A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to put together a Sunday School lesson for my daughter who is in charge of teaching children's church every time there is a fifth Sunday in a month, with the help of teens in our church's youth group. My daughter is a freshman in college this year, she has been helping me teach my Sunday school class for years, and loves children. So I was excited for her to have this opportunity to lead the youth in teaching all the children. My daughter and I decided that some of Jesus' parables would be a great lesson since it was so close to Easter. So we chose The Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Lost Sheep.
The story of the Parable of the Lost Coin and the Parable of the Lost Sheep can be found in Luke 15:1-10
Explain to the children that you are telling the story of two parables that Jesus taught in the Bible, and that a parable is a simple story that helps us understand a lesson. Then read Luke 15:1-10, I prefer the story right out of the Bible, if you are reading to very young children perhaps you can read the story from your favorite children's Bible, I like to read from an NIV Bible.
The craft for this lesson is a simple lift a flap paper craft mini book. I printed out verses in a Papyrus font, and cut around them, you could also let the children do this if you have enough class time, in this case we pre-cut the verses, and shapes for this book.
First glue on the title to the front of a blue sheet of construction paper folded in half.
The inside of the book will look like this-
The first page is the Parable of the Lost Sheep- Cut out a simple bush shape with a tab at the top to glue down, only glue the tab down so the bush can be lifted to find the sheep. For this page I chose two verses, the children can glue them on with a glue stick.
'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' Luke 15:6b (NIV) and
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. Luke 19:10 (NIV)
Under the bush the children can put a sheep sticker. If you can't find a sheep sticker it should be fairly easy to trace out a sheep shape to cut out of construction paper.
The second page of the book is The Parable of the Lost Coin. (I have done a craft before for this parable, and made a similar mini book for this a few years ago-
Parable of the Lost Coin Craft Post) Cut out a broom shape from brown construction paper, and cut fringes into the broom straws, and only glue down the broom handle, so the coin can be found underneath the broom. I also chose two verses for this page.
'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin." Luke 15:9b (NIV) and
In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Luke 15:10 (NIV)
The children can glue a little silver coin under the broom.
I made the silver coin from aluminum foil with a single hole puncher.
The lift-a-flap book craft was a fun and easy craft, I like the simple images in the book that will help the children to remember the story later. Encourage them to share their story book with their family.
For game time I came up with two fun relay race style games, one for the lost sheep, and one for the lost coin. In advance, for the lost sheep relay, I first traced a sheep outline onto black construction paper, and using a cutting mat and craft knife cut out the sheep shape from the center of the paper. (I have the green beneath so you can see the shape cut out.)
Remove the center of the sheep from the black construction paper. Make two or more of these, one for each relay team.
Then you will need for each relay team's sheep, a sheet of sticky back craft foam. Just before the race, peel off the paper and keep the sticky side of the foam face up.
Lay your sheep cut out over the sticky surface. The green sheep is now sticky, and ready for the race. Hang up a sticky sheep for each relay team across the room on a wall.
Then provide each team with cotton balls, line up the players, and when the relay race starts, the first runner form each team grabs two cotton balls, runs across the room, and places the cotton balls on the sheep.
Then the player runs back, and the next person takes a turn, and so on while the sheep is being filled up with cotton balls.
The first team to finish their sheep is the winner. The kids really enjoyed this game!
The second relay race is for the Parable of the Lost Coin. Place a bin of rice between both teams, and little buckets or cups across the room. Hide twenty five dimes in a bin of rice. The first players from each team dig in the rice until they find a dime, then run across the room and place it in the bucket, when they return the next player goes, and so on until the first team to have ten dimes in their bucket wins. This was also a fun game, but be ready with a broom, because the rice can be a bit messy. :)
During the lesson there was also a time to discuss the story and ask the children some discussion questions.
Here are some of the simple discussion questions ideas, with answers, you may need to modify some of these for a younger class.
Is everyone a sinner? (Yes)
Do we need to repent (say sorry) to God for being sinners? (Yes)
When we repent, and say sorry to God for all of our sins, and ask Jesus into our heart to be our savior, what happens in heaven? What do God and the angels do? (They rejoice, just like the person who found his lost sheep in the parable did, just like the woman who found her lost coin did.)
Have you ever lost anything? (Let the kids give examples of things they have lost)
Where you happy when you found it? (Yes)
Are we lost from God when we are sinners and don't say sorry and ask Jesus to be our savior? (Yes)
Does it make God happy when we repent? (Yes, very happy!)
Include a time for prayer. We also enjoy snack time and singing time during our children's church as well.
This was a really fun lesson to put together, and I saw great pictures of our youth, along with my daughter having a fun time teaching all the children.
This lesson, along with my other Sunday School crafts and lesson ideas, is part of my new
Simply Sunday School Series, located in a link on the side of my blog for easy reference. :)
