Ephesians 1:3 reminds us “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”

  • What are some of the other things you are thankful for from the past one year?
  • What are some of the things you have been blessed with in the past 1 year?
  • What are you most thankful for? Why?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Read Psalm 145:1-21
This psalm gives many reasons we should praise God and be thankful to Him. Some of those things listed describe who God is, what he is like. Others describe what he has done or will do. List all the reasons to thank God and praise Him as found in this psalm.

  • Why should we be thankful to God and praise Him?
  • What are some of the things that will happen when we praise God according to this psalm?
  • What does thanksgiving do for us? How does our thanks affect others?

Read Psalm 95:1-7a
“Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.”

  • What reasons do these verses give for being thankful and singing for Joy to God?
  • Why should these things make us thankful?
  • What are some practical benefits of each?

Read Psalm 100
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

  • In psalm 100, what are the 6 reasons given to be thankful to God and to praise Him?
  • Who does the psalm say should be thankful?
  • Which of the 6 reasons makes you most thankful?

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • What lessons can we learn about Thanksgiving and Gratitude from these Bible passages?
  • Why should we be more thankful each day of our lives, and not just once a year?
  • What effect could it have on us and others if we always had a grateful heart?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • How can you be a more grateful person with God and others?
  • Take some time in prayer to thank God for his blessings over the past year.
  • This week, set aside some time each day to thank God for all the blessings in your life.

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE

Ephesians 5:19-21
“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Philippians 4:6
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Colossians 3:17
“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

2 Corinthians 9:10-11
“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

Get Creative Youth Ideas: "Holiday Collection" ebook Creative Holiday Ideas
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan not only your next Fall Festival or Thanksgiving Celebration, but also most of the other common holidays. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for the holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

=> Tell me more about the Holiday Collection

Object Lessons

Trick or Treat? – Sharing the Gift of Salvation

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This youth activity uses Halloween candy as a discussion starter for the topic of evangelism. The Gospel is often called the “Good News” and it is something we should be excited about sharing with others. But like the popular Halloween phrase “Trick or Treat?” we sometimes wonder if evangelism is a trick or a treat? Is it something that frightens us, that we are tricked into doing, or are so excited about the Good News that we can’t help but share it with others.

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What you need

  • A bag of candy (As Halloween is just around the corner, you can easily get a variety of candy in individually wrapped snack sizes.)
  • a Bible

What to do

  1. Play some games with the youth as an icebreaker, preferably sitting in a circle.
  2. Once you have played a few rounds of a popular icebreaker game, simply reward one of the youth with a big bag of candy, preferable one of those who did not win any of the games. Describe and show the contents of the bag of candy to the youth and then simply reward it to one of them.
  3. If youth ask why the particular youth got the candy, simply explain that it is yours and you just wanted to give it to someone – not because of anything they did, but simply because of who you are – a good person.
  4. After you have given the candy to one of the youth, join the circle and stare expectantly at the person with the candy with your hand held out to receive a piece. Without saying anything, encourage other youth to also stare in expectation to get some candy.
  5. When the youth offers to share the candy, affirm them and thank them. (If the youth never offers to share, tell them that now is the time to share the candy, as if it was planned and they had forgotten.)
  6. Once everyone has some candy, debrief.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Debrief

To the Youth receiving the candy

  • How did it feel to be given the big bag of candy, even though you were not a winner in any of the games?
  • How did it feel when everyone stared at you expecting you to share the candy?
  • What made you decide to share?

To the Rest of the Youth

  • What were you hoping would happen when you saw the big bag of candy?
  • How did it feel to see someone else get something good when you received nothing?
  • Once the candy was given to someone else, what did you then hope for?
  • How would you have felt if the candy had not been shared?

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

Read Acts 4:18-20

  • How was Peter and John’s sharing Jesus similar to (person’s name) sharing the candy with the rest of the youth?
  • What was Peter and John’s motivation for sharing?
  • How is salvation a gift? (Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-10)
  • How is does the experience with the candy, relate to us receiving the sweet gift of salvation?
  • How would keeping the candy to yourself be like not sharing Jesus with others?
  • How is the Gospel Sweet? Why does the popular hymn begin with “Amazing Grace how sweet the sound?”

One of the definitions of GRACE is

God’s
Riches
At
Christ’s
Expense

Jesus left the glory of heaven and suffererd through the agony of Calvary, dying on a cross to pay the penalty of sin in our place, so that God could give us the gift of eternal life. It is not something we deserved, but an undeserved gift. When we put our trust in him, we accept the gift and he calls us to share the same opportunity with others.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

  • What are some of the gifts we receive as a child of God?
  • How can we share those gifts with others?
  • What is the greatest gift you could give to someone?
  • How can we share the gift of salvation with others in words?
  • How can we share the gift of salvation with others in actions?
  • Why do we need to share in both words and actions? (Romans 15:18)

MAKE IT PERSONAL

  • What is your favorite thing to talk about (share) with others?
  • Why do we find it easy to talk about things that we love, but difficult to talk about the Saviour we love?
  • What is something that you can do this week to share the gift of salvation both in words and action?

Additional Scriptures

Acts 4:18-20
“Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.'”

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 (NASB)
“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Ephesians 2:8-10
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith•and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Matthew 5:16
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

1 Peter 2:12
“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.”

Romans 15:18
“For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience•by word and deed,”

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200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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