The Parable of the Mustard Seed

Hi Godly Play Teachers,
Welcome to our lesson for Aug 3, the Parable of the Mustard Seed, found in Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-32, and Luke 13:18-19.

The children love this parable, and if you help them process it through the wondering questions, they're sure to come up with some profound thoughts and ideas.

The wondering questions are in the book. I'll have them printed out for you. Thank you for documenting the children's responses. They're so interesting for the parents-and for the rest of us!

Now, for some ideas to spark their imaginations as they do their work, making a gift to God...

1. How big do they imagine the mustard seed growing? Why not lay out butcher paper on the floor and let the children draw the tree? I've seen a class of fours do this, so I know all of ours can do it to. One team of kids could draw and fill in the tree, another do the leaves, another do the birds and birds' nests, and another do the sower.
Our fourth grade class did this  and it turned out great!

2. Children could individually glue a seed to a paper and draw what the tree will grow to be.

3. Kids could make a mustard tree out of pipe cleaners. They could even add birds!

4. You could plant a seed, if you haven't done that lately. It might be fun to plant grass seeds and draw a face on the pot/cup so as it sprouts it looks like hair.

5. The kids could make their own parable box for this one. There's felt in the resource room for the different parts, and they could also make a person out of a clothespin, birds and nests out of clay.

6. Make a mustard seed necklace as shown here

7. Sample different kids of mustard with pretzels or crackers as a snack.


Enjoy!
Becky

The Parable of the Leaven

Hi Godly Play Teachers, Welcome to our lesson for July 27, the Parable of the Leaven, found in Matthew 13:33 and Luke 13:20-21.

It will be interesting to see what the children make of this parable. As Godly Play often encourages us, it's good to remember that the children may find meanings that we haven't even thought of- meanings we can learn from- so it's important not to steer them too much towards our own understanding.
It's also good to share how much three measures of flour is. I've read that it's enough to make a dozen loaves of bread- enough bread to feed 100 people!

Be sure to use the wondering questions to help them tease out their own thoughts from their heads.  I'd love to be able to share them with the parents in the newsletter, without names attached, of course.

Idea Sparkers for the Make a Gift to God time.
1. It might be fun to depict the parable by drawing out exactly how much bread this tiny bit of leaven can make rise. The children could make a mural showing the title of the parable, a drawing of a small amount of yeast, the dozen loaves of bread, and the baker woman. They could write out the short parable at the bottom, and we could put it on one of our big bulletin boards. Drawing out the dozen loaves would bring home how much bread the parable is talking about.

2. Eat bread!
You could also compare unleavened bread with leavened bread by sampling each.

3. The older children could work on the question of how do you show your leavening--or what kind of leaven are you? How do we participate in the kingdom of God? What things do we do to "make the bread of the kingdom rise?" To further the God's kingdom- to make the world like God wants it to be? This could be done in drawings, with a collage, a poster that the class works on together or separately.

4. Experiment with yeast, testing what happens to warm sugar water with yeast in it. We may have yeast packets in the resource room.

Thanks, y'all!
Enjoy!

The Parable of the Sower

Hi Godly Play Teachers,
Welcome to our lesson for July 20, the Parable of the Sower.

Jesus told this parable to answer the question, "What is the kingdom of heaven (God's kingdom) like?" The wondering questions this week are really important, because they can help the children understand the meaning of the parable. I hope you'll let the children struggle with each question. Sometimes it's very tempting to give them your answer, but a little mind struggling will allow them to find an answer that they can own-instead of one they don't really get, but feel you want them to believe. Even if they go down a wayward road, (if so we can always ask more questions to try to help them find their way) we will have "planted the seed" (how appropriate!) which they may discover later.

As you ask the wondering questions, if children have trouble, try to help them put themselves in the place of the sower. (Particularly helpful for questions 3,6,7,8,13,14)

So the important wondering questions we'll use this week are:
1. I wonder if the person had a name.
2. I wonder who the person could really be?
3. I wonder if the person was happy when the birds came and ate the seeds.
4. I wonder if the birds were happy then they saw the sower.
5. I wonder who the birds really are.
6. I wonder what the person was doing when the little seeds could not get their roots in among the stones.
7. I wonder what the person was doing when the little seeds were choked by the thorns.
8. I wonder what the person was doing when the little seeds were growing in the good earth.
9. I wonder what the harvest could really be?
10. I wonder what the sower used for seed?
11. I wonder what the sower sold?
12. I wonder what the sower kept for food?
13. I wonder if the sower was surprised at the harvest?
14. I wonder what part surprised the sower most?

Idea Sparkers for our Create a Gift for God time:

1. This would be a perfect time to actually sow some seeds. You could use Styrofoam cups or small terra cotta pots which the kids could decorate, then fill with soil in which to plant a seed. You could also have them write a verse on a popsickle stick to put in the soil near the seeds they sow. They could choose a verse from the Bible story (a good way to have them look up the story themselves) or use Psalm 119:16b  “I Shall not forget your Word.”

3. Children could also reproduce the parts of the parable box-the sower, the birds, the pots, the rocky ground, the thorns, the plants.

4. Children could illustrate the parable with watercolors or markers or colored pencils.

Enjoy!

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Hi Godly Play Teachers!
Looks like I had a little mix-up with the teaching schedule...sorry about any confusion! I blogged last week on the Parable of the Great Pearl instead of what we scheduled, the Parable of the Good Samaritan. So here's the post on that parable. If you're better than I am at following the schedule, scroll down and see the post on the Parable of the Great Pearl. Do whichever one you haven't done already. Again, my apologies!

Here's our lesson on the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

What a wonderful story about what it means to be a neighbor, and our responsibilities as followers of The Way to help those around us. You might want to include time in your morning to go visit the Good Samaritan statue near the remembrance garden.

Here are wondering questions you can use.
Wondering Questions:
1. I wonder who is the neighbor to the person who was hurt, had everything taken from him, and was left by the side of the road half dead?
2. I wonder what would happen if the people in the parable were women and not men?
3. I wonder what would happen if the person finding the injured traveler were a child?
4. I wonder what it means to be a neighbor.
5. I wonder if you've ever had anyone be a neighbor to you like this Samaritan was to the hurt man.
6. I wonder if you've ever been the one who was the Good Samaritan?
7. I wonder how you can be a Good Samaritan kind of neighbor to others.

Idea Sparkers for our Gift to God Time

1. Children make get well cards as a way to help others, like the Good Samaritan in the story
2. Children act out the story. (My camera will be in its usual place  Please use it!)
3. Children could make a collage or drawing on who is our neighbor.
4. Children could make a collage or drawing on How I Can Be a Good Samaritan.
5. You could also go with the What Would Jesus Do theme. Make a bracelet with WWJD, or a mural of the story, or act out scenes of different conflicts and ask the question, "What would Jesus do?"
6. If you've visited the Good Samaritan statue, why not ask the children if they'd like to try to make their own with play dough or quick dry clay?

Thanks for all you do!
Love, Becky