Web of Love

Multiple Family Activity

Teaching Goal: God calls us to hold each other up with love.

Scripture:

John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Matthew 22:39 Love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 5:44 Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Materials:

• Ball of yarn, 1 or 2 skeins
• Balloon & permanent marker
• Paper and pen (**Please see page 3 of downloadable PDF if you would like a template for creating your list of ideas for showing others love and care.)

NOTE: This activity works best with six to ten people. You may want to do this activity with another family.

1. Play theme song
2. Pray
3. Review last lesson
4. Lesson and discussion

• Words that are written in bold are when the leader is speaking. Feel free to use your own words.

ACTIVITY #1: Invite a volunteer to read John 13:35, Matthew 5:44 and Matthew 22:39. Jesus teaches us to love others: our family, our neighbors, our friends, our classmates, and even people we don’t like very well!  

Let’s make a list of loving things that we can do to show that we care for our family, friends, neighbors, classmates, people we may not like, and even people we do not know. Using the pen and paper, make your list of “loving and caring” actions. You will need at least 20 items on your list to successfully complete Activity #2.

ACTIVITY #2: Inflate the balloon and tie a knot in the end. Draw a face on the balloon with the marker. This balloon represents a family member, friend, classmate, neighbor, enemy, or someone we don’t even know. Set the balloon-person aside. You’ll need it later in the activity.

Form a circle by holding out your arms and touching fingertips. Drop your hands. You are ready to create a Web of Love! The leader begins with the ball of yarn. Toss the ball of yarn back and forth to people in the circle, holding on to the yarn before tossing to the next person. It works best if you unroll a little slack of yarn before tossing the ball. When instructing to wrap the yarn around your finger, make sure kids especially know not to do this too tightly. This circle of people that we have created represents our family, neighborhood, school, church, city, even people we do not know from around the world! We are going to create a Web of Love using our caring and loving list. I will say an idea from our list and then will toss the ball to someone else in the circle. When you catch the ball of yarn, loop the yarn around your finger, say an idea from the list, and then toss the ball to someone else in the circle. It is okay to repeat ideas if you have the same idea as someone else.

Toss the ball of yarn back and forth SIX times and then stop. Stop. We’ll continue in a minute. Let’s put our balloon-person in the middle of our circle. Bounce him up and down with the yarn web and let’s see if we have shown enough love to keep him from falling through the web. Do this a few times, allowing the balloon to fall through and hit the ground. Looks like we need more love webbing! Let’s keep saying the loving and caring ideas from our list until we have a stronger web. Continue to toss the ball of yarn back and forth.

Stop after TWENTY tosses and put the balloon in the middle again. If the balloon-person still falls through, continue to make a stronger web. Once the web is strong enough and tight enough, bounce the balloon-person around while you talk about what you have learned.

OPTIONAL: Have everyone take one or two steps in toward the center of the circle until your shoulders are touching. As you move in, pull the slack out of the web so that the yarn remains tight. How does the web change when we become closer? The web becomes tighter and it is easier to keep the balloon-person from falling. What could we do to be closer with our family, neighbors, and friends?

APPLICATION: Each person think of one thing they can do next week in the home, neighborhood, at church or at school to create a Web of Love for other people.

 Memorize:

Honor God above,

Build a web of love.

Close in Prayer