Sparks Rank Help

 The first six verses in every level of Sparks are the rank verses that follow the letters SPARKS.  Because each kid learns in a different way, I like to have a variety of activities that will help them learn these verses.

First, here is a coloring page I made based on a pin I saw on Pinterest.  I've used it a couple years now and it has definitely helped some of the more visual-learning five-year-olds remember their verses.

Second, I saw the super cool VBS verse-a-day craft on Oriental Trading and thought that would make an AWESOME craft for Sparks!

I printed all the verses on this clear sticker paper I got from Amazon with a 2nd sheet on top because the ink wouldn't quit smudging.  The top piece and Sparky guys are all printed on regular paper and attached with glue dots.

I cut craft foam into 2.75" squares for the top diamond and 1.5"x 4.5" rectangles for each verse.  I will put the glue dots on the back of each paper piece and make individual kits in ziploc bags for each kid.

Here is a view of the back - I just used dot stickers to attach the curly ribbon for hanging.

I expect this will be a pretty leader heavy craft as the kids will likely need help organizing the verses into the right order.  However, they should be able to do all the stickers themselves and the result is a pretty large (approximately 18" assembled) craft they can hang up at home to help them learn their Spark rank verses.

Want to make some with your Sparks?  I linked the Spark stickers (which I collected from around the web) and the verse sheet (to print onto the clear sticker paper) below.

Spark Rank Craft Verses

Spark Rank Craft Stickers

Why Should I Memorize the Bible Scavenger Hunt

 

For a quick and easy activity for Sparks this week, I made this Why Should I Memorize the Bible Scavenger Hunt.  Just print the pictures and hide them around your room.  Then give each kid the scavenger hunt page and let them check off when they've found the picture.  You can go over each verse or just pick a couple to highlight for reasons memorizing Scripture is so important in Awana.

5 Ways We Can Have Joy Sticker Scavenger Hunt

 My Sparks group LOVES scavenger hunts!  I figured a sticker scavenger hunt would be even MORE fun so I made a page for each kid that includes 5 Ways We Can Have Joy and stickers for each one.  I hid an envelope with stickers in five different locations in our church and sent each Sparks group on a hunt with their leaders to each location.  When they got there they would read the verse and put the sticker on the correct spot.  I printed the sticker page on full sheet labels and cut them out ahead of time.

Missions Craft

I saw these awesome plastic button keychains at Hobby Lobby and knew they would be perfect for a Sparks craft.
We are doing a couple mission themed nights so I created a small circle picture (google docs makes it weird, but I used Microsoft Word and washed out the globe and then used text effects to curve the verse to fit the circle) that fits inside that they can color and then add heart confetti in the keychain.  I love how they turned out!

Best kind of craft - simple, inexpensive, not too messy, and it shakes!

Button Canvases

For Awana tonight we did Pastor Appreciation Night and I found the BEST craft on Pinterest!
Each team in Sparks had a bowl of buttons and a variety of wooden shapes from Hobby Lobby.
They used glue dots to cover the shapes with buttons - the more covered the better!
I had gotten the canvases on sale at Hobby Lobby and pre-painted the one for Jack (our head pastor) and written out the verses in black paint sharpie.  Then, once the kids went up to game time, I hot glued the shapes onto the canvases and check it out - AWESOME appreciation gifts for our head pastor, worship pastor, and youth pastor!

Sun...Mon...Tuesday! Shout Outs

Missy from It's Almost Naptime wrote a really convicting article this week.
It made me think about a sermon I once heard on Zachariah. The pastor asked, "How long do you think it had been since Zachariah had prayed for a baby?" Since he was an old guy, I'm guessing it had probably been a long time. The pastor's point was that God's timing and man's timing is sometimes hugely different and we shouldn't be discouraged if it seems like God has forgotten us.
I am very guilty of doing that. A lot of times, when I pray, I expect God to do something NOW. Like Missy said, "I want [things] to come on MY terms, when I determined they should come." I sometimes view God as a giant coke machine - put in your prayer and the result you want will come out.
It's really disrespectful that I would limit my view of God in that way. The all-powerful, everlasting, infallible, amazing God who loves me does not deserve to be seen as a coke machine. As a song I heard said, "God forbid that I find You so familiar that I think of You as less than who You are...God forbid that I should think of You at all without a humble reverence in my heart."
Proverbs 1:7 says that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." I looked up Matthew Henry's commentary on that verse and this is what I found:

Solomon, having undertaken to teach a young man knowledge and discretion, here lays down two general rules to be observed in order thereunto, and those are, to fear God and honour his parents, which two fundamental laws of morality. Pythagoras begins his golden verses with, but the former of them in a wretchedly corrupted state. Primum, deos immortales cole, parentesque honora--First worship the immortal gods, and honour your parents. To make young people such as they should be,

I. Let them have regard to God as their supreme.

1. He lays down this truth, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Proverbs 1:7); it is the principal part of knowledge (so the margin); it is the head of knowledge; that is, (1.) Of all things that are to be known this is most evident, that God is to be feared, to be reverenced, served, and worshipped; this is so the beginning of knowledge that those know nothing who do not know this. (2.) In order to the attaining of all useful knowledge this is most necessary, that we fear God; we are not qualified to profit by the instructions that are given us unless our minds be possessed with a holy reverence of God, and every thought within us be brought into obedience to him. If any man will do his will, he shall know of his doctrine, John 7:17. (3.) As all our knowledge must take rise from the fear of God, so it must tend to it as its perfection and centre. Those know enough who know how to fear God, who are careful in every thing to please him and fearful of offending him in any thing; this is the Alpha and Omega of knowledge.

I understand serving and worshiping God. But I think that we/the church has made the message of 'God having a relationship with us' so prevalent that I, at least, forgot He is to be feared/revered as well.
The word reverence means, "honor or respect felt or shown; deference; especially profound adoring awed respect." So it's similar to worship. The difference is worship is defined as the act of offering reverence to God. How do you show reverence/fear to God in ways other than worship? Is it simply the attitude with which you come before God or is it more than that?

A picture is worth a thousand words

So when a picture is combined with Scripture, what's it worth then?

Probably quite a lot.

This is one of my favorite websites: Heartlight

The link goes to their art gallery that is loaded with pictures. I have tons of these saved to my computer and I use them as a slide show screensaver. It's a great way to constantly see different verses throughout the day. I also use them as the background for my computer. Plus, I like how you can search the gallery using keywords or a specific book of the Bible.

I have found that putting a picture with a verse is helpful for me in memorizing also. There have been times that a specific verse/picture has come to mind when I hadn't consciously memorized it!

It's a great website & really worth checking out :)