Jesus is Baptized

 

The third week of the Life of Christ study, we will talk about how Jesus was baptized by John.

Once again, I made use of the fantastic illustration I found at this website:

Found on kidsbibledebjackson.blogspot.com

And, for a craft, we'll make a dove that I found on this website:

http://www.catholicicing.com/holy-spirit-craft-make-a-dove-from-a-paper-plate/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+CatholicIcing+(Catholic+Icing)&utm_content=Google+Reader

www.catholicicing.com is a wonderful website from which I've found a lot of great crafts to use in Sunday School.

12-year-old Jesus Teaches in the Temple

My second Sunday School lesson is on how Jesus teaches in the temple.

I couldn't find a really good craft to use with this lesson, so I just pulled up a coloring page I found online at

http://www.biblekids.eu/new_testament/finding_in_the_temple/finding_in_the_temple_coloring/finding_of_jesus_in_the_temple_24.jpg

So, as well as talking about the lesson, the children will color this coloring page. 

Then, I plan for us to Pray in Color.  If you haven't already, google Sybil Macbeth and "Praying in Color" and watch her videos on how to pray in color.  The children love it.  I plan to take a dry erase board and we'll all take turns praying our prayers in color on the dry erase board.  At the end, I'll take a picture of the board and send it to each child via email.

As it says in Psalm 141:2, "May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice."

I envision our prayers going up to God like sweet incense that He loves smelling.  I can visualize God inhaling our prayers.  It is pleasing to Him. 

The Life of Christ

 

I'm embarking on a 22-week study of the Life of Christ with my Sunday School Kids.

I found some wonderful illustrations of the Life of Christ on Pinterest.  The dear lady who worked so hard on them simply asked that we direct you to her blog to access them.

http://kidsbibledebjackson.blogspot.com/2014/03/life-of-jesus-list-of-lessons-links.html

I numbered the cards and printed them off on card stock, with the corresponding explanations printed on the other side.  I cut them all out and inserted them into baseball card plastic sheets to put in the prayer journals I made each child for Christmas.  I think the kids will love looking at those wonderful illustrations.  

I included a title on each card.  Sorry... I don't know how to insert a pdf file into the blog, so these are all jpeg files.

 

 The Birth of Christ

 

The Life of Christ:

In the Manger

We've started the study of the Life of Christ.  And, even though it is after Christmas, you have to start at the beginning.

For our craft, we made Christmas ornaments that look like stained glass.  This is a time-intensive craft, but one that the kids will hopefully cherish for a long, long time.  I cut out the black silhouette of the manger scene:

 

You can find any silhouette by googling it and then cut it out.  I folded the black construction paper so that there would be a silhouette on each side.  It took about 6 minutes to cut out each frame... so with about 20 to cut out, it took around 2 hours to cut them out.  I did it while I was sitting in front of the TV.  

 

 Then, you take come tissue paper, like the kind you use in wrapping presents and cut up a bunch of little pieces for the kids to use for their stained glass.  The kids really love this craft.

I also made a sheet of little "banners" with each child's name on it to put above the manger scene with the name, church and year on it to make it a true heirloom for them.  I hope they will bring it out each Christmas and think back to the day they made them in Sunday School.  One thing!  You need to have the banner big enough so that the punch you make for the ribbon goes through not only the laminating paper, but also through that sheet of paper because the laminating paper isn't strong enough to hold the ribbon without the paper within.  It just tears.

The completed silhouette frame.

The sheet with the "banners" with each child's name, church name, and year.

Here's what several of them looked like cut out.

Thanksgiving Turkey Fun

This was an easy and fun project to do.  Make the poster with the turkey body and then cut out "feathers" for each child to illustrate with what they were thankful for.

We had a lot of fun sharing some of the things we were most thankful for... like coffee and sweet iced tea!  : )  The kids loved it and the adults in the church got to see some of our handiwork, since I posted it outside our classroom door.  By the way, nothing sticks very well to cement blocks, so I just put a little bit of hot glue on the corners and that will hold it very well.  Then, when you're ready to take it off, just pull the extra hot glue off.

1 Thessalonians 5:18  "In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

 

Praying in Color...Prayer Journals for my Kids

 I just finished reading this wonderful book entitled, Praying in Color, by Sybil Macbeth.

I am a doodler... and really, when you think about it, aren't most kids doodlers?  Doodling comes naturally to us.  It's as we grow up that we discard the practice because we consider it somehow beneath us.  We're too grown up to doodle... or are we?

Do you ever have a hard time praying?  You don't know the words to say?  How do I pray for this person, Lord?  Well, the good thing is that the Lord knows exactly how we should pray for that person.

In Romans 8:26, it says,  "Also, the Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we should.  But the Spirit Himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain."  (New Century Version)

So, I found this wonderful book by Sybil Macbeth.  She doodles her prayers.  I plan to begin doodling my prayers, too, and share that with my Sunday School kids.

Here's a video of Sybil explaining how she began to pray in this way:

Praying in Color-Sybil Macbeth

For Christmas this year, I'm making Prayer Journals for my kids in Sunday School.  So, I plan to show them how to doodle their prayers and pray in color.  Inside the book, I'll put pages with Scripture verses at the top that they can include in their doodles.

I plan to share with them this acronym:   ACTS  

A-Adoration
C- Confession
T- Thanksgiving
S-Supplication

What a beautiful picture we could make using all of these components.  I can begin my page with pictures of God and my adoration of Him... then confess through a sad face that I am sad because I sin... then give THANKS for all the many blessings God has given me... and then, draw pictures that show my requests on behalf of others and myself.

I made this doodle, using all of the components of ACTS, but I want to tell the kids that not all of their prayers have to use all of those components each and every time.

I used the usual symbols for Father, Son and Holy Spirit to begin my adoration of God.  Then, worked in the Scripture verse we're studying, John 3:16.  To the left side, you see a picture of me sad, kneeling in prayer, because I'm sad that I sin and make God unhappy.  Then, in the middle you see my thanksgiving for God's many blessings in my life.  Below, I drew my prayer requests as flowers and the blue marks you see are my prayers watering those flowers, as God works in the lives of those for whom I prayed.

I'm placing these essentially blank sheets of paper in the prayer journals I've made for the kids.
I put a "word cloud" on the outside of each folder, with each kid's name and attributes that I feel are part of being a Christian.  Hopefully, each time they open their prayer journal, they'll be encouraged to strive toward being more like those attributes.

I wish I could share a pdf file that you could use to make your own Sunday School kids prayer journals, but I made these on Print Shop and I don't think you would be able to manipulate the pdf to change the names for your kids.  But, here are the components I made:

 

 

With side labels on their prayer journals:

With these, I just cut them out of card stock and slide the label in the clear plastic on the side of the notebook so that they can see their names when they have their prayer journals on their shelf.

I pray that these prayer journals and the technique of praying in color with doodles will be a blessing to my Sunday School kids, and that through this, they will become closer to God.

        

 

Thanksgiving Turkey Components:

Sorry, I'm fairly new to blogging, and I had hoped I would be able to upload the pdf files onto the Thankful Turkey note.  Alas, they wouldn't open when I tried it.  : (

So, here are pictures of the pages... jpg format.  If you can upload them, hopefully you can pull them into a printshop format and enlarge it to make your own components to the turkey.  Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Turkey Headdress Components: