Activity B4 - Lesson 2: Power Experiment

Sunday Schoolhouse Series Activity - Red Unit B4
Lesson 2: Peter & John Heal a Lame Man

Power Experiment - Materials Needed:
- large heavy book
- table strong enough to have a child sit on
- thick plastic shopping bag without holes

Read the memory verse from the Picture page. Ask, can you lift your friend off of a table without touching them? Lay the bag on the table (near a corner) so the top third hangs over the edge. Place the large book on top of the bag and have one of the children sit on it with their legs over the adjacent corner. Have another child (or teacher) gather the open end of the shopping bag together so the opening is small. Then blow hard, like you are blowing up a balloon. Blow until the child sitting on the book is lifted off of the table. You may want to give everyone a turn. God gave the miraculous power of healing to Peter and John by simply using the name of Jesus Christ. God made pressure to work in such a way that one child can lift another off of a table without toughing them. God provides miracles in other ways throughout our world we just need to notice them. For younger children, the teachers should blow up the bags and have a spotter for the child sitting on the book.

Bible Bowl Race Activity:
Everyone starts at one end of the room. Quiz the children from today's lesson, i.e. name the disciples that healed the beggar. If they get it right they walk two steps forward, if not they do not move. Keep asking until someone makes it across the room and wins. If time allows try it with the lesson from the week before and see how much the children remember.

Activity B4 - Lesson 1: Fishing Boat

Sunday Schoolhouse Series Activity - Red Unit B4
Lesson 1: Jesus Appears by the Sea (John 21:1 - 14)

Create a Fishing Boat - Materials Needed:
- brown Construction paper one per child
  and extra various color scrap construction paper
- several long pieces of string and scrap fabric bits
- scissors, glue, and tape
- markers

Draw an outline of the body and mast of the boat (similar to the drawing on page 5 of the lesson book) on the brown construction paper. Have one prepared for each child. The children should cut out the boat and mast.
For the net, cut four lengths of string long enough to wrap around the top edge to the bottom edge of the boat. Tape the ends of the four pieces of string approximately 1/4 inch apart to the top of the boat on the back side. Drape the string over the front of the boat tucking it under the bottom side of the boat and taping it on the back leaving the 1/4 space between each piece. Cut smaller pieces of string (5 - 7 pieces) to weave through the vertical piece making a net shape. Tack the small horizontal pieces of string down with a dab of glue. Cut a few small fish shapes out of the scrap construction paper and glue them into the net.

Use the scrap fabric to add fabric to the mast - gluing it down. Add horizontal lines to the boat giving it a wood look. Write "Lord, help us to gather others together in your name. Amen" on the boat. For smaller children you may want to draw the net on the side of the boat, have the verse printed and ready to paste.

Letter:
Have the students write a personal letter to one of the characters in the story, or have the students write a letter as if they were one of the characters telling what they saw. For younger children brainstorm and create a letter as a class. The teacher writes the letter on the board.

Sunday Schoolhouse - Red Year Complete!

Sola Publishing has released the fourth and final installment in the "Red Year" of its Sunday Schoolhouse reproducible Sunday School Curriculum.  Now, two complete 4-unit years (Red and Blue) are available!  The third and final year of the series will be released for the 2012-2013 school year.


With this installment, we are pleased to welcome Kelly Hanson as a children's writer to staff of Sola Publishing.  Kelly has many years experience in writing curricula, and also brings artistic skills to her work.  She collaborated with Pastor Steve King on the B4 unit, and will take primary responsibility for the third year of the Sunday Schoolhouse curriculum.  Kelly is also a mother and wife of Pastor Dwight Hanson, who serves a two-point NALC parish in Wisconsin.

Pastor's Theological Conference - ILT/Augustana

Sola Publishing will be at Pastor's Theological Conference jointly sponsored by the Institute of Lutheran Theology and the Augustana District LCMC, being held in Bloomington, MN, starting on Sunday.

Dr. Fred Baltz, President of ILT, has produced a booklet for congregations under the title "Lutheran Evangelism Initiative." We hope it will be the first of many resources released under that title and theme. Pastors attending the conference will receive a free draft copy of the booklet from Sola. Look for it to be "officially" released in the coming months.

Look on the Free Sola Resources - Adult Education page for downloadable brochures on the topic of witnessing to faith, along with other subjects helpful in the area of evangelism.