David and Goliath

Art Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

The children will consider the presence of the Holy Spirit as their helper as they work with wire to create sculptures of David and Goliath or of themselves facing a “giant” in their lives.

Scripture Reference:  1 Samuel 17: 1-58

Memory Verse:  2 Samuel 22:2b-3 (NLT)

Objectives for rotation
(see list above)

Additional objectives for the Art Workshop
At the end of the session, the students will

• know that the Spirit of God was on David (1 Samuel 16:13).

Teacher preparation in advance:

• Read the scripture passages and lesson plan and attend the Bible Study, ...
• Learn the story so you can retell it with minimal use of your notes.
• Learn the memory verse.
• To our teachers at RCC: The design of this workshop is very intentional. The activities and discussion questions for this workshop were designed to meet the goals of the entire rotation and the educational objectives of the Rotation Model (tm) at River Community Church. While we feel it is important to follow the serendipitous leading of the Holy Spirit, please do not change the lesson plan without consulting a Curriculum Planning and Writing Team member.
• Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located.
• The bin with supplies is located in Children’s Ministries Office. Purchase or request additional supplies --- by August 31.
• Experiment with the wire to make sculptures so you are familiar with what the materials can and cannot do. See the illustrations and ideas at the Twisteez web site: https://www.twisteez.com.html check out lessons.

Room set-up:
There should be adequate tables for all the children to work and to allow their two sculptures to “interact.”

Supply List

• 2 Twisteez® Sculpture Wire per child: Pliable plastic-coated copper wire for sculpture and crafts. A rainbow of bright colors. Easy to cut with scissors or nail clippers. (Or some other brand of wire.) (Bulk pack available for $21.99 from Dick Blick: http://www.dickblick.com/zz334...p?param=0&ig_id=2029 )
• 4 small squares of corrugated cardboard per child. (experiment with sizes, but some 1x1, 1x2,2x2 and 2x3)
• scissors
• markers
• Optional memento: motivation stickers (the ones teachers use to encourage students — “good job!”, “way to go!”, etc.)
• Shepherd time: journal page with the memory verse written on it.

Presentation

Opening-Welcome and Introductions:
Greet the children and introduce yourself. Wear your name-tag. (Remember you are interacting with a different group of students each week who may not know you.) Make sure the children are wearing name-tags. If not, ask the Shepherd to supply a temporary badge.

We had an opening prayer during the gathering time, but you may open with prayer if you feel led to do so.

Explain the purpose of this workshop: “Today as we consider David and Goliath, we will work with wire to create sculptures of David and Goliath, or of you facing a ‘giant’ in your life.”

Scripture/Bible Story:

Say, “First, we are going to read one of the stories in the Bible from right before the story of David and Goliath. Samuel was a prophet, someone who listened to God and told people what God said. God told him to go to Bethlehem to anoint the next king of Israel, one of the sons of Jesse. Let’s see what sort of man God told Samuel to choose to be king.”

Read the scripture: 1 Samuel 16: 6-13. (Encourage the children to use their Bibles in looking up verses. Show them how to use the table of contents to find 1 Samuel.)

Ask: do you have brothers or sisters (or cousins)? Are they older or younger? How does the oldest treat the youngest? If you were playing a game and needed a team captain or leader, would you pick this youngest brother/sister/cousin? How would you react if someone else selected him/her?
How do you feel about the story we just read where through Samuel God selected the youngest son, a shepherd boy, to be the next king?

Why do you think God had Samuel select David?

David was not big and strong. But there was something special about him.

“Think about the story of David being selected as we hear/review the story we are focusing on this rotation.” Tell the story of David and Goliath. For a good retelling, see Talkable Bible Stories. Consider combining “David’s Youth” (a story about David protecting the sheep from wild animals) with “David and Goliath.” Bridge the two stories together by saying, “Time passed. David grew from young shepherd boy to young man. Meanwhile, in another part of Judah, King Saul....” (If you need notes, hold them in your Bible to reinforce that the story is from the Bible. Otherwise, hold your closed Bible in your hands.)

I wonder how David was able to defeat Goliath with just rock in a sling?! David wasn’t very big. He didn’t have armor or powerful weapons.

Remember when we talked about the gift of the Holy Spirit that came to believers at Pentecost? And remember the Fruit of the Spirit is a mark of those who have been blessed by God with His Spirit? How can you tell the Spirit of God was on David?

Dig- Main Content and Reflection:

Application:

Before we begin our sculptures of David and Goliath, let’s take a moment to think about what posture and body language tell us. Our sculptures do not talk with voices, so they need to show us what they are feeling and thinking.

Ask for two volunteers to be living sculptures. Ask one to stand straight and tall and the other to relax (or even slouch). “Look at each person and consider (based only on his/her posture): who looks more competent? Who looks more comfortable? Who looks trustworthy? Why?”

Ask a volunteer to stand looking up defiantly and one to cower as if afraid. “Do you think the person standing tall could be afraid, too? How could he/she change his stance to look afraid without cowering?”

Ask a volunteer to stand still and show anger. Ask a volunteer to stand still and show joy.

As you work with the wire, try to think about the action in the story in a three dimensional way. Feel free to ask a friend or the Shepherd or me to pose as models for your sculpture so you can think about the way a human would stand. Experiment with the wire. It bends easily and bends back again. See how different shapes change the mood of your artwork.

Make the sculptures (instructions from the Twisteez web site — see https://www.twisteezwire.com/t...gure-with-cardboard/ for photos illustrating the steps):

• Place the head on first: Insert the two ends of the Twisteez wire into an open edge of a square of corrugated cardboard. Push the ends of the wire thru the cardboard so they come out the opposite edge. This forms a large loop at one end. Then push the cardboard to the end of the loop so both ends of the Twisteez are equal in length.
• Arms and Hands: (1) Bend both ends of the wire into equal length loops to form the two arms. Leave plenty of extra wire to form the body and legs. (2) Twist one loop to create an arm and a hand. (3) Twist the other loop to create a second arm and hand.
• The Torso: Slide the second piece of cardboard up through the wire to form the torso of the figure.
• Legs and Feet: Repeat the same process as forming the arms and hands. Form two loops with the ends of the Twisteez wire. Then twist the loops to form both legs and feet.
• Have fun posing the wire figure! Use markers to add a face to the cardboard, if desired.

Pose your sculptures to represent David and Goliath’s attitudes in the story toward each other. Share your poses and the attitudes they represent. Pose the two figures to represent you and someone in your life you aren’t getting along with (or a Giant problem). Talk about how God can help you just like he helped David.

While the children are working, talk about

• things they are afraid of (monsters, ghosts, dogs, bullies). Do not put down those fears, but encourage them to think about how they can find confidence in God as David did.
• challenges they face in life.
• what kind of weapons do we have in our everyday battles?
• their sculptures and the poses and what they represent.

The sculptures may not stand on their own in the poses the children want. If they cannot balance the sculptures, that is okay. Have them hold the sculptures up as they discuss the poses and encourage them to lean them against a lamp on their desk or something else at home.

Pulling it all together (closing discussion):

• I wonder what God could see special about a little boy like David?
• I wonder what the soldiers and Saul thought when they saw Goliath the first time?
• I wonder what David thought? Do you think he saw an impossibly strong giant adversary? Or did he see someone defying God?
•  Whose point of view was closer to God’s?
• I Samuel 16:13b: “...and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day on.”
• Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, 4:13: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (NRSV)
• Reflect on these two verses. What do they have in common? Do you honestly feel like you can do all things with God’s help? What can we do/where can we turn when we feel helpless?
• Remember Esther? There was a giant problem and she spent three days fasting and praying before she faced the king. Did David spend time fasting and praying? David acted right away, but I wonder if he was praying as he acted?

Review the memory verse.
Have the children echo the verse as you say it section by section.
“The LORD is my rock,
my fortress,
and my savior;
my God is my rock,
in whom I find protection.
He is my shield,
the strength of my salvation,
and my stronghold,
my high tower,
my savior,
the one who saves me from violence.”
2 Samuel 22:2b-3
As they get familiar with the words, give them longer phrases to echo. When they seem comfortable with the verse, ask for volunteers to say it alone. Congratulate all on a job well done.

At 11:50 a.m. ask the Shepherd to pass out the journal pages and pencils/markers. Suggestion: You may wish to give the children a motivation sticker to paste in their journal as a reminder of the story and activity.

Shepherd Time:
Give each child a journal page with the memory verse printed on it. Have them reflect on something they can do with God’s help and write about it or draw a picture of themselves doing it.

This is meant to be a time of reflection and introspection. Writing about faith helps clarify lessons. Children may draw pictures, list highlights of the day’s activities, rephrase the memory verse, or respond to the question. The journal pages will be saved and given to the children at the end of the school year.

You may want to provide an extra activity or worksheet for children who finish their journals quickly, such as coloring sheets, crossword puzzles, word searches, games. See the Workshop Leader’s Background Notes and rotation.org for ideas.

At noon, ask the students to turn in their journal pages and sit quietly for prayer.

Closing:

 “Take your sculptures home with you. Use them to tell someone else our story. And whenever you look at them, remember that God is with you as He was with David when David fought the giant Goliath.”

Dear God, thank you for sending your Spirit to be with each one of us always. Help us to feel your Spirit, to hear your Spirit, and to follow your Spirit as we are led to live lives that show the world that we are yours. Help us to always remember that we should not be afraid or discouraged because your Spirit is with us wherever we go. Amen.

Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help tidy the room. Give any specific instructions for clearing the workshop room.
Give everyone the parent take-home flyer the first week of the rotation; give it only to children who were absent and have not yet received it the other weeks of the rotation.

Additional Suggestions:
You will need to decide how best to adjust the lesson for older and younger students. Keep the children active and involved in activity. Do what works for you and the children. Some ideas:

Younger Children:

• For classes composed primarily of pre-readers, show the children how to find the passage in the Bible and then have them do it. After everyone has found the passage, have them close their Bibles and listen while you read.
• Be aware that some children will need help threading the wire through the cardboard as their fine motor skills are less developed.
• Focus on the first part of the memory verse only.

Resources

• Richards. Larry. Talkable Bible Stories. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Fleming H. Revell, 1991.
• Twisteez® Sculpture Wire: Instructions and pictures for using wire to make sculptures of people: https://www.twisteez.com.html check out lessons.
• Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

This lesson was written by Amy Crane for River Community Church in Prairieville, Louisiana. 

Copyright 2003 Amy Crane. Permission granted to freely distribute and use, provided the copyright message is included.

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