Cleansed

June 23, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Cleaning supplies such as a broom, soap, cloth, detergent, scrub brush and scrub pad, window cleaner, brass polish, furniture polish, etc. Take a look under your sink or among your cleaning supplies and see what you can find. Warning: Do not open any chemicals or other cleansing agents as they can be irritants to skin and eyes. Some are even poisonous.

Activity
Bring all the cleaning supplies before the children and ask then to identify what they all have in common. Of course they are all cleaning supplies. Then have children name what each item is used for. You may wish to bring some dirty dishes, tarnished metal, etc. to demonstrate cleaning for the children. Have children look about the room for things that need to be cleaned. Some children, depending on their age may wish to help clean the room.

Application
Talk about the fact that sometimes when you are cleaning you have to use a lot of pressure. It is good that these things aren’t alive and don’t have feelings because it could be very painful. Let them rub a scrub brush or scrub pad along their skin to see that it can be painful, especially if you have to scrub very hard. Explain that sometimes pressure and discomfort or even pain is needed in order to clean something. Jesus was placed under immense pressure and incredible pain on the cross that we might be cleansed from our sin.

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Inspiration

Dreams

June 22, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on”
– William Shakespeare

Wishing to encourage her son’s dreams on the piano, a common story says a mother brought her son to hear the great Paderewski. Bored, the little boy left his seat and wandered away.

Seeing a door marked “No Admittance” he promptly entered. He found himself on a stage with a piano in the center. His attention was drawn to the beautiful ebony grand piano with its glistening white ivory keys.

Suddenly the curtains parted and a spotlight lit the piano. Sitting on the piano stool, reaching for the ivory keys, the young boy started playing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

The audience’s amusement turned to curiosity when the world famous pianist entered the stage. He quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy’s ear, “Don’t quit.” “Keep playing.” “You are not alone”

Paderewsky sat down beside him and put his arms around the boy and began playing a counter medley as he whispered more words of encouragement.

The audience was so mesmerized that they couldn’t recall what else the great master played.

It only takes just a few moments to inspire someone’s dreams – especially someone who looks up to you for encouragement and support.

The next time you see someone reaching for their dreams, come alongside them and whisper in their ear, “Don’t quit.” “Keep playing.” “You are not alone”

Step up to the piano of life and play whatever tune you know. God will sit down beside you and turn your music into something beautiful. God can take our small, limited efforts, and make them into a masterpiece that draws others to Him.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.”
– Matthew 13:31-32

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Creative Teaching Ideas

Dragon Dodge Ball

June 21, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Soft Dodge Ball

Activity
Have the entire group make a circle. Pick four to five people for each team. The first team goes into the center of the circle and forms a line by attaching their hands to the waist of the person in front of them. The people who make up the circle throw the ball at the “dragon”, trying to hit the last person below the waist. Once hit, the last person returns to the outside circle and players continue to hit the new person at the end of the dragon until there in only one person left and they too are hit. A new team then goes into the middle. Time each team to see which one can last the longest.

Application
In your team you were eliminated until only one person was left. Paul was looking at his life and eliminated everything until one person was left. It wasn’t people he eliminated but accomplishments. Paul only wanted one person left– Jesus. (Philippians 3:4-9)

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Creative Teaching Ideas

Candy String Race

June 20, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
String and a piece of candy for each two persons. (Polo mints with the hole in the center works well.)

Activity
Have two contestants face each other. Have a long piece of string with a candy of some sort tied to the exact middle. Put each end in a contestants mouth. Say go and the contestants will pull the string into their mouth and move their way toward the center of the string to get the candy. The person who gets the candy in their mouth the first is the winner.

Application
Paul wanted the Philippians to know that being first, or getting possessions and things, was no longer important to him. Winning was also not important. He was willing to lose everything if he could have Jesus. His only concern was Jesus. In the game, the candy was in the center of the string. But it wasn’t titles or accomplishments that Paul focused on for the center of his life. He wanted Jesus to became the center of his life. (Philippians 3:4-9)

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Teaching Illustrations

The Origin of Father’s Day

June 17, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Sonora Smart Dodd establishes Father's Day

In 1909 a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea of a day to honor fathers while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon. She wanted a way to let her father, William Smart, know how special he was to her. William Smart, who was a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state. In the eyes of his daughter, he was seen as a courageous, selfless, and loving man.

In 1909, Mrs. Dodd approached her own minister and others in Spokane about having a church service dedicated to fathers on June 5, her father’s birthday. That date was too soon for her minister to prepare the service, so he spoke a few weeks later on June 19th. From then on, the state of Washington celebrated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Children and youth made special desserts, or visited their fathers if they lived apart. Instead of desserts, many of today’s youth get dad a necktie, which is the most common Father’s Day gift. Besides a greeting card, dinner, sporting events, and wallets and belts are also popular gift ideas.

President Calvin Coolidge, in 1924, supported the idea of a national Father’s Day in the United States. Then in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father’s Day. President Richard Nixon signed the law which finally made it permanent in 1972.

Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

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Game Ideas

Father’s Day Relay

June 16, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Collect several sets of clothing items worn by fathers. Some possibilities include a large jacket, work boots, work cloths, a tie, a belt, a hat, etc. Divide youth into several teams of equal number of participants. If a team is short designate someone to go twice.

Activity
Provide one set of clothes to each team. The team must race to put on all the clothing items and then rush to the opposite side of the rooms and complete a task. The task could be anything associated with fathers, like emptying a rubbish bin, putting together a toy, tying a tie, driving a nail or putting a screw into a board, etc. Once the task is completed, the person rushes back to the team, removes father’s clothing, and the next person repeats the process. First team to have all participants complete the task wins the game.

Great fun for Father’s Day!

Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Teaching Illustrations

My Father

June 14, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

When I was:
Four years old: My daddy can do anything.
Five years old: My daddy knows a whole lot.
Six years old: My dad is smarter than your dad.
Eight years old: My dad doesn’t know exactly everything.
Ten years old: In the olden days, when my dad grew up, things were sure different.
Twelve years old: Oh, well, naturally, Dad doesn’t know anything about that. He is too old to remember his childhood.
Fourteen years old: Don’t pay any attention to my dad. He is so old-fashioned.
Twenty-one years old: Him? My Lord, he’s hopelessly out of date.
Twenty-five years old: Dad knows about it, but then he should, because he has been around so long.
Thirty years old: Maybe we should ask Dad what he thinks. After all, he’s had a lot of experience.
Thirty-five years old: I’m not doing a single thing until I talk to Dad.
Forty years old: I wonder how Dad would have handled it. He was so wise.
Fifty years old: I’d give anything if Dad were here now so I could talk this over with him. Too bad I didn’t appreciate how smart he was. I could have learned a lot from him.

Writer Unknown

Food for thought for Father’s Day

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Food for Thought

Build Me a Son, O Lord

June 13, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Build me a son, O Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in victory.

Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. Lead him, I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail.

Build me a son whose heart will be clean, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past.

And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.

Then I, his father, will dare to whisper, “I have not lived in vain.”

-General Douglas MacArthur

Game Ideas

Who’s father?

June 12, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Make a grid of squares on a peice of paper. In each square write a characteristic. Children must then find someone whose dad fulfills that characteristis and have them sign in the square. First person to get all their squares signed wins.

Some possibilities for characteristics are
– Hair color isn’t black
– Wears specs
– travels on business
– Works as(name a job)
– Drives a car
– Wears tennis shoes
– Favorite hobby is (Name of a hobby)
– Likes (a specific food)
– Is tall/short
– Is on church council
– Wears a ring
– Is between 30-40 yrs old
– Is wearing (name an item)
– Has a brother
– Has a sister
– Lives (location)
– Has been to (country)
– Has a gold colored watch
– Watches soccer on TV

If possible think about the father’s of children in your class and use that as a guideline for characteristics.

Use this as a fun game for Father’s Day!

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Creative Teaching Ideas

Overcomed by Troubles

June 10, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Any game that involves elimination of members can be used to teach about persecution. Check out the “games” book at my website www.vanishingcookies.com/kensapp for more ideas.

As a simple elimination activity, you might also place several peices of paper in a bag or box containing characteristics. Some possibilities are:

* Wearing red
* Wearing sneakers
* Wearing spectacles
* Wearing a belt
* Wearing sandals
* Wearing a watch
* Has Long Hair
* Brushed their teeth today
* Ate rice today
* Has a $2 note
* Has a pet
* etc.

Continue drawing slips from the bag until everyone is eliminated. Last person left gets a prize.

Debrief
How did you feel when you were eliminated? Do you feel that at times the world eliminates you because you are a Christian?

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

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