Group Activities
by Kay Clark & Joni Bruhn
Sermon Title: "Parable of the Sower"
Bible Verses: Luke
8:11 - The seed is Gods message to men.
- Sower and Birds Make a path using masking tape, cardboard boxes or chairs. The
path should be about 6ft to 10ft long and at least 24" wide. There has to be enough
room for the children to walk through. One child will be the farmer who throws the seeds
down the path. After the seeds have been put on the path. Have one child start at each end
of the path. They are the "birds". (I found bird mask at the store that sells
everything for a dollar that each child wore.) When the farmer is done dropping the seeds
on the path the birds start picking up the fallen seeds. Use a large seed so they can be
easily seen and limit the number of seeds the farmer throws. Once all the seeds are picked
up each "bird" should count their seeds to see who has the most. Choose a new
farmer and 2 new birds and play again.
- Seed Over the Rocks - First paint the pumpkin seed in four or more different
colors, You will need about 10 each of each color. Spray paint makes it easy to paint. Give
each child 5 large seed (I used pumpkin seeds) Lay a bed of rock around a pie pan or shoe
box of dirt. I made my rocks out of foam packing material and painted them gray &
brown. You could use real rocks. Use masking tape to mark off how far away the children
should stand (This would be determined by the age of the child). You could start with 4ft
for 4 year old's, 5ft for 5 year old's, 6ft for 6 year old's etc. For every
seed that falls in the dirt the child would get one point You could use a bean seed to make
it easier to throw. Painting the seeds speeds up the game so more children can throw at one
time.
- Seeds Hidden in Rocks Fill a shoebox or plastic container with small rocks. Hide
10 large seeds (sunflower, bean etc.) in the rocks by shaking up the rocks. Blindfold the
child & set a timer for 60 seconds. Can the child find all ten seeds in the allotted
amount of time?
- Craft - Rock Ring Have each child select a small smooth rock and the adult will
hot glue it to a pipe cleaner that has been sized to fit the child's finger. You could
also make necklaces by wrapping wire or pipe cleaner around a rock and then tying a string
or ribbon to it.
- Thorn Ball -Take a small Styrofoam ball and stick toothpicks all around it. Blow
up balloons and put them in a box or tape on the wall. Have a child throw the thorn ball
and try and break the balloon.
- Craft - Lid with Nature Items - Use a plastic lid and glue peat moss on it. Take
the kids on a Nature walk to gather items to glue on the lid also. If you can't take a
nature walk bring in small items such as leaves, sticks, rocks, plastic flower, seeds. You
could use different kinds of seeds and make a mosaic picture just using seeds..
- Share the Soil Divide you class into teams. For each team you have place a sheet
of newspaper on the floor. See how many children can stand on the paper at one time. The
first time make enough teams that you can get all the team players on the sheet of paper.
Then fold the paper in half and try again. Keep folding the paper in half each round.
- CRAFT: Dirt Pudding With Gummy Worms
- 1 package (16 ounces) Chocolate cookies, crushed
- 2 cups cold milk
- 1 package (4 ounces) chocolate instant pudding mix
- 1 container (8 ounces) whipped topping, thawed
- 1 package gummy worms
- Mix pudding and milk stir and let sit 5 minutes then add the whipped
topping. Crush the cookies in a blender or in a plastic bag using a rolling pin. Mix half
of the crushed cookies into the pudding mixture. Use the remaining crushed cookies to put
on top of the pudding mixture after you have put it into plastic cups. Then insert the
gummy worms. Chill for one hour.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.
Used by permission of Zondervan. All Rights Reserved.