Memory Verse

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Galatians 5:22-23a

Day 1-Walk by the Spirit

• Pray.
• Introduce memory verse. Make up motions as a family or use the ideas below from Fruit of the Spirit | Preschool Worship Song.
  • Love-cross arms over chest
  • Joy-point to mouth with both pointer fingers and smile
  • Peace-peace sign
  • Patience-point to watch
  • Kindness-thumbs up on one hand
  • Goodness-thumbs up on both hands
  • Faithfulness-hold hand at heart like you are saluting the flag
  • Gentleness-softly rub down your arm
  • Self-control-hold up both hands like you are motioning “stop” and then pull hands back to your chest
• Parents-today will be an overview of all the fruits of the Spirit. We will then take some time to cover each attitude, what the Bible says about it, and some examples from the Bible of people who exemplified that fruit.
• Ask, “How do we get fruit? Where does it grow? What does a tree need to produce good fruit?”
• Discuss with your children how a healthy tree will produce good fruit. When we have Jesus in our hearts, we are like healthy trees. We want to live our lives to please Him; we want to produce good fruit. When we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, His Holy Spiriit lives in us and helps us produce the good fruit that God wants to grow in us.
• Write out all nine Fruits of the Spirit on a piece of paper. You could also have older kids write them in a journal or illustrate them. Younger kids can trace your writing.
• Ask if they understand what all of them are. Tip: My study Bible has great definitions at the bottom of the page for each attitude.
• Help your kids understand that these fruits are attitudes that please God, and we are like the trees. Just like a fruit tree needs good things like sunlight, water, and rich soil to in order to produce good fruit, we need to read the Bible, pray, and go to church to help us gain these spiritual attitudes.
• We want to live lives that obey God and show other people what He is like. The Holy Spirit helps us do this by developing in us these godly attitudes (fruits). As we practice doing what God wants us to do and walking with Him, we produce more and better fruit.
• Older kids should read Galations 5:16, 25.Ask, “How do we ‘walk with the Spirit’?”
• Ask, “Which of these fruits are you doing well with right now? Which could use a little extra attention?”
• Have each child practice praying quietly, in their head, asking God to help them with a specific attitude.
• Activity:
  • Younger kids-Print out fruit coloring pages or draw some fruit on a piece of paper and have them color it in and name the fruit you drew.
  • Older kids-still life drawing of a bowl of fruit

Behavior Motivator

Starting when my kids were pretty young, I made sticker charts for them relating to the Fruits of the Spirit. We would just take a piece of paper for each kid, write the Fruit we were focusing on that week really big, and tape it up where we would see it often (the kitchen). Every time I saw them demonstrating the fruit, they would get a sticker on their paper. This cut down on a lot of discipline issues. The sticker was motivation itself when they were young, and honestly, I think it would still work for my 7 year old.

After we finished the whole unit, I made a chart for each kid with all nine fruits. They tried to get at least one sticker on each fruit everyday. You can purchase Fruit of the Spirit stickers online, or you can use stickers you already have.

Another great motivator are these Fruit of the Spirit plates that my best friend sells in her gift store. My children love choosing which one they want to use, and I love them because they reinforce the attitudes I have seen them displaying. https://lizzygsgifts.com/products/fruit-of-the-spirit-plate-set