Baking Sheep Shortbread

from an idea posted by Shannon Vance O'Campo

You'll be rolling out shortbread dough (or sugar cookie dough if you prefer) so have plenty of space, rolling pins and clean up time prepared!

Begin 

Because of the recipe, you'll likely need to have the cookie dough already prepared before you come to class. However, ROLLING OUT THE DOUGH is HALF THE FUN.

After you've rolled it into sheets, have the kids cut into the dough with a knife to make the shape of SHEEP.  Work with them so that the pieces are not too skinny.

Show them how to LIFT OFF the wastage dough, leaving the sheep dough shape still on the baking sheet.

While the cookies are baking....

See how much of the Psalm they remember. Read through Psalm 23 pausing at certain spots to have the kids say what comes next.  Toss out pieces of dough you've saved as rewards. Everybody loves cookie dough!

Talk about how fragile sheep are. They easily stumble, easily are led astray, get fearful, and don't like the dark.  Talk to the kids about how WE ARE LIKE SHEEP, and thus, why the Bible often describes God/Christ as the Good Shepherd.  

How do sheep know to follow and trust the Shepherd?  

Time to take the cookies out!

Closing Prayer:

Take a small ziploc bag and using a permanent marker and large white label, have the students write the words, "The Lord is your Shepherd, you shall not want."

Now put a cookie in it, seal it up, and pray over it. Challenge the kids to give away that cookie "within one minute of leaving class to someone you DO NOT KNOW."

Pray that we would all listen to and follow the Good Shepherd,

For the recipe, GOOGLE SHORTBREAD COOKIES

(we had a link, but recipe links tend to go dead fast)