Materials

• Two clear two-liter bottles (cleaned, with caps)
• Water
• Clear plastic wrap
• Duct tape

Instructions

1. Fill one of the bottles with water.
2. Put the empty bottle on top of the filled bottle (open end to open end).
3. Wrap plastic wrap tightly around ends and tape securely with duct tape.
4. Be sure to reinforce the duct tape so the bottles stay together and the water doesn’t leak out.
5. Turn bottles upside-down so water flows from top to bottom.
6. Watch the tornado!

Explanation

A tornado happens when warm air and cold air swirl around each other and create a vortex. A vortex is a force that pulls things in a circular motion toward its center. When you swirl the bottle around it creates a vortex and makes a tornado in the bottle.

Application

There are all kinds of record-breaking weather events occurring on earth right now — snowstorms, floods, giant forest fires, hurricanes, and tsunamis to name a few! Weather can seem a bit scary, even if it’s not happening in our area, because it’s one of those things over which we have no control. We need to think of our world like this bottle… (Circle your finger around the room.) …and the rest of this room like God’s place in heaven. Our universe seems so huge to us. But God is right above us, right over us, and what’s happening in our little world does not change one speck of heaven. It just isn’t big enough.

So when the weather gets rough, let’s remember that God’s strength, power, or position does not change. And the same way a vortex pulls everything to the center, God pulls his children close to his heart, where he keeps them from harm. God made the earth for us to enjoy, and in honor of Earth Day, let’s remember to be good stewards, grateful to God for his protection and love.

The post “Tornado in a Bottle” Earth Day Science Experiment appeared first on Christianity Cove.

Materials:

• Palm Sunday/Easter game pieces (PDF)
• Two blindfolds
• Scissors
• Scotch tape

Introduction:

1. Print out two copies of the game add-on and cut up the pieces along the dotted lines.
2. Place each set at the opposite ends of the working table.

Instructions:

1. Divide the class into two teams.
2. Start with the pieces in order on each table. Make sure students understand what happened in each part of Easter Week as follows:

• Palm Sunday: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and many people put palm branches down for the donkey to walk on as a show of respect for Jesus. Many people thought he was the Messiah, coming to rule Israel.

• Religious Leaders Plot to Kill Jesus: Jesus was a threat to the religious leaders because he performed miracles and had lots of people believing in him. They wanted the people to keep believing them, so they plotted to kill him.

• Last Supper: On Thursday night, Jesus sat down with his disciples to have Passover dinner. He broke bread and said it was a symbol of his body. Then, he blessed wine and said it was a symbol of his blood. He told the disciples he would be murdered and would rise on the third day, and his body and blood were a sacrifice for sins.

• The Arrest: After supper, Jesus and the disciples went into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The disciples fell asleep! Jesus prayed, and the soldiers came to arrest him after he was betrayed by his disciple Judas.

• The Trial: Starting that night, Jesus faced, Annas, Caiaphas, and Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate agreed to crucify Jesus between two rebels because the crowd demanded it.

• The Crucifixion: Jesus was crucified Friday at noon. He lived on the cross for three hours, then said to the Father, “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” And he died. There was an eclipse, an earthquake, and the very thick curtain inside the temple was ripped in two.

• The Resurrection: Some of Jesus’ disciples, Mary Magdalene, and a few other believers saw the empty tomb on Sunday morning. Some saw angels who said, “He is not here; he is risen.” Over the next 40 days, 500 people saw the arisen Jesus.

3. Have each team blindfold one of its members — perhaps the member that is not the best reader.
4. Scramble the cards when you are finished.
5. The blindfolded student is going to put the cards in order on the table, one event under the other.
6. Other students may tell the blindfolded student which card to pick up and where to place it. They may not touch either the blindfolded teammate or their set of cards.
7. The first team to get all seven cards in order wins.

Closing:

Hold up one of the cards and touch it. This card is two-dimensional. A blind person could not tell what it says by feeling it. He would have to listen carefully for a voice of authority. All the while, he is hearing a lot of voices until someone calls for order! This was a challenging assignment!

It’s a lot like the events of Easter Week for the disciples. They thought Jesus was going to reign on earth as king of Jerusalem. They didn’t “get it” that Jesus was going reign as Lord of the entire world. They watched their Messiah go to the grave. They had no idea what was coming next!

We can often feel like we don’t know what’s coming next, and this game was a great reminder. The blind person couldn’t see the cards. So he had to listen for some voice of authority, even though there were distractions.

As we go through life, let us remember that God has a plan! Just like he had during all the events of Easter Week! Let’s remember to listen for the voice of God in our hearts to lead us into God’s triumphs.

The post “Easter Week in Order” – A Memorization Easter Game appeared first on Christianity Cove.

Materials

• Colored construction paper
• Scissors
• Marker

Object

Children will sift and search through a colorful clover field to be the first team to complete a full rainbow.

Preparation

1. Cut out two shamrocks for each color of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. To save time, you can just cut out squares or diamonds.

2. Using a marker, write the name of the color that matches that piece of paper.

3. Cut out two more sets of shamrocks/squares but leave them blank.

Introduction

What are the two biggest symbols we associate with Saint Patrick’s Day? Rainbows and shamrocks.

Both of these symbols represent special things in our faith. Let’s look at the rainbow today. Each color in the rainbow characterizes the different natures of God:

Show one of the pages from the craft and have everyone say the attributes with you:

– Red is for his righteousness.

– Orange is for his joy.

– Yellow is his presence with every girl and boy.

– Green is for his mercy;

– Blue is his love.

– Violet is for his always watching from above!

Instructions

1. Choose two students to go first.

2. Spread all of the shamrocks on one half of the learning table with the numbered sides down, and be sure to mix them up.

3. When you say “Go!” the two chosen students will race to the table in search of the labeled shamrocks.

4. Once they find a labeled shamrock, they will place it on the other side of the table.

5. Once all shamrocks are found, the students will arrange them in red, orange, yellow, blue, green, purple order.

6. The first student to correctly organize their complete rainbow wins.

7. Repeat with different students.

Closing

When you see a rainbow, think of the different colors being placed there by God to remind us of who he is. When we are struggling, let’s shut our eyes and think of the rainbow and know that God is aware of our struggles and wants to help us in every way.

The post “Shamrock Relay” St. Patrick’s Day Bible Game appeared first on Christianity Cove.

Materials:

• Two heart shaped cookies for each child. This can be done with your favorite cookie recipe and a cookie cutter. However, a large round sugar cookie may be substituted.
• Red icing
• An ample supply of candy hearts that say, I love you, Be mine, etc.
• A 1 inch x 1 inch white cardboard heart
• A red ink marker with a narrow point

Note:  The teacher should prepare a sample for the children to see before they start the project.

Instructions:

1. Give each child two cookies—one to eat and one to decorate for the parent who picks them up at the end of class.

2. Ice the cookie with red icing.

3. Make a border around the edge of the cookie with candy hearts.

4. Have each child write a chore on the paper heart with the red ink marker that he or she can do at home for parents, like sweep the kitchen or fold the laundry. Have them commit to actually do the chore you write down.

5. Place a dollop of icing in the center of the cookie.

6. Stand the paper heart in the dollop of icing.

Discussion:

Do any of you know what scripture Matthew 19-19 is?

Let the children answer, then explain.

That scripture is “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

Have any of you tried writing a story?

Let the children answer, then explain.

One of the first rules you learn about writing is:
Don’t tell ‘em, show ‘em, and I think that is the meaning of the scripture … love your neighbor as yourself. It’s one thing to send a Valentine that says “I love you”, but the words don’t mean much. It’s the way we treat our neighbor that matters.

How are some of the ways we can show our neighbors that we love them?

Let the children answer, then explain.

Telling someone you love them doesn’t mean much. It’s the way your treat your neighbor every day, and the kind things you do for them that shows how much you love them. Yes, it’s all right to send a valentine to someone, and it’s a nice tradition, but it’s far more important to show them you love them. And how do we do that?

Encourage the children’s answers about their chore until they seem quite committed to completing it.

So on Valentine’s Day, we tell people we love them, but it’s more important to show them by the kind and helpful things we do for them. Let’s all promise to show our love on Valentine’s Day by doing the chore that we promised.

You might also be interested in these other beautiful Valentine’s Day ideas!

Looking for more great Valentine’s Day ideas?  Then be sure to check out our Valentine’s Day Pinterest Board!  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, Follow Us on Twitter and Come Hangout with Us on Google+!

The post “Action” Valentines Day Cookies – Because Actions Speak Louder Than Words appeared first on Christianity Cove.

Materials:

• Construction paper in various colors
• Scissors
• Stick glue
• Pen and/or crayons
• Large, lined index cards
• Bucket Template

Preparation:

To make the craft look nicer, cut out the components for your children on the construction paper before class begins. This will also give them a chance to focus more on their thoughts.

Introduction:

Who knows what a bucket list is? Let them answer.

Bucket lists are lists of wishes, generally things you would like to accomplish or have experiences with, at a certain time in your life. There are bucket lists of “what I’d like to do on vacation,” or “what I’d like to do with people in school.”

Let’s make a bucket list of things you would like to do with God this year. It can be things you’d like his help improving on, or it can be things you hope he leads you toward. Think hard! Then write or draw your bucket list.

Instructions:

1. Glue your bucket list to the construction-paper bucket.

2. If you are writing a bucket list, use the front of the card with the lines. If you are drawing things (younger students) use the back without the lines.

3. Glue the shovel onto the bucket.

Prompts:

Do you want to improve on a particular talent?
Do you want to improve a skill?
Do you want to improve a personality trait like greater patience or less laziness?
Would you like to be more assertive with certain bullies? Kinder with students you find very annoying?
Would you like to get along better with anyone in your family?
Would you like to gossip less, talk more, laugh more, love more? If so, with whom?

You might also be interested in these other awesome craft and activity ideas!

Looking for more fun craft ideas?  Then be sure to check out our Bible Crafts area!  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, Follow Us on Twitter and Come Hangout with Us on Google+!

The post Bucket List for the New Year! A New Year Craft appeared first on Christianity Cove.

Materials

• Printable files, Four Christmas Prophecies (five pages)
• White card stock
• Scrapbooking paper, red or green
• Hole puncher
• Craft ribbon, red-ribbed or green-ribbed
• Stick glue
• Adult scissors

Preparation

Print a copy of each prophecy and fulfillment onto card stock, one copy for each student.

Copy the template onto card stock and then cut it out.

If you want these crafts to be lasting, trace and cut out the triangle backings yourself before class. Your lines will be cleaner.

Instructions

Have students follow these steps:

1.  If your teacher has not done this for you, trace around the template and cut to create the middle section of the ornament. Repeat.
2. Using stick glue, run lines of glue down the sides of both trees with the decorative side face-down. Then glue them together with the decorative sides facing out.
3. Cut out your first prophecy front and back. Center them on the middle piece, then use stick glue to apply them. You only need glue at the top of the outer pieces! Don’t glue all the way down and thereby cause bubbling.
4. Punch a hole near the top but not too close to the edges. Have your teacher do this if you are having trouble punching through the four pieces.
5. Run the ribbon through the hole and tie a loose bow, so that you have a loop.
6. Repeat with your other three prophecies and fulfillments.

Looking for more great Christmas craft ideas?  Then be sure to check out our Bible Craft area!  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, Follow Us on Twitter and Come Hangout with Us on Google+!

The post Prophecies of Jesus Tree Ornaments appeared first on Christianity Cove.

Materials

• One ball per two students

Object

Children will compete in pairs to see who can complete their thankful alphabet while successfully tossing a ball to their partner.

Preparation

Game is best played in a wide and open area.

Introduction

Thanksgiving is the start of the holiday season. It’s the busiest travel time of the year. We are constantly moving around, visiting family, cooking, shopping, and there is hardly any downtime. When we are so busy, we really don’t think about everything we are lucky to have. It’s not that we don’t want to, we just don’t have time and our minds are constantly focused on other things. Today we are going to see how hard it is to focus as we play a game.

Instructions

1. If possible, divide the class into pairs.

2. Give one ball to each pair and have them stand across from each other, five feet apart.

3. When you say “Go!” students will begin to toss the ball back and forth.

4. With each toss, they must say something they are thankful for BUT they must do it in alphabetical order.

5. For example, student one will say something that starts with “A” and student two will say something that starts with “B.”

6. They will keep alternating with each toss.

7. While saying something they are thankful for and tossing the ball, they will take one big step away from their teammate.

8. If the ball is dropped at any time, the pair must start over.

9. The first team to get through the entire alphabet wins.

Closing

Focusing on catching was a little tough when our brain was trying to think of special items. It was a challenge, but we were all able to get pretty far into the alphabet, if not all the way through. We should look back on this game as we continue through the holiday season. No matter how busy we get, we should always take time to stop and think about how lucky we are. There are a lot of people who don’t have what we have. God has given us and continues to give us so many wonderful gifts and we should always take the time to thank him.

The post Thanksgiving Game: “Thankful Toss” and Remembering To Be Thankful appeared first on Christianity Cove.

Fall Pumpkin Craft: Pumpkin Mobile

All kids know that pumpkins are great for making Jack-O-Lanterns and for making pumpkin pie.  This fun pumpkin craft will also give them a way to remember the spirit of Christian rather than spooking spirits, by writing Christian messages on the dangling “baby” pumpkins.

Happy Pumpkin Faces: A Pumpkin Object Lesson

Pumpkin painting can be a little messy, but it’s also a lot of fun!  Lay down newspapers and have a ball teaching kids about our partnership with God – using paints – in this pumpkin object lesson.  (He gives us our bodies; we decide whether we will have a smile or a scowl on our faces!)

Understanding Salvation Through Pumpkin Carving

This messy, but fun, activity of pumpkin carving and putting a light inside will leave a great impression on kids! It will speak to them about how God removes our sins so that his light can shine through us!

Good & Great Pumpkins Fall Bible Games 

This fall bible game featuring Halloween candy will get kids thinking about what’s in their own hearts – the good stuff and the bad! It’s a great chance to talk about heaven, and what we want God to find in our hearts once we get there!

Spirit-Filled Jack-o-Lanterns (PRINTABLE)

This printable pumpkin can be cut out and filled with the Fruits of the Spirit as a reinforcement to the lesson.

Smiling Pumpkin Cake (Bible Snack & Lesson)

Any pumpkin-face cake or cupcakes with a smile will work for this lesson and bible snack, but this one is homemade!  It’s easy and gives you a chance to reinforce with children that there is always a reason to smile.

“Gourd Volcanoes” Science Experiment

This science experiment with little gourds and chemical reactions will get the kids thinking about what they hope to become in the future!

Fall Harvest Pumpkins Craft

Children can make beautiful paper pumpkins, but God makes the real thing. This fun harvest pumpkins craft will help give kids insight into the difference between authenticity and imitation.

What’s Inside A Pumpkin? A Fall Science Experiment

This fall science experiment will get children excited about examining the guts of a pumpkin, which is normally thrown out at carving time. They will see nutrition where they thought there was none, and they’ll make a great leap to comparing pumpkin seeds to Bible verses.

Pumpkin Sink-or-Float Science Experiment

Children are always amazed over what will sink and what will float. In this pumpkin science experiment, they’ll see that a pumpkin will float (shhh!) unless it has been punctured. Once there’s a hole in a pumpkin, and the unwanted water to saturate it; it will sink.  It’s a lot like our faith. Whether we sink or swim as Christians depends on how well we’ve protected ourselves against wrong influences.

The post All About Pumpkins: Bible Games, Object Lessons & Science Experiments appeared first on Christianity Cove.

Material

– One cup of maize corn flour
– Half a cup of water
– One large plastic container
– One spoon

Introduction

One thing we want to keep in mind when we go back to school is the importance of picking the right friends. You don’t want friends who will tempt you into doing wrong. We can all get tempted because a lot of time those kids are getting a great deal of attention, and we want to be a part of it. But if we give in to that temptation, we can find we’re in situations”¦ that are sort of like being in quick sand. Let’s make some homemade quicksand and see how it works.

Instructions

1. Mix the corn flour and water thoroughly in the container.

2. Stir slowly and drip the mixture from the spoon to show that it is liquid.

3. Stir it quickly. That will make it hard and allow you to punch the spoon into it.

4. The mixture will look hard, but after it is stirred if you drop a small object (like
a marble) into it, the marble will sink.

Explanation

If you add just the right amount of water to corn flour it becomes very thick when you stir it quickly. This happens because the corn flour grains are mixed up and can’t slide over each other due to the lack of water between them.   Stirring slowly allows more water between the corn flour grains, letting them slide over each other much easier.

Poking it quickly has the same effect, making the substance very hard.

But if you poke it slowly it doesn’t mix up the mixture in the same way, leaving it runny. That’s when it works in much the same way as real quick sand.

Conclusion

In wrong friendships, we often feel like we have the strength to withstand the temptations that these other kids put on us. Whether it’s cheating on tests, or bullying, or gossiping, or lying or stealing, we try to tell ourselves, “They might do it, but we won’t.” We just want to get close to all the excitement and attention people like this can sometimes stir up.

But we’re a lot like this marble. We sink. And before we know it, we’re not just doing one thing wrong but several. Let’s remember to pick our friends wisely.

Let’s pick Christian friends first who will help us stay afloat rather than sink into the mucky mire of wrong thoughts and behavior.

You might also be interested in these other awesome science experiment ideas!

Looking for more great Bible science experiment ideas?  Then be sure to check out our Bible Science area!  And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, Follow Us on Twitter and Come Hangout with Us on Google+!

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The post Make Your Own Quicksand (A Back-to-School Science Experiment) appeared first on Christianity Cove.

Materials:

• Jumbo Hershey bar
• Marshmallows, standard size
• Graham crackers
• Napkins or paper towels

Instructions:

1. Break the Hersey bar into sections of four squares per student.
2. Break the graham crackers into squares
3. Place the chocolate on the graham cracker and a marshmallow on the chocolate.
4. Serve on napkins or paper towels

Instructions:

Note: You can speak while making the snack!

S’mores are a great way to show what happened in the Ascension… and what will happen when we get called into heaven. The chocolate is like the world. It is a darkened place compared to heaven. Heaven is like the marshmallow — pure and good, like earth used to be before the Fall. Jesus made the leap to heaven, having told his disciples in John 14:3, “I go and prepare a place for you… I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

He said that this promise is for all who believe. That includes us. Let’s remember, while
we eat, that Jesus is in the clouds, preparing a place in heaven for us.

The post S’MORES Ascension Day Snack & Lesson appeared first on Christianity Cove.