Early Education
Elementary
Middle School/High School
Chapel Activities
These activities can be used with the entire class, as a learning center, or as extra projects for students who finish their class work.
Early Education
Art Center:
Many Bajau Kagayan people live on boats. Show the children pictures of boats. Have the children use finger paints to make waves and water. Give the children a coloring picture of a boat to color, cut out, and glue on their picture. Encourage children to pray that the Bajau Kagayan people who live and work on boats will ask Jesus to be their Savior.
Circle Time:
- Flag: Show the children a picture of the Filipino flag. The flag of the Philippines has three main colors: red, white, and blue. Have children identify red, white, and blue things around the room. Then point out the yellow symbol on the flag and have children find yellow things in the room.
- Map: On a world map, point out the country where you and your students live; then point out the location of the Philippines. Take a piece of yarn and make a straight line between the two countries. Let the children count the number of countries that touch the yarn.
Dramatic Play/Home Living Center:
Many Bajau Kagayan people live on boats. Talk about how living on a boat would be different from living in a house. Have the children pretend to be fishermen on a boat.
Library Center:
Bring in library books that show pictures of life in the Philippines. As you look at the pictures, have children pray for the Bajau Kagayan people.
Math Center:
Show the children the white triangle on the Filipino flag. Have the children find triangle shapes around the room.
Science Center:
Fill a tub with water. Float a Styrofoam plate on the water, and let the plate represent an island. Explain that an island is surrounded by water and that the Bajau Kagayan people live on islands. Let children add plates to the water; then ask them to count how many “islands” are in the water. Point out three plates and have children pray for the Bajau Kagayan people, who live on three of the Philippine Islands.
Sensory Center:
Show children a map of the Philippines. Set out play dough and let the children make shapes of the Philippine Islands. Pray for the Bajau Kagayan people living in the Philippines.
Snack Time:
Search the Internet for information about different types of bananas. Serve bananas as a snack. During the snack time, tell your students about the great variety of bananas found in the Philippines (for example, red, brown, green, long, short).
Writing Center:
Have the children practice making the uppercase B and K for the Bajau Kagayan people.
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Elementary
Art:
Show your class a picture of the flag of the Philippines. Have the students draw a Filipino flag as a reminder to pray for the Bajau Kagayan people of the Philippines.
Language:
- Have the students sit in a large circle and play this game. Say, “I’m going to be a missionary to the Bajau Kagayan people, and I’m going to take …” Add an item that begins with the letter a (for example, atlas). The first student repeats the phrase along with the first response and adds something that begins with the letter b: “I’m going to be a missionary to the Bajau Kagayan people, and I’m going to take an atlas and a Bible.” Continue working your way through the alphabet.
- Have students write a story using this prompt: “As my boat came near the Bajau Kagayan boats, I suddenly saw …”
Literature:
Bring in library books that describe the land, animals, food, and people of the Philippines.
Math:
Write math story problems that relate to something about the Bajau Kagayan people. (Look through the prayer calendar to find numbers related to the Bajau Kagayan people.) Put them in a special learning center or assign them for extra credit.
Missions:
- Check with your church’s denomination or look online for information about current missionaries and ministries to the Bajau Kagayan people. Have the students pray that people will want to go and reach the Bajau Kagayan people with the gospel message.
- Christmas idea: Have the students draw pictures of themselves to send to a missionary. Have students write notes thanking the missionary for offering people the gift of salvation through Jesus. Put all the pictures in an envelope, enclose a Christmas card, and send the package to the missionary.
Music:
Wrap a box to look like a Christmas present. Have the students stand in a circle and pass the present around the group as they sing a Christmas song. When the music stops, the student holding the present prays for the Bajau Kagayan people. Remind the students that every prayer is like a present that we give to God.
Physical Education:
Play Prayer Ball. Take an inflated globe ball and toss it to a student. Look at the country under the student’s right thumb. If the thumb is on water, the student can pray for the people in the country closest to the thumb. Let the student who chose the country say a prayer for the people in that country. If the student is hesitant, lead him or her in a simple “repeat the phrases” prayer. Whenever a student ends a prayer with amen, have all the students move their hands down to their sides and stomp their right foot as they say yes together. Explain that they are agreeing with the person’s prayer by doing this. Then let that student (the one who chose the country) toss the ball to another student. Continue until all the students have had a turn to pick a country and say a prayer.
Science:
Have the students research how the Philippine Islands were formed.
Social Studies:
- Let the students compare and contrast their life with the life of Bajau Kagayan children. (Practice Venn diagrams.) Pray that the Bajau Kagayan children will hear about Jesus and want to give their lives to Him.
- Have the students research maritime people groups.
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Middle School/High School
Art:
Find pictures of various islands in the Philippines and have the students create island pictures.
Comparative Worldviews:
Have the students research folk Islam and Sunni Islam. Discuss why many Bajau Kagayan people don’t understand everything about Islam, yet remain Muslim. Make a list of prayer points and let students pray through the list.
Language Arts:
Many Bajau Kagayan people live at sea. Have students write a story or journal entry about what it would be like to live on a boat at sea.
Missions:
Have students research Christian missionaries and ministries that are working to reach the Bajau Kagayan people. Print information and pass it out to student prayer groups. Great resources are Joshua Project and 24-7 Prayer.
Social Studies:
- Have students research maritime people groups. Students can identify, compare, and contrast these people groups.
- Have students research the cultural differences between the Bajau Kagayan and another ethnic group in the Philippines.
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Chapel Activities
Use this chapel idea to infuse missions into one chapel this month.
What is an unreached people group? (Let students respond.)
This month our focus is on the Bajau Kagayan people, an unreached people group living in the Philippines and Malaysia. God loves the Bajau Kagayan people and has a special plan for them even though they don’t know God or believe in His Son, Jesus. Most of the Bajau Kagayan people follow the teachings of Islam. Many Bajau Kagayan people live at sea on boats. They may stay out at sea for a long time. While they are fishing, they have time to think about many things. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if someone told them about Jesus? Then while they fish, they could think about Jesus and talk to Him. It is very hard for the Bajau Kagayan people to hear about Jesus when they are out at sea. When they come to land, they are in a Muslim area where it is hard to hear about Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Is it acceptable to God that the Bajau Kagayan people don’t know that Jesus Christ will forgive their sins? (Encourage the students to shout, “No!”)
Is it acceptable to us that the Bajau Kagayan people haven’t all been reached with the gospel message? (No!)
Then let’s do what we can do right now and pray that the Bajau Kagayan people will turn from Islam and follow Jesus!
Close the chapel time by asking student volunteers to pray that Christians around the world will find it unacceptable that the Bajau Kagayan people remain unreached with the gospel message. Ask them to pray that Christians will take action to reach the Bajau Kagayan people.
Concert of prayer for the Bajau Kagayan people:
Just like a musical concert—all voices or instruments at one time joining together on the same song—a concert of prayer allows many people to pray at the same time about the same topic. You might want to have small prayer groups in which a different student from each group prays about each topic; or you can let all the students lift their voices to God at the same time about each topic.
Here are some prayer topics:
- That Bajau Kagayan children will hear the gospel message and desire to follow Jesus
- That the Bajau Kagayan people will become disillusioned with Islam, see their need for a Savior, and worship God
- That the Bajau Kagayan people will have an opportunity to learn about the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ
- That Christians will show God’s love to the Bajau Kagayan people
- That missionaries will share the salvation message with the Bajau Kagayan people
Other ideas:
- Ask parent volunteers to look on the Internet for Filipino recipes and to make a Filipino snack for the class.
- Invite someone who has visited the Philippines or been a missionary there to speak to the class or in chapel and to show his or her photos.
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Supplement December 2008