I would like to use this blog as a place to share my children's lessons as well as my ponderings for adults.
Here is a lesson I taught this past Sunday.
Temptation Toolbox
Theme: How to resist temptation; bible memory
Preparation: Obtain a toolbox and a variety of hand tools. Print out the handouts (links at the bottom).
Time: I only have 10-15 minutes so I do the lessons quickly, but this one could certainly be beefed up to use more time and have more content.
Age: My group is mixed-age so it goes from 3-10, the younger ones are interested in the tools and even though they can't read, they like to receive the handout.
Introduction: Show the children the toolbox and ask them what it is. They should reply that it is a toolbox. Open the box to reveal a variety of tools. Hold them up and ask what kind of job would be done with each one. Give a few wrong examples such as ask if we would use a wrench to hang a picture, or a screwdriver to fix a leaky pipe. Continue in this manner until you have made the point that each job that you might encounter has a particular tool that is best suited for it. State this fact directly.
Lesson: Put aside the toolbox for a minute and ask the kids if they know what temptation is. You should get a variety of answers and be able to cobble together a pretty good definition from them. Kids may begin to give examples of specific temptations, so try to steer back to what temptation really is- in kid language, when you really, really want to do something (usually something you shouldn't!).
Ask them if they know what they should do when they are tempted to do something wrong. Allow time for answers which may vary from "say a verse" and "sing a song" to "don't do it." If they don't mention scripture, you can mention it to them to get it in their minds.
Now ask for specific temptations, keep this quick, it is easy to get enough temptations listed very quickly!
Make the Point: Tell the kids that our best tool for resisting temptation is to say scripture verses (depending on time allowed, you may have time to refer to Jesus resisting temptation by quoting scripture) and just as we use specific tools to do various jobs, God has given us specific tools to resist temptation!
Depending on the audience, if they are familiar enough with memory verses you could ask for an example, "What verse could help remind you if you are tempted to disobey your parents?" and allow a child to answer "Children obey your parents."
Practice: At this point in the lesson, tell the kids that you want to give them a toolbox to help them with temptation and give out the handouts. Give them just a moment to look at it, then go over it with them. Give them a few practice scenarios so they understand how to find the temptation and then look across to find the "tool" to deal with it.
Additional Time: If your set-up allows, you can talk more about the importance of memorizing verses so they are with you all the time to help you resist temptation. Also talk to the kids about finding verses (or asking an adult to help them find verses) that speak to them about their own personal struggles. This is huge and if they can learn this as a child, it will benefit them their entire life.
Also, if you have parents in the audience (our kid's lesson is incorporated into main service) encourage them to use this with their kids. I can't say enough about the effectiveness of little children learning scripture that is specific to their individual struggles.
Handouts:
Two .pdf files are attached. One is the cover and the other is the inside. Experiment with your printer to figure out which way to reload the paper so that the inner list is correctly lined up with the outer toolbox cover. Orient the printer to "landscape", print the correct number of covers (there are two per page), then reload the printer and print the inner list. Cut the paper in half and fold each piece so that the toolbox is the cover and the list of scriptures are inside.
Cover
Inside
If you are more tech savvy than I, please feel free to rework these files so that they can be printed as a double-sided document.
You may share this lesson freely, however, please link to this page rather than copying and pasting. Thanks.
Here is a lesson I taught this past Sunday.
Temptation Toolbox
Theme: How to resist temptation; bible memory
Preparation: Obtain a toolbox and a variety of hand tools. Print out the handouts (links at the bottom).
Time: I only have 10-15 minutes so I do the lessons quickly, but this one could certainly be beefed up to use more time and have more content.
Age: My group is mixed-age so it goes from 3-10, the younger ones are interested in the tools and even though they can't read, they like to receive the handout.
Introduction: Show the children the toolbox and ask them what it is. They should reply that it is a toolbox. Open the box to reveal a variety of tools. Hold them up and ask what kind of job would be done with each one. Give a few wrong examples such as ask if we would use a wrench to hang a picture, or a screwdriver to fix a leaky pipe. Continue in this manner until you have made the point that each job that you might encounter has a particular tool that is best suited for it. State this fact directly.
Lesson: Put aside the toolbox for a minute and ask the kids if they know what temptation is. You should get a variety of answers and be able to cobble together a pretty good definition from them. Kids may begin to give examples of specific temptations, so try to steer back to what temptation really is- in kid language, when you really, really want to do something (usually something you shouldn't!).
Ask them if they know what they should do when they are tempted to do something wrong. Allow time for answers which may vary from "say a verse" and "sing a song" to "don't do it." If they don't mention scripture, you can mention it to them to get it in their minds.
Now ask for specific temptations, keep this quick, it is easy to get enough temptations listed very quickly!
Make the Point: Tell the kids that our best tool for resisting temptation is to say scripture verses (depending on time allowed, you may have time to refer to Jesus resisting temptation by quoting scripture) and just as we use specific tools to do various jobs, God has given us specific tools to resist temptation!
Depending on the audience, if they are familiar enough with memory verses you could ask for an example, "What verse could help remind you if you are tempted to disobey your parents?" and allow a child to answer "Children obey your parents."
Practice: At this point in the lesson, tell the kids that you want to give them a toolbox to help them with temptation and give out the handouts. Give them just a moment to look at it, then go over it with them. Give them a few practice scenarios so they understand how to find the temptation and then look across to find the "tool" to deal with it.
Additional Time: If your set-up allows, you can talk more about the importance of memorizing verses so they are with you all the time to help you resist temptation. Also talk to the kids about finding verses (or asking an adult to help them find verses) that speak to them about their own personal struggles. This is huge and if they can learn this as a child, it will benefit them their entire life.
Also, if you have parents in the audience (our kid's lesson is incorporated into main service) encourage them to use this with their kids. I can't say enough about the effectiveness of little children learning scripture that is specific to their individual struggles.
Handouts:
Two .pdf files are attached. One is the cover and the other is the inside. Experiment with your printer to figure out which way to reload the paper so that the inner list is correctly lined up with the outer toolbox cover. Orient the printer to "landscape", print the correct number of covers (there are two per page), then reload the printer and print the inner list. Cut the paper in half and fold each piece so that the toolbox is the cover and the list of scriptures are inside.
Cover
Inside
If you are more tech savvy than I, please feel free to rework these files so that they can be printed as a double-sided document.
You may share this lesson freely, however, please link to this page rather than copying and pasting. Thanks.
Jessi's walls...:-)
ReplyDeleteThanks a million! I am going to put this into Spanish and use it with my adolescents. Awesome!
ReplyDeleteawesome! i will definitely use this....please keep sharing!:)
ReplyDelete