MIDDLE CHILDREN Passage: Esther 5:1-7 Tell the children, “We are to read a story today about Queen Esther. We need to find out what Queen Esther did to show respect for her husband, the King. Now listen to the passage I am going to read you about how Queen Esther showed her husband respect.” Read the passage to the children. Have them follow in their Bibles. After you are finished reading, ask the following questions: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS [Middle Children] What was the first thing that you noticed that Queen Esther did to show her husband that she respected him? She put on her royal robes. She showed respect for him by the way that she dressed. When Queen Esther goes before the king, what does she do? Does she speak out loud, or does she wait for the King to notice her? Why do you think she did that? She waited for the King to notice her because it was rude to demand that the King notice a person by speaking out loud. When Queen Esther talked to the King, what did you notice about how she talked to him? Do you remember what she said? She talked to him in a very respectful way by saying, “If it pleases the king....” What do you think you would have said if the King offered you half of the kingdom? What did Queen Esther say? She asked him to come to a banquet. Why do you think she invited the king to a banquet? Because she wanted to show him respect so that he would be more willing to grant her the request she was going to make. After honoring the king once with a banquet, what did she do? She invited him to another banquet. Why do you think it was so important to show the King so much respect? Because he had a very high position. Show the children the words that go with your passage. Say, “These are the words we want to share with the rest of the children. We want to share with them what we learned about Esther and how she showed respect.” ESTHER spoke with respect to her husband. gave a banquet in her husband’s honor.
We should rise and show respect to the elderly and the aged. We should revere God, which means to worship Him. Ruth obeyed her authority. Esther spoke with respect to her husband. Esther gave a banquet in her husband’s honor. Rehoboam disrespected his elders by not taking their advice. Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. People in heaven sang of worship to God.
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These are just some examples of the different kinds of attitudes that we want to honor in the children. If there are other things that you come up with feel free to use them! These are just examples so that you can get the idea. Here is an example of how you would present both of these choices as options. This illustrates the last example: “Okay, Jerome is going to lead the game today. Who wants to be a team captain today. Let me count you off really quick and we will divide up the teams that way. (count all of the children) It looks like we have a few children too many to play this game. Can I have three volunteers who will sit out on this game?” When you are presenting the option that would require them to be a true servant, don't try to make it look glamorous because it is not. Just ask the question and see who responds. When the children come in for Bible Club, they should hear the story first and then you can give out the award and debrief from the hook. When you present the award(s), make sure that you say what it was that they did so that the other children will understand what they did to earn it. It would probably be best to give an award to two people in each class, one girl and one boy. This will give many children the encouragement to continue their attitude of servanthood. For an extra bonus, you could make a bulletin board and put these children’s pictures on it with their awards. This would be a reminder to continue to serve each other! After you have given out the awards, ask these debriefing questions: Q, Bible Story MATERIALS: puppets for: Jesus, James and John at least. (possibly a few other disciples), a table to hide the puppeteers This story is to be told using puppets. The puppets that you use do not have to be They can be as simple as paper bags decorated to match the characters needed here. The children love to imagine that these are real, so as long as you do your best to give them different voices than your own, the children will have a great time using their imagination. This puppet show could be done with as few as two puppeteers. If one person plays more than one character, be sure to give them each their own voice!