Moses and the Burning Bush

(Exodus 3:1-15)

An easy craft for this lesson has been around for a long time. Sometimes the older, well tested ones are the best. I like that this one can cross over to many different age groups just by varying the style of the flames.

Materials:

Clear plastic cups

Red, orange and yellow tissue paper

Brown and green Sharpies

Battery operated tea lights

Scissors (optional - for cutout flames)

Clear glue (not pictures, optional - for torn flames)

I found everything at the Dollar Store making this a super cheap craft. 

At Home Before Prep:

Tools

Iron

Cutting matt

Ruler

Rotary cutter 

   (I know it is tempting, but do not use your fabric rotary cutter for this. Buy a rotary cutter to use on paper. Both cutters will last longer and perform better if you dedicate one to fabric only and the other to paper only. Just say'n.)

1. With the setting on low, iron the tissue paper to get it nice and smooth.

2. Cut the tissue into 9"x 9" squares with the rotary cutter. Each child will need one square of each color.

That's it for the prep work!

Class Instructions:

1. Ask each child to draw and color a bush on the outside of a cup.

2. Give each child one square of each color tissue paper and a tea light. 

For smaller kids (kindergarten): have them layer the tissue yellow, orange and red with the corners alternating in direction. 

For a little older (1st & 2nd grade): ask them to tear the paper into pieces and glue to the inside of the cup.

For even older kids (3rd & up): allow them to cut flame shapes all around the edges of each piece of tissue.

3. Place the tea lights in the center of the tissues. 

4.Gather up the edges around the tea light to make a pouch. 

5. Place the pouch inside the cup and fluff out the edges of the tissue.

Kindergarten version:

1st and 2nd grade version:

3rd grade and up version:

There you have it; your very own burning bush!

NOTE:  All images, text and printables contained herein are copyright protected. This material is for your personal use only. I encourage you to print or pin from this site whenever you would like as long as it is credited and linked back to EasyBreezySundaySchool.blogspot.com. Failure to link back and credit my site constitutes a copyright violation.  Thanks so much!

               

First Day of Class 2014

Welcome Back! This Sunday is our first day back after the summer break.

As I look down my class roster, I see we have quite a few new students this year, so we are going to spend time getting to know each other during this first gathering. I decorated the door with sunflowers, so to continue the theme, I decided to combine a simple craft and a getting-to-know-you game.

We are going to make sunflowers to hang on our class banner. But first, we will write one personal detail on each flower petal. I'll explain in more detail below, but after everyone has finished writing on their petals, we will collect them all in a pile. Then one by one we will pull a petal from the pile, read it aloud, and try to guess who wrote it. When that person reveals their identity, they get to glue the petal onto their flower center. After all petals are accounted for, we will add stems, and hang them on the banner.

Suggestions for personal descriptions:

1. Start each statement with "I".

2. Try to make each statement reflect something unusual or funny. For example: I was once bitten by a monkey. (Yep, it's true.)

3. Each statement must be true.

  

Materials:

Brown, yellow and green construction paper
Circle cutter
Scissors
Pencil 
Puffy paint or sharpies (I used 3D fabric paint because that's what I had on hand. I'm hoping it is not too messy for the kids.)
Any other desired decorations

Beforehand Preparation:

1. Draw petals on the yellow construction paper. Just free hand it. It doesn't need to be perfect.

2. Cut out the petals. Six to eight per child. The size of the sunflower center will determine how many petals are needed. Test it to make sure you cut enough petals before hand. 

3. Cut out circles for the center of the sunflowers using the brown paper. One per child.

4. Optional stems: Cut strips of green paper for stems.

Instructions:

1. Give each child at least four flower petals. Ask them to write one true statement about themselves on each petal. For example: "I have 6 brothers", "I am named after a famous baseball player", "I am allergic to cats", or "I like to play soccer". Encourage the kids to write things that will help people remember them—the more unusual, the better.

2. When they have finished writing, place all petals in the center of the table and shuffle.

3. Take turns retrieving a petal and reading it aloud. Let everyone take a guess as to who they think the statement is about. After everyone has made a guess, ask the author to identify him/herself. That person can then glue the petal onto their flower center. They may also glue blank petals onto their flower to create a more full flower. I would suggest keeping the personal statements down to four per child because many discussions will arise during the game (a good thing!) and it can take a long time to get through them all. 

Just a side note: The purpose of the game is to get to know each other. This includes learning each other's names. Discourage the "guessers" from language such as, "I think it's her," followed by a pointing finger. Instead, encourage the children to say, "I think it is Abbie." It may help to use name tags.

4. When all petals have been claimed and the sunflowers completed, add a green stem if desired. 

5. Next, ask each child to write their name in the center of the circle using a pencil. Trace the name using the puffy paint or sharpies. If time allows, they may want to add more decorations. This is the one I made while testing this craft at home:

We have a banner in our classroom. Each year we make something representative of the class members to post on the banner. This year I thought the sunflowers would be a good selection.

We had so much fun guessing who each statement belonged to that we ran out of time and did not get to decorate the center of the flowers. The children wrote their names in the centers with magic markers instead.

NOTE:  All images, text and printables contained herein are copyright protected. This material is for your personal use only. I encourage you to print or pin from this site whenever you would like as long as it is credited and linked back to EasyBreezySundaySchool.blogspot.com. Failure to link back and credit my site constitutes a copyright violation.  Thanks so much!