Words Can Hurt Object Lesson

Mimosa Pudica Plant

Also known as "Sensitive Plant"  

I came across this marvelous plant in Houston, TX, when I was visiting there. A friend took me to the Brookwood Community, "a nonprofit, residential facility and vocational program for adult with disabilities."  This place was incredible! To learn more about it or visit there, go to www.brookwoodcommunity.org.  You will be glad you did.

While I was there, I ventured into their garden shop and found the most incredible plants.  I had to purchase some, not only because they were absolutely gorgeous but because everything I purchased there benefited these fantastic adults with disabilities.

This one particular plant caught my attention because of its potential for an object lesson in Bible class.  This plant is very sensitive.  When you touch a leaf (pictured below), it's self defense mechanism immediately kicks in.  That causes the leaf to close up fairly quickly and the stem to wilt giving the predator the impression that it is dead. Therefore, it would not be worth eating!  Pretty cool.

Close up view of the wilted leaf.

If you touch very many of the leaves, the whole plant looks distressed and totally wilted like this. You can view this short video to see what the sensitive plant does when it is touched. After about an hour, the plant will recover to look full and beautiful again.

In Bible class, we will pretend that the plant is Jesus.  Every time we sin, it is like someone touching a leaf and hurting Jesus.  The more sin we have (or the more people who sin), the more hurt Jesus feels.  

Another way to use this plant to talk about how our words affect other people. If you say something negative to someone, call them names, or lie to them, it would be like touching one or two of the leaves.  When touched in that way, they wilt.  People are like that.  When we say ugly things to them, they wilt on the inside.  When other people say something negative to that person or you say more negative things to them, more of their leaves and stems wilt. Pretty soon, not only is that person wilting on the inside, you can also see that person looking sad and wilted on the outside.

The good news is that over time, if the negative (touching the plant) is taken away and mostly positive things are there (living like Christ), the person (and the plant) can recover and be like new.





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Naboth's VIneyard Pop-Up Page

Ahab and Naboth's Vineyard

I Kings 21

King Ahab desired to own Naboth's vineyard to use as his own vegetable garden because it was so close to his palace.  When Naboth refused, scripture says that Ahab "lay in his be sulking and refused to eat."

I created this pop-up page for the children to take home and retell the story. I used scrapbook paper for the floor and wall. 

Instructions:

1. Cut a piece of scrapbook paper (or just use construction paper) to 9 x 12 inches.
2. Make the page into a pop-up page.  (Printable instructions for a pop-up page.)
3. Find a picture of a beautiful vineyard and print it out.  Please watch for copyrighted photos.  
4. Cut out a frame to fit around the photo to look like a window frame.
5. Glue the frame to the photo.
6. Print and cut out the bed and Ahab.  
7. Glue Ahab on the bed as if he were laying on it.  
8. Glue Ahab and the bed to the pop-up tab (not to the back wall).  Fold the page while the glue is still wet to make sure the bed is in the correct position.
9. Glue the photo of the vineyard on the back wall.

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Bubble Wrap Fish

Bubble Wrap Fish

I used a die cut for the fish.  I covered the table with plastic then let the kids use bubble rap for paint. 


Pour paint onto a paper plate. Choose any color(s) you wish.  Lay a piece of bubble wrap (bubble side down) onto the paint.  Pick it up and "stamp" the fish with it.  Glue the fish onto blue paper.

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Zacchaeus Climbs the Tree

Zacchaeus

Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus gets to climb this tree (with the help of a few strings).  Watch the video to see the full effect. (It may take a few seconds to load.)

Instructions:

1. Print and cut out the Zacchaeus in color or in black and white. Click on the top photo for a printable Zacchaeus.
2. Cut two pieces of a straw about 2 inches long.
3. Tape the straw to the back of Zacchaeus at a slant.  Make sure the widest part of the slant is at the bottom. See picture below.

1. Cut two pieces of string around 22 inches long.
2. Slide one piece of string through one straw.
3. Tie a bead on the end of the string so it won't go back through the straw.
4. Repeat those steps for the other string.
5. Tie the other end of the strings to a popsicle type stick that has grooves in it so it won't slide on the stick.  (See picture below.  I found these at Hobby Lobby.)

1. Cut another piece of string about 12 inches long. 
2. Tie it on a large loop around the center of the stick.  Since there is no groove to hold it in place, tape it in place.
3. This string can be hung on a doorknob and Zacchaeus can climb there (without the tree).  This is what I do when I allow the children to make one of these to take home.  They don't make a tree.
4. To make Zacchaeus climb, pull on each string alternately like in the video.  
5. To let Zacchaeus come back down to see Jesus, just let the natural weight of Zacchaeus slide down the string by letting the string go.

The Zacchaeus pattern was made with clip art from the book Bible Story Clip and Copy Patterns by Corbin Hillam.  This is one of my favorite books to use as patterns for many, many things!  This precious book is no longer in print, so Mr. Hillam has graciously allowed me to give you the pattern for free.  He is producing a CD with the art from this book.  The drawings are fantastic!  If you would like to purchase a CD for $15, you can contact him at corbinhillam@yahoo.com.  It is well worth the money!  Other items by him can be seen at www.corbinhillamdesign.weebly.com.

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Balaam's Talking Donkey Craft

Balaam's Talking Donkey Craft

Numbers 22:21-39

The exciting part of this donkey is that his mouth can actually move (with a little assistance)!  In the Bible story, Balaam's donkey talks to Balaam. When that part of the story is told, the teacher (or child) can open and close the clothespin to make the donkey pretend to talk to Balaam.

For the donkey in the picture, I used a Cricut machine.  I used Noah's ABC Animals cartridge and put the setting on 9 inches.  For people who do not have a Cricut or this cartridge, I have designed and included a pattern. Click on the words "donkey pattern" in the instructions section. 

I always want the children to make something to retell the story at home. Fo them, I shrink the pattern and print it onto card stock. They can choose to color it however they prefer.  They will follow the instructions below. Smaller clothespins (often found at Dollar Tree) will be necessary for making their smaller donkeys talk. 

Instructions:

• Print out the donkey pattern (by clicking on the top photo) onto plain or colored card stock.
• Color it if desired.
• Cut it out.
• In order to make the donkey able to talk, cut on the dotted line where his mouth would be.  
• Tape or glue a clothespin on the back.  Line up the center opening of the clothespin with the mouth. (See pictures above.)
• Open and close the clothespin to make the donkey talk.

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Deborah and Barak

Deborah and Barak

Judges 4

This cute idea came from Pat Autrey.  

Deborah is sitting on a paper chair. To make her sit, just fold at the waist and where the dress meets the legs.  I use a plastic palm tree for her to sit under. (I also found a fun foam palm tree at Michael's).  For her clothes (as well as Barak's clothes), I used a tissue art technique. See video below.

To make Barak stand, I folded on the fold line just below his garment (where the legs connect to the garment) and glued a clothespin on the back.

Patterns

The following video teaches how to make items using tissue art.

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Handwriting on the Wall Craft

Handwriting on the Wall

Daniel 5

For this craft, I printed the page with the picture of the king and the wall. Then I put a page (which contains the words Mene Mene Tekel Parsin) under the first page so I can use it as a pattern.  Using a white crayon, write the words "MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN" in the box.  Make sure you press really hard. 

I tell the story until I get to verse 5.  Before reading verse 5 (the hand appears and writes on the wall), I tell the children that I forgot to put color on their pages and I need help finishing that part.  I tell the children that they need to first paint the wall (the rectangle) and that we will paint the king later.  As they watercolor paint the wall, letters and words begin to appear! After they have finished, we finish reading and telling the rest of the Bible story. 

For the younger preschool children, I used Elmer's White Glue and traced the letters using glue on the page that has MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN on it. I let it dry. I make one page like that for every child.  

I give the children a page with the words and then lay the picture on top. They use crayons to color the wall.  As they color the wall, the words will magically appear.  (Like a penny rubbing.)

Click on photo to get the pattern.

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