The Greatest Gifts

Materials

• Christmas gift bags
• Several common items for each bag, at least one item per student (e.g., large spoon, small storybook/songbook, work gloves, pen/pencil, notecard, cell phone, can or box of food, music CD, box of tissues, small toy, dust cloth, etc.)
• Timer

Instructions

Put several items in each Christmas gift bag and set out at the front of the room. Explain that the best gifts we can give are often those that mean giving something of ourselves—our time, effort, talent, etc.

Have students take turns coming to the front and reaching into a bag with their eyes closed. They should choose one item from the bag and show it to the class. Set the timer for one minute. The student will try to think how they could use that item to give of themselves. (For example, a spoon gives the idea for setting the table or helping wash dishes; a pen suggests writing a thank-you note; a toy can be used to play with a younger sibling; a songbook suggests singing a song for the family.)

Be prepared to give hints to students who need a little help. You could also give each student the option of asking for suggestions from their classmates. When one suggestion has been given, let the student return the item to the bag. If the item chosen has already been discussed, the student can try to think of a different idea for that item or pick a different item from one of the bags. Continue playing until all the students have had a chance to choose an item from one of the bags.

Option: Play a charade version of the game. Instead of talking about their ideas, students will act out their ideas for classmates to guess.

Suggested Discussion

This game helped us think about a different kind of gift-giving—giving of ourselves. Think about how meaningful it will be to give up some of your extra time to help your parents around the house or to use a special talent to bring joy to your family. Giving that extra effort really shows how much you love and care for them. I hope you’ll use some of these ideas for gift-giving this Christmas.

Now think about how much more God gave of himself to us when he sent his Son. Jesus didn’t have to come to earth as a human. He could have just chosen to stay in heaven where he’d been forever. But he willingly left heaven to be born as a baby and to be our Savior. That’s the greatest gift of all!