Welcome

            Thank kids for coming.

            Just for fun, have kids high-five three of their friends.

            Make announcements.

            Introduce new kids.

            Celebrate birthdays by having kids whisper the “Happy Birthday” song.

            Collect the offering.

Introduce the Lesson

            Say: Today we’re going to learn that God lets us choose between good and evil. Think about the good guys and bad guys that you’ve seen in a movie or read about in a book.

Share

            Tell kids about the good guys and bad guys in your favorite movie.

            In small groups, have kids tell about the good guys and bad guys in their favorite movie.

            After groups have discussed, ask a few kids to share with the whole group what they talked about in their small groups.

Summarize

            Open a Bible, and say: It’s easy to see good and evil choices in a movie. But we make good or bad choices a lot, too! Let’s see what the Bible says about a choice two people made—and what happened because of their choice. One way God talks to us is through the Bible—his special book. God is here right now, ready to talk to you.

            Pray, thanking God for letting us choose between good and evil.

Tip

• Don’t have internet in your classroom? That’s okay! You can choose your own worship songs from our Best Of Dig In Music DVD here.

Sing Songs to God

            Sing the three songs in any order.

Choose a Snack

            Have children wash their hands, and then say: Today we’ll learn that God lets us choose between good and evil. That means God lets us choose to do the right, or good, thing. And since today is all about choices, we’ll start by making a choice right now.

            Point to the table of snacks. We’re going to have a snack. You can choose anything on this table to eat except the cupcakes. Point out the options children can choose from, and remind them that they can’t have the cupcakes.

            Distribute cups, and invite kids to choose snacks and put them in their cups. It’s okay for kids to have a little bit of each snack or a bit more of just one—whatever they choose. If a child does take a cupcake, gently take it back and remind him or her to choose anything on the table except the cupcakes.

            Have children gather in a circle. Lead them in a prayer thanking God for the food, and then allow children a few minutes to enjoy their snacks. As they eat, ask: • What snacks did you choose, and why?

            Say: You made a good choice if you didn’t take a cupcake.

            Ask: • What did you think when you saw those yummy cupcakes that you couldn’t take?

            Say: If you wanted to eat a cupcake, that means you were tempted. Sometimes we’re tempted to do something we know we shouldn’t. God wants us to choose to do right things! Even when God made the first two people, Adam and Eve, God let them make choices. Today we’ll hear about something they were tempted to eat.

            After about five minutes, collect and set aside any of the unfinished snacks.

Act It Out

            Show a Bible. Say: The Bible tells us about the first two people to live on Earth. Their names were Adam and Eve, and they lived in a garden. It had big, beautiful trees. I’ll need a friend to pretend to be the tree. Invite one child to stand up in the middle of the group. Have the child put hands on hips, or you can even have him or her hold arms up in the air to make it funny. (And when the child gets tired, he or she can bring hands down to hips.)

Say: The garden where Adam and Eve lived had lots of trees with fruit they could eat. God gave them all kinds of different fruits on the trees, so they could choose what they wanted to eat.        

Tell about your favorite fruit, and then invite kids to shout out their favorite fruits. Say: They could choose their favorites, and they had plenty of fruit to keep their stomachs full. But there was one tree that God said not to eat from. Point to the child pretending to be the tree.

            Say: One day, a snake came to Eve. Show children how to place their hands together and move their arms together like a slithering snake. Encourage them to make hissing sounds, like snakes.

            Say: The snake said to Eve, “Ssssss…Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” And Eve said, “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat.”

            Let’s pretend that this is the middle tree in the garden. The Bible says the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked delicious. Let’s add some fruit to make it look more like the tree in the Bible story. Let each child add a piece of “fruit” to the child pretending to be the tree using the tape and the construction paper circles you cut ahead of time.

            Say: Eve knew that she wasn’t supposed to eat from the middle tree in the garden. Point to your tree. God had told her that she and Adam must not eat it, or something very bad would happen. God gave them a choice. It was right there, and they could easily take one and eat it. But he told them not to eat it. Show me if you think they should eat it. Have the children give a thumbs-up if they think Adam and Eve should eat the fruit. Have them give a thumbs-down if they think Adam and Eve should not eat it.

            Say: If God said they shouldn’t do it, they definitely shouldn’t. But it was probably very tempting. The fruit was right there in front of them, kind of like the cupcakes on our snack table. The fruit was beautiful and looked delicious! It must’ve been hard to make the choice not to eat it. And the snake didn’t help. The snake lied to Eve—it told her that nothing bad would happen  

            The sneaky snake tried to get Eve to eat the fruit. Let’s vote again. Do you think Eve should listen to the snake and eat it? Have the children give a thumbs-up if they think Adam and Eve should change their minds because of what the snake said. Have them give a thumbs-down if they think Adam and Eve should not eat it.

            Say: Let’s see what Eve did. Look in the Bible. The Bible says that the snake talked Eve into eating the fruit. She thought the fruit looked delicious and she wanted it. So she took some and ate it. Then she gave some to Adam, and he ate it, too.  

            They made the choice to eat the fruit. But it was not a good choice. God had told them not to eat it. Have children give a thumbs-down for the bad choice. Let’s see what happened after they made a bad choice.

            Right when they ate the fruit, they felt ashamed. They knew they had done something wrong and they felt bad about making that choice. They even went and hid when they heard God coming. Have the kids gather around the tree, and toss a blanket over them.

            Say: God was walking around in the garden, and a cool breeze was blowing. Have the children make a “whoosh” sound.

            Say: God called to Adam, “Where are you?” Adam answered God and told him, “I was afraid.” Take off the blanket.

Adam might’ve known he was in trouble for making a bad choice. Then Adam blamed his bad choice on Eve. Lead the boys to point to the girls. And Eve blamed her bad choice on the snake. Lead the girls to make a snake motion and hiss.

            Say: Both Adam and Eve made a bad choice. God let them choose between good and evil, and they made a bad choice. God wasn’t happy when Adam and Eve chose evil. God told them that some hard things would happen because of those bad choices.

            Share one or two consequences children might have when they make bad choices. For example, children might get hurt and fall if they do something that an adult said was too dangerous. They might also have to sit in timeout, miss out on a fun time, or have a toy taken away from them.

            Ask: • What are some other things that can happen when someone makes a bad choice?

            Say: Bad things happened to Adam and Eve because they chose to do wrong. God said their life would be really hard. He said they would have fights and be angry with each other. He said they would feel sad and have pain. Then God sent them out of the garden, and they were never allowed to go back to that beautiful garden. Lead children away from the area the tree is in, and let the child who was pretending to be a tree join the other children.

            Say: Even though Adam and Eve made a bad choice, God still loved them very much. God doesn’t want us to make bad choices, but he never stops loving us—ever. Lead children in a group hug.

            Say: God let Adam and Eve make choices, and God lets us choose between good and evil, too. We have lots of choices to make every day, and it’s not always easy to make the right, or good, choice. God wants us to make good choices because he knows what’s best for us. He doesn’t want us to have bad things happen because of bad choices. But always remember that God loves you, no matter what!

To use this feature, please ask your DIG IN Director to create a One Room classroom. For instructions and tips on creating a classroom for at-home lessons, click here.

Tip

• Don’t have internet in your classroom? That’s okay! You can download the videos before class using the “download” button at the link provided, or purchase DVDs here.

Discuss and Watch “Programming Robots”

            Say: We’ve been learning that God lets us choose between good and evil. He lets us make choices; sometimes we make good choices and sometimes we make wrong choices. Of course, God always wants us to make good choices, but he won’t make our choices for us.

            Ask: • What do you like about getting to make choices?

            Say: Let’s watch a video where kids build robots, and the robots never get to make their own choices.

            Watch “Programming Robots.”

            Ask: • What would you like to make, or program, a robot to do?

            • How would you feel if you couldn’t make any choices, ever?

            Say: If we were made like robots, we wouldn’t get to make any choices. God could’ve made us to always do good. But God wants us to choose to love him. He doesn’t want to make us love him. When we get choices, it helps us have a real friendship with God. That’s one reason God lets us choose between good and evil.

Not available for this age level.

Choose Cup or Plate

            Say: Today we’re learning that God lets us choose between good and evil. We make lots of choices each day. Today, some of them will be fun and fizzy! Let’s see what happens when we play with colors and mixtures. But we’ll have to make some choices along the way. Here’s the first one. Would you like a plate or a cup? Distribute paper plates and clear cups according to kids’ choices.

Experiment With Mixtures

           Put 1 to 2 tablespoons of baking soda on each plate or in each cup. Have kids use their fingers to spread out the baking soda on the plates or gently tap the cups so the baking soda spreads out evenly.

            Give each child a set of the prepared vinegar cups, and show them the spray bottle of vinegar. Remind kids that these mixtures are not for drinking. Lead kids through the following specific choices, each time demonstrating with your own set of mixtures and baking soda and inviting them to share their results with others:

• Choose whether to add blue or red vinegar to the baking soda.
• Choose to dab with a paintbrush or pour from the cup.
• Choose whether to add green dish soap or blue vinegar.
• Choose to dab with a paintbrush or spray with yellow vinegar.
• Choose to add red vinegar or green dish soap.
• Choose to pour from the cup or spray yellow vinegar.

If time allows, lead kids through several more specific choices.

Talk About It

            Say: It’s fun to make choices. Sometimes we chose mixtures that made the baking soda really fizzy. That’s called a reaction. Other choices we made didn’t react or fizz much at all. But we still got to choose! And God lets us choose between good and evil. When we choose to follow God and do what he says, we can look for good reactions!

            Share an example of a choice you’ve made that led to something good. For example, when we choose to get along with our siblings, then we have a happy time. Or when we choose to say nice things to others, it helps us to be better friends. Or when we choose to obey our parents, they reward us by letting us stay up 15 minutes past bedtime.

            Ask: • When did you make a good choice? What happened?

            Say: I’m glad that God helps us make good choices. Now let’s make a good choice by helping to clean up our mess!

Introduce

            Say: We’re learning that God lets us choose between good and evil. Before anyone had ever done anything bad, Adam and Eve had the first choice—to obey God or disobey. But there are different things they could’ve done to obey or disobey.

            Ask: • What are some things Adam and Eve could’ve done when the serpent tempted them?

            Say: God gave Adam and Eve the choice to eat the fruit or not. He didn’t force them to obey. But why is that? If God wants us to obey, why does he let us make bad choices? Let’s dig in to that.

Obey

            Say: Let’s try a game. I’m going to be a drill sergeant. You’ll follow all my commands. Ready? Everyone stand at attention!

            Give kids the following commands, running through the list three or four times. Each time, get faster and faster until it becomes difficult for kids to obey you.

• do five jumping jacks
• touch your toes and then jump up
• rub your belly and pat your head at the same time
• spin around three times
• clap four times
• stomp your feet 10 times
• hop like a frog
• sit down and stand up three times

            Ask: • How did it feel to obey me in this game?

            • Did you want to keep obeying? Why or why not?

            • How would you feel if I had a way to force you to keep obeying this list over and over and over?

Dig Deeper

            Say: If God didn’t give us choices, we’d be forced to love and obey him. Just like your phone is forced to send a text message when you say so or your computer is forced to type the keys you press, we’d be like machines loving and obeying God because we have to.

            Ask: • Why do you think that would be good or bad?

            Say: Let’s see what Jesus said about why we obey.

            Read John 14:15.

            Ask: • Tell about someone you love. How does love change how you treat that person?

            Say: Because we have choices, we won’t always obey God perfectly. But when we do obey, it’s because we want to. It’s because we love him! And the more you get to know and love God, the more you’ll want to obey him. It’s not because you’re trying harder; it’s because as you grow in love for God, you’ll just naturally want to love and obey more and more.

            It’s kind of like if you love your friends. The closer you get to your friends, the more you find out what makes them happy and what hurts them. And you don’t want to hurt your friends!

            But even though we might not want to disobey God, sometimes we do. Let’s look at how God can help you choose good over evil.

            Read 1 Corinthians 10:13.

            Ask: • What are some “ways out” God might provide when we’re tempted?

            • What was Eve’s way out?

            Say: God lets us choose between good and evil. But he can help us choose good. We’ll all be tempted by evil choices, just as Eve was. But if we turn to God, he can help us.

Dig In to Eve’s Temptation

            Say: It might seem like we’re not tempted by the same thing Eve was. There’s no “forbidden tree” outside our houses. But let’s look at what really tempted her. This is what the serpent said would happen if she ate the fruit.

            Read Genesis 3:5.

            Ask: • Why might this have sounded like a good thing to Eve?

            Say: Eve was tempted because the serpent said she could be like God and know more. It’s kind of like saying she didn’t really need God, because she could be just like him all by herself!

            Ask: • What are some ways you hear that kind of message today?

            Say: Sometimes we’re tempted by the same thing Eve was. We think things would be better if we ruled our lives instead of letting God do it. And since God lets us choose between good and evil, that’s a choice we can make. But when we choose a loving relationship with God, we’ll see that choosing God is actually what’s best for us. In the Bible, God’s people were challenged with that choice. Listen to this.

            Read Deuteronomy 30:15-20.

            Ask: • What are good consequences that can come out of choosing to follow God?

            • What are bad consequences that can come out of choosing not to follow God?

            Say: Let’s commit to choosing God.

            Pray: God, we love you. We know we can’t be like you, and we need you in our lives. Help us show our love for you by choosing good over evil. Please help us follow only you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Tip

• You can purchase downloadable music and other items to enhance your DIG IN program here.

Play a Silly Game

            Say: Let’s play a silly game. In this game, if you choose the wrong number, you have to come sit in our “silly circle.” Explain that when the music plays, kids should choose a silly way to move around the room in a big circle. Kids must keep moving until the music stops; then they’ll choose a number from those posted around the room and move to it. Once kids have made their choices, roll the die and have kids standing by the number you rolled go to the silly circle and sit for one round. After one round in the silly circle, kids can join their friends and play again.

Talk About It

            Say: It was fun to make choices in this game. But sometimes our choices made us end up in the silly circle.

            Ask: • How did it feel to sit in the silly circle while everyone else ran around and played?

            Say: Our silly circle was just part of our fun game. But it helps me think about what happens when we make good and bad choices in life. When we make good choices to be kind, obey our parents, and tell the truth, God likes it! But when we make bad choices to be mean, disobey, or tell a lie, God and others are sad. God lets us choose between good and evil. But just like you got more chances to play after making your choices in the game, God gives us more chances to make good choices every day.

Move to Your Choice

            Say: Have you ever had to make a choice? Sometimes one choice is definitely bad, but other times either choice is good. Let’s play a game where you’ll get to choose what you think is best. Have children stand on the line. Place one object or picture from the “Choices” handout on one side of the line and its corresponding object or picture on the other side. On the count of three, have kids choose which object they like best by moving to that side of the line. Repeat, alternating pictures from the handout with objects you’ve collected. Some choices should have a clear “good and bad” while others could both be good. Choices include:

• playing soccer inside or outside
• walking outside during the day or at night
• cup of clean water or dirty water
• a blue car or red car
• getting along or getting in fights with friends
• a sneaker or a flip-flop
• riding in a grocery cart nicely or crying when mom or dad won’t buy candy

Talk About It

            Say: We got to choose which things we thought were best. Some of our choices were just based on what we like or don’t like, like football or basketball. Share an example from your life about choosing between two good things.  

            Ask: • Tell about a time you had to choose between two good things. If children can’t think of real examples, invite them to make up some choices.

            Say: Other choices are between good things and bad things, like fighting with your friend or playing nicely. Share an example from your own life about choosing between good and bad things.

            Ask: • Tell about a time you had to choose between a good thing and a bad thing.

            Say: God lets us choose between good and evil. Sometimes both choices are good, but other times we have to choose between good and bad. God always wants us to choose good, and he’ll always help us!

Make a Board Game

            Show kids the sample craft, and explain that it’s a fun board game they’ll be able to play. Say: Our game will help us remember that God lets us make choices.

            Give each child a game board and a bag of 17 construction paper squares. Have kids glue the colored paper squares over each of the square boxes on the board. Tell kids they can glue the colored squares in any order that they want.

            After kids have finished gluing down their paper squares, give each child five craft sticks and a cup. Have kids color one end of each craft stick with one of the five different colors of markers. Make sure kids color one stick in each color, and remind them to color only about an inch of each stick. Have kids place their craft sticks in their cups, with the colored ends of the sticks pointing down. Then give each child two different colored pompom balls. 

Play the Board Game

            Once everyone has finished creating the elements of their game, form pairs and show them how to play.

            Each child will choose a pompom ball to use as a game piece and place it next to the arrow on the board (the starting place in the game). With their partners, kids will take turns each choosing a craft stick out of their cups. On a player’s turn, he or she will move his or her own game piece to the closest square that matches the color drawn. After a player moves his or her game piece, the craft sticks are returned to the cups so that there are always five sticks to choose from. The first player to land on the final square next to the star wins that round. 

            Once kids understand, let them play several rounds with their partners. Kids can alternate playing on each other’s game boards.

            Say: Today we’re learning all about choices! In our game, you chose a craft stick each turn. Some choices helped you get to the finish line faster than other choices! Just like we had a choice of which craft stick to choose, God gives us choices, too. Sometimes we have a choice between two good things—like if we want to eat vanilla or chocolate ice cream. But sometimes we have to choose between a good choice and a bad choice—like the choice to do what Mom tells us when we’re told to clean up our room or the choice to not follow directions. God lets us choose between good and evil, and he loves when we make good choices!

            Have kids put their pompom balls and craft sticks in their bags to take home with their game boards and cups.

Pray About Evil

            Say: Today we’ve learned that God lets us choose between good and evil. But we don’t have to make those choices on our own; we can ask God to help us. Let’s do that now.

            Gather kids on one side of the room. Say: Let’s imagine that this side of the room is a bad or evil choice. Think about a choice facing you this week. Pray silently that God will keep you from making a bad choice. Allow time.

            Have kids move to the middle of the room.

            Say: Jesus prayed about staying away from temptation. Let’s pray his prayer. Read Matthew 6:13, and then have kids pray it by repeating it after you.

Pray About Good

            Read Romans 12:21.

            Say: God says we can overcome evil by doing good! Let’s go to the other side of the room and imagine it’s a good choice. Lead kids across the room.

            Say: Think about a good choice you could make this week. Silently ask God to help you make that choice. Allow time.

            Read Psalm 34:14.

            Say: God can help you turn from evil and do good. Remember this verse during the week as you try to make good choices.

            Thank kids for coming, and encourage them to make good choices and to come back next week to tell you about their choices.

           Distribute a copy of the “Dig In @ Home” handout to kids as they leave, or email it to parents during the week.