Leader Guide

Active Game

Four identical plastic bottles, such as water or soda bottles
Two bottle connectors (purchase on-line or in teacher supply stores)
Quinoa—1 cup divided; ½ cup each in two bottles
Table
Music player with upbeat Christian music such as The Superbook Salvation Poem

Make sure bottles are dry inside. Make two rattles, using two bottles for each.
Place ½ cup of dry quinoa in one bottle of each rattle.
Carefully remove the plastic rings from the necks of the bottles to allow the bottles to screw into the connector fully.
Connect each filled bottle to an empty bottle using the connectors.
Place each rattle near opposite ends of the table.

Shake It Up! Play a game to move objects through one opening.

Jesus told Nicodemus that the only way to see the kingdom of God was to be ______ ______. Born again.

What must you do to be born again? Believe in Jesus as your Savior.

Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:16 (NLT):

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Nothing has changed—today, there is still only one way to heaven. Nicodemus wondered how you could become a baby and be born again. Have you ever seen a baby shake a rattle? Children respond.

Have you ever seen a baby shake a rattle this size? Hold up one of the rattles you made and shake it.

We said there is only one way to have eternal life—to be born again. You must believe in Jesus—period!

Reference the rattle as you talk. There is a grain called quinoa inside this rattle. The only way for the quinoa to get from this end to the other end is through this connector. There is no other path. Shake the bottle a few times to demonstrate.

This is how each player will move the contents from one bottle to the other. Make sure to shake the quinoa back to one bottle of the rattle you used for the demonstration before you start the game. Divide the children into two even teams. One child may need to play twice. Try to create teams with a mixture of ages. Have the teams make single-file lines several feet from the table.

Start the race. A player from each team will walk quickly to the table and shake the team’s rattle. Once a player has shaken the contents from one bottle to the other, he/she will set the rattle on the table (the end of the rattle with the quinoa down) and return to the team. The next player will take a turn. The first team to finish wins. Encourage teams to cheer for their players as they “rattle.”

Conclusion: That isn’t as easy as it looks, is it? How could this game have been easier and faster? The bottle top could have been larger. We could have used bottles with bigger openings, right? People would like it to be easier to get to heaven. Jesus said you must be born again. We must choose the narrow way, not the easier or fastest way.