Free Fall Thanksgiving newsletter with object lessons, stories, skits and illustrations.

Thanksgiving and Fall Ideas for your Children's Ministry

Curriculum.

Books

Clowning

Drama

DVD

Educational

Holiday

Music

New

Object Lessons

Preschool

Puppet

Stories

Training

Leaf Message

All Sin's Apples Have Worms

Seize the Opportunity

Halloween Witnessing Opportunity

Prayer.
Powerful-Prayer

Just Good Manners

Fall in Love

I watch the leaves float like little sailboats to the ground. I hear the crunch of the dry leaves under my feet as I walk through the piles mounting up for me to rake. I am reminded of a fact more beautiful than the splendors of the painted mountains of fall's masterpiece. I am reminded that God is love. No, God doesn't have love, He is love!

He listens when I talk to Him. He loves to have me near. God laughs with delight when I am obedient and when I give Him my best. It is so wonderful to think that the God who made this incredible universe is concerned about me.

As we face the economic crisis, the political issues that are so critical and the realities of life, we must not face them alone. Look up, not just to see beautiful leaves floating and dancing in the wind, but look up to behold the face of an almighty God that loves you. He wants to partner with you to make you a success. He wants to shape you and form you into His very image. Get back on your knees with the scriptures and promises of God in your hand and begin to believe those promises.

Connect with heaven and allow the same God that showed a difference between Goshen and Egypt to show you divine favor. Allow the fire of difficulty to burn away your greed and excess. Allow the fire of difficulty to burn away the distractions so you can see the things that really matter in life.

Fall in love. Fall in love with Him, not with all the things He can do for you. Return to worship at His feet. Rediscover the faith of our forefathers that took them through difficulties to build a strong nation. We don't fall in love running into His presence with a shopping list or a "To Do List". We fall in love when we discover Who He really is.

Make this month a month of giving Thanks. Not a day of Thanksgiving, but a month. He's done too much for us to limit it to a day. Purpose that this month you will "fall in love" as you rediscover who He is. To know Him is to love Him!

Look Up!

(Show the Eyeball .) I like to keep one of these on my desk. A yucky reminder of Halloween events? Not Halloween, but a reminder none the less.

Look at what happens when I shake this eyeball. I can shake it and roll it again and again trying to move the eyeball to look down, but it just won't do it. No matter how you move it, it is always looking up. You can hit it. You can shake it. You can drop it, but it is always looking up.

I have purposed in my heart to be like this eyeball. I have felt shaken recently. I have close friends and relatives looking to retirement that have lost ten of thousands of dollars in the stock market. I had a dear friend that took his life recently. I have been rejected by family members. I have suffered financial loss. Yes, I have been shaken, but I refuse to focus on my struggles. I purpose in my heart to look up. To look up to Jesus Christ, the starter AND the finisher of my faith. He is the only one that can intervene in the situations we face. Yes, we need wisdom to make the right decisions. Yes, we need wisdom to follow through on those decisions. And yes, I choose to connect with heaven on a personal level so God's wisdom and God's strength can flow through me. America is facing troubled times, but these troubled times can make us stronger if we will only turn to Him.

Let me encourage you to be like this eye. Psalms 121:1-2 says "I will lift my eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth." Make a decision like the man who wrote this verse, a real man with real problems. He said "I will". Choose to look up! Choose to look beyond the ceiling of your room. Look beyond the ceiling of your limitations to behold Him. Focus on the promises of God. With a bulldog tenacity, focus on the promises of God to see revival in our land. Keep believing for God to meet your needs and intervene in the situations you face.

This writer in Psalms said "I will lift my eyes." He made a choice. As you face difficult situations, you have a choice. You can grumble and crumble or you believe and receive.

	Indian Boy
	Price: $37.99

	Eyeball Icky, yucky eyeball? No way! Powerful effective object lesson to remind us of God's watchful eye. Comes with several object lessons and suggested Bible stories to use with the eye.
	Price: $3.95

All Sin’s Apples Have Worms

Bo walked home from school every day twirling and banging his empty tin pail. The days were hot, but they were getting cooler and the apples were beginning to turn just the slightest shade of red. Everyday Bo passed Mr. Cinder’s apple orchard. It was the only apple orchard Bo had every seen. All the land was used for growing cotton and peas. “Cash crops,” Bo’s Dad, said. “No body can waste land or time growing apples.” But everyday Bo stopped long enough to eye the apples. He climbed the rail fence made from the cotton woods that grew along the creek. His body was pressed against the No Trespassing sign that Mr. Cinder had scrawled on a piece of board. Inside the fence was a huge apple orchard. It looked like the orchard stretched for miles in every direction, although the entire orchard was only five acres. Bo’s eyes searched the trees like a miner searches for gold. He spotted first one and then another and another. The tree limbs were full of shiny green apples, but they would turn red soon.

Bo wanted one of those apples. The only time Bo ever got an apple was in his stocking on Christmas morning. They were a poor family. “It takes everything I can do to keep food on the table to feed all those hungry mouths,” as Dad put it.

Bo hurried to Mr. Cinder’s fence everyday as he walked home from school. The days got shorter and the nights got cooler. The apples were easier to spot as they turned red. Bo’s mouth watered as he stood on Mr. Cinder’s fence looking at all the limbs loaded with apples. Then Bo spotted one. It is a beauty. The biggest, reddest apple he’s ever seen. He could almost taste that sweet apple now. He could hear the crispy crunch and feel the juice running down his chin.

Mr. Cinder would never miss one apple. The trees were loaded with apples. “What is one apple in a whole orchard of trees with hundreds, no thousands of apples on every tree. Mr. Cinder must have a million apples. Would he really miss one, one little apple? Of course not,” Bo reasoned.

Bo looked around carefully. When he was sure no one was coming down the dirt road, he climbed the fence. Now to get the apple. He tried to climb the tree, but the branches were too high up. So he got a stick off the ground and began to throw it at the apple. First, he knocked down a scrawny one. But Bo, wanted the big, red juicy one over his head. He took the scrawny apple and threw it at the branch holding the biggest apple Bo had ever seen. But he couldn’t get the apple to come down. Again and again he threw first the apple, then the stick, until beads of sweat covered his face and neck. It dripped on his shirt. He wiped the sweat from his eyes with the back of his hand. Finally, when the apple tumbled to the ground, Bo heard Mr. Cinder yelling, “Get outta my orchard.”

Mr. Cinder’s face was blood red and he was waving his hands. “Get out of my orchard. Get out. I’ll tell your papa that you’ve been stealing my apples. Now get out and don’t ever climb that fence again. Can’t you read, boy?”

Now Bo understood why the kids called him cinnamon face to his back. His face sure looked like cinnamon right now. Bo grabbed the apple, scrambled over the fence, but not without tearing his pants first, ran down the dirt road leaving a trail of dust as he ran.

Bo ran until the orchard and Mr. Cinder was long out of sight. Bo was still clutching his apple when he stopped to rest under a shade tree beside the road. He rubbed the apple in his sweaty hands and then wiped it on the tail of his shirt. “You’re worth it,” Bo sighed as he bit into the beautiful red apple. Bo closed his eyes to enjoy the flavor. But the apple was a little softer than he had expected. He opened his eyes. In horror he discovered a worm in his apple. Well, if you must know, he discovered half a worm in his apple.

Bo did exactly what you would do. He spit that apple out as fast as he could. He spit again and again, but the thoughts of that half of a worm in the apple or worse yet, that half in his. . . well, you get the picture. Bo was totally grossed out. Still spitting he made his way home.

Bo stopped at the well that stood in front of his house. He plunged the bucket into the cool well and pulled up a bucket of water. But before he could take a sip from the dipper, his mother was standing beside him. “How did you get so dirty? Why are your pants torn? And where’s you lunch pail?”

Bo shook his head and muttered, “It wasn’t worth it, Mama. It wasn’t worth it.”

Please understand that sin may look wonderful. The world wraps sin in beautiful, alluring packages, but never, ever forget ALL SIN’S APPLES HAVE WORMS, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

	RPM Volume 8 Whole Lotta Praisin' Goin' On (Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On)
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Fun holiday parodies for puppet and children's ministry.

Thanksgiving Songs on this CD:

Turkey On My Plate

Thanksgiving Polka Medley

	Fun holiday songs for puppet and children's ministry. It is Good (Thanksgiving) Wanna Say Thank You (Thanksgiving)
	Price: $14.99

	Teach Us to Pray Object lessons and 18 objects to help you teach children to pray and praise.
	Price: $29.95

A New Thanksgiving Symbol

Frog Puppet: Can I have everyone's attention. Quiet please. I need to make a very important announcement. (Clears his throat.) Excuse me, I had a frog in it.

I don't know if you have noticed but Mr. Turkey has been our national thanksgiving symbol for a long time. But he isn't doing a very good job. So as of today I will be the new national symbol for thanksgiving.

Adult Puppet: Wait a minute!

Frog Puppet: I am sorry but we don't have a minute to lose. We've got to start hopping.

Boy Puppet: Cool! I love frogs.

Girl Puppet: Oh, yuck! Frogs give you warts.

Adult Puppet: Frogs don't give you warts.

Boy Puppet: Why don't you kiss 'em and see if he'll turn into a prince.

Girl Puppet: Oh, yuck!

Frog Puppet: Listen folks we've got to do something. Thanksgiving is almost here and we've got to help folks be more thankful.

Girl Puppet: Thankful? Thanksgiving is when you eat dressing and pumpkin pie and TURKEY at grandma's house.

Boy Puppet: Cool! Now we get to eat dressing and pumpkin pie and FROG at grandma's house. COOLl!

Girl Puppet: Yuck! I think I'm gonna throw up.

Boy Puppet: No, really. I tasted frog one time .I loved it!

Girl Puppet: My dog ate a frog one time and he got all this foamy stuff coming out of his mouth. It was so YUCKY!

Frog Puppet: (hopping up and down upset) You don't get it. Thanksgiving is not about eating turkey

Boy Puppet: Now it's gonna be about eating FROGS...

Girl Puppet: Oh yuck! Please don't say that again. I'm gonna be sick.

Adult Puppet: Come on your guys. No one is gonna eat frogs for Thanksgiving.

Frog and Girl Puppet: Thank goodness!

Girl Puppet: (Turning to frog) At least we agree on something.

Boy Puppet: I think he had a good idea. Frogs taste great. (Moves toward the frog.)

(Frog jumps be hind the adult. )

Adult Puppet: If I understand Mr. Frog correctly he is only trying to help us become more thankful.

Frog Puppet: That is precisely what I intend to do.

Girl Puppet: Precisely...micely. It sounds yucky to me.

Adult Puppet: No. thanks giving is very important

Boy Puppet: It sure is. My grandma makes the best pumpkin pie in the world.

Frog Puppet: You still don't get it. Thanksgiving is not about eating...it's about giving...giving thanks. When was the last time you said "thank you."

Girl Puppet: (looking down) Oh yuck!

Boy Puppet: Is that all you can say? (Steps toward her and speaks in her face ) Oh yuck!

Girl Puppet: No. I can say, "I dropped my gum. I sure hope no one steps on it."

Boy Puppet: (Looks down) Oh yuck! I stepped in it!

Girl Puppet: (In boy's face) Is that all you can say?

Boy Puppet: No, I can say thanks for the gum.

Frog Puppet: (excited) That's it. See I'm already getting results. He said "thanks."

Adult Puppet: He was being sarcastic.

Frog Puppet: (whispering to the adult) Is that a bad thing?

Adult Puppet: Yes it is Mr. Frog. Thanks needs to be sincere. It needs to come from the heart.

Girl Puppet: What's the big deal? I don't get it.

Boy Puppet: You never get it!

Adult Puppet: Thanksgiving IS a big deal. First of all it is just good manners to appreciate things that are given to you or done for you.

Frog Puppet: As the new symbol of thanksgiving the first thing that I plan to do is to give everyone a pair of glasses for their heart.

Adult Puppet: And why would you do that Mr. Frog?

Frog Puppet: Well, thankfulness is an attitude of the heart, right?

Adult Puppet: You are right, Mr. Frog.

Frog Puppet: Well, I figure if folks had a heart that could see all the nice things people do and all the good things they have then maybe they would be more thankful. And if they saw all the good things they have then they would say thank you more often.

Girl Puppet: That's silly your heart doesn't have eyes.

Adult Puppet: No your heart doesn't have eyes, but everyone needs to begin to see the things they have been given and say thank you. We need to say thank you to people. Even more important we need to say thank you to God. Thankfulness is an attitude that is developed.

Boy Puppet: Like muscles?

Adult Puppet: Yes. You have to work at it. Start by beginning and ending your prayers with one specific thing you are thankful God has done for you or given you. Thank people when they do little things for you.

Girl Puppet: But I thought Thanksgiving was when the Pilgrims and Indians had this great big dinner and they all ate together.

Adult Puppet: Thanksgiving is America's National Day of thanks which was taken from the idea of the Pilgrim and Indian celebration of our founding fathers. Thanksgiving Day is a special day to remind us to be thankful all year long. Let's get started right now. I'm thankful for this church.

Girl Puppet: I'm thankful for my kitty cat.

Boy Puppet: I'm thankful for nice fat frogs to eat.

Frog Puppet: Hopping and hollering) I'm thankful I can hop faster than he can run. (Hops off stage with boy running behind him.)

Everyone exits running after the Frog.

Need puppets for this skit? Our low prices will save you money!

	Frog Puppet for the skit on this page.
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	Righteous Pop Music 11 Object lessons and 18 objects to help you teach children to pray and praise.
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