The students will understand that we worship God by giving thanks and praise to Him. They will be able to name some things for which they are thankful.
Introduction: Show a picture or symbol of Thanksgiving.
Progression of Events:
Climax: An attitude of thanksgiving is a blessing to ourselves and those with whom we come into contact.
Conclusion: One way we worship God is by offering Him our thanks for His blessings.
Response: Your students will name some things for which we should be thankful, and be able to tell why a thankful spirit is important.
Webster's dictionary defines thanksgiving as "an act of rendering gratitude to God, a prayer expressing one's thanks; or it may be a public acknowledgment, or celebration, of divine goodness and mercies."
Our Thanksgiving Day, when first celebrated, was a celebration of thankfulness to God for His benefits—something more than just an occasion to get together for a special dinner. Governor William Bradford designated a day, July 30, 1623, for the Plymouth colonists, as a Thanksgiving Day for the purpose of prayer, and worship of God, as well as a time of celebration.
On November 26, 1789, President George Washington issued a general proclamation for a day of thanks but it wasn't made a national holiday until President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November to be "a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father."
Materials needed: turkey made from construction paper, feathers to be added one at a time. Show turkey without feathers, asking what is missing and pointing out that without feathers it does not look quite right. Add a feather for each thing the children say they are thankful for until all the feathers are added. The Bible says, "In every thing give thanks." Christians are not complete either if they don't have a thankful heart.
To show abstract things to be thankful for:
Blow up a balloon—air
Blindfold someone—sight
Show headphones—hearing
Give someone a hug—love
Ask the children to name things we should thank Jesus for. List the items they suggest on the chalkboard in columns by the first letter of the item. Make columns as follows:
T H A N K Y O U G O D !
Trees horse auto name keys you orange umbrella grandpa ovens dog etc.
Write the items in the appropriate columns, but do not label the columns until the end of the review. Items that cannot be listed under the above letters should be put into a column at the end (after D). An exclamation point (!) should be put at the head of this column when finishing the review. Have the children read the heading.
Involve some of your students in a skit portraying the cleansing of the ten lepers, with one returning to give thanks. Simple costumes can be made by draping the heads of the ten with scarves, and posting a few obvious spots of adhesive paper, or Band-Aids, on their arms. When they are made clean, have them look under each other's scarves, and then rejoice with each other as they see that the leprosy is gone. (Peel off spots and Band-Aids as their backs are turned to the audience.)
Have a group of your students do a pantomime, with each one depicting a different thing for which we should give thanks. For example: our physical senses, our Bible, our homes and families, food, clothing, etc. Allow the students watching, to guess what is being portrayed.
Make the focus of your review the words, "every thing." To visualize why it is important to be thankful in everything, show the children several objects that are complete except for one thing. (Some examples could be: a flashlight with everything there except the batteries; a clock with everything there except the hands; a lamp with everything there except the light bulb.) Point out that we are told to give thanks in "every thing." If we pick and choose the circumstances and events of our lives for which we will be thankful, we may not function effectively as a Christian.
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