bronze planters, l.c.d. votives & little lambies…

Stuffing a a cute lillte lambie in the brazen alter? What in the world? LOL. Yep that is what I did. For our next set of lessons, I went to the Dollar Store again, and looked around for various individual pieces that we could use to interact with.
Over the next three weeks, we broke down the individual pieces of the tabernacle. The goal was to create child friendly pieces for the children to interact with. I broke the lessons down in the same order I did the first week. Outer court, inner court and Holiest of Holies.
Each week we would talk about what would happen at each place in the tabernacle and how it relates to things we do today.

We had rubberized mats with outlines of the tabernacle elements.
1. A bronze planter represented the brazen alter.
We talked about the difference between a sacrificial offering and a thanks offering.
2. A stuffed lamb to represent the unblemished animal that was sacrificed on the brazen alter.
We talked about the link between the unblemished lamb used for the sacrifice – to how Jesus was considered to be the “Perfect Lamb of God”. I found it to be very interesting that they actually got that concept. Never underestimate the mind of a child.
3. A plastic bowl was the laver. (painted bronze).
4. An L.C.D. votive light stood in for the lampstand.
5. We used an actual small incense burner (painted gold) for the incense alter.
6. Painted a little cardboard container gold with 12 round pieces of brown felt to symbolize the showbread table.
7. Then Gold angels on a stick, to be a symbol for the Ark of the Covenant. We have been talking about how Holiest of Holies was the place where God rested with the Israelites. But, no one had access there, since God was so Holy and people were not.

And the very last piece was a simple paper towel. With Easter coming in two weeks, we discussed how the Perfect Lamb of God, died on the cross. But the real miracle that happened was at that very moment, the veil in the temple tore in half. (I didn’t go into the difference between the tabernacle and the temple). Allowing everyone access to be in relationship with God. Then we ripped the paper towel in half. They got it! They got it!

Each week, we sang and had coloring sheets. The last photos in the slideshow: I had printed as photos that the children had more realistic images of what we had been talking about, wth the name written on the back. Sort of like flashcards. At the end everyone went home with a red bucket and pieces for our own tabernacle set, including the very loved lambie. Even the youngest children (18 months & 2 years old), were able to place the pieces of the tabernacle where they belonged. It was really cool.

It was really fun for me that each week during the adult series in Psalms, a reference would be made in the message on the exact portion of the tabernacle study I was working on with the children. How cool is that!
This is the end of our 5 week study. I look forward to doing it again.

turning dollhouse furniture into the tabernacle...

How do you turn dollhouse furniture into mini-models replicating the O.T. tabernacle? I just finished teaching the second session of the pre-school Bible study. For the first week’s lesson, I created a mini-tabernacle made from cut up doll house furniture and other random items.

You are able to actually purchase a Tabernacle Model Kit for $49 plus shipping/handling. It looks nice. But I didn’t feel that would work, since I like to send the children home with items they are able to interact with and tell the story over and over again.
I had an idea of what shapes I am looking for. Have some thoughts on where I could find the various items. Like for the tabernacles articles. I thought it might be good to go to Michael’s and look for doll house furniture that could be taken apart and used in pieces.

Then I went shopping. Went to Michael’s, then Wal-Mart & World Market.
Michael’s I found several pieces of doll house furniture, mini-angels. Wal-Mart: wooden dowels, shapes & glue. Found the bowl for laver at World Market.

Next I cut up the furniture, took off the metal hardware, painted and then reassembled.

I found a really cool laminated brochure that I used.
For the lesson, I explained each item in the tabernacle, what it was used for and passed around the little models. I showed them where they went in the tabernacle, and what they were made of.

Outer Court (items made of bronze)
brazen alter
laver

Inner Court (items made of gold)
lampstand
alter of incense
table of shewbread (showbread)

Holiest of the Holies (cedar & gold)
Ark of the covenant.

Each week we sing our song “The More You Know the Bible”. This particular week we ended with the importance of praising and worshiping God. So we did just that.
We sang, danced and played instruments to:
“You’re Love Never Fails” (Jesus Culture)
“Praise Awaits You” (Matt Redman)
“Facedown” (Matt Redman)
The first and last songs are personal favorites of the children in the study.

So, there you have it.

fishies in the ocean…

I think the “Fishers of People” is one of my favorite stories. I am all about reaching the fishies in the ocean vs. fishies in fishbowls. These big, strong fishermen chose to give up their well paying jobs and decided to follow a man they believed in. All to change the world. This week we are studying Mark 1:16-20.


Again dear friends, if you are reading from facebook, link over the designing for Philistines… to see the pictures.
In between the OT lessons, we are doing NT stories.
First was the “Parable of the Sower” (Matthew)
This week is “Fishers of People” (Mark 1:16-20)

Started with our theme song “The More You Know the Bible”.
Then did the “Books of the Bible Rap” (hit the link & scroll down, then you are able hear part of it) to go along with the four books of the Gospel that I've made.
In case you are wondering, I make these books from various types of boxes (cereal, dog bones, etc.). Glue white construction paper around three edges for the pages, and glue some colored paper around it for the book cover. Then I use sticker letters to write the name of the book.

Then we made simple fish out of colored paper triangles.
Read the scripture (and story). We talked about how fishermen catch lots of fish with nets. Then we pulled out our personal nets (made from white chiffon fabric with knots tied around the edges) and practiced catching our fish in the nets.

And of course the ever popular coloring sheets.

Somehow we have gotten on a kick of having snacks from different parts of the world.
So, the snack this week is one I learned to eat while living in Panama. They are ‘Maria” cookies. Yum, yum! Though they are popular in a lot of Latin American countries.

Hopefully you are enjoying these posts. I seems to be where I need to be at this time…

shema...

Well, today we started with a crying toddler.
Which is really pretty funny because it doesn't bother me or the other children. We work together to get him interested in what we are doing.
So today we started we MUSIC! It worked in a matter of about a minute, he was dancing around with us.
I’ve been working on a cd of various songs for each week for our study. I finally handed it out to each child today. We first sang the Books of the Bible (rap) to go along with the first five books of the Bible I've made.
(see pictures on blog)

Then on to the lesson. This week we were in Deuteronomy. We were going to learn more about those Israelites that we have been studying about.
First we learned about "how" they read the Bible. With the prayer shawl, covering their eyes with their right hand. We put on our fake prayer shawls, covered ours eyes and read the Shema.
So we chatted about:
Shema is the scripture (Deut. 6:4-9), that starts with...
Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our G-d, the LORD is one...

תרגם: שמע ישיר ישראל, ה 'אלוהינו; ה' אחד

The Shema is the prayer.
The mezuzah is the piece of parchment with the Shema inscribed on it.
We rolled our own mezuzahs, and placed them in little wooden boxes.
Then we went over the a door jam and I showed them "how" and "why" they are placed on the door.

Then we fast forwarded to Mark 12:28-34! You know, where the scribes tried to trick Jesus.
You know the story? Scribe says '“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
And J.C., the man said...you guessed it ZAP!
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no commandment greater than these."

So...basically Jesus said the main thing you need to know is...

"love God, love others, it's simple..."

Then we learned our song for the day. "Love (The Greatest Commandment)" by Jeremy Blaido.

Snack: Cookies from China and nuts. Yummy!

As you can see there were a lot of coloring sheets today! They really like to color; but we didn't color all of them.

Then they asked if we could please play the ENTIRE cd. So we did, we sang, danced and played musical instruments for a half an hour.
Another fun week in the basement.
_____________________________________________
SONGS on cd that we've been singing and using for our studies
We didn’t meet for the week of Genesis.
1) We the More We Know the Bible (our theme song), sung to “The More We get Together”.
2) Sow, sow, sow the Word (Matthew - Parable of the Sower), sung to “Row, row, row your Boat”.
3) Let My People Go (Exodus - 10 Plagues)
4) Perfect 10 (Leviticus – went back to the 10 Commandments)
5) Facedown – Matt Redman: (Numbers – Israelites complaining about the manna)
6) Love (The Greatest Commandment) – Jeremy Blaido (Deuteronomy – 6:4-9)
7) Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho (Joshua – The Big Battle)
8) Books of the Bible Rap – Rob Biagi: (as we play with the Books of the Bible being created).
9) Consuming Fire (because it’s one of my favorite songs)

quail coming out your nose (pt. 2)...

It's always interesting how to get a story across, the whole story, but in a kid friendly way.

The perfect example is this week. We are studying the book of Numbers. The story this week is all about the Israelites grumbling and complaining SO much about the manna, that God is not happy with them at all. So much so, that He gives them SO much quail that it is threatened that it will come out of their noses! It's in there. Seriously.


This little Bible has been very helpful in reading the various stories each week. Each week we read the story.

Next is "Larry" the puppet. I love "Larry". He has such a great personality. I was going to introduce him this week. But decided that he needed to be introduced to the family, before I introduced him to the little Bible study.

We talked about our favorite food and foods that are not our favorites. We decided that even eating our favorite food only, for just a week wouldn't be a lot of fun. We talked about the quail, and it coming out our noses!
Then, we acted out the manna falling during the night scenario. The children laid down on a blanket and pretended to be sleeping (while playing "Face Down" on cd); while this was going on I sprinkled the rose petals all over them to show them how the manna fell during the night
while they slept. Then we "woke" up and exclaimed "What is this?" (that is what the word manna means). It was very cute, they really got into playing their parts of the Isrealites, picking up the manna with awe and proclaiming it was a miracle. We learned about how they were only were to gather enough for one day (we put it in our pockets) or it would turn into "yucky" stuff. I wasn't going to go into maggots.
Then we talked more about the grumbling and complaining.

Our snack this week was a much healthier version of "Frosted Flakes" from our Sunday element. More like a Kashi flakes.

Last, but not least...
As we go along, I am making the books of the Bible out of cereal (and other types of) boxes. I'm am introducing them slowly as we tell the stories from the book. It's then sort of like a game/puzzle where they will be able to sort and match them in order. Though we haven't hit Deuteronomy yet, I will show them how the first five books of the Bible are considered books of the "LAW". That is what the folder/label thingie is for.

I think the coolest thing for me is at the beginning I would have them just play, while I got things readied. After the first week, they have started asking each week after a couple of minutes, if we could just do the lesson first. So cute. i thnk they truly enjoy learning each week!

For all you fb friends visit the "designing for Philistines" blog for pictures .

oh, no! how to teach Leviticus...

Oh, no! How in the world do you teach Leviticus to little ones?
I thought I drop back to Exodus and do the Ten Commandments this week with the children. You know, Leviticus = Law; Ten Commandments = Law.
Last week we sang the song called "The Perfect Ten". We will be singing it again and talking about each of the commandments. I am not sure if I will be using the dice or not...

Here are my initial thoughts:
First I will hand out their bags with all the little pieces in them. We will pull out each one and have a short discussion on what it means...
Then we are going to lay the pieces out on the floor in a circle; and sing the song.

SONG & ACTIONS
Are you able to envision this: music starts...
SONG:
#1, we've just begun, God should be first in your life
ACTION:
pick up the #1 piece over our heads and wave it back and forth.
SONG:
#2 the idol; rule, those graven images-aren't nice
ACTION:
lay down #1, scoot over and pick up the gold pieces, shaking out heads "no"
SONG:
#3 God's Name should be never spoken in jest
ACTION:
lay down #2, scoot over and pick up the smile face. Put it over our mouth.
SONG:
#4 the Sabbath's for our worship and for rest
ACTION:
lay down #3, scoot over and pick up the Bible. Do worship action and sleep action.
SONG:
#5 we all should strive to honor father and mother
ACTION:
lay down #4, scoot over and pick up the mother and father figures, wiggle the figures when it says it in the song.
SONG:
#6 don't get your kicks from killing one another
ACTION:
lay down #5, scoot over and pick up the hand, hold over head and shake head "no".
SONG:
#7 life is heaven when you're true to your mate
ACTION:
lay down #6, scoot over and pick up the ring and reach back and touch the mother and father figures.
SONG:
#8 don't steal and break this rule for goodness sake!
ACTION:
lay down #7, scoot over and pick up the baseball bat.
SONG:
#9 don't be the kind who goes around telling lies
ACTION:
lay down #8, scoot over and pick up the "A,B,C" put over mouth
SONG:
#10 don't covet when you see your neighbor's house or wife
ACTION:
lay down #9, scoot over and pick up the house and then lay it down
Then clap our hands for the rest of the verse.
______________________________________________________

I am a little more ahead this week than I have been before.

I went to Michaels and Wal-mart to get the items for the teaching. Here is what I got.
1. a big #1: School section at Wal-mart. I glued the number (#1) to a piece of foam)
2. gold coins: (From Wal-mart party section; to link back to last week's story about the story of the Israelites making idols)
3. smiley faces: we will draw X's over the mouth (see this post) Smiley stickers from Michaels. And larger smiley's from foam to play the game.
4. a Bible: (a painted little wooden disc from Michaels .29 cents)
5. little wooden mom and dad to color and that stand up (Bargain bin at Michaels, .29 cents with crayons) We will color this.
6. a wooden hand: (Michaels)
7. a shiny engagement ring: (from Michaels wedding section)
8. baseball bat: (stealing the base) LOL. (a painted little wooden disc from Michaels .29 cents)
9. A,B,C wooden figure: (for words-not to lie) (a painted little wooden disc from Michaels .29 cents)
10. a little wooden house: (a painted little wooden disc from Michaels .29 cents)
I am also getting some more "Silly Bands" that are fuzzy and cool. I think this will lend itself to understanding "coveting" something that isn't yours.
The video of the song can be found here: (I downloaded it from itunes).
The Perfect Ten Song



The words are below:
the perfect 10
In a cloud of fire and smoke
a mighty voice of thunder broke
as God descended to the mountaintop.
High upon Mt. Sinai,
He gave the rules we should live by
as God gave out the "shalts" and "thou shalt nots."
Number one, we've just begun, God should be first in your life.
Number two's the idol rule: Those graven images aren't nice.
Number three; God's Name should be never spoken in jest.
Number four, the Sabbath's for our worship and for rest.
Number five; we all should strive to honor father and mother.
Number six, don't get your kicks from killing one another.
Number seven, life is heaven when you're true to your mate.
Number eight, don't steal and break this rule for goodness sake!
Number nine, don't be the kind who goes around telling lies.
Number ten; don't covet when you see your neighbor's house or wife.
That's the list and God insists we stay away from these sins;
That is why we memorize commandments one through ten.
The perfect ten, the perfect ten;
They're just as true as they were way back when.
God gave the perfect ten, the perfect ten;
Let's say them once again. (song repeats and ends with)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 - The perfect ten!

reindeer, sock puppets, candy “Dots” and the 10 plagues...

I am an INFP, otter, almost completely right brained off the charts creative person. I love designing freaky experiential worship elements.

While I am still doing stage designs for the weekend service, I recently have been on a little side jaunt. For the last three weeks, I have been doing the childcare for my daughter-in-law’s small group Bible study on Ruth & Naomi (by Beth Moore). The ages range from 2 years old – almost 6.
Currently our church is doing a year through the Bible. I decided to mirror the teaching on Sundays.
Though next week, I seem to be stuck since we are in Leviticus.

The mom’s were saying I should be writing these down or taping the sessions; LOL! Writing it down it is hard to show just how much fun we are having. I was actually tickled this week. I usually let the children play for about 10 minutes, while I unpack and get ready. This week after about 5 minutes, they all asked if we could just do the lesson first. Love these little ones. So here goes…

Most important just make it FUN!
Next, I think that the biggest thing is repetition & interaction.
Each week we read the actual story for the “Beginners Bible”. I want them to understand that all of this comes from God’s word.
Remember children will easily make imaginative jumps. For example adults would probably get stuck on the fact that I used a reindeer lawn ornament, instead of a calf in the Golden Calf story. The children had no problem “getting” that it was a calf.

Each week, we sing
(Sung to “The More We Get Together”; along with hand motions that the children invented)
The more you know the Bible, the Bible, the Bible
The more you know the Bible,
The more you know God
For His Word is our Word, yes
His Word is our Word
The more you know the Bible,
The more you know God


Week 1: The Parable of the Sower
Started with “The More You Know the Bible”
Simply read the story from the “Beginners Bible” and acted it out.
Had seeds that I cut out to act out the story.
Birds: well, I just happened to have to little rubber ducks.
Hard Ground: a wooden chair
Thorns: we pretended and used “straggling hands”
Grow: had a bunch of leaves from fake flowers

Found this song on the internet ‘Sow, Sow, Sow the Word”
Had little packs of nut (we called them seeds) for the snack

Week 2: The 10 Plagues
Thankfully it is close to Halloween, so I was able to find all the unusual items I needed for this.
So we read the story from the “Beginner Bible”
Then we played the “Ten Plagues” game.
Blood: Party Store (little containers of fake blood), and Swedish Fish candy, (because the fish died)
Frogs: $1 Store
Gnats: Walmart, craft Pom Poms
Flies: $1 store
Livestock: Party Store, packs of farm animals
Boils: “Dot” candies
Hail: ice cubes
Locusts: $1 Store, packs of winged insects
Darkness: black cloth blindfolds
Death of Firstborn: Party Store in the baby shower section
The game board was from the Party Store. It was an inexpensive plastic deviled egg holder. I added sticker numbers labeling each section 1-10.
Printed out paper, with multiple pieces that had the words;
“Let my people go!”
“No!”
“Go Now!”
Everybody got a pile of each of the pieces and some of each of the plagues.
We simply rotated around.
First person was Moses and would throw down the game piece (In the center) and everybody said
“Let my people go!”
Second person would be Pharaoh and throw down the game piece and every body said “No!”
Then we would figure out which plague and put it in the middle with great flourish.
Then the second person became Moses….and so on
Until the end when Pharaoh said “Go now!” everybody cheered.
The “boils” were the favorite, because we would lick them and stick them on our hands and then eat them and go “eeeewwww”! LOL
And they decided we had to play the game four times so everyone got the chance to be Pharaoh and play the “Go Now!” piece.

Everyone went home with baggies of all the plagues.
Snack: was Goldfish crackers.

Week 3: The Israelites and the Golden Calf
Again, thankfully it is close to the holidays and they already have Christmas decorations for sale in the stores.

Puppets socks:
First I got a new pair of white socks for each of the children and used an indelible sharpie marker to draw smiley face on the bottom. These were the Israelite puppets in our story. Later became “God socks”
Golden Calf: I wound up using a mechanical reindeer lawn ornament for the calf and 2 packs of gold garland.
Gold: Found gold coins (with paper money) Party supply section at Wal-Mart

The “Beginners Bible” only had the story of Moses going up and getting the “Ten Commandments”. So we read up to the part where the Israelites got tired of waiting and did our project.
Again we simply acted out the story. We put on our “Israelite sock puppets.”
We acted out how the Israelites got so tired or waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain 9when he was talking to God for 40 days!)
Aaron got tired of the people complaining and gathered all the gold and jewelry (there is where we had the gold coins), and then they made the golden calf. We then wrapped the gold garland around the reindeer and pretended the Israelites were worshiping the calf, whom they called Yahweh (yes, go read the story)
Then we picked up the story in the Bible when Moses came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments. We spent a little time talking about the second commandment (no idols)
Talked about how bad it was that they made an idol, especially when we should always be waiting on God.
We ended the story with putting on our God socks and I told them every time you wear your God socks, you remember to always look up and wait for God.

Snack: Since calves are cows and cows give milk: we made home made butter. Using heavy whipping cream in a glass container. Then you shake the container until it turns into butter. Oh, yes that was interesting. We actually pulled out a giant stuffed animal to put in the middle ‘just in case “we accidentally” dropped the glass jar. Since it takes about 10- 15 minutes to separate the whipping cream into butter, we played a cd of the “Perfect Ten” song (words here), 3 times.

Amazingly they kept continuing to shake and sing, and pass it to the next person and shake and sing. We put the fresh butter on some McVitties Digestive Biscuits (World Market) for our snack. We also had a piece of Laughing Cow Cheese. I had a container from the Laughing Cow Cheese for each of them.

Everyone went home with their “God socks” and gold coins. I also found a pack of cowboy Silly Bands (at Wal-Mart) that had a cow silly band in it. I gave everyone one, reminding them not to have idols in their lives. That was a hit.