Session: God Created Preschoolers with Basic Needs

Preparation

• Tape a large sheet of paper to the focal wall in your meeting room. You will need a marker.
  
  
• Collect pictures of the preschoolers you parent or teach. Display the photographs on a table or on the floor in the meeting room.
  
  
• Cut out of a magazine a picture of a preschooler.
  
  
• Collect eight boxes that will nest inside of one another and colorful wrapping paper. The smallest box needs to be large enough for the magazine picture to fit inside.
  
  
• Make a photocopy of this page and the next. Cut out each of the following paragraphs:
1. Preschoolers need a loving environment in order to grow and thrive. All areas of development are affected by love. Love is the basis for spiritual growth. Love plays a significant role in all aspects of developing a strong spiritual foundation for life.
   
   
2. Loving relationships are built on trust. As preschoolers practice trusting their parents and teachers, God is preparing them to trust Him. The ability to trust is a major spiritual foundation that will influence life through eternity.
   
   
3. God sets the pattern for parents and teachers in meeting the need for security. Through love, trust, and acceptance, parents and teachers can develop a secure relationship with each preschooler in which he knows he is secure. In order to learn and grow, preschoolers need to feel secure in their environment. A safe environment frees preschoolers to explore and enjoy their world.
   
   
4. God teaches us how we are to accept our preschoolers by the way He accepts us. Our preschoolers will grow and develop as they experience our acceptance. They also need to know and understand our expectations of them.
   
   
5. Both parents and teachers can help preschoolers learn how to handle their God-given independence by following God's example. By meeting their need for independence, parents and teachers are giving preschoolers the opportunity to learn how to make choices and take care of themselves. This independence involves letting a preschooler do things for himself.
   
   
6. Freedom to make choices in the home and classroom is not permissiveness. Just as Adam and Eve knew their limits, preschoolers need to know the boundaries or limits within which they have choices. As a preschooler matures, these boundaries or limits need to be gradually expanded in order to give the preschooler more experience in handling freedom.
   
   
7. With God's guidance we are empowered to guide our preschoolers to know right from wrong and to take responsibility for their behavior.
   
   
8. Preschoolers need to receive some form of approval or recognition for their successes. A key to meeting this need for accomplishment is to provide activities preschoolers can experience with success. A feeling of accomplishment is one of the goals for experiencing an activity.
   
   
• Place the magazine picture in the smallest box and wrap it. Place this box in the next sized box with paragraph 8 on top. Wrap it, then place it in the next size box with paragraph 7. Proceed with this process until you have one large wrapped box. Be sure to place the paragraphs on top of the enclosed boxes where the participants can easily find them.

Reflect and Practice

1. Begin the session with a time of fellowship and prayer.
   
   
2. Invite participants to choose a picture from the display. Say, "The preschooler you choose will become your friend and prayer concern for the duration of the study."
   
   
3. As a group, list common characteristics of the preschoolers in the pictures. Write the characteristics on the large sheet of paper with a marker. These characteristics include active, curious, limited attention span, sensitive, creative, literal minded, view experiences from their personal perspectives. Say, "Though preschoolers have many common characteristics, God has designed each preschooler in unique and special ways." Suggest that teachers and parents observe boys and girls for clues that help them understand the way God created them so that God can guide them to the best ways to teach preschoolers. Discuss the implications of each characteristic.
   
   
4. Pick up the wrapped box. Say, "Inside each box we will discover a clue to help us understand the needs of preschoolers." Ask one of the participants to unwrap the large box and read the enclosed paragraph. Ask, "What kind of learning environment do you believe this preschooler prefers?"(loving) Facilitate a group discussion about a loving environment.
   
   
5. Proceed to unwrap each box, identify the need, and discuss the implications of each need for your families and church.
   
   
6. Give the last box to a volunteer to open it to discover the picture. Say, "As we have unwrapped the boxes and discussed needs of preschoolers, we have more clues than we had before about our preschoolers. Take the picture you selected when you arrived and find a partner. Together, share observations you have made about this preschooler that helps you understand how God uniquely created her or him.
   
   
7. Close the session with a time of prayer for the preschoolers in your groups and homes. Remind participants to read the article(s) for the next session.