Grades 1-3

Warm Up (5 min)
Play Dough
When the kids come in, they can build with Play Dough.

Warm Up Prompts:
Tell me about your week; what’s one favorite thing you did this week?
Did anything disappointing happen this week? Funny?
Did you try anything new this week? What did you think of it?
What kind of a morning did you have? Was everybody getting along today?
(Tell stories about your own life related to the questions above).

Literally, talk about the weather; It’s hot. Do you like it when it’s hot?
It’s rainy. Do you like when it rains? What do you like to do when it rains?

Get to Know You:
Tell me about your family; who lives in your house? (follow-up questions)
Do you have any pets? What do you like to do with your pets?
How do you help take care of them?
What kind of ice cream do you like? Where do you like to go for ice cream?
Did you have a good school year this last year? What went well?

Play Dough Object Intro |  (2-4 min)

Have the kids put their play dough away. Gather them around you to watch and listen to the lesson introduction.

Today we are going to hear a story about a woman named Naomi (hold up a purple ball of play dough). Naomi was from the people of God. She was an Israelite. She belonged to the LORD. 

We are also going to learn about a woman named Ruth. (hold up a small red ball of play dough). Ruth was not from the people of God. She was a Moabite. Long ago, if you were not from the people of God (Israel), it was difficult to belong to God – because you didn’t know the LORD God and how to worship him and follow his ways. 

But we are going to see in the Bible story today that God makes all people who want to be part of his family his family. 

This blue play dough represents the LORD God and his ways. 

(start working blue play dough into the red “Ruth” playdough)

As Ruth learned about the LORD from her mother-in-law, Naomi, she made a decision to follow him. As she learned to love and follow the LORD by being loyalty to Naomi, she became one of the people of God and belonged to him. (The mix of red and blue play dough will turn purple. Add more of each color as needed to achieve purple like “Naomi”.



Let’s take a look at our story today.