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Solving Loneliness

Unit 3 / Lesson 3

Solving Loneliness

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Teacher's Prep

  • Games

    • Charades

      • Prepare small pieces of paper with words for children to act out. Make an easy list and a hard list.

      • Easy Words

        • swallow

        • pig

        • scissors

        • ladder

        • shark

        • snail

        • rabbit

        • balloon

        • elephant

        • blanket

        • butterfly

        • giraffe

      • Hard Words

        • wolf

        • iron

        • toad

        • microscope

        • sprinkler

        • chase

        • skunk

        • work

        • hammerhead shark

        • midnight

    • Pictionary Against the Internet

      • Visit this website and play for about 10 minutes to get familiar with the game: https://skribbl.io/

      • Alternatively, you may just want to play a normal game of Pictionary with a whiteboard marker and some words for things to draw.

    • Human Tic Tac Toe

  • Main Activity: (For Ants on a Log (Variations))

    • To see what the Ants on a Log snack looks like, please go to Google Images and search for "Ants on a Log Snack." Note that the "logs" are segments of celery sticks.

    • Most importantly, check for allergies. If you don't have information on the allergies present, you will need to ask the children during the lesson.

    • You will be making these following snacks (however many that you choose)

      • Ants on a log (celery, cookie butter, and raisins / craisins)

      • Monkeys in a tree (celery, cookie butter, and sliced banana)

      • Jungle animals on a log (celery, cookie butter, and animal crackers)

      • Caterpillar on a log (celery, cookie butter, and grapes lined up in a row.)

      • Snakes in the grass (celery, guacamole, and straight pretzel stick)

      • Fish in a stream (celery, guacamole, and goldfish crackers)

    • Suggested list of ingredients

      • Celery, washed and cut before the lesson into finger-sized half-pipes, 5-6 per child. 

        • A substitute for celery can be rectangular crackers (e.g. stoned wheat crackers broken in two rectangles)

      • Cookie butter

        • Note: cookie butter can be swapped with Nutella if nobody is sensitive to hazelnuts, milk, or soy. Cookie butter is allergy-friendly as it does not contain nuts. You may want to have both cookie butter and Nutella available for greater variety.

      • Raisins and/or dried cranberries to represent ants

      • Banana, to represent monkeys.

      • Animal crackers for jungle animals

      • Grapes to make a caterpillar

      • Guacamole and/or hummus for a savory base in contrast to cookie butter

      • Straight pretzel sticks (the tiny sticks that would fit on a piece of celery) for snakes

      • Goldfish crackers for fish in a stream

    • Equipment

      • Large plates or trays

      • Butter knives for spreading cookie butter and guacamole

      • Tables


    SLIDE 1

    Intro

    SLIDE 2

  • Gathering

    • How was your week?

    SLIDE 3

  • Intro Activity: Charades

    • Instructions

      • We'll start our lesson with a game of Charades! You'll all get a secret word, and you'll take a turn going in front of your friends and acting out the word so they can guess. Some words will be easier, and some might be really hard. We might not be able to guess, we just need to try our best. If someone says the secret word, you can let us know. You'll all have a minute to do your acting, and then if we're still stuck after a minute you can just let us know what the word is.

      • Teacher: pass out words -- pass out easy words for younger children, and more difficult words for more advanced children.

    SLIDE 4

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because it's a team game. It's a game you can't really play by yourself, but it can be really fun if you're playing with friends.

      • This game gets us thinking about how important it is to have other people in our lives. 

  • Relevance

    SLIDE 5

    • A lot of people are lonely nowadays. A lot of people don't have enough friends. It feels painful to be lonely.

    • As Christians, we have the greatest answer to the problem of loneliness. Today we will learn our answer from watching what Jesus did.

  • Big Question

    SLIDE 6

    • Our big question today is: how does Jesus help someone who is lonely?

  • Big Idea

    SLIDE 7

    • Our big idea is: Jesus helps a person with FRIENDSHIP and with MORE FRIENDSHIP.

  • Bible Reference

    • We'll see this in the Bible story of Zacchaeus.

    SLIDE 8

  • Explanation

    SLIDE 9

    • Let me explain a little bit about Zacchaeus. 

    • The Bible tells us, Zacchaeus was a very rich man.

    • He had a lot of money, and he could probably buy whatever he wanted. He must have had a big house, with lots of nice food, and lots of servants to help him do whatever he wanted.

    • He only had one problem. People hated him. That's because he took everyone's money. Zacchaeus was a tax collector. His job was to get money from people and give it to the government.

    • You can picture Zacchaeus going from house to house with armed soldiers from the government. He would tell people to give him their money. The people in the house might have needed that money to buy food and medicine, and to fix their homes. But he was taking it away from them.

    SLIDE 10

    • The worst thing about tax collectors was, they weren't just collecting money for the government. Tax collectors could take whatever they wanted for themselves, and there was nothing that people could do about it.

    • Tax collectors were very rich from taking everyone's money, and that's why everyone hated Zacchaeus. But Jesus changed all of that, which brings us to our first point.


    Point 1

    SLIDE 11

  • Our first point is, Jesus helps a person with FRIENDSHIP

    SLIDE 12

  • Game: Pictionary Against the Internet

    • Instructions

      • We will start this point with a game of Pictionary. It will be a special game of Pictionary where we will be competing against real people on the internet!

      • We'll take turns guessing and drawing stuff, and let's work together to see if we can win the game against other people.

      • Teacher's Instructions

        • Go to this website: https://skribbl.io/

        • On the left side of the intro screen, type in a name and press "play." The website will pit you against real people in a game of Pictionary 

        • As the game goes along, type in guesses on the right side of the screen. Have the children guess what people are drawing, and type in their guesses as they come. The game will run for several rounds. Feel free to play for a while, maybe ten minutes if interest allows. Occasionally it will be your turn to draw, and you will have to draw as best as you can and have the other players on the internet guess.

        • In the case of games where the opponents use vulgar language, you may want to restart the game, or just play normal pictionary on a whiteboard.

    SLIDE 13

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because it reminds us that it really helps to be on the same team with other people. We have more ideas if we're together, and it's also more fun.

      • If Zacchaeus was playing this game, nobody would want to be on his team, because everyone hated him. So, he was lonely.

    SLIDE 14

  • Bible Reference

    • Zacchaeus must have been lonely for a very long time. Then one day he heard that Jesus was coming to town. He had heard a lot about Jesus. People said that He could feed a whole crowd with a few pieces of bread, heal the sick, raise the dead, and calm the seas. Jesus was teaching people how to be friends with God. Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was, but he couldn't see over the crowd. He ran ahead and climbed a tree just to have a look at Jesus. Let's read what happened next.

    SLIDE 15

    • Luke 19:5:

      •  When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”

  • Explanation

    SLIDE 16

    • Can you imagine a super famous person talking to you? Maybe a movie star, or a famous athlete. Maybe the prime minister, or a president, or a king.

    • Who is famous nowadays? Who do you watch on TV, and who do your friends talk about?

    • Imagine this famous person says to you, "I need to stay at your house -- I need you to help me." Wouldn't that be exciting? That’s what it was like when Jesus talked to Zacchaeus.

    • Zacchaeus was so happy that Jesus asked him for help.

    • It was Jesus' way of saying to everyone,  "Zacchaeus is on my team. I want to be friends with Zacchaeus. He’s cool."

    SLIDE 17

    • Zacchaeus was really able to help Jesus. He must have had a big house with lots of food for Jesus and His disciples.

    • Zacchaeus was helping Jesus, and Jesus was helping Zacchaeus too.

    • That's what a good friendship is like. The help goes both ways. This friendship with Jesus changed Zacchaeus forever.

  • Application

    SLIDE 18

    • Did you know, Jesus still does that today? If you're lonely, Jesus wants to be your friend. He invites you to help Him, and in return, He can give you everything you need.

    • After you become His friend, you get to join in His work, and you get to help other people.

    • If you know someone who is lonely, maybe you can ask them to help you. Maybe they can help you with schoolwork, or play a game with you, or maybe they can listen to a problem that you have.

    • If they help you, and you help them, you've made a friend.


SLIDE 19

  • Discussion Question

    • Let's stop for a discussion question

    • What is a way that you can help someone at school?

    • What is a way someone can help you at school?


    Point 2

    SLIDE 20

  • Our second point is, Jesus helps a person with MORE FRIENDSHIP

    SLIDE 21

  • Game: Human Tic Tac Toe

    • Instructions

      • We'll start this point with a game of Human Tic Tac Toe.

      • For this game, we'll need a bunch of chairs in the middle of the room, so everyone please go to the side. I'll set up some chairs while you watch the video on how to play.

    SLIDE 22

    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hwDNL0pQ8o&ab_channel=YouthMinistryGreatGames

    • Instructions for Teacher:

      • Follow the instructions in the video

      • Set up nine chairs in the middle of the room.

      • Have all the children find a partner that is about as fast as them.

      • One partner joins team X, and the other partner joins team O

      • Teams number off so that when you call a number, one person runs to the chairs.

      • Before each round, each person not on a chair has to be touching a wall.

      • The optimal (but boring) strategy is for a team to sit only in the column of chairs closest to their wall. If teams start scoring in the column closest to their wall, you can say that having three people in that column doesn’t count.

      • If you don't have at least 8 people to play the game with, you can just play regular tic tac toe on a whiteboard, or another puzzle type game, or even try a simple jigsaw puzzle.

    SLIDE 23

    • Debrief

      • We played this game because it reminds us that sometimes two people aren't enough. In this game there's no way to win with just two people. We need as many people as we can to sit on the chairs with us.

      • Sometimes friendship is better when it's not just two people. If we want to solve the problem of loneliness once and for all, we need MORE FRIENDSHIP.

  • Bible Reference

    SLIDE 24

    • That's what we see in our Bible story. Let's read what happened when Zacchaeus became Jesus' friend.

      • "8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

  • Explanation

    SLIDE 25

    • Remember, Zacchaeus was a rich man because he had taken a lot of money from a lot of people. Everyone hated him for it, but he didn't need anyone to like him, because he had money and money was enough.

    • Now that he was Jesus' friend, however, it was all different. Now he knew that Jesus was better than money. He knew that God had sent Jesus, and Zacchaeus knew He could be friends with God Himself.  Because of this, Zacchaeus gave up his money to make things right again, because that's what God wanted. And that's how he became friends with God. Being friends with God helped him to be friends with everyone else.

    SLIDE 26

    • Let's read what Jesus said in the end:

    • Luke 19:9-10

      • 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

    • Jesus called Zacchaeus a son of Abraham. Jesus was saying, Zacchaeus was like Abraham. Abraham was called God's friend, and now Zacchaeus was God's friend.

    • Jesus said this for everyone to hear: "this man, TOO, is a son of Abraham."

    • Meaning, there are other people who are sons of Abraham. Everyone in that crowd who loved God was a son of Abraham. Zacchaeus belonged with them now, too. Zacchaeus could be friends with everyone who loved God.

  • Application

    SLIDE 27

    • That's how it works with us. It's great if we become friends with someone, but the greatest thing we can do is connect them with God. If they know God, they can be friends with everyone who loves God.

  • Discussion Question (optional)

    SLIDE 28

    • Let’s pause for a discussion question:

    • If you had to talk to someone about God, when would you want to talk to them?

      • Suggested answer: maybe the best time to talk about God is when you are alone with your friend and eating something with them.


    Conclusion

    SLIDE 29

  • Let’s wrap up our lesson by going over the big ideas again.

  • Our big question today was: how does Jesus help someone who is lonely?

  • Our answer was: Jesus helps a person with FRIENDSHIP and with MORE FRIENDSHIP. We can help other people in these ways too.

  • Let's remember to ask people for help, and let's help people back.

  • Maybe after they become friends with us, they can become friends with God. That will be the greatest friendship.

  • If they are already friends with God, then they will be friends with many other people too. That's the greatest way to help someone who is lonely.


    Main Activity: Ants on a Log (Variations)

    SLIDE 30

  • We'll end this lesson with a food craft!

  • Today we will be making "Ants on a Log."

  • It’s a really simple snack. First we get a stick of celery, then we’ll cut it in half, so that we get a U-shaped log. Then we’ll put cookie butter into the log and put raisins on top which look like ants!

  • This snack has three ingredients, and it reminds us that the best friendships don't stop at two people. If you can make a third friend, that's even better, and it's best if that third friend is God.

  • The snack also reminds us one of the best times to talk about important things is when we are eating with our friends.

  • Let's help each other out to make an Ants on a Log snack for everyone.

  • Afterwards, we will make some other things to eat.

    • Instructions for Teacher:

      • Be aware of any allergies. If you don't have information on their allergies, please show all the ingredients to the children and ask them not to eat the ingredients they are allergic to. Most importantly, there should be no peanut butter or peanuts anywhere. Please take steps to avoid cross-contamination (e.g. separate butter knives for separate spreads)

      • Here are the snacks that we want to make:

        • Ants on a log (celery, cookie butter, and raisins / craisins)

        • Monkeys in a tree (celery, cookie butter, and sliced banana)

        • Jungle animals on a log (celery, cookie butter, and animal crackers)

        • A caterpillar on a log (celery, cookie butter, and grapes lined up in a row.)

        • Snakes in the grass (celery, guacamole, and straight pretzel stick)

        • Fish in a stream (celery, guacamole, and goldfish snack)

      • You may want to make these snacks one by one, and have them eat the snack one by one. Encourage them to help each other to complete their snack. 

      • If you have multiple volunteers, you may want to make stations where they can learn the various snacks above.

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