The Widow's Mite

(Luke 21: 1-4 and Mark 12: 41-44)

Did you know at the time of the writing of the bible, there was  no such thing as a mite? According to Wikipedia, the term mite came about with the Kings James version. The widow actually gave two small copper coins. These coins were called leptons. But, at the time the KJB was written, the smallest coin was called a mite, so it was translated as a mite. I just found this interesting and thought I'd share. :)

Whenever this lesson rolls around, I usually show the kids how to make their own lepton/mite. And each time, the method gets perfected slightly from the time before. Here's the latest version:

Materials:

Any type of circle cutter

Aluminum foil

Sharpies (brown + other colors)

Chips (I found a small package at the dollar store) 

I have to admit, it seemed wrong buying poker chips to use at church, and I still feel a little guilty about it, but I reasoned with myself that we were not gambling with them, and then I marched right up to the checkout. While waiting in line, I asked God to help me find a better item to use for this purpose. Since nothing better has turned up yet, I guess he's okay with it. At least that's my theory, and I'm sticking to it. :D

Instructions:

1) Using the circle cutter, cut two circles slightly larger than each coin. I used 
1 7/8" circles.

2) Allow each child to draw a face, sun, or other simple picture on each piece of foil.

3) Next, since the widow's coins were copper, use a brown or copper marker to shade the aluminum foil around the picture to mimic copper. Notice I forgot this step in my picture - sorry about that. I tried to find copper foil at Michael's or Hobby Lobby so this step could be omitted, but the only copper sheets I could find were too thick and actually had sharp edges. Oh well. The kids have never minded coloring their coins to look like copper anyway.

4) First wrap the back piece around one side of the coin, and then wrap the top piece around the other side. Press the edges snuggly to the coin.

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