1) Welcome: 2) Songs: Start the Story Hour with the learning our names song. Go around the circle or table and introduce each child. If you are the musical type, you may want to learn this song and teach it to the children! Click here to listen. The full lyrics and score are available at http://www.gardenofpraise.com/ http://gardenofpraise.com/audiofiles/jacosong-1.wma Here is a neat song to help us learn the names of Jacob's sons: Sons of Jacob (to the tune of "Ten Little Indians") Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher, Joseph, Benjamin - These are the sons of Jacob. 3) Prayer: Ask God to use our weaknesses to show how strong HE is! 4) Theme: Remind the children of the theme of the unit: God works among his covenant people to prepare the world for the Savior. Hebrews 12:1&2 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us… look to Jesus.” Tell them that they are going to hear a Bible Story again today that shows how God works through two brothers, Jacob and Esau. God uses the brother’s strengths as well as their weaknesses to show God’s power and might. 5) Bible Story: Today’s Story is about Jacob and Esau. Read pages 50-62 from the Read and Learn Bible (Scholastic). 6) Text: Today’s Text is: The Lord said to Rebekah, “and two peoples, born of you, shall be divided; The one shall be stronger than the other, The elder shall serve the younger.” Genesis 25:23 7) Craft: Birthright Sold for a bowl of Soup- Clay Craft. Prepare “air dry” clay ahead of time, if you wish, or use plasticine. Make enough so that each child can make a small pot. Bring a small round cup and a rolling pin to cut out standard size bases for all the pots. You may wish to prepare a sample a few days ahead of time. At craft time, help the children roll a flat section and cut out bases for each child. Divide remaining dough into even lumps for each child and demonstrate how to roll a “snake” in your hands. Coil the length of clay around the base of the pot to make an old fashioned soup pot. Clay will dry after it has gone home. Send home “pots” in a Styrofoam bowl/plate with today’s text attached to it. If you like, you could even give the children some red lentils to put in their pots! We have tried this with a variety of different "clays" and find that plasticine (even the inexpensive kind that you can buy at a dollar store) is the easiest for kids to work with and provides the most satisfying results. Same and Different….cut out the shape of a man (2 for each child and have them glue one one side of a piece of construction paper. Have the children decorate the shapes with crayons, markers and scraps of fabric to show how the two brothers are same and different. Provide scraps of fake fur if possible! Write “Esau” and “Jacob” on the two sides of each child’s sheet. If you have time, also write down a few words to describe each brother using the child’s ideas. 8) Closing Prayer: say the Lord's Prayer together with the children. 9) Going Home: Sing the closing together. Then, check to see if all the children have collected their crafts and coloring sheets before they go home. Say goodbye and tell them that you enjoyed learning about God together and were happy to have them today! You were, weren’t you? Closing song: (sung to the tune of The More we Get Together, just like the opening song) We love to learn together, Together, together We love to learn together And give thanks to God. Also can be sung with: “sing” or “pray” or “work” 10) Optional Coloring Pages (available for free at http://www.dltk-bible.com/)