A family dinner game to prepare for the “big” game?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
I have said this before: a way to spark faith conversations with your family is to make family dinner a priority.

But don’t just eat. Play games.

That’s right. To extend your time together as a family, add a “game” to your meal. And the game I have in mind – a variation of Twenty Questions – will surreptitiously help your kids to prepare for this coming Sunday’s Cool Disciples review game – AKA “The Big Game.”

Supplies needed:

  • Slips of paper no larger than someone’s forehead, 3 or 4 per person
  • Writing implements
  • Adhesive tape
  • A Bible (optional, in case someone needs a hint, or an argument needs solving!)

A child wears a game card on her forehead

Distribute the slips of paper and the writing implements and ask everyone to secretly write the name of a character on each slip of paper. The characters should be from the Bible stories that the kids have learned this year.

What were those stories?

The Beatitudes, Adam and Eve in the Garden, Four Friends Carry a Lame Man to Jesus, The Birth of Jesus from the viewpoint of his mother Mary, John the Baptist, The Parable of the Sower, and the story of Easter Week.

Right away you’ll probably not want anyone to write down God or Jesus. Way too easy to guess!

What are some possibilities?

  • Someone at the Sermon on the Mount
  • Adam
  • Eve
  • The snake (why not get creative)
  • The man let down from the roof
  • One of the 4 Friends
  • Angel Gabriel
  • Mary, mother of Jesus
  • Elizabeth
  • Joseph
  • John the Baptist
  • Daniel
  • King Darius
  • A farmer sowing seed (in Bible times)
  • Peter (the disciple)
  • The donkey Jesus rode on Palm Sunday
  • Judas
  • Caiaphas
  • Pilate
  • Herod
  • Joseph of Arimathea
  • Mary Magdalene

(Or you could just write out enough of the above characters ahead of time.)

Have everyone pass their pile of written characters (name-side-down) to the person on their right. Everyone will pick up one of the characters and paste it (name-side-out) on their forehead. (Pass the tape, please!)

Everyone takes turns asking yes or no questions about their character in an effort to determine who they are wearing. Have fun!

We’d love to have you join the fun at this Sunday’s game: “Are You Smarter Than a Sixth Grader” at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI.

a blue line


Photo credits:
Child eating a peach by Bruce Tuten, who licensed his photo under: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. (Which allows me to re-touch this photo to add the forehead game card!)

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What do Arbor Day and Easter have in common?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

University of Michigan students participate in an Earth Day Tree Hugging Flash MobFriday was Arbor Day. In the town where I live, that meant a free tree! Of course I can’t pass up the chance to plant another tree. The nice people giving out free Douglas Fir trees also offered me a flyer about Arbor Day. This caught my eye; this description of Arbor Day as a distinctive holiday…

 
Open quote markMost holidays celebrate something that has already happened and is worth remembering like the day someone was born or a religious holiday celebrating a past event. Arbor Day reflects a hope for the future.

Not so fast Arbor Day! You don’t have the corner on this market!

Hope for the future? What about Easter!?

Though comparing Easter to Arbor Day is like matching up apples to oranges, it did cause me to ponder.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Ask your family: What are the similarities between these two holidays? What are the differences?

Both holidays share in hope for the future, but Easter has an advantage… we don’t have to wait for a tiny tree to grow into a towering timber.

With Easter there is no wait.

Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can have a close relationship with our mighty God…today!

That is something worth celebrating every day!

A freshly planted Douglas Fir seedlingA massive Douglas Fir tree
On the left, the bucket was placed there as a size comparison. This is a seedling! Though it has high hopes for someday being tall!


Photo credits:
The seedling photo is from my archives.
Tree huggers is by the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources & Environment.
The massive Douglas Fir is by Wildcat Dunny. Both of these Flickr photos were licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Holy Week: What is good about Good Friday?

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

How about some more family discussion on our journey through our series on Holy Week? Even though this day was full of sadness.

Remember: scroll down just until you see a “Time Out. Talk About…” question. Read the question with your group and allow everyone to share their answers. Scroll some more to see the answer. A good reason for computer time!

The judgment of Jesus

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Why do you suppose it’s called “Good Friday?” What can be good about the day Jesus died?

an empty crossActually there is no known correct answer to this question. The Friday before Easter being called “Good Friday” could have come from the shortening of an English phrase “God’s Friday” much like the word, “good-bye” originally started off as “God be with you.”

It certainly wasn’t a good day for the followers of Jesus back when it actually happened; they had to watch him be killed.

We can call it “good” because we can look back on the day Jesus died, from our perspective of knowing what happened on Easter!

But we are getting ahead of ourselves; there are still the events that happened on Friday of the very first Holy Week. When we left off yesterday, Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane…

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble Jesus was arrested in the garden, but what happened next?

Jesus had a long night. (It was late at night when he was arrested). He went through a series of trials, was beaten, whipped, spit upon, treated badly, and sentenced to die on a cross—a humiliating and cruel form of torture and execution.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble But why were the people who had Jesus arrested so determined to kill him?

The simple answer: Fear. (Unfortunately fear can result in hatred.) The Sanhedrin had ordered Jesus’ arrest. The Sanhedrin was a very powerful Jewish court made up of religious leaders. They were threatened by Jesus, his message and his popularity. The gospels portray the Sanhedrin as a group most interested in preserving their own power and position.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble What was it that happened with the man named Barabbas? (To hear how Barabbas is pronounced, go here.)

It was the practice at Passover to let one prisoner go free. Pilate (the Roman governor) offered to release Jesus, but the crowd demanded instead the release of Barabbas, a known robber and murderer. The gospels make it clear that Pilate did not believe that Jesus was guilty. But the crowd yelled, “Crucify him.” Pilate eventually succumbed to the will of the crowd and ordered Jesus to be whipped and then to be crucified.

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble What does crucified mean?

Jesus was killed by a process called “crucifixion;” we say he was “crucified.” This is where a person is either hung on a cross or nailed to a cross (the latter in Jesus’ case). It was a horrible way to die. (Thank goodness we don’t do that anymore!)

Time Out. Talk about…A speech bubble (No right or wrong answers here!)

  • Have you ever been accused of something that you didn’t do? What happened?
  • When have you seen or heard about an instance of hatred that probably stemmed from fear?
  • When have you given in to the pressure of what the “crowd” wanted to do? How did you feel about this?
  • What do you suppose happened to Barabbas? (The Bible doesn’t tell us.)

Stay tuned for the next installment of our series on Holy Week.


Photo credits:
Photos are from my archives. The painting of the Judgment of Jesus was taken in Corfu, Greece. Unfortunately I failed to note the artist.
Speech bubbles via WPClipart.com, in the public domain.

Workshop schedule for April/May 2011

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
On Sunday mornings, our Cool Disciples (our 1st – 6th graders) experience Rotation Model Sunday’s school, as they learn about Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia workshops.

In April and the beginning of May, our story will be about the first Easter. In this Rotation, we will explore the sequence of events that took place during “Holy Week.” Holy Week covers the last days – the last week – of Jesus’ life on earth.

Palm leaves the stone is rolled away
Our Bible stories come from the Gospels. We’ll start off in Matthew 21 and hop around, visiting a bit of John and Luke and ending at Matthew 28:1-10.

Here is the schedule for the next few weeks…

Date Art Photography Cooking Cooking Puppets Games
Room 212 Room 204 Social Hall Pine Room Room 215 Room 211
4/10 2nd grade 5th grade 3rd grade 6th grade 4th grade 1st grade
4/17 1st grade 4th grade 2nd grade 5th grade 6th grade 3rd grade

Then on 4/24th is Easter! Everyone will be in worship on Easter. On May 1st, since it’s the first Sunday of the month, it will be a family worship Sunday with Communion. We’ll complete our “April” Rotation on May 8th.

Date Art Photography Cooking Cooking Puppets Games
Room 212 Room 204 Social Hall Pine Room Room 215 Room 211
5/8 3rd grade 6th grade 1st grade 4th grade 5th grade 2nd grade

What’s happening in each workshop?

  • In the Art Workshop students will create story books using interesting papers and colored pencils.
  • In the Photography Workshop students will setting up the scenes from the stories of Holy Week and creating a photo montage. Stay tuned for pictures!
  • In the Cooking Workshop students will create an edible map of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. Yum! Edible learning is so much fun we’ll be running two Cooking workshops so that everyone can visit.
  • In the Puppets Workshop students will use puppets to enact a modern-day story as they discuss the trials of Jesus.
  • In the Games Workshop students will participate in a quiz game.


If you are in the area please join us for the fun learning at First United Methodist Church in Ann Arbor, MI


Photo credits: Click here for info on banner photo (not visible in readers or email). Palm leaves by momentcaptured1 and Empty tomb by James Emery. Both licensed this photo under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Workshop Schedule for March 2011

Posted on by Carol Hulbert
Stain glass window showing a sower

On Sunday mornings, our Cool Disciples (our 1st – 6th graders) experience Rotation Model Sunday’s school, as they learn about Bible stories and concepts through kid-friendly multimedia workshops.

In March, we are studying the Parable of the Sower.

Read about our story in Mark 4:1-9.

Here is the schedule for the next three weeks…

Date Art 1 Art 2 Cooking Newsroom Games Video
Room 212 Room 211 Pine Room Room 215 Room 204 Social Hall
3/13 2nd grade 5th grade 3rd grade 6th grade 4th grade 1st grade
3/20 1st grade 4th grade 2nd grade 5th grade 6th grade 3rd grade
3/27 3rd grade 6th grade 1st grade 4th grade 5th grade 2nd grade

What’s happening in each workshop?

  • We’ll be running two Art Workshops – one for younger students and one for older students. (This must mean we’re doing a really neat project!) Yep! Students will use clay in a unique way to create a “sowing scene” with which they can re-tell the story.
  • In the Cooking Workshop we will continue our theme of using items in unusual ways; students will be playing with their food! They will listen to music and the story being re-told, and formulate a visual interpretation of the Parable of the Sower… using snack foods! (Some eating will be allowed.)
  • In the Newsroom Workshop students will create (and videotape) ads selling products or services that might help us be more open to God’s Word. (Anyone need a Sunday-Morning-Bed-Launcher?)
  • In the Games Workshop students will use their bodies (both to answer questions and to move as game pieces) on a life-sized game board. They’ll hear situations and decide which sort of soil applies.
  • In the Video Workshop students will watch portions of the live-action video The Visual Bible: Matthew. They’ll also explore the meanings of the different soils by voing in a unique manner.

All sorts of curiosities happening this month! Don’t want to miss these workshops!


If you are in the area please join us for the fun learning at First United Methodist Church in Ann Arbor, MI


Photo credits from Flickr: Banner photo (not visible in readers or email) by Pink Sherbert Photography.
Stain glass sower by Jonathan O’Donnell. Both licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Wednesday’s Weekly Blessing on Ash Wednesday

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

ashes on foreheadAshes on the forehead… in a way it’s like being marked.

But in a good way.

It says: “I am Christ’s daughter (or son).”

 

 
Say a blessing on your child. Say their name and…

On your journey towards Easter, may you remember whose you are.

 

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Click on a box if you would like to…
a check box Satisfy your curiosity about why you should bless your child.
a check-box View other suggested blessings.

Copyright photo is from my archives.

Workshop schedule for January 2011 – John Baptizes Jesus

Posted on by Carol Hulbert

During the school year, on Sunday mornings each Rotation for our Cool Disciples (our 1st – 6th graders at FUMC in Ann Arbor, MI) includes six workshops. In January, we’ll be studying about John the Baptist, about Jesus’ baptism, and about baptism today.

Read about our story in Matthew 3.
Hint: On this blog you can click on words that are bold and a different color, and you’ll open up an internet site. (In our case, always safe ones!) This link sends you to a site where you can read our Bible passage. Pretty cool, yes?

Here is the schedule of workshops for the next three weeks…

Date Games Art Cooking Drama Storytelling Video
Room 211 Room 212 Pine Room Room 215 Room 204 Social Hall
1/16 2nd grade 5th grade 3rd grade 6th grade 4th grade 1st grade
1/23 1st grade 4th grade 2nd grade 5th grade 6th grade 3rd grade
1/30 3rd grade 6th grade 1st grade 4th grade 5th grade 2nd grade

What’s happening in each workshop?

  • In the Art Workshop students will create molas. Molas are a fabric art form practiced by the Kuna Indians in Panama. Our project will use paper and focus on symbols of baptism.
  • In the Cooking Workshop students will creative edible “locusts” while learning about John the Baptist and the important job that he had. (Do you suppose they will actually eat their creations?!)
  • In the Drama Workshop students will enact the story of John the Baptist preaching “Repent.” They will also enact Jesus’ baptism and they will run through the Baptismal service by baptizing a doll.
  • In the Games Workshop students will participate in a reverse Jeopardy game which will reinforce story details.
  • In the Storytelling Workshop students will enjoy a visit from John the Baptist!
  • In the Video Workshop students will watch portions of the video The Animated Stories from the New Testament: John the Baptist while enjoying popcorn (can’t have a movie without popcorn!)

I wonder which workshop will be the favorite of your child?


Photo credits: Banner photo (not visible in readers or email) – Pink Sherbert Photography on Flickr, licensed under: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic