Objective: God wants us to forgive others just as He forgives us when we ask.
Scripture: Luke 15:11-24
The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes: pg 310, 312
The Beginner's Bible: pg 397
My Story Bible: pg 98-99
My First Hands-On Bible: 
The Beginning Reader's Bible: pg 127-131
Through the Bible Felt: pg 200-201
Ephesians 4:32b - Forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.
Tune: “Are You Sleeping?” or “Where is Thumbkin?”
Ephesians 4:32 (2x)
Forgiving one another (2x)
Just as God through Christ, has forgiven you
Ephesians 4:32, Forgiving one another
Sheet available in the Bible Activity Workbook
Fingerpaint 
Free Coloring Sheet for Immediate Family Use: Prodigal Son Feeds the Pigs, Prodigal Son
Pig Painting
Make a box of chocolate pudding. In a jelly roll pan, place a large dollop of pudding. Create pictures of pigs in the "mud." Discuss the Bible story as the child works.
Feed the Pigs
Place a piece of paper in a jelly roll pan. Squeeze small amounts of paint on worksheet. Set a few marbles on the paper. Roll the marbles around by carefully shifting the box from side to side and forward and backward. The marbles will roll the paint around to decorate the worksheet.
What is Sin?
Sin is disobedience to God and is the opposite of what God wants to me. It is wanting what I want over what God wants for me. Because God is perfect and without sin, our sin creates a wall in our relationship. Sin must be told to God and forgiveness needs to be asked of. Confessing sin is admitting to God that I have done wrong. The Prodigal Son admitted that what he did was wrong and in his attitude he asked for forgiveness. Because his father loved him, he gladly forgave him, and we know that God will always forgive us as well.
How to Apologize
Teach your child to end apologies with the question "Will you please forgive me?". Read more...
Giving Forgiveness
Just as we need forgiveness for the wrong that we do, we need to give forgive to those who ask for it. To explain the importance, play catch with the child. After throwing back and forth the ball for a while choose not to return a throw. Explain that when we refuse to forgive someone, it is like holding onto something and refusing to let it go. Just as holding onto the ball messed up the game, holding onto being anger and refusing to forgive can mess up friendship and families. Sometimes forgiveness is hard to do but with God's help we can forgive those who ask. (Original source of idea unknown)
"Bee" Attitude Printable
Print the "Bee" Attitude printable. In the top tier of the beehive, have the child write the attitude of the week. In the next tier, have the child draw a picture of the Bible story. In the bottom tier, ask the child to draw a picture of himself having this attitude.
Forgiveness Activity
Gather black pompoms and print off the Heart Template. Discuss that sin is the bad choices we make. Sin is like black spots on our heart. Take turns naming sins that we struggle with (lying, stealing, having a bad attitude, etc.) and place a black pom-pom on the heart to represent each sin. Once the heart is covered with sin discuss how God is unable to look upon our sin. We need to ask God's forgiveness to remove the "yuck" on our heart. Remove a pompom one at a time while saying, "God please forgive me for ____." Once the pompoms are all removed, discuss how God removes our sin, forgives us, and turns our heart white as snow (Ps. 51:7).
God Is Our Eraser Shared with Permission
Materials: pencils of different shapes and sizes with a good eraser on each, construction paper or craft foam heart, googly eyes
Tell the child : Look at all these pencils. They all are very different: short, tall, thin, fat - different sizes, shapes and colors. Each pencil has one thing in common, though. Each has an eraser for when the pencil makes a mistake. We are like the pencils. We are all different but we all make mistakes. But we each have an eraser just like the pencil. What is your eraser? (Wait for answers) God is our eraser and He is always with us. When we ask forgiveness, God takes away our sins, just like the eraser wipes away the pencil's mistakes.
Directions: Cut out an approximately 2-3" heart cut from construction paper or craft foam. Fold the heart in half horizontally and cut two small slits with scissors to thread the pencil - one near the top & one near the bottom. Be careful not to cut the slits too big or the heart will slide off the pencil. Allow the child to decorate the heart to look like a person (googly eyes, mouth, nose). Thread the pencil through the heart.
Computer Game
Play the "Prodigal Son" adventure and use the coloring sheets on the Charlie Church Mouse Kindergarten CD-Rom. Read more...
This story is free for family use only and may not be used in any form in a non-family situation. A script of this story for non-family use is available in the New Testament Curriculum and 3 Year Interactive Bible Stories.
Water Board
Green Bottom
S8-9 Two Trees
S16 – Two Tall Trees
54 – Son #1
54B – Clothing for Son #1
60 - Father
Pigs
203 – Building
215 – Horse & Chariot
Have on the Board – Green Bottom, S8-9, S16, 54, 60, 203
Have in Order – 215, 54B, Pigs
Prodigal Son Story:
Let’s turn in our Bible to Luke 15. In verses 11-24, Jesus told a parable about a father and his two sons. Do you remember what parables are? Parables are stories that Jesus told to teach us a lesson and help us understand more about God.
This story is about a son who is only thinking about himself. (Count on your fingers each time the word “I” is said) The younger son told his father, “I want my part of your money. I don’t want to wait. I want my money now.” How many times did the younger son say “I?” Three times! I want, I want, I want. Three times the younger son showed that he is thinking about himself and no one else. But, even then his father gave him his portion of the family money.
(Remove father, building; Add chariot)
A few days later, the younger son packed everything he owned and took a trip to a faraway place. While there he spent, and spent, and spent money. Whenever the son saw something he wanted, he bought it. But money doesn’t last forever and soon the boy found himself poor and very hungry.
(Remove chariot; Add clothing, pigs)
The youngest son finally became so hungry that he realized he needed a job to buy food. He finally got a job working with the pigs on a farm. He became so hungry that even the pig food looked yummy! Yuck! When the boy finally realized he needed help, he said to himself, “At home, my dad provides his workers with plenty of food. I will go home to my Father and let him know that I have sinned.“
(Remove pigs; Add father, building)
So the son returned to his father. Even when he was a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Even though he made bad choices, the father still loved his son. He ran to him, hugged, and kissed him. The son told his father, “I have sinned. Please hire me to work for you.” But the father told the servants, “Hurry and bring the finest clothing in the house. Let’s celebrate because my son was lost and now he is found.”
Sometimes we want what we want and we want it now. Sometimes you and I only think of ourselves like the younger son in this story. But when that happens, we can always ask God to forgive us. I want you to fold your hands together. Bow your head. Let’s pray together. Thank you God, that You forgive us whenever we ask forgiveness for our bad choices! Amen.
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