Today I have an activity that will shock your kids! Keep reading and I will show you how to turn water into wine while your students watch in amazement. The second half of today's post will include a game.
To set the mood for the lesson, I served snacks to the kids that might have been found at the Cana wedding feast.
We compared wedding receptions of today to those in bible times. One huge difference is their feasts lasted for seven days. Can you imagine!
As I segued into the lesson, I began acting out the events as I told the story. I lifted the empty, opaque pitcher from the table and tipped it forward for all to see it's lack of contents as I explained how Mary told Jesus there was no more wine. Fortunately, my pitcher had a narrow neck making the the bottom difficult to see. I walked across the room and collected a jug of water as Jesus told the servants to fill the pots to the brim. I did not fill my vessel quite that full :). The kids watched as the clear water entered my opaque pitcher. Next, I handed out brown paper bowls I found at Hobby Lobby, explaining that cups back then were made from pottery. The brown paper bowls were the closest thing I could find at a reasonable price that looked vaguely similar to pottery cups.
I then poured the water from the opaque pitcher into their cups, only it wasn't water any more. It was wine (aka Kool-Aid). The kids could not believe their eyes! It was quite funny. What they had not known was that before class, I added Kool-Aid drops to the bottom of the empty opaque pitcher. This is why the pitcher absolutely has to be opaque.
We ate bread and grapes with our Kool-Aid while I finished telling the story. Of course, they could not figure out how I had managed this miracle, so I let them in on my secret.
Materials needed for the water transformation:
1 clear pitcher or bottle of water
1 Opaque pitcher
Kool-Aid mix (drops or powder will work)
Game
The game for this lesson is quite easy.
Items Needed:
13 Questions (Click for pdf)
13 Small Goody Gags
2 Buzzers (they come in a 4 pack, but we only need 2 for this game)
How to play:
Set up an area for two players to face each other with a buzzer in front of each.
Read the first question aloud.
The first person to hit his/her buzzer gets to answer the question.
If they get the answer correct, they may choose a paper bag and return to their seat. They may open the bag immediately. A new player fills the empty position.
If the player answers incorrectly, their opponent may try to answer the question. If that player answers correctly, he/she selects a bag and returns to their seat with a new player taking the empty place at the buzzer.
If neither player answers correctly, give the correct answer and move on to the next question. This question may be used again later.
Play continues with two players battling at a time until all 13 questions have been answered correctly.
There are 13 questions and 13 bags. Each question may only be answered correctly once.
The Goody Bags
The goody bags may be filled with anything. I placed one piece of candy and one very small toy (erasers and animal crayons) in each bag.
I put a sticker on each mini bag to spell out the topic of the lesson (Water Into Wine). :) The stickers were printed on plain white sheet labels. I used my circle cutter to cut out the letters.
