A NIGHT TO REMEMBER â—½ HOME
When is the last time your family played charades? What if you played charades and learned more about God’s character and amazing power, as you did? And you enjoyed all of this after having a family nacho bar? It would certainly be a night to remember!
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Preparation: For serving the nachos, deep dish pie tins work great for keeping the chips on the plate! Then just prepare your bar with a tray of chips, meat/beans and all the toppings. The kids can help set up the table. Use bandannas for napkins if you wish! Type or write these words on index cards to be used for charades: Dog, Elephant, Lion, Monkey, Snake…Sun, Stars, Trees, Wind, Rain…Love, Joy, Anger, Surprise, Happy…Cross, Bible, Family, Heaven, Church…and any other words you’d like to include for the lesson.
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Since March is the month that houses spring break, why not pick one night during that week for an entire evening of family time for fun and growth and growing closer together in Him?
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It might be fun to spread a huge tablecloth on the floor, invite everyone to fill their pie tins and create their nacho pile, and sit down and eat dinner together. Just chat about the day, ask questions and answer, share things you’re thankful for, and laugh together as you eat.
Clean up and sit around the living area, ready for charades! Be sure to let the kids guess and take turns so that everyone gets a chance to act out, even the littles. As young as 2 years old can be whispered what to do, and they’ll do it!
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Shuffle the cards within each category (animals, creation, emotions, things) and let the fun begin. Each one draws a card and says whether it’s an animal, part of creation, an emotion, or a thing…and then they act it out without words. The family guesses, and takes turns acting out each word. But before you move on to the next word group, stop and talk four times:
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Animals – God made all of the animals. Who remembers the story of Noah and the Ark? Can you tell us about it? God made sure to take care of the animals, and Noah and his family, as they obeyed. The storm did not overtake them!
Creation – Who created the earth and all that is in it? God! The sun rises every day and the moon appears at night, showing God’s faithfulness in the sky. Seasons are set up with wind and rain, but they all work together to make trees grow. God is in control of our earth, and he is in control and takes care of our lives, too.
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Emotions – Did you know that God cares about our emotions? He loves us always, and when we feel joy he wants us to rejoice, when we are angry we can take our frustration to Him, he surprises us with gifts every day, and we can always find happiness in knowing His great love.
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Things – What does the cross remind us of? Jesus’ death and resurrection and forgiveness of sin. This brings us great joy! Why do we need to read the Bible? It’s God’s love letter to us all. He sets us in families and communities to grow and learn and be loved, and we have this hope of heaven where we will all go someday and live forever!
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Pray together as a family and end the evening with some family dancing to tunes of your choice!