The Prodigal Son

Games Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activity: 

This Games lesson uses two games to illustrate the concepts of "discovery" and "confession" that helps the son participate in the "restoration" of his relationship between him and the father. The first game is a team-based "hide and then find" activity that highlights the "discovery" and "confession" concepts. The second activity involves the writing of one's name, and then getting dizzy and writing one's name again to help demonstrate the concept of "restoration." 

For the full lesson and needed supplies, download the attached Word doc at the bottom of this post. Note that the first three pages of the document are "background" and that the actual lesson starts on page 4 (which is also where you will find the supply list). 

From that attached lesson, here are the games with some of the teaching comments (in first person) included.

 
Presentation

Opening - Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Greet the children and introduce yourself.

Open with a prayer.

Tell:  We’re going to read a story that Jesus tells to others. This type of story is called a parable. A parable is a teaching tool used to help people think about a certain idea. This particular parable is often called, “The Prodigal Son.”  Prodigal means “really really wasteful.” But the story isn’t just about the son.  It’s also about the father. Listen for what the father says to his both his younger and older son.

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Read Luke 15:11-32

Ask:  (answers in parentheses)

Tell: In this story, the father is a lot like God and we are a lot like the son. We have been given a lot by God, but yet we want more. And God gives it to us, like the father gave the inheritance to his son. But when we mess-up and lose (or misuse) what we’re given, then, if we come back to God, God welcomes us back with open arms.  

Explain:  The younger son has to learn something about himself before he can appreciate and like the life he has with his father:  He has to discover what life is like without his father. We’re going to play a game of discovery now. 

(Refer to the attached Word doc for game instructions on page 6.)

Then, Ask:

Tell:  This type of discovery is often what happens for us.  We hear how life with God is better, but sometimes we have to go see for ourselves what life without God is like. Very often, that doesn’t end so well. But if we choose to come back to God and live life God’s way, God welcomes us back with love, joy and open arms. In the story, when the son returns to his father, he shares how he separated himself from his father. When we share something that we did wrong that is called a confession. The younger son confessed to his dad how he had messed up. His father is very happy and excited to have his son home and their relationship is restored. To restore a relationship is to make it right. We’re going to do an activity that demonstrates what restoration looks like.

Explain Activity:

• Let’s line up and make the lines as equal in number as possible.
• I have a two big sheets of paper here on two easels very close to the start of each line.
• I want the person in the front of each line to write their name on the paper in front of them in the upper left hand corner.
• Once you do that, go to the back of the line.
• The next person, I want you to write your name under the first person’s name, but leave some room so that you could write the first person’s name in-between your name and that person’s name.
• (Repeat process through until everyone’s name in the line is on the sheet)
• Now, each line gets one tennis racket.
• Each person in line has to put the top of the racket on the ground and then put their forehead on the bottom of the handle and spin around 10 times. After you do that, you need to write your name right under where you wrote it the first time.
• First line done, wins. So don’t take too long on your spins.
• On your mark, get set, Go!
• Note: For younger students who may not be able to write, have them draw a square or a stick figure instead. 

Do Spinning game:

• When comparing your two signatures, what one looks better? (the first one…hopefully!)
• Now let’s pretend that your first signature is what your signature usually looks like so that after you’re done being dizzy, and you wrote your name, it’d look like the first signature.
• Does anyone think they can write their name like they did the first time? Or are you still too dizzy? (Let them all try…one more time through the line!)
• Ah-ha! You’re mind and body has been restored, has been made right. It got a little off-course when you got dizzy, but now that you are restored, your signature looks like it did in the beginning.
• And this is what happened with the father/son relationship in the story.
• The relationship was good, but then the son went away and lived his own way. This made the relationship not work at all, just like your second signature didn’t work very well.
• But then the son realized that the first way was better and came back. And then, like your third signature, the relationship between father and son was restored.
• This is how it can be with us and God as well.
• Jesus tells us this story so that we can remember that when we get dizzy and make some silly decisions, we can come to God and confess the mistakes we made, ask for help and then experience God welcoming us back with joy and love.
• And that’s the good news for today!

 If you like this lesson, and are interested in more, visit 
www.rfour.org/curriculum.html.

A lesson written by Nathaneal (rfour.com)