Posts Tagged ‘Sunday School’

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The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus

Thursday, November 13th, 2014

crucifixion-and-resurrectionMy children drew the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and we did many hands-on activities to understand this powerful event. First we read about the crucifixion and resurrection. You can find the story in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. A great time to study the resurrection of Christ is the week preceding Easter. You can start by re-enacting Palm Sunday by waving branches in the air and shouting “Hosannah!” to the Lord.

By the time Jesus was eating His last supper, His disciples were told that one of them would betray Him. Judas ran out of the room, accepted 30 pieces of silver in exchange for handing Him over to the authorities to be crucified, and then went and hung himself.

crucifixion-of-Jesus-drawingMeanwhile Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, interrupting His deep hours of prayer where He was crying out for the cup to be passed from Him. But He wanted the Father’s will, even if it meant suffering and death.

Crown of Thorns

The soldiers placed a purple robe on Him and a crown of thorns, and they mocked Him. Here is a painful craft, which will help you to understand how painful thorns can be:

crown-of-thorns

The Cross

Jesus was sentenced to die on a cross, even though Pilate had washed his hands of it and said he found no fault with Him. To understand the story of the crucifixion, we went to a living re-enactment of the life of Christ, culminating in His crucifixion and resurrection:

cross-mosaic

You can make a beautiful cross mosaic to commemorate the fact that Jesus died to take away our sin:

crucifixion-resurrection

The Resurrection

But Jesus did not stay in the grave. On the third day, He rose again, claiming victory over death. Here are two fun activities to do with children to show the resurrection:

resurrection-garden

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If you enjoyed these crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus activities, you will love the huge Bible section inside the Unit Study Treasure Vault.

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Bethlehem Scene

Friday, October 24th, 2014

bethlehem-sceneMy children drew a Bethlehem scene from the nativity story in the Bible. They could choose any of the scenes from the birth of Jesus found at the beginning of the books of Matthew and Luke. My favorite rendition of the nativity story is from Luke 2. My father used to read the story to us each Christmas Eve before opening gifts.

Linus in the Peanuts cartoon told this story from the book of Luke:

An angel appeared to Mary, telling her that the Holy Spirit would cause her to conceive and give birth to the Son of God. While Mary was trying to figure out how to explain the situation to Joseph, an angel appeared to Joseph, telling her that Mary was going to give birth to Jesus, and that she had conceived through the Holy Spirit.

joseph-and-angelHere is a drawing that one of my sons decided to choose for his scene of the nativity story. The angel appears to Joseph in a dream.

bethlehem-scene-2

Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem, where they give birth to a son and place Him in a manger, because there was no room at the inn. That’s because there were a lot of people in town for the census.

nativity-drawing

Angels appeared to the shepherds in the fields outside of Bethlehem, and the shepherds ran to find baby Jesus. They bowed down and worshipped Jesus, and Mary and Joseph must have marvelled when the shepherds described the choir of angels announcing the birth of their baby.

Here are a couple of ways to experience the Bethlehem scene in a hands-on way:

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If you enjoyed these drawings, you will love the entire series 31 Days of Drawing through the Bible.

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Jonah Unit Study

Friday, October 10th, 2014

jonah-unit-studyMy kids had a great time with our Jonah Unit Study. We re-enacted the entire story on video, which you can watch inside the Unit Study Treasure Vault.

First Jonah was on a ship trying to escape from the Lord, going the opposite way of where God told him to go, to Tarshish instead of Nineveh. The ship was the back deck, and when Jonah was discovered sleeping, the captain woke him up. Everyone on the ship picked straws to see whose fault the storm was. Jonah picked the shortest straw (or pine needle, in our case). Then the kids threw Jonah gently off the side of the deck, where he splashed into the grass water. He swam for a while in the grass water of our backyard.

jonah-drawingJonah sank lower and lower into the water until he was swallowed by a large fish. In our case, it was the dining room table with a dark blue sheet over it. The children cut out teeth and taped them to the top of the table. The bottom teeth were taped together and taped to the sides of the table legs. We added a decorative spray that you can buy around the Fourth of July. We stuck the spray into a narrow flower vase.

jonah-drawing-for-kidsJonah prayed while he was in the belly of the great fish or whale. God spared his life for 3 days and 3 nights, and then the whale vomited Jonah onto land. Ptooey!

My son vomited himself out of the whale by jumping through the teeth. I told him not to be afraid to tear through the teeth. Jonah looked up as God commanded him once more to go to Nineveh. He finally obeyed.

jonah-and-the-whaleJonah preached one sentence, “In 40 days, God will destroy this city.”

He walked away. The people all repented in dust and ashes, so God relented and did not bring calamity. Jonah was upset with God because of His mercy toward these brutal Assyrians. He sat at the top of a hill overlooking Nineveh, and God caused a plant to grow overnight and give him shade. Suddenly a caterpillar ate the plant, and Jonah cursed the heat and wanted to die. God was mad at Jonah for being sad at the demise of a plant that grew up overnight, but not at the impending destruction of a city. Thus ends the book of Jonah.

jonah-drawing-for-children

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Daniel Unit Study

Wednesday, October 8th, 2014

daniel-unit-study

For our Daniel Unit Study, we dramatized many of the events, drew pictures, and made interesting crafts. These are some of the most famous stories in the book of Daniel:

  • Daniel and his Friends Brought to Babylon
  • Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream: Prophetic Statue
  • Fiery Furnace
  • Nebuchadnezzar Goes Insane
  • The Writing on the Wall
  • Daniel and the Lion’s Den
  • The Visions of Daniel: End Times

Daniel and his Friends Brought to Babylon

When the book of Daniel starts, Nebuchadnezzar has just captured Jerusalem and set it on fire. He takes the court officials, the best of the best, back to his palace in Babylon. Daniel and his three friends are some of these youths. They decide not to defile themselves with the king’s food, and they end up being healthy and the wisest in the kingdom.

Here is a video clip that will help you to envision this event:

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream: Prophetic Statue

King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream which no one can interpret. He demands that the magicians and wise men tell him what his dream was. When no one answers him, he gives an order to kill all the wise men in Babylon. Finally Daniel steps forward and interprets the dream. You can make a model of the statue from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. The directions for this activity are here: Prophetic Statue from Daniel.

prophetic-statue-from-Daniel-

Fiery Furnace

fiery-furnace-drawing

Soon after having a dream about a statue, King Nebuchadnezzar makes a large gold statue of himself, which he forces everyone to bow down and worship. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow to the statue, the king becomes so angry that he throws them into a furnace. But God miraculously saves them. To find out how to make a diorama about this story, click here: Fiery Furnace Craft.

fiery-furnace-diorama

Here is a video clip that will help you to envision the Fiery Furnace event:

Nebuchadnezzar Goes Insane

King Nebuchadnezzar is so prideful that God strikes him with insanity. He chews grass. After a while, he regains his sanity and praises and glorifies God. One of my sons drew a picture of the king going insane and eating grass.

nebuchadnezzar-eating-grassThe Writing on the Wall

The next story is Belshazzar’s Feast, where Belshazzar is using the utensils and goblets from the Temple. A disembodied hand writes on the wall, and Belshazzar frieks out. Daniel interprets the writing, and it is a prophecy that Belshazzar would be conquered. He is conquered that very night! My oldest son drew a picture of the writing on the wall.

writing-on-the-wall

Here is a video clip that will help you envision the scene of the writing on the wall:

Daniel and the Lion’s Den

Daniel begins serving the new king Darius, who has conquered Belshazzar. The people in high positions in government are jealous of Daniel and have Darius pass a decree that anyone who prays to anyone other than the king will be cast into the lion’s den. Since Daniel prays three times a day with the windows open, he is arrested and thrown into the lion’s den. But God saves his life by stopping the mouths of the lions, and the conspirators are eaten by the lions instead.

If you would like to do this simple craft about the story, you can find it here: Daniel and the Lion’s Den.

Daniel-and-the-lions

The Visions of Daniel: End Times

The final chapters of Daniel include prophecies of the End Times that fit into the book of Revelation. Daniel is reading the book of Jeremiah when he finds out that 70 years had expired, and that the Jews were supposed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years. Daniel prays and confesses the sins of his people, and he lives to see the day when Ezra takes the first group of thousands of Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple:

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If you liked this Daniel Unit Study, you will love the huge Bible section inside the Unit Study Treasure Vault!

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