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Reply to "ART Workshop Lessons & Ideas about Peter and Cornelius, Peter's Rooftop Vision"

Peter’s Rooftop Vision

Art Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

In this workshop, the learners celebrate the diversity of God’s children by making collages on wooden pieces.

Scripture Reference:

Acts 10:1-11:18

Memory Verse:
Acts 10:35:
“ . . . in every nation anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God.”

Concept for Kids:
In Peter's day, the Jews believe that the Messiah was only for the Jews, not for the Gentiles (non Jews).  To remind themselves to KEEP themselves separate, the Jews chose not to eat certain foods, like pork. When the Spirit shows Peter a vision of a blanket full of all kinds of food, Peter knew that the message of Jesus was for all, Jews and Gentiles. This was a HUGE shift for the disciples.

Children will understand the concept of the "IN" crowd, or the popular people. They will be able to talk about what groups are looked down on, or excluded, or put down.

What makes someone a Christian?

  • The particular church they go to?
  • The color of their skin?
  • How good they are?

When new Christians join our church, do they have to agree with us about everything, and do whatever we say?

Does our church restrict people from joining? Taking Communion?

How do we welcome people who are DIFFERENT than us to our church? to our class?

How can you reach out with Jesus' love to people who are different than you?  ...to people who are being persecuted for being different?

(This additional question content was added by Wormy)


Supplies:

  • The Children’s Bible; magazines;
  • scissors,
  • shake shingles or pieces of wood, each with a picture hanger attached to the back;
  • water-based sealer glue and adhesive (such as Mod Podge);
  • paintbrushes;
  • poster board with the memory verse on it.


Teacher preparation:

  • Read the Bible passages.
  • The story will be read from The Children’s Bible, so you might want to preview this, too.
  • Read over the background material included in your teacher packet as you review the lesson plan.


Lesson Plan


Opening:

Greet the children and introduce yourself. Remember that you are interacting with a different group of students each week—some may not know you. Wear your nametag and make sure that the children are wearing theirs.

Dig:

Read the story from The Children’s Bible, pp. 393-394 (stories #347 and #348.) Since the memory verse is from the NRSV Bible and not The Children’s Bible, use the poster board with the verse on it and go over it with the children, explaining that the term “fear” here means respect, reverence, or awe, not being afraid.

Ask:

  • What does the word “diversity” mean? (For the Beginners, you might use the word “different” instead of diversity.) Let them try to define the word. It means “being different or varied.”
  • Encourage each child to tell something unique about his or her family, or about himself or herself. They may tell about holiday celebrations, foods they enjoy, colors they like, or things they like to do. Even if your group appears homogenous, the diversity within it will be surprising.
  • When all are done, state that even though we are all different, God loves us all.


Ask:

  • Now what do you think the term “cultural diversity” (or “cultural difference") means? After their explanations, explain that it simply means differences in “the ideas, customs, skills, arts, etc. of a people or group.”
  • How do we know if someone is from another culture? We know by learning about them—about their ideas, customs, skills, and arts—or sometimes we can tell by looking at their faces. If they know someone from another culture, let them tell the class about them.
  • State that even though we are different, God loves us all.


Tell the children that today we will celebrate the diversity of God’s children by making collages on wooden pieces. A collage is a hodgepodge of images that have a common theme or message, such as a jumble of magazine pictures related to sports pasted together on a poster board, looking much as if they might have been tossed down on a table together. A collage usually has a title and maybe other captions. Our common theme today will be the diversity of God’s children. Give each child a wooden piece. Have the children go through magazines and cut out pictures of people’s faces for their collage. Encourage a wide variety of racial and cultural diversity. Help them arrange the pictures on the wood. Glue the pictures to the wood with the sealer glue. Have them cut out and arrange letters for “All God’s Children” over the faces, and glue them down. Coat the entire surface with the sealer glue and leave them to dry. (They will dry to the touch in about 30 minutes.) Tell them that these collages will be hung in the outer hallway for all to see.

Reflection:

Let the children go around the table and view the collages of their classmates. As they do, remind them that God calls us to love and accept all people and, like Peter, we should learn to do that even if it becomes difficult at times.

Close with a prayer of your own, or use the following:
Loving God, thank you for all the different kinds of people in the world. Help us to be open to new learning about your far-reaching grace. Amen.

Journal Time:
Help the shepherd pass out the journals. Ask the children to answer the following question:
What is one way in which you are different from others?

Dismissal:
Have the children help you tidy up the workshop space, helping straighten up supplies to be used next week. Remind them that their collages will be displayed in the outer hall and they might want to bring their parents or special friends downstairs to view them. Dismiss them with instructions about where they are to go. If you complete the lesson with quite a bit of time left, you may allow the children to visit the Ewing McGee Children’s Library, being quiet so as not to disturb classes still in session.

Adjustments for younger children:
The Beginner class members might need your help or the help of the shepherd in recognizing faces of other cultures. They also might need some help in cutting, especially in cutting out the letters to spell the phrase in #4 above. In fact, it might help them if you and/or the shepherd cut out letters for them while they look for and cut out faces.


References:
Activity Center Leaders’ Guide for The StoryTeller Series, Creative Art Center and Outreach Center. Christian Board of Publication, St. Louis, MO, c. 1998.
Age Level Leaders’ Guide for The StoryTeller Series, Youth, Christian Board of Publication, St. Louis, MO, c. 1998.



A lesson written by Jan Marshall
from Brenthaven Cumberland Presbyterian Brentwood, TN

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.

Last edited by Luanne Payne
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