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Food

Unit 14 / Lesson 7

Food

Slides for the Lesson

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Teacher's Prep

  • Games and Activities

    • Knee Trembler

      • For the concept of the game, watch this video:

      • Materials:

        • Tape to mark a starting line

        • Two hula hoops (or one hula hoop per team)

        • Ten oranges -- five per team

        • It is important for this lesson that we play with oranges or a different food item.

        • If your class is large, and you want to play the game with more than two teams, you need five oranges per team, so please multiply the numbers accordingly.

        • A cotton-centered ball would work. Some dollar stores may sell styrofoam balls, and a pack of those balls should work too. In the absence of a ball, you could use a few pieces of paper scrunched up and wrapped up in a few layers of tape.

    • Snacks and Sharing

    • Zone Soccer

      • Materials:

        • A very soft ball that can be kicked, but would not hurt to be hit by the ball. 

        • A cotton-centered ball would work. Some dollar stores may sell styrofoam balls, and a pack of those balls should work too. In the absence of a ball, you could use a few pieces of paper scrunched up and wrapped up in a few layers of tape.

      • Tape to mark the ground. 

        • Note: masking tape or painter's tape should work well to make lines on the ground. However, it is sometimes troublesome to remove tape off the ground after the lesson. You may want to make dashed lines of tape, or you may want to stick lines of yarn to the ground for easier cleanup.

      • This game is inspired by a foosball table. In foosball, each team has lines that control a part of the field.

      • In this game, each team controls parts of the room. See the graphic below:

      • You will want to prepare a slide of the graphic above, so the children can see it before you play.

      • It may be best to have the ground marked before the start of the lesson.

      • This game takes more setup than most (but it can be quite fun). If you want a less complicated alternative for this lesson, most other games should do, as long as players have a role, or if the players need many small steps to accomplish a goal. For example, if you wanted to play Pictionary, you could explain afterwards that in this game the little parts of the drawing all work together to make something much bigger. Any line on the drawing might not feel very important, but they help us to reach the final goal.

  • Main Activity (Chips and Dip Combinations):

    • Provide at least three different kinds of chips, and three different kinds of dip or sauce. 

    • Suggestion: you may want to provide a plain potato chip, a tortilla chip, and a rice cracker. For sauce, you may want to provide ketchup, salsa, and guacamole.

    • Provide bowls to store chips, and little bowls to mix dip


    Intro

    SLIDE 1

  • Gathering

    • How was your week?

  • Intro Game: Knee Trembler

    • Instructions

      • Let's start our time together with a game! It's called Knee Trembler. Let's watch a video to see what it's like:

    SLIDE 2

    SLIDE 3

    • So, here are the rules: we'll have two teams, and we'll take turns lining up at the starting line. When it's your turn, you'll pick up the orange between your knees, and try your best to hop across the room. Then you’ll drop the orange off inside the hula hoop on the other side of the room. Once you’re done and the orange is on the ground, the next person on your team can start. Your team can only carry one orange at a time, so if a person is still carrying an orange between their knees, all the other oranges have to be on the ground. The first team to get five oranges in the hula hoop wins!

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because it's a creative use of food! As it turns out, oranges are good for more than one thing. They don't just have to be a tasty snack; they can also be used for games, and we can make friends by doing silly games with them.

  • Relevance

    SLIDE 4

    • It's good to think about food sometimes because food is a big part of our lives, and God has a great plan for the times when we are eating.

  • Big Question

    SLIDE 5

    • Our big question today is:

      • What are some of the greatest things we can do with food?

  • Big Ideas

    SLIDE 6

    • Today we'll learn that:

      • 1. We can use food to make friends, and

      • 2. We can use food to serve God.

  • Bible Reference

    • Our first Bible story will get us thinking about both of these ideas.

    • Let's read the story from the Bible.

    • Mark 2:14-17 (ICB)

    SLIDE 6

    • 13 Jesus went to the lake again. A crowd followed him there, and he taught them. 14 While he was walking beside the lake, he saw a tax collector named Levi son of Alphaeus. Levi was sitting in the tax office. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” And Levi stood up and followed Jesus.

    SLIDE 7

    • 15 Later that day, Jesus ate at Levi’s house. There were many tax collectors and “sinners” eating there with Jesus and his followers. Many people like this followed Jesus. 16 The teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw Jesus eating with the tax collectors and “sinners.” They asked his followers, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

    SLIDE 8

    • 17 Jesus heard this and said to them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor. It is the sick who need a doctor. I did not come to invite good people. I came to invite sinners.”


    Point 1

  • Our first point today is:

    • We can use food to make friends

    SLIDE 9

  • Activity: Snacks and Sharing About Your Week

    • Instructions

      • We'll start this point with snacks and chatting in little groups!

      • We'll have about 10 minutes to chat.

      • Please form groups of about four people each, and spread out to different parts of the room. We'll get you some discussion questions and some snacks once you are in your groups.

      • Teacher: distribute discussion questions and snacks, and give 10 minutes for their discussion 

    • Debrief

      • Teacher: get the attention of the group

    SLIDE 10

    • Hopefully you all had a good chat in your groups! There’s a lot of things you can chat about! But food makes a conversation better, doesn't it?

    • Well, the Bible tells us that Jesus made a point to eat with people, and He did a lot of His work when people were eating.

  • Bible Reference

    • Let's watch a cartoon of our Bible story:

    SLIDE 11

  • Explanation

    SLIDE 12

    • In our Bible story, Jesus saw a tax collector by the side of the road. It’s important to  understand, people hated tax collectors.

    SLIDE 13

    • The tax collectors worked for the government. Tax collectors would go around making everyone else give them money. The tax collectors would say it’s for the government, but everyone knew that the tax collectors took more than they needed to. They were like thieves going around taking people’s money. Nobody wanted to hang out with the tax collectors.

    SLIDE 14

    • But Jesus had a different idea. Jesus talked to that tax collector at the side of the road.

    SLIDE 15

    • Then, Jesus went to the tax collector’s house to eat with him. That was a really big deal.

    • It's kind of like nowadays in school when a new student joins a group at lunch and starts eating with that group. It's more than just eating food at the same place. Eating together is a way of saying they accept each other, and they think the other person is cool. 

    • It’s like that in our Bible story too. In that culture, when people ate together, it was their official way of becoming friends. Jesus ate with a lot of people, because He wanted to be friends with a lot of people. He had great conversations with people, and He was able to help them find eternal life because they were friends.

  • Application

    SLIDE 16

    • We can do that too. We can go out of our way to eat with a lot of different people! Eating together with people can be a special thing. At meal times people leave behind whatever is keeping them busy, they get to chat about what’s on their mind, and they talk about life. When we eat with people, we get to know their stories, and they get to know our stories too. If God has done something really awesome for us, sometimes we get to tell them, and our story can change their life. But it starts with eating together. So, we should make a point to eat with lots of different kinds of people so we can share life with them.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 17

    • Now, let's pause for a discussion question:

      • What's something you find easy to talk about? (Maybe you can talk about this when you meet someone new!)


    Point 2

  • Our second point is:

    • We can use food to serve God

  • Game: Zone Soccer

    • Instructions

    SLIDE 18

    SLIDE 19

    • Let’s start this point with a game! This one is called Zone Soccer. It's a game where your team has to work together.

    • If you've ever played foosball on a table, it will feel a bit like that, except in this game you're like the little guys on the table!

    • In the game of foosball, all the little guys can move left and right, but not forward and backwards. In this game, you can only move left and right as well. You’ll have to stay between the lines and not cross over them, so you’ll want to work together with everyone else on your team. 

    • You might be in the goalie zone, protecting your goal. You might be in the forward zone and trying to score goals. You might be in the middle zone and trying to do a bit of everything.

    • But you'll have to work together as a team.

    • You can switch zones between points, but your feet can't cross the line when the ball is moving around. Any questions?

    • Teacher: play until one side has five points, or as time and interest allow.

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because we all have a part in something bigger.

    SLIDE 20

    • We can't do it all, but we can do something. And, when we do our part well, we all have a chance to win.

    • That's what it's like with food sometimes. We eat all the time, and when we're eating, we have the chance to do something really special. That's what we learn from our second Bible story.

  • Bible Reference

    • One day Jesus was teaching His followers about heaven. He talked about what it’s going to be like when people get to heaven. Let's read what Jesus said:

    • Matthew 25:31-40

    SLIDE 21

    • 31 When the Son of Man [that is, Jesus] comes in his glory with all of his angels, he will sit on his royal throne. 32 The people of all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them, as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats.

    • 33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, “My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created.

    SLIDE 22

    • 35 When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, 36 and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”

    SLIDE 23

    • 37 Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink? 38 When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear 39 or visit you while you were sick or in jail?”

    SLIDE 24

    • 40 The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”

  • Explanation

    SLIDE 25

    • Jesus was saying that someday when you get to heaven, He will say to you, "thanks for the food." You'll say, "I never gave you any food." Jesus will say, "when you gave food to people I loved, you were really giving it to me. It's the same thing."

    • It turns out, even the little things matter to Jesus. He said another time, even if you give someone a cup of water because they are a follower of Jesus, Jesus says he will reward you for that (Matthew 10:42)

  • Application

    • So, let's try to help people whenever there is food around. It could be as simple as helping to clear a table. Let's pay attention to details, because the details matter. If someone's coming over, try to clean the room, and make it look nice. Try to give your guests the best food because when you serve people with food you're really serving Jesus.

  • Discussion Question

    SLIDE 26

    • Let's pause for a couple of discussion questions:

      • What's your favorite food?

      • What is a way that you can serve people at meal times?


    Conclusion

  • SLIDE 27

  • Let's wrap up the main part of our lesson by going over the big ideas again.

  • Our big question today was:

    • What are some of the greatest things we can do with food?

  • Today we learned that:

    • 1. We can use food to make friends, and

    • 2. We can use food to serve God.


    SLIDE 28

    Main Activity: Chips and Dip Combinations

  • And now we get to do these things with our main activity. Today, we are mixing chips and dip in different combinations!

  • And as we do so, we'll get a chance to chat and talk about what we like, and we can make friends, and we can serve each other. And, when we serve each other, you might discover that you're really serving God.

  • Now, we'll set up some tables with a bunch of different kinds of chips, and a bunch of different dips. You'll want to try to mix up the chips and dip in lots of different ways, and see if you can discover your favorite chip and dip combination!

  • Teacher: set up tables with various kinds of chips and various kinds of dip.


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