Easy Breezy Sunday School

2/25/14

Joseph's Dreams

(Genesis 37 & 40)

There are numerous places in the bible where dreams are mentioned. The stories we see in Sunday school are usually associated with Joseph. First, Joseph has two dreams that we learn foretell his own future. Then later, he interprets dreams for others.

An easy craft for any lesson involving dreams is, of course, a dream catcher.

Materials:

Wooden embroidery hoops (any size)

Any object that can be used in the center. See * below.

Yarn

Popsicle sticks

Scissors

* I found these glittery heart cutouts at Michaels after Valentine's Day on sale for $1.00 for a package of 4 (or was it 5?). Although the shape and size was perfect, the glitter was a mistake. I rubbed as much as possible off, but what remained was annoying. It worked fine; I just didn't care for the glitter. Any rigid cutout shape will work.

Instructions:

1) Remove the outer ring. We will only be working with the inner ring. The outer ring can be used, but I chose to only use the inner ring so as not to have any hardware on the dream catcher. I'm sure the outside ring will come in handy one day for different project.

2) Using a different color than is desired for the finished product, tie the cutout at two opposite points inside the ring to hold it into place. I liked the off-center look, but anywhere is fine.

3) Cut a piece of yarn about a yard long. More or less may be used depending on how thick the weaving is desired. If multiple colors are used, thread each color individually for be results.

4) Tie one end of the yarn to a popsicle stick. Wind the yarn around the stick. This is to make it easier to manage the yarn while threading it around the ring.

5) Tie the loose end to the ring at any position keeping the knot in the back.

6) Wrap the yarn through the center of the cutout and around the outside edges of the ring moving all the way around the ring. When all the yarn has been wrapped, remove the popsicle stick and tie that end to the back of the ring. Optional: Repeat with other colors.

7) Remove the stabilizing pieces of yarn added in step 2 above.

8) Tie another piece of yarn to the top and hang.

Click here for original craft source.

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!

2/20/14

Pray

(Luke 11 1-13)

This week’s lesson was about the importance of prayer. Hmmmm. Not your typical children’s bible story filled with colorful visuals and rich details from which to develop a game or craft. How does one add a Wow! factor to a discussion-oriented lesson for children? Well, believe it or not, it is possible. In fact, there are loads of fun, Memorable activities that are easily adapted to almost any lesson. One such craft is this one. I found it on Pinterest, of course. Here's the original source in case you'd like to check that out, too.

TIPS:

* Smaller kids may find the whole word (Pray) too large, and therefore overwhelming. For first and second grades, it may be better to go with a single letter (P) instead. I'd use two pipe cleaners for each capital P. Third and fourth graders will have no trouble tackling the complete word.

* It may be helpful to tie shorter pieces of yarn together beforehand to make one long strand for younger kids. Alternatively, use only one color.

Materials:

Yarn
Scissors
Pipe cleaners (any size, any color)

Instructions:

1) Twist four pipe cleaners together (more if making large letters or only two if making a single P).

2) Bend pipe cleaners to form the desired word or letter.

3) Tie the yarn to the pipe cleaner with a knot at the bottom of the P. Begin wrapping yarn around the pipe cleaner, moving up the P, then around each letter, until reaching the end of the Y. Tie off again with a knot. Multiple layers may be applied if desired.

See another idea for this lesson here.

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!

2/14/14

Being Content In Our Lives

(Hebrews 13:5)

I came across a lesson not long ago regarding being content in our lives. I don't know about you, but life around our house can get fairly crazy at times. It is all too easy to get caught up in all the things we think we must have, must do, must achieve. Hebrews 13:5 is a good lesson to help refocus our sights.

My goal each week is to give kids a memory visual to tuck away in their memory banks for future reference. Today's craft is all about their memory visual. I hope from now on, whenever they see an owl, they will remember God's words, "I will never leave you; I will never run away from you." Be sure to point out to them the "Owl = I will" connection, just in case they don't immediately get it.

Yes, I originally saw the owl pillow box on - you guessed it - Pinterest! But, to be honest, I've seen it so many times, in a multitude of variations, that there is not one specific one for me to link back to... and I have never seen one that used it in connection with a bible verse, so I'll just give that little disclaimer and let that be that. :)

Materials:

Assorted decorative papers
heart punch
circle punch
glue or spray adhesive
black sharpie or black paper
toilet paper tube
gummy worms (shown above)
Preprinted bible verse (shown below)

Instructions:

1) Cut a decorative piece of paper to fit around the toilet paper roll.

2) Spray adhesive on the back and wrap around toilet paper roll. I prefer some form of spray adhesive, but any glue is fine.

3) To fold the tube into the owl shape, very gently press the tube so it just begins to flatten. Do not over-do-it here. The purpose is to make it easier to get the top and bottom folds aligned the same. Gently push in the center of the top edge on one side to get it to fold down. Do the same on the other side. Repeat on the bottom.

4) Punch two heart shapes out of decorative paper - one for the chest and one for the wings. Simply cut one heart in half to form the wings.

5) Glue chest heart and wings into place.

6) Punch a third heart for the beak. Use only the bottom point of the heart. Discard the upper portion of the heart.

7) Glue beak into place.

8) Punch two white circles for the eyes. I did not have a solid black piece of paper handy so we used a black sharpie to color in the black pupil of the eyes. Either way is fine.

9) Glue eyes into place.

10) Glue the preprinted verse along the back of the owl.

11) Fill with gummy worms.
(I don't usually do food treats since there are so many allergies
in our church, but I don't know of any issues with gummy worms,
and this is so cute that I gave in to it this time.)

2/4/14

David and Goliath

(1 Samuel 17)

I'm so sorry it has been... hmmmm... a while, since my last post. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Years.

Today I'd like to give you a fun game to go with the David and Goliath lesson. I took a bit of an artistic liberty with this one. David, as you know, used a slingshot to slay Goliath, but I am not a fan of slingslots for kids; therefore, I improvised a bit.

This game will require:

Two catapults with ammunition

Two Goliaths

Two tables

DAVID'S WEAPON:

There is a great YouTube video on how to make a catapult. Actually, there are several. Click here for the one I used. You are probably thinking, Catapult? Is that really any safer than a slingshot? Well, with the right supervision, I think it is. I can honestly say that I had no trouble keeping the kids in control with this one. Here's how I did it:

Tip #1: Make it yourself at home before class day.

The object is not to teach the kids how to make a catapult, it's to play the game. I'm sure they will all ask you how to make one, so be prepared with whatever answer you want to give them!

Tip #2: Make only two.

Each team will need one. Any more than two and things start to get a little wild.

Tip #3: Either hide them (very well) or take them home after class.

The kids will want to play with the catapults every week if possible, and they will want to experiment with what objects will fly, so best to keep things safe and just not have them freely available.

AMMUNITION:

Large marshmallows, ping pong balls, or aluminum foil balls all work great.

GOLIATH:

Goliath can be constructed out of a variety of materials. Two Goliaths are needed (one for each team).

Pool noodle blocks.

Sponge blocks.

A shoe box with a picture of Goliath drawn on the bottom. (Stand the box up on end.)

Etc.

GAME PLAY:

Place each team and their catapult at one end of a long table with Goliath on the other end. The teams race to see who can knock Goliath over first. Be sure to explain that each player should get only one shot at a time so that everyone will get a turn.
I allowed each player two practice shots before we began the race just so they could get a feel for how to aim. We played over and over until the class time ran out!!

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!

12/15/13

Christmas Ornaments

(Isaiah 11:1-10 Peace in God's Kingdom, or Matthew 1:18 The Birth of Jesus)

Today's craft is an easy Christmas ornament. I first found it here. Our lesson today was about peace in God's kingdom, and since it's Christmas time, the ornament was a perfect fit.

Materials needed:

Clothes pin pegs (Michael's/Hobby Lobby)

Raffia (any color is fine)

Twine

Wire

Wooden stars (Michael's/Hobby Lobby)

Pen
Hot glue gun & glue sticks (for adult use only!)

Drill, saw & sandpaper - or a hubby with skills ;)

Instructions:

Several steps are a must before class: 1) For each ornament, cut off the legs of one of the pegs to make the baby. The edges will be rough, so a slight smoothing with sandpaper is needed. 2) Drill a small hole in the center of each star.

Everything else can be done in class, but in the interest of time, I also pre-cut the wire, raffia, and twine, and hot glued Mary and Joseph together. Exact lengths for the wire, raffia and twine are not important. Just eyeball it. Notice that Mary and Joseph are staggered in height. I did this at the suggestion of Lisa Brown, who first posted this craft. I like the way it looks.

Give each child one set of parents, one piece of raffia, twine, and wire, one wooden star, and one pen (or other writing instrument).

Ask the children to write their name and the year on the back of the parents. It is best to write this information down the legs of the parents so the hot glue that is about to be applied will not cover it up. My parents had a definite front and back because when I glued them together, the glue oozed to one side or the other. We obviously made the messy side the backside.

Next, have the children put the wire through the hole in the star and twist the ends to hold the star securely.

Now hot glue the twine and the wire with the star onto the back of the parents.

While the glue is hardening, have the children tie the raffia bow around the neck of the baby. Trim the ends if they are too long.

Lastly, glue the baby onto the front of the parents.

11/11/13

Prayer Books

(1 Kings 19)

This week I combined two pins from pinterest to create mini prayer books: The Single Paper Book by James Darrow and the Gratitude Journal from Lulu the Baker. Our lesson was on Elijah and how he prayed to God to let him die so Jezebel would not kill him. We talked about how God does not always answer our prayers. He knows what is best for us and sometimes it is difficult for us to see His plan.

Since Thanksgiving is on the horizon, I thought this would be a great opportunity to talk about the importance of thanking God in our prayers every day for the blessings he has given us. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in our troubles, or the things we want, and forget to say thank you. These journals can be a way to refocus our prayers.

The students embraced this craft and quickly threw in their own ideas. One child wrote the names of the important people in her life in her book so she could remember to pray for them every day. She titled it, "People I love".

We were so involved in making our books that time ran out and I did not get a picture of most of them. It was an unusually large class this time ( :D Yea!) and most kids wanted to make more than one, so we were quite busy.

Materials needed (per book):

1 sheet of plain white paper 8 1/2" x 11"
1 sheet of decorative paper cut to 8 1/2" x 5 1/2"
1 plain sticker
Scissors
Markers/Pens

Instructions:

Pages:

1. Fold paper in half vertically. Open.

2. Fold paper in half horizontally. Open.

3. Fold each outside edge to the middle. Open.

4. Fold in half horizontally again. With the folded edge on the bottom, cut from the folded edge, on the vertical fold line, only to the next horizontal line.

5. Stand paper up so it looks like a tent. The cut should be smiling up at you (vertically).

6. Pull the fold lines along either side of the slit to open the mouth. (This photo shows the paper rotated from the above pic.)

7. The pages should come together. Crease the fold lines to make the pages form smoothly. This pic is looking down on top of the open pages.

Cover:
8. Open the book pages. Place the decorative paper face down with the open book on top. Using the book as a guide, fold the top and bottom of the cover paper so the book fits snuggly inside.

9. Remove the book leaving the top and bottom folds down. Place the book on top of the folded paper. Once again using the book as a guide, fold the left and right sides so the book fits snuggly inside.

10. Remove the book again. Now insert the first and last pages of the book inside the left and right folds as shown.

11. Between the cover and the pages should look like this.

12. Fold the book in half to crease the cover. Place a sticker on the front and decorate.

10/24/13

Zacchaeus and the Sycamore Tree

(Luke 19)

When I first saw this craft on Pinterest, I knew exactly what to do with it!

This craft screams Zacchaeus to me. Click here to see the source for this brilliant craft, Pikadilly Charm. There are plenty of treasures on their site, so please do check them out.

Materials needed:

1 lunch size paper bag per child
Scissors for each child
Good old fashioned Elmer's Glue (glue sticks do not work well for this)
Construction paper (green for summer tree or gold, red, & yellow for fall tree)

Prep. before class:

Fold back the edge of a piece of construction paper about half an inch. Cut leave shapes on fold line. Keep folding paper and cutting shapes until there is a nice size pile.

Alternative: Pikadilly Charm did not precut the leaves as I have done here. They let the kids tear pieces of paper to use as leaves. Next time, I will do it that way as well. The torn paper also made a pretty tree, and I like that fact that 100% of the project is done by the kids that way. I chose to precut because I was concerned about time. In retrospect, it really wouldn't have taken any more time for the kids to hand-tear the leaves.

Instructions:

1. With Paper bag folded flat, cut slits from the top of bag to about an inch and a half from the folded bag bottom. The closer the cuts end to the bottom of the bag, the shorter the tree trunk will be.