Here are some ideas that you could do with your children at home, that link the children’s everyday experiences to the Bible. As you play or create, you can talk about what happened in the story of Samuel.

You could watch this video of the story:

TEACHING POINT

Speak Lord, your servant is listening.

PROGRAMME

Let’s Pretend

Find as many different phones as you can… pretend some people are calling, role play having a conversation, taking it turns, stopping talking to listen to the other person, asking questions, making murmurs and noises to show you are still listening as they can’t see you, etc.

Make Telephones

Give each child two Styrofoam or paper cups. Poke a hole in the bottom of each cup and connect them with a string or ribbon about 3 ft. long. Secure the string inside the cup with tape. Decorate the cups with crayons or stickers. Use the cups to talk to each other.

When God called Samuel, He didn’t use a mobile phone! He spoke directly to Him. How is God speaking to us?

Samuel Snack

Listening Walk

You could go on a listening walk… Samuel was a great listener. God has given us an amazing world full of lots of different sounds. What can you hear? You could make some listening ears, to help you concentrate on what you can hear.

Game

Hide some objects that make noise. Take it in turns to guess what the object is by listening to the noise. How many objects did you guess correctly?

MESSAGE AND PRAYER TIME

Speak Lord, your servant is listening.

Up to 3 years old (Fruitshoots)

Thank you Jesus that you love to listen to us. What do you want to tell Jesus today? He wants to talk to you too. Can you hear him?

From 3 years to Reception age (Acorns)

Thank you Jesus that you love to listen to us. What do you want to tell Jesus today? He wants to talk to you too. What do you think He is saying to you? Maybe He is telling you something to tell someone else. He loves us and anything He says is always good, kind and makes us or others smile.

School years 1-6 (Hive)

A question: Do you know someone who can hear what God is saying to them? Have you heard from God before?

How many ways can you think of that God speaks to us? For example, dreams, pictures, you might see one word, a thought, an idea of how to bless someone else, a Bible verse, it could be for you, it could be for someone else, maybe the person comes into your thoughts. There are so many ways that God wants to speak to us. However, we must remember that God is a good God and what He says should encourage us, it should help us to grow in our faith and help us and others to feel loved.

Pray!