Four destinations for the seeds.

Bible Verse Luke 8:11 - The seed is Gods message to men.

The parable of the Sower,Matthew 13:3-4,19 was broken up into 4 lessons The first lesson was about the seeds that fell on the path. The second was the seeds that fell on the rocks, The third was the seeds that fell in the thorns, and the last the seeds that fell on the good soil.

Rocks

OBJECTS: Clear plastic cups with a hole in the bottom. Fill with rocks and a little dirt on the top. Place the seed on top of the dirt.

The seeds that fall on the edge of the field had a lot of rocks underneath the top layer of dirt. (Show the children the clear cup with the rocks on the bottom and a little dirt on the top.) They started to grow and send roots out to find moisture and food but they could not find any. The water had all run to the bottom of the rocks and the little plants did not have enough time to grow so they withered and died when the hot sun came out. They needed some dirt to hold the moisture and there was none. (Pour the water in the cup to show how the water just runs out of the bottom when you pour it in.)

The seeds that fell on the hard stony ground were like the people who hear about Jesus. They think that everything he teaches is good, but after hearing the stories they went right out and started playing games and watching TV with their friends. When they were finished playing, they had forgotten all about what Jesus had taught them. The good news that Jesus could be their friend was forgotten.

Printable Text-Rocks

Game

Do not let your seeds fall on the rocks. First paint the pumpkin seed in four or more different colors, You will need about 10 each of each color. Then have have the children throw the seeds into a pie pan that is filled with rock except for a small amount of dirt in the middle. The children take turns trying to hit the dirt and not the rock. Since the seeds are different colors you could have 4 or 5 children throwing at one time. Each child had 5 or more seeds to throw. You could use a bean seed to make it easier to throw.

Good Soil

The seeds that fell in the middle of the field where the ground was soft and moist grew up big and strong and made good food that the farmer took home to feed everybody! He was able to share all the fruit that was in his field with lots of people. (Show the seed that was planted in good soil. Since this is the last week the plant should be growing well.)

The fourth group listened to Jesus and went home and told their friends and family the good news. They still played with their friends and all, but they remembered what Jesus had taught them, and helped their friends to understand Jesus, too. They spent the rest of their lives helping their friends to learn about Jesus.

You will need to have a small watermelon (not a seedless watermelon) cut up into several pieces. There should be one small piece of watermelon for each child. As they eat the watermelon have them place all the watermelon seeds into a single bowl. Have them guess how many seeds may be in the bowl. The teacher should then count the seeds and then say "Isn't it amazing that when we plant just one watermelon seed we got this delicious watermelon and all these additional watermelon seeds. If we planted all these seeds we would have more watermelon then we would know what to do with!" Becoming like a seed that is planted in the good soil is what Jesus wants us to do. Just like this watermelon you will produce more and more seed so you can give them away to your friends, neighbors and even people you meet.

Printable Text Good Soil

Thorns

Some of the seeds fell in the weedy parts of the field just like our cup here. (Show the cup marked weeds. The seed should have sprouted along with all the weed seeds.) This seed is growing but so did all the other weed seeds that were in the same container. It looks pretty crowded in there. Weeds always seem to grow faster than the good seeds and before too long the good seed won't get any sunshine and very little water. I will not be able to produce any fruit.

The third group of seeds that fell in the weedy patches are like the people who heard Jesus' advice, and thought it sounded really good. They took his advice, and tried to act like Jesus told them to. It was just like this seed in the beginning it does OK, but later on other things got in its way. What are some of the things that get in your way? ( watching too much TV or playing on video games when they were supposed to be doing their chores.) Those people forgot what they learned about Jesus and started behaving just like they used to. In a little while they were not doing what Jesus said at all.

Printable Text-Thorns

Game - Thorn Ball

Take a Styrofoam ball and stick toothpicks into it. Tape some balloons to the wall and have the children try and pop the balloons by throwing the thorn at it. This activity requires extra adult supervision.

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. You could use all seeds and make a mosaic picture out of different seeds.

Other Great Links

Kids Sunday School Place - Path

Kids Sunday School Place - Rocks

Kids Sunday School Place - Thorns

Kids Sunday School Place - Good Soil

Craft

DLTK-Kids.com Bird Craft

Family Fun use their search box for "Whirling Bird" or "Curly Birds"

Enchanted Learning Crafts Plants & Flowers

Path

OBJECTS: Four clear plastic cups filled with four different soils. Punch a small hole in the bottom of the cup so the water will drain out. During your talk plant one seed in each cup and water. Bring these cups to class each week to watch their progress.


1. Fill with hard packed dirt or clay.(Just lay the seed on top of the soil)
2. Fill with rocks and sand.
3. Fill with dirt but plant seeds from dandelion or other weeds with your good seed.
4. Fill with good dirt (potting soil).

Make a path that the children will walk down to get to the class. You could use masking tape to make the path. There should be a least 24" to 36" wide between the lines of masking tape. (You will use this path to play the game later).

Printable Text-Path


Game - 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 from 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.