A Lesson on Kindness - Train Up The Child

Train Up The Child is dedicated to helping you fulfill God’s commands to parents. Deuteronomy 6:7 instructs us to teach our children as we go; Isaiah 28:10 instructs to teach ‘here a little, there a little’.

Begin this lesson by creatively making a poster of Ephesians 4:32 and place it on the fridge all week. Read the suggested passages for Bible stories and tell them in your own words. I have given you suggested things to share about each. Do at least one of the suggested activities each day. I am sure you can come up with better ideas on your own – this is just to get you started.

You can find more helpful information and songs related to kindness in a previous blog http://www.trainupthechild.org/?s=my+preschooler+hit+me.

Kindness

Bible Verse: Ephesians 4:32 Be kind to one another

Bible Stories:

Luke 10:30-35 A man was walking down a road and some bad men jumped on him and beat him up and hurt him so badly he couldn’t move. Then they left him all alone. A man came by later but he would not help the hurt man. Another man came by, but he wouldn’t help either. Finally a man came by and felt sorry for the hurt man so he stopped and helped him. He bandaged his hurt places and took him to a nice, warm place to stay. Which man was being kind?

Ruth 2 Ruth and her mother-in-law had just moved from another country to Bethlehem. They didn’t have a garden to raise any food, so they were hungry. Ruth went to a man’s field of wheat and asked if she could have the left-overs from his field. The man’s name was Boaz. Boaz told her she didn’t have to get the left-overs, but she could have whatever she needed. Was Boaz kind?

Daniel 1 The bad King Nebuchadnezzar had put Daniel in prison. He was being mean to Daniel and his friends. But one of the king’s men felt sorry for Daniel. Instead of being mean to Daniel like the king wanted him to, he was kind to Daniel and helped him to show the king that God is good.

1 Samuel 18 through 2 Samuel 5 King Saul had been chasing David everywhere. He wanted to kill David because David was so good. David hid in a cave. King Saul came into the cave and didn’t see David. This was David’s chance to get Saul back for being so mean to him. He could have hurt him but would that have been kind? No, David let Saul go unharmed. When Saul found out, he told David, “You have been kind, but I have been evil.”

John 4:6-29 Jesus was sitting at a well where people came to get their water. A lady came to get water while he sat there. She was a Samaritan lady and Jesus was a Jewish man. The Jews did not like the Samaritans and would not talk to them or have anything to do with them at all. In fact they were sometimes very mean to them. But Jesus wasn’t mean to the lady. He began to talk to her and tell her about God and how she could be saved. Jesus was kind to the lady.

Prayer: Help us to show kindness by hugging, helping, sharing, and saying kind words to one another

Activities for younger preschoolers:

Act out the story of the Good Samaritan with bandages and bandaides

Feed birds or ducks or pet animals and share the verse

Share the verse while changing diaper and point out the kindness you are showing by
caring for him.

Teach him to hug and kiss – share the verse.

Play with ball and talk about playing kindly and sharing

Activities for older preschoolers:

Act out the story of the Good Samaritan with bandages and bandaides

Make a bird feeder out of a pine cone covered in peanut butter and rolled in bird seed.
hang outside in a tree. Watch for birds and share the verse.

Have him draw a picture and send it to someone just to show kindness.

Bake cookies and take to someone – share the verse as you work

Make or buy playdough and tell them you did it just to show kindness to him.

Describe situations or show pictures of different situations and ask if it is showing
kindness or unkindness –ex. Pushing, sharing, listening to parents, helping someone who falls down, telling someone, ‘I love you’, kicking someone

Songs:

Be Kind to One Another

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QRXe4HsfSMc