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Reply to "GAMES and "SCIENCE" Workshop Lessons and Ideas for Palm Sunday"

Palm Sunday

Science Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

This Science lesson discusses why Jesus cries for Jerusalem as he begins his Palm Sunday journey -- look at it through the lense of potential and kinetic energy (Jerusalem = potential/unused energy, and Jesus = kinetic).

Then, the second set of demonstrations (by measuring object displacement with water) looks at how Jesus' presence in the Temple leaves no room for the merchants (because only one object can occupy a space at one time and only God's way and understanding is the right one).

Scripture Reference:

Luke 19:29-48

Themes:

  • Opposition
  • Potential
  • Abide


Materials List:

Make sure you have enough supplies so each student can reproduce your demonstration.

  • Rubber bands
  • Ping pong balls
  • (used) Tennis
    balls; optional
  • Washers (glue a washer on to the tennis balls so that bouncy balls stay on top of
    tennis ball when dropping them)
  • Two same-sized tubs/buckets filled with water (Dollar Store is a good place for this)
  • A very large tray that can hold all the water that is in one of those buckets (Dollar
    Store, again)
  • Empty soda or water bottle
  • One empty milk jug (filled completely with water)
  • Two clear measuring cups (bought clear plastic cups and
    marked mLs on them)
  • Easy access to water – otherwise have the two tubs/containers filled to the top with water and the water bottle and milk jug also filled with water
  • Aquarium (don’t need this if the tubs/buckets are clear)
  • At least 2 segments of plastic tubing per class (each segment needs to be at least 3 feet long


LESSON


Opening:

Greet the children and introduce yourself and any helpers that you have. Explain what they'll be doing and what you hope they will learn today.

Open with a prayer,

Do:
For full lesson, see attachment.

From the attached lesson, here is the potential/kinetic part of the lesson, explained in first person.

Make sure all the kids get a chance to reproduce each of the following demonstrations/experiments.

Tell

  • While he’s crying, Jesus says that if Jerusalem had recognized the things that made for peace, then Jerusalem would not be destroyed.
  • When Jesus says this what he means is that if Jerusalem and all of Israel has paid attention to and been obedient to the ways that God called them to live, then as a country they would’ve known peace.
  • But Jerusalem and Israel did not do this.
  • And all the things that Israel could’ve been and done just did not happen.
  • This is a very sad waste of and loss of energy.


Explain and show Potential Energy

  • In science, the word “potential” is used to describe “stored energy.”
  • What this means is that an object has energy that it is not (yet) using.
  • For example, take this rubber band. [hold up rubber band and stretch it like you’re going to shoot it]
  • When I stretch it like this, what would happen if I let go of it? (it’d go flying somewhere)
  • But is it flying somewhere right this minute? (No)
  • So this is what potential means. The rubber band COULD fly, but yet it is NOT flying. The rubber band is NOT using its energy.
  • This is what Jerusalem was like. A stretched-out rubber band that never flew.


Explain and show Kinetic Energy

  • As I sit here with the rubber band ready to fly, don’t you want me to let it fly?
  • Is it frustrating to see all this energy just sitting here doing nothing?
  • Now we know just a little bit of the frustration that Jesus was feeling about Jerusalem’s potential, right?
  • [fire rubber band at the wall] Ah. That felt better.
  • When the rubber band IS flying and using its energy, we call that in-motion energy “kinetic energy”.
  • Another example of potential and kinetic energy can be shown with this tennis ball. (hold up tennis ball)
  • As I hold it here, not dropping it, what kind of energy is that? (Potential!)
  • And if I drop it (drop the ball on table top), what kind of energy is that? (Kinetic!)

Introduce Super Kinetic Energy

  • So as humans, we move around and do things, right?
  • And what kind of energy is that called? (kinetic)
  • So Jesus is crying for Jerusalem because they are not moving and acting in a way that God is calling them to act and live.
  • God calls the people to live and move in a way that makes their kinetic energy even greater.
  • We’re going to do an experiment now that helps show how our paying attention to God makes our kinetic energy even greater.

Explain and do Super Kinetic Energy experiment

  • So what I’m going to do is pass out to each one of you one ping pong ball and one tennis ball.
  • Do NOT bounce these until I tell you too. Failure to listen means that you will lose the opportunity to participate in this experiment, ok?
  • [Pass out ping pong balls and tennis balls]
  • Everyone stand up.
  • Hold in your hand the ping pong ball. Stretch your arm out before you and DROP (do not throw) the ping pong ball on the table top.
  • Did the ping pong ball bounce?
  • Did it bounce as high as you were holding it? (no)
  • So this is what its like when we live our life without God, our kinetic energy looks like this.
  • Now, take your ping pong ball and the tennis ball.
  • Hold the ping pong ball on top of the tennis ball (you’ll have to use two hands)
  • So what we’re going to do is arrange ping pong ball and tennis ball in a way that will allow you to drop the ping pong ball and the tennis ball at the same time, with the ping pong ball directly on top of the tennis ball when I say, GO.
  • Stretch your arms out at the same level as the first time you dropped the ping pong ball.
  • We’re NOT going throw, but DROP the ping pong ball and tennis ball at the same time.
  • Ready? We’re going to bounce them in 3, 2, 1….GO!
  • [ping pong balls will go everywhere and much higher and farther than the previous drop]

Discus Super Kinetic Energy experiment

  • Did the ping pong ball bounce higher than the first or second time?
  • The tennis ball gave the ping pong ball a lot more kinetic energy than the ping pong ball had by itself, didn’t it?
  • So if we think of the ping pong ball as us and think of the tennis ball as God, we can see why paying attention to and being obedient to God would be good for us, right?
  • We can also see how much energy we lose when we don’t live God’s way.
  • This is why Jesus is weeping/crying for Jerusalem.
  • Like I told you earlier, Jerusalem was the capital city of the country of Israel, just like Washington DC is the capital of America.
  • Jerusalem and Israel had all this POTENTIAL energy that God wanted it to live, so that it could show the world how good Life could be when a community follows God. But that’s not what Jerusalem was doing. And as we’ve just learned, potential energy is energy that is NOT being used.
  • That's a sad thing. Having a lot of potential and then never actually turning it into kinetic energy is a really sad thing.

Transition to water displacement demonstrations

  • Maybe you’re wondering why Israel chose to not use their potential.
  • Well, that’s what the next part of the story helps us to see.
  • After Jesus cries for Jerusalem, he goes into the Temple and then what does he do? (cleans it out)
  • He does this because the Temple is filled with people who are selling things that are to be used in the Temple (if asked what the people are selling: They are selling animals to be sacrificed in the Temple – a religious tradition at that time).
    --And because there are so many people selling things, then there is no room in the Temple for it to be used as it is supposed to be used: As a place to worship God.
    --So Jesus clears the Temple so that there can be room to worship and pay attention to God.


Closing:

Close with a prayer and have the children assist with cleanup before they are dismissed.


For the full lesson download the attached Word document (found 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.

To view the other lessons in this lesson set click HERE for Storytelling and HERE for Arts & Crafts.

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




A lesson written by Nathanael Vissia from: rfour.org with additional improvements by the Rotation.org Content Team

Attachments

Last edited by Neil MacQueen
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