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Treasure At Home

Unit 14 / Lesson 6

Treasure At Home

Slides for the Lesson

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Teacher's Prep

  • Games

    • Donut on a String Challenge

      • Watch this video to see what this game is like:

      • Materials:

        • One donut per child

        • Note: If you don't want to give each child a full donut, you may want to consider mini donuts from Safeway, or even Timbits, though Timbits would require some skill in order to attach them to strings.

        • https://www.weareteachers.com/minute-to-win-it-games-for-kids/ 

        • One length of string per child (approximately 1 metre long should be sufficient)

        • One chair per two children

        • Have the floor covered with something relatively clean, so food will not be dropping directly on the floor. A roll of kraft paper, or garbage bags, or a disposable plastic tablecloth would work.

      • For a smoother lesson, tie each donut with a string before the lesson.

      • In the video, donuts are tied to a high-up bar. In this case, we will have someone hold on to the top end of the string. 

      • Please be prepared to play two rounds of the game so that children can take turns eating the donut and holding the string.

      • Be aware of allergies, and have an alternative for children with allergies.

    • Pom-pom & Straw Challenge

      • Materials:

        • Drinking straws -- one per child, for sanitary reasons

        • Pom-poms, or another very light object that can be blown, such as cotton balls. You will need seven pom-poms per five children.

        • Tables -- one per five children.

      • Game Concept:

        • See this website for a visual:

        • https://www.weareteachers.com/minute-to-win-it-games-for-kids/ 

        • Equipped with a straw, students will blow seven pom-poms across the table. 

        • After the pom-poms are off the table, they will put the pom-poms back in the middle of the table for the next person on their team.

        • When all the students are done, their team wins.

    • Nose Dive

      • Materials:

        • Petroleum jelly (i.e. Vaseline)

        • A bag of cotton balls

        • Up to six bowls (two for petroleum jelly, two for holding cotton balls in the beginning, and two for receiving cotton balls)

      • See this video to see how the game works:

  • Main Activity (DIY Play-Doh):

    • See this website for instructions:

    • Materials:

      • The ingredients below make for about five cups worth of play-doh, which should be enough for five children. If you have more children, please multiply the ingredients accordingly.

      • Ingredients:

        • 3 cups all-purpose white flour

        • 2 tablespoons cream of tartar

        • 1 cup + 2 tablespoons table salt

        • 3-4 tablespoons cooking oil: canola, coconut, etc. (start with 3 and if the dough is a little dry, slowly work in a little more)

        • 3 cups hot water

        • Optional: Food coloring

        • Ziploc bags -- one per child to take home

      • Equipment:

        • A large pot

        • Whisk

        • Stove

        • Spatula or something to scrape play-doh from the pot

        • Plastic wrap


    Intro

    SLIDE 1

  • Gathering

    • How was your week?

  • Intro Game: Donut on a String

    • Instructions

      • We'll start our time together with a fun game.

      • It's the Donut on a String challenge!

      • Let's watch a video to see what it's like:

    SLIDE 2

    SLIDE 3

    • Today we don't have a bar to hold up the donuts, but that's alright, because we have chairs, and we have each other.

    • We will form pairs, and we will take turns. Half of us will try to eat the donut with no hands, and the other half will stand on a chair and hold the top of the string. Then we'll switch.

    • We'll have something to cover the ground in case the donut falls down.

    • Teacher's instructions:

      • Provide each pair of children with one chair.

      • Provide materials to cover the ground in case the donut falls down.

      • Run two rounds of the game so that each child has a chance to hold the string on one round and eat the donut on the other round.

    • Debrief

    SLIDE 4

    • We played this game because it's a bit messy, but you know it's worth it.

    • Right from the start, you know what you're going to get to eat a delicious donut if you just keep trying and don’t give up.

  • Relevance

    • The Christian life is a bit like that too. As Christians, we’re supposed to be chasing after things that will make us very happy someday. Jesus taught us to store up a treasure in heaven. But the tricky thing is, sometimes we can't see the treasure right away. Sometimes we just need to know it's there, and we’ll get it someday if we don’t give up.

    SLIDE 5

    • And if you’re good at finding treasure, you’ll be able to find it all over the place, like right in your home, when you’re around the people you live with.

    • So today's lesson is about finding treasure at home.

  • Big Question

    SLIDE 6

    • Our big question today is: what is the treasure we can find at home every day?

  • Big Idea

    • Our big idea is:

      • 1. There is treasure in little acts of service, and 

      • 2. There is treasure in honoring our parents.

  • Bible Reference

    • Now, let's read our Bible passages for today.

    SLIDE 7

    • Matthew 10:41-42 (ICB)

      • [Jesus said:] 41 Whoever meets a prophet and accepts him will receive the reward of a prophet. And whoever accepts a good man because that man is good will receive the reward of a good man. 42 Whoever helps one of these little ones because they are my followers will truly get his reward. He will get his reward even if he only gave my follower a cup of cold water.” 

    SLIDE 8

    • Ephesians 6:1-3 (ICB)

      • Children, obey your parents the way the Lord wants. This is the right thing to do. 2 The command says, “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first command that has a promise with it. 3 The promise is: “Then everything will be well with you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”


    Point 1

  • From these Bible passages, our first point is:

    • There is treasure in little acts of service

    SLIDE 9

  • Game: Pom Pom Race

    • Instructions

      • We'll start our point with a game! It's called the Pom-Pom & Straw challenge. We will have teams of about five people each. Each team will have a table, and each table will have seven pom-poms on it.

      • When it's your turn, you'll put all the pom-poms right in the middle of the table, and then you will use the straw to blow all the pom-poms off the table, and then you can set up the pom-poms in the middle of the table for the next person.

      • And when everyone on your team is done, you win!

      • Teacher: demonstrate how to blow pom-poms off the table, and then replace them on the table when you are done.

  • Debrief

    • We played this game because it’s about little things. It’s about little puffs of air that blow little pom-poms off a table.

    SLIDE 10

    • All these little things are part of something much bigger. The little things are helping your team to finish the game. And, even more importantly, these little things are teaching us about life. So, the little things we do actually matter!

  • Bible Reference

    • The Bible tells us there is treasure in little things.

    • Let’s read again what Jesus said to His followers:

    SLIDE 11

    • Matthew 10:41-42 (ICB)

      • 41 Whoever meets a prophet and accepts him will receive the reward of a prophet. And whoever accepts a good man because that man is good will receive the reward of a good man. 42 Whoever helps one of these little ones because they are my followers will truly get his reward. He will get his reward even if he only gave my follower a cup of cold water.” 

  • Explanation

    • SLIDE 12

    • Jesus wanted to teach us that there is treasure that comes from helping people, especially when we help people who follow Jesus. Even if all we do is pour someone a glass of water, it matters to God. We’re helping people who matter to God, and we’re helping people who will make a difference in other places. All of this help matters to God, and someday God will reward us for helping. 

  • Application

    • So, any time you see a chance to help someone at home, you have found treasure. A lot of times, you don’t even need to wait for someone to ask you for help. You can just look for things that need to be done. Maybe you can wash the dishes, vacuum the floor, or clean up the living areas.

    SLIDE 13

    • The more you help, the more natural it will become to look for things to do. Even if nobody notices and nobody thanks you, God notices, and He promises to reward you someday for helping people who do His work.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 14

    • Let's pause for a discussion question:

      • What is a small thing you can do for people every day?


    Point 2

  • Our second point is:

    • There is treasure in honoring our parents

  • Game: Nose Dive

    • Instructions

      • We'll start this point with a game. It's called Nose Dive. 

      • Let’s watch how the game works.

    SLIDE 15

    SLIDE 16

    • Teacher: We will be doing a relay race, so instead of having just one person running back and forth, each team member will make a single run at a time. Also note: to prevent the spread of germs, you will want to have someone apply petroleum jelly to the noses of all the children, so they don't all dip their noses into the same glob of petroleum jelly.

    • This is a pretty simple game. We'll have two teams, and this will be a relay race. When it's your turn, we'll put some petroleum jelly on your nose, and then you can try to stick your nose into a bowl and bring the cotton ball across the room.

    • If you make it across the room, shake the cotton ball into a bowl. If the cotton ball drops to the ground, go to the back of the line, and someone else on your team will try.

    • We will keep lining up until we have TEN cotton balls in your team's bowl on the other side of the room.

    • Teacher: demonstrate how the game works, then run the game. If time and interest allow, you may want to play another round.

    • Debrief

    SLIDE 17

    • We played this game because it’s a bit messy, and things don’t always go your way! And, when things don’t go your way, you might wonder, do we really have to do it this way?

    • And that’s a bit like obeying our parents, right? Sometimes our parents tell us to do things we don’t feel like doing, and we might wonder if we really have to do things their way.

    SLIDE 18

    • But, God gave us parents to tell us to do things we don’t feel like doing – because those things can be really good for us. So, the Bible tells us to obey our parents.

  • Bible Reference

    • Let’s read our second Bible passage.

    SLIDE 19

    • Ephesians 6:1-3 (ICB)

      • Children, obey your parents the way the Lord wants. This is the right thing to do. 2 The command says, “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first command that has a promise with it. 3 The promise is: “Then everything will be well with you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”

  • Explanation

    SLIDE 20

    • These verses tell us God gave us parents to help us live longer. Parents will tell us to eat vegetables, they’ll tell us to exercise, and they’ll tell us to make friends instead of enemies. If you have Christian parents, they will give you ideas for how to be better friends with God. Our parents tell us these things because they’ve learned things that we haven’t learned, and they have a pretty good idea about what’s important for us to do.

  • Application

    SLIDE 21

    • So, God tells us to honor our parents, meaning we are to give them respect. We should respect them because they know more than us, and we should respect them for caring about us. Even when they are wrong, we should be nice to them. Then, you will have the best chance at a long life, and your parents will be able to help you understand all kinds of things that you wouldn't be able to figure out by yourself.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 22

    • Let's pause for a discussion question:

      • What is one way that you can make your parents' life easier?


    Conclusion

    SLIDE 23

  • Our big question today was: what is the treasure we can find at home every day?

  • The Bible tells us about two kinds of treasure that we should always be looking for every day. First, there is treasure in little acts of service. If we help people because God loves them, then God will reward us. Second, there is treasure in honoring our parents. If we listen to our parents, they will tell us all kinds of helpful things we couldn't figure out on our own. If we respect our parents, they will help us to live a long life and a good life.


    SLIDE 24

    Main Activity: DIY Play-Doh

  • Now it's time for our main activity. Today we are making play-doh in lots of different colors!

  • In order to make the play-doh, we’ll use a lot of things that can be found in our homes. So, our activity reminds us that a lot of treasure is waiting to be discovered right at home.

  • Teacher: make play-doh with the children, and give it to them to play with. After the play-doh is ready, you can make scenes with it, or you can play various games with it. For ideas, see here:


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