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 The Lost Sheep.

You could watch this video of the story:

And here is Emily thinking about how she feels when something gets lost. Does God ever feel this way about people?

TEACHING POINT

Jesus cares about each of us.

PROGRAMME

Let’s Pretend

Set up some farm small world for the children to act out the story and retell the story through play.

Cake

Make little cakes, turn them into sheep with mini marshmallows.

Craft

Make a fluffy sheep- using cotton wool.

Game

Hide a picture of a sheep, could use your sheep craft if you’ve made one or a sheep teddy if you have one somewhere around the house and go on a sheep hunt to find the lost sheep.

MESSAGE AND PRAYER TIME

Jesus cares about each of us.

Up to 3 years old (Fruitshoots)

Jesus tells the story of the lost sheep to remind us that he cares about everyone. The shepherd goes and looks for the sheep that has gone missing because he loves that sheep and wants to keep it safe. Just like Jesus loves us and wants to look after us and keep us safe.

From 3 years to Reception age (Acorns)

Jesus tells the story of the lost sheep to remind us that he cares about everyone. The shepherd goes and looks for the sheep that has gone missing because he loves that sheep and wants to keep it safe. There would have been wolves, bears, lions and the shepherd needed to find the sheep to take care of it. Just like Jesus loves us and wants to look after us and keep us safe in our lives.

School years 1-6 (Hive)

A thought: Lonely… bit scary. There would have been wolves, bears, lions and the shepherd needed to find the sheep to take care of it. It would have just been him so he would have had to leave the rest of his sheep to go and find that one. Jesus tells the story of the lost sheep to remind us that he cares about everyone. The shepherd goes and looks for the sheep that has gone missing because he loves that sheep and wants to keep it safe. Just like Jesus loves us and wants to look after us and keep us safe in our lives. He will always be there in the good times, sad and not going so well times. Jesus, our shepherd, will never leave us.

Pray!