Leader Guide

Video Leader Guide

Welcome (1 minute)

Welcome back to the second lesson of our Superbook adventure, “Jesus Feeds the Hungry.” In our lesson today, we will learn how amazing things can happen when we are willing to give what we have to God to use for His purpose. Through God’s power and provision, we can overcome anything! And, that is what we are going to stand and sing about now with the song, “The Superbook Theme Song.”

Play Video (Song): The Superbook Theme Song (2.5 minutes)

Preview the song so you can help the children sing along with the music.

Superbook Theme Song

SuperTruth and Discussion(2 minutes)

Our SuperTruth today is: “Jesus blesses what I give Him.”

Let’s say that together: “Jesus blesses what I give Him.” 

Jesus uses whatever we are willing to give to Him. He will take what we give and blesses it; meaning that He multiplies or increases it to meet a need or accomplish His will.

For those who were here for the lesson last time, what was Joy worried about? She was having a craft fair to raise money for the food bank and no one had brought crafts to sell.

Have you ever been worried that you didn’t have enough to help someone? Children respond. 

When we offer what we have to God, He can use it to accomplish more than we ever could on our own. Sometimes we feel what we have to give isn’t much, but in God’s hands it is more than enough!

For those who weren’t here last time, we’ll watch a short version of the video now. If you have already seen it, watch closely to see what Jesus does before He gives the food to the disciples to distribute.

Introduce Condensed Bible Story(1 minute)

If all children watched the Bible story video in the previous lesson, you may skip it here and go straight to the Bible Background Video.

Play Video 4: Condensed Bible Story  (12 minutes)

Superbook takes Chris, Joy and Gizmo to the wedding at Cana, where Jesus changes water into wine. Later He feeds a crowd of over five thousand people by multiplying five loaves of bread and two fish into a great feast. The children learn that God will supply every need.

Condensed Bible Story

Discussion(2 minutes)

What miracle did Jesus perform at the wedding celebration? He turned water into wine. 

That was an amazing miracle. Wine is made by taking juice from grapes, adding some extra ingredients, then letting it sit for a long time—weeks or months.

Now, if you took some plain water and let it sit for weeks or months, would it turn into wine? No.

The water might get really nasty, but it won’t turn into wine. Yet Jesus took plain water and turned it into wine. That really was a miracle! When Jesus was teaching the huge crowd, the disciples saw that the people were hungry. 

What was Philip’s solution to feed the crowd? To send them away to the villages so they could find their own food.

What did the boy have in his lunch? Five loaves of bread and two fish.

The loaves were small, and the fish probably were, too. If 5,000 people came to your house for lunch, would that be enough to feed them? No.

Yet Jesus took that little lunch, blessed it, and used it to feed 5000 men plus all of the women and children! With God’s help, we can do far more than we think is possible on our own.

Introduce Bible Background Video (1 minute)

In today’s Bible Background video we’ll learn more about the places that Jesus performed His miracles of provision. Be ready for Gizmo’s questions! Wait for him to give some answers, then call out the one you think is right! 

Play Video 5: Bible Background (7 minutes)

Bible Background Video

Play Video 10B: SuperVerse Graphic

The graphic loops 2 minutes without audio; turn off or freeze video after children repeat verse.

10B SuperVerse Graphic

SuperVerse Discussion (1 minute)

The SuperVerse today is 2 Corinthians 9:10; let’s say it together: 

God is the great provider. He is the creator of all we see and the provider of all we need. The SuperVerse tells us that God gives seed to the farmers. Does God do this so the farmers can collect as much seed as possible, and then just hide it away? No. 

No, the farmer is supposed to plant the seed to grow food for people. In the same way, God gives us what we need—not so we will hide it and keep it all to ourselves, but to share it generously with others to meet their needs. 

Children will have more time to learn the SuperVerse in Small Group. If they are not able to memorize the entire verse, be sure they understand its meaning.

Prayer and Send-Off (1 minute)

Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we want to serve You and live in Your blessing and favor. Through Jesus, we have all that we need and more to share with others. Help us to look for ways that we can give to You and to others. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

In Small Group, we are going to play a game to give and then receive back even more to give again. Let’s go see how we play this game!

Teachers take children to Small Group classes for Grades 1–3 and 4–6. If the combined group is small, all children may stay together for Small Group time.

Giving Game

• Paper plates—one per child plus extras
• Marbles—5 per team of 6 children plus extras (for lost marbles during the game)
• Small containers to hold the marbles—one per team

For larger classes add supplies above for additional teams. View Jesus Feeds the Hungry Giving Game for game setup.

Write the SuperVerse on the board—2 Corinthians 9:10:

God gives seed to farmers and provides everyone with food. He will increase what you have, so that you can give even more to those in need.

On the Increase: Give freely and receive more to give.

In Large Group, you were asked to be on the lookout for what Jesus does before He gives the food to the disciples to distribute. Who knows the answer? He held it and looked to heaven and blessed it.

We all know what took place after that—an amazing miracle! The young boy gave what he had and God multiplied it.

Let’s read the SuperVerse together from the board. 2 Corinthians 9:10:

Did you know that we can never, ever out give God? No matter how generously we give, God gives us more. He is the source of all good things and will return more back to us in more ways than we could ever imagine. His supplies are endless!

Divide the children into teams of six. These can be adjusted to less or more depending on your class size. If possible, mix teams with boys, girls, and older and younger children. Have each team form a separate line; side by side at arm’s length from one another. Place a container of marbles at one end. Give each child a plate. Say “Ready, set, give!” to start the game. The first player on each team will take a marble and put it on his/her plate. Then the player rolls the marble from that plate to the next player’s plate and so on down the entire line. The last player carefully carries the marble on his/her plate to the beginning of the line and all players move down one position. This means the last player becomes the first player and the previous first player is now the second player, etc. The first player keeps the marble on the plate and adds a second marble. The player then transfers the two marbles to the next player. Play continues as before until the marble reaches the last player in line. That player goes to the first position and everyone moves down one position again. Continue this process, adding one marble each time to the plate. The first team to pass all five marbles and return them to the container wins.

Note: players cannot use their hands to touch or hold the marbles on the plates; they must only be balanced. Players must work together to carefully transfer marbles between plates. If marbles roll off a plate, team members can help gather them and return them to the player’s plate.

Conclusion: What happened when you gave what you had? I received back even more! 

God blesses what we give Him. He multiplies or increases it to do more than we ever could do on our own.

Let’s learn more about God’s blessings and giving in our Teaching time.

Teaching

   Looking up! Discuss Jesus’ miracle to feed the crowd.

Let’s say our SuperTruth together. “Jesus blesses what I give Him.”

This means that Jesus multiplies or increases what we give, like He did with the boy’s lunch. Jesus takes what we give Him—even if it’s only a little—and He does greater things with it.

In our Superbook adventure today, Jesus was teaching a huge crowd of people. They were far away from any city or even a village where they could buy food. There were no concession stands or food trucks that you may see at large events today. There was no one walking up and down the aisles selling popcorn or hotdogs. There was only one young boy’s food basket that held two small fish and five loaves of bread.

The loaves did not mean loaves like this. Hold up the loaf of bread.

The loaves were about the size of dinner rolls. Show the basket items or the image.

The boy had only packed his basket to satisfy his need for the long day—not to feed even two or three people!

If you are using the actual basket, hold it up and demonstrate as you speak.

Jesus looked up to heaven and blessed the food. That means He asked God to increase or multiply it to feed everyone and fully satisfy their needs.

Raise your hand if you say a prayer before a meal, asking God to bless the food. Children respond.

Jesus gave us an example to follow before a meal. We should always look to God with a thankful heart and ask Him to bless the food we are about to eat. At school, you can even take a moment and pray silently to ask for God’s blessing upon your food—you do not need to make a scene and hold your lunch box or food tray up to the sky! God will honor your sincere prayer of thanks.

This miracle is often called “The Feeding of the 5000.”

Write 5000 on the board like you would for an addition problem.

However, the Bible tells us that 5000 was only the number of men present. We must add the number of women and children. Bible scholars believe that number to be about 10,000.

Write that number under 5000. Add a plus sign beside it and a line below it.

About how many people did Jesus feed that day? 15,000!

That is a huge crowd; so big that they might expect to get only a small snack at best. But, everyone not only ate—they were given all they wanted. They were fully satisfied. There was even one basket of leftover food!

See if the children are listening to catch your error—there were twelve baskets of leftovers.

Oh, I can’t fool you; good listening! Correct, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover food. I like to imagine the faces of the disciples and the young boy as they stared at the baskets of leftovers. Imagine what God will do with what you offer to Him!

Before Jesus’ miracle, He tested Philip to see what he would say about feeding the crowd. Jesus already knew what He was going to do—He wasn’t looking for advice. He wanted His disciples to see by faith what He could do. They failed the test, even though they had already seen Him turn water into gallons of wine!

Sometimes, we may pray and ask Jesus to send someone else to take care of a need. Let us first look at what we have to offer to Jesus so He can bless it. Jesus has a plan, and He can use us in it! It’s important to understand that God’s blessings are not just physical things. He blesses us spiritually and emotionally, too. The Holy Spirit fills us with God’s presence and gives us special abilities, spiritual gifts, and talents. He also produces spiritual fruit in us so we can be more like Christ and bless others.

Read Galatians 5:22–23 (NLT):

Let’s say our SuperVerse together. 2 Corinthians 9:10:

In our Bible story, the crowd’s physical need was fully satisfied. However, they would soon be hungry again. Physical blessings are temporary but spiritual blessings last forever! The greatest blessing we can give to others is to share the Gospel. When we do this, God will provide the increase!

Discipleship Challenge/Practical Application

Give any child who missed Lesson 1 a Water Jar and Cup Pattern. Show children the sample craft made in Lesson 1 and have them assemble the craft at home. Hold up the sample craft.

Raise your hand if you participated in the Discipleship Challenge for the previous lesson. What was the challenge about? Doing all that Jesus asks or says.

Correct! That’s what is written on the water jar. In the challenge, you were asked to read Luke 6:27–28 and then think of things Jesus is asking you to do.

Let’s read it now.

In your own words, what is Jesus asking us to do? Love our enemies. Be good to those who dislike us or even hate us. Ask God to bless those who are unkind or mistreat us or say unkind things. Pray for those who are cruel to us.

Were you able to put this into practice this week, and show love to people who aren’t nice to you? Even though we’re moving on to the next part of our challenge, keep working on this one as well.

Have a volunteer find Cup #2 in the water jar and read it aloud.

Forgive others—Mark 11:25. 

Optional: Read this verse and discuss it now.

For our second challenge, read this verse and ask the Holy Spirit to fill you with God’s love to give you the strength to forgive others—especially people you don’t get along with, or people who may have offended you. By forgiving them, you are doing what Jesus asks, and God will forgive you. Try to do this when people hurt you, instead of holding on to an offense and letting anger build up inside. It’s also important to talk about these things with a parent or a trusted adult to help you know how to handle the situation if it happens again. Try to memorize this verse as a reminder of what Jesus asks us to do each day.

SuperVerse

Superbook Before or After: Memorize the SuperVerse with a group activity.

Have the children sit down facing the board.

Let’s read the SuperVerse together on the board. 2 Corinthians 9:10:

When we think about miracles, we usually think of something dramatic like a blind person being healed, or someone raised from the dead, or water turned into wine. These are definitely exciting and powerful miracles only God can do. Yet, for a tiny seed to grow into a mature plant and produce food to feed countless numbers of people is also a miracle. A farmer could not do this without God, who created everything. God multiplies what we give to provide for and bless others.

How could the young boy have fed the crowd with his bread and fish without Jesus multiplying it? He couldn’t, it was impossible.

He only brought enough for himself that day. However, this young boy was willing to trust Jesus with the little amount he had.

In this activity, you will turn your head and cover your eyes while I erase a word. I will say “Open your eyes,” and you can raise your hands to tell me what the missing word is.

Do this with several words in the verse. Have everyone read the SuperVerse aloud together to end the activity. If children cannot memorize the SuperVerse, be sure they understand its meaning. Remind them to keep working on the verse at home.

Prayer

   Giving Prayers: Communicate with God.

The young boy didn’t have much in his lunch—five small loaves and two fish. Yet, he gave what he had to Jesus. We don’t read in the Bible that the boy asked a lot of questions or resisted. He also didn’t ask for something in return. He simply trusted and shared what he had. Sometimes, we may feel like we have little to offer Jesus. This simply isn’t true. With God, it isn’t the amount or value; it is all about our willingness to freely give whatever we have or whatever He asks us to give.

Let’s close our eyes and bow our heads. Ask God to show you how He has blessed you—not only with things, but with your abilities and talents. Allow time for children to think and pray. Now ask God how He may want you to share your blessings with others. This may mean offering something that you have so He can bless someone who has a need. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart and reveal something that perhaps you never even considered to be valuable or important. In God’s hands, anything can be useful!

Allow time to pray.

Now, as you keep your eyes closed and your head bowed, hold your hands out in front of you as if you’re giving these things to God. Dear God, You can do amazing things with what we offer to You. You will never force us to give what we have been blessed with. Instead, You ask us to willingly give with a cheerful and generous heart. Increase and multiply all that we have so that others can be blessed and experience Your goodness and love. You are our great provider who increases what we have so we can give even more to others. In Jesus’ wonderful name we pray, Amen.

Action Game

• Jesus Feeds the Hungry Leftovers Relay—two pages
• Scissors
• Two baskets or large unbreakable bowls or containers
• Cardstock
• Optional: masking tape or painters tape
• Timer, such as a stopwatch, clock or watch with a second hand, or timer app

Make one copy of the two page Jesus Feeds the Hungry Leftovers Relay for every two children plus two extras on cardstock.

Cut apart the individual cards and shuffle them thoroughly in a pile. Scatter the cards randomly on the floor, shelves, tables, chairs, etc., face down in one half of the room. Hold back one bread card and one fish card.

View Jesus Feeds the Hungry Leftovers Relay Game Layout for information on game setup.

   Leftovers Relay: Gather the remaining fish and bread.

What did the disciples do after everyone had eaten as much food as they wanted? They gathered all of the leftover food in baskets.

The disciples filled twelve baskets with the leftovers! We are going to play a game in which you will be Jesus’ disciples. Show the bread and fish cards as you explain.

Your task is to gather all of the leftover bread and fish and put them in your team basket. This is a timed relay game. The game will last 90 seconds. (Adjust as necessary according to the number of children. Select a time to give each child at least two turns.) Each team will gather as many leftover fish and bread loaves as you can. Each player must find one fish card and one loaf card and quickly put them in the team basket.

After time expires, the team with the most bread and fish in their basket wins. Now, here is the catch, all of the cards you see scattered are not bread and fish. There are also other kinds of food that wouldn’t be found during Jesus’ time on the earth. If you find one of these other food cards, return it picture side up to the floor so other disciples can avoid it. Each player must search until a card with bread and a card with a fish are gathered. Place them in the basket, and the next player takes a turn.

Divide the children into three teams. If possible, place a mix of boys, girls, older and younger children on each team. Have teams form separate lines behind the mark or line. One player for each team plays at the same time. When the game ends, have an older child from each team help count the bread and fish in the team’s basket.

Options:

- Play more rounds if time permits. To make it more challenging in the second round, players will not turn the modern day food cards face up when discovered; instead, the cards are placed on the floor, face down again.

- Keep score over three rounds. A point is scored for each fish or bread card. Tally the score for each team after each round. The team with the most points after three rounds wins.

Conclusion: Try to imagine twelve baskets of leftovers gathered after thousands of people were fed—all from a young boy’s lunch of only five loaves and two fish! Today, Jesus still blesses and multiplies all that we give Him!

Coloring Activity

   Problem Solved: Color a page from the Bible story.

Lead a discussion using the questions below as children color their pages.

• Jesus’ miracle to feed the large crowd is recorded in all four gospel books of the New Testament. Raise your hand if you can name one of the four Gospel books. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
• What did the disciples want to tell the hungry crowd? To go to nearby farms and villages to find food.
• What did Jesus say? He said, “You feed them.”
• If you were there that day, and you had thought ahead and packed your own lunch, how would you feel about people who didn’t bring their own food? Children answer.
• Would you be willing to share your own lunch? Children answer.
• About how many people did Jesus feed that day when He multiplied the boy’s lunch? Over 5,000 men plus women and children.
• Can you share a time when you prayed about a problem, then God showed you the solution? Children answer.
• How has today’s lesson increased your faith to believe you can make a difference and help others who have needs? Give what I have no matter how little it may seem and God will bless it, multiply it, or increase it. I can pray and believe Jesus for a miracle. He can use me to do great things when I obey what He asks me to do.

Drama Activity

   Wordless Skits: Act out Jesus’ miracles.

Jesus performed amazing miracles in our Bible story. He miraculously provided wine, He healed people, and He fed a large crowd by performing another miracle. In this activity, we will meet in groups and act out the different scenes.

Create groups of 4 to 6 children. Mix older and younger boys and girls and also children who don’t normally sit or interact with each other. Give each team a Wordless Skit, either Skit #1 or Skit #2. Have them find an area of the room to meet and practice. Remind the teams that the skits are wordless, with no words allowed—only expressions, emotions or actions. They are not required to act out each bullet point. Give teams about five minutes to prepare. Have leaders roam around to assist with ideas and direction and to make sure all the children are included and given a chance to participate.

Have each team perform their skit for the group. Alternate between a #1 Skit and a #2 Skit. Lead the children in applause following each skit.

Optional: if time permits and children are interested, do as before, except each team will perform the other skit they didn’t do in the first round.

Bible Activity

   What Did Jesus Provide? Discuss verses about Jesus’ miracles of provision.

Our Superbook adventure today showed some of Jesus’ miracles—yet He did many others, too. Some are recorded in the Bible—but not all of them!

John 21:25 says,

In this activity, we are going to look up in the Bible some other miracles that Jesus did. I will say a Bible Scripture reference and write it on the board, then you look it up as fast as possible. All of these Bible references are in the New Testament, so that will help you find them quickly. I will choose one team to read the Scripture aloud and then ask the whole class a few questions about what was read. You can raise your hands to answer.

Have the children sit in pairs. Try to pair an experienced Bible user with a child who isn’t as familiar with the Bible. Give each pair a Bible. If both children are experienced users, have them take turns looking up the verses. Note that the suggested answers are from the New Living Translation. If children are using different translations, their answers will vary. Do as many verses as time allows. Be prepared to help any children with special needs.

1. Luke 4:38–40

• In verse thirty-eight, who had a need? Peter’s mother-in-law.
• What was her need? She was sick with a high fever.
• What did Jesus do for her? He rebuked the fever and it left her.
• What did she do after she was healed? She got up right away and prepared a meal.
• Was this the only miracle Jesus performed that day? No, the people in the village brought many other sick people for Him to heal.
• Were there some diseases He could not heal? No, He healed every one.

2. Luke 7:11–15

• Who needed something from Jesus? The widow and her only son who had died.
• When Jesus saw her, what was His reaction? His heart overflowed with compassion.
• What does this tell you about Jesus? He has compassion and cares about our needs. He loves us and wants to help.
• What did Jesus do? He told her not to cry and touched the coffin. He spoke to the young man and told him to get up.
• What happened? The boy sat up and began to talk! Jesus gave him back to his mother.

• What was the man’s physical need? He was paralyzed and couldn’t walk.
• What miracle did Jesus perform that the man didn’t ask for? He forgave his sins.
• Do you think forgiving sins is a miracle; why or why not? Yes, only God can forgive sins.
• Did Jesus need to touch him to forgive his sins? No.
• What did Jesus do to heal the man’s physical need? He told him to stand up, pick up his mat, and go home!
• Did the man slowly get up and crawl home? No, he jumped up and went home.

4. Matthew 17:14–16,18

• Who had a desperate need? A man and his son.
• What was the boy’s need? He suffered terribly from seizures.
• What did the man ask from Jesus? He asked for mercy and for Jesus to heal the boy.
• What did Jesus do? He rebuked the demon in the boy and it left him.
• Did it take several days for the boy to recover? No, he was immediately well.

5. Mark 4:35–41

• Who had a desperate need? The disciples.
• What was the need? A fierce storm suddenly came up when they were in a boat on the lake. The waves were filling the boat with water; they were terrified they would drown.
• Was Jesus concerned? No, He was asleep in the boat.
• What did Jesus do? He rebuked the wind and waves saying, “Silence, be still!”
• What was the result? Suddenly, the wind stopped and it was calm.
• What was the disciples’ reaction? They wondered who He was that the wind and waves obeyed Him.

Optional: Perhaps the disciples were so astonished because they realized that they were seeing ancient prophecy fulfilled. Here is a psalm that Moses wrote about 1,500 years before Jesus was born.

Read Psalm 107:23–31:

Conclusion: Jesus still performs miracles today to meet all types of needs. Never be afraid to give Jesus what He asks; He will provide all that you need and use your offering to provide for others.