A Home-Church Lesson for Children

11.23.2020

Introduction:

My family and I attend the Vineyard Altoona Church. We have been meeting in homes in small groups to be cautious about the Covid Pandemic and still be able to have some sense of community. However, it was always part of the pastors' shared vision for what the church might be and how it might serve and reach people. We like it! We happen to meet with one other family in our home. Between the two families, we have four children ranging in age from 6 to 11.

This lesson is about the Israelites' preparation for Passover from the Jesus Storybook Bible. We use red paint to paint my doorway as if it were lamb's blood and wear our coats while we take our communion of Matzo unleavened bread. I have always felt, as an educator, that young children learn lessons that they remember when we ask them to discover and use their large motor skills to take part in a lesson. It was memorable for all of the children involved.

Materials:

Copy of The Jesus Storybook Bible

Red Tempera Paint

Bowl

Water

Thicker paper

Painter tape ( I used Frog Tape)

Masking Tape

White Pine Branches or Maiden Grass branches to use as brush

Paper Towels or a towel to clean up drips

Prep:

Pour a bit of red paint into a bowl and thin it with water.

Clip a white fluffy branch. I used Maiden Grasses' fluffy part. In the Bible, the Israelites used Hyssop but I went with what was locally available for kids to get the feel for painting with a branch. You could also use a white pine branch.

Paper your front door posts (the doorway sides)  and lintel (the top part) with paper. I used a heavyweight white paper that I connected using Masking Tape because that is paintable with tempera paint. Then, i attached the connected papers to my doorway using Frog Tape so as not to damage any paint under it. I might have added a bit of newspaper below the kids but our four children were really neat and just had to wipe up a few drips with a paper towel.

Step 1:

Read God to the Rescue! in the Jesus Storybook Bible

Step 2:

Chat about it. Talk about how the Israelites must have felt. We talked about how they had to keep the lamb in their house for days before the sacrifice. The children thought they must have grown a bit close to the lamb in that time. We talked about how they ate their meal with their clothes on and didn't allow the bread to rise. We added to the story with tangible details.

Step 3:

Introduce the activity and encourage them to be slow and neat. Have them pretend that the paint is the lamb's blood and they need to mark the house's entry so that the Angel of the Lord passes over the house. I like the idea of this. Kids remember things differently when their whole bodies are involved.

Step 4:

We all washed our hands. Even though the kids weren't really dirty, I wanted to remind them of the Israelites' Ceremonial Washing as part of the Passover Celebration. We simply did this at the sink. We weren't actual having a Seder meal together and celebrating Passover, but were talking about the story in another time. So I reminded them of the reason and had them wash their hands.

Step 5:

We had Communion together. This was part of our Home-Based church service but I also built it into the lesson for the kids. We used Matzo bread and grape juice. We all wore our coats and stood to have our Communion so that our bodies could be reminded of how the Israelites had to have everything with them and their coats on and be ready to leave when the Lord commanded them to go. The bread was made without leaven, which is why we used Matzo bread. The kids talked about this the next week too. Young children learn so well when their whole being can be involved in the learning.

Extra Resources:

We always celebrate Passover and as I searched for inspiration for this lesson, I discovered this wonderful children's activity set. You need to make a donation to use it but it is SO well made and goes to a good cause.

What am I about?

My business is Photographic Memories by Ann M. Bickel, LLC and is about providing art opportunities in the Altoona community as well as portraiture photography work. As a creative person, I like to dabble in other areas that allow me to bear witness to others' lives and explore what brings us all together. Though If you would like to follow along, you can check out my last blog article or join my newsletter!

Annie