Ruth and Naomi - Women of Faith

Cooking Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Making Boaz Barley Soup to enjoy and take home. The soup will be put into a paper/disposable soup container that the children have decorated as a story reminder and with a prompt for families to drop off canned goods at your local pantry.

Disposable 16 ounce soup containers are inexpensively available in quantity at your favorite online retailer.

Supplies:

• 16 ounce soup containers, paper.
• Crayons to decorate the soup containers (not markers)
• 2 cans beef broth
• 2/3 cup quick cook barley
• 2 cans water
• 2 cans diced tomatoes with garlic and oregano
• 1 large package of frozen vegetables (or small packages of individual frozen vegetables such as corn, peas, carrots, green beans, etc.)
• 1 chopped onion
• several stalks celery sliced
• Crock pot
• Spoon
• Can opener
• Measuring cup
• Cutting board
• Knives for chopping/slicing
• Several different types of grains (barley, millet, buckwheat, flax, oatmeal, etc.)
• 2-3 large paving stones
• smooth stones (about 3-4 inches in diameter) – one per child
• Ziploc baggies

Preparation and Room Set Up:

• Read the Background Information and Lesson plan. Review the Behavioral Covenant and Teaching Tips.
• Gather all necessary supplies for activities.
• Identify a local food pantry that children can draw/write about on their soup container.

After presenting the Bible story and discussing key points, students will make Boaz’s Barley Soup, and also decorate their own "take home" soup container.

Preparation:
Gather necessary supplies
Have the children wash their hands.
Have children put on aprons.

Let’s Cook!
1. Let all the children participate!
2. Older children may slice or chop the vegetables with supervision by the shepherd.
3. Have younger children measure out the frozen vegetables and other ingredients, open the cans and bags and pour into the pot.
4. Put all ingredients into the crock pot.
5. Turn the crockpot on “high” and cook for 30 minutes to one hour until vegetables are tender. (The soup will be taken home and frozen until our July 27 field trip – so don’t worry if it doesn’t get completely cooked)

Discuss while preparing soup:

• Where were Naomi and her husband originally from? (Bethlehem)
• Why did they leave Bethlehem? (because of a famine)
• Where did they go? (Moab – show on map)
• Why did Naomi decide to leave Moab? (to return to her family in Bethlehem, because she had no means of support)
• How were widows supported in these times? (depended on the charity of friends and family – they had no way to support themselves – the kinsman redeemer practice)
• Where did Ruth go when she and Naomi returned to Bethlehem? (to glean grain in a field)
• Describe what “gleaning” is… (picking up leftover grain in the fields, an Israelite law to help the poor)

While the soup is simmering… Grinding Barley:

Supplies:

• Large flat stones (paving stone or block works well) 2-3
• Small smooth stones (about 3-4 inches across) – one per child.
• Ziploc baggies
• Selection of different types of grains (wheat, millet, flax, buckwheat, oatmeal, etc.)

Preparation:
Set out the paving stones on the tables.

Explain that Ruth was gleaning during the barley harvest – let the children examine the barley.
Explain that women in Bible times ground the grain between two stones. As they crushed the grains it turned into powder -- to make it into flour. Then they used the flour to make bread. If they had a larger millstone, they used that for grinding grain. (Show the children the millstone grinder that we used during Marketplace VBS) was done in Bible times. Place a few tablespoons of the barley onto the paving stone and let the children grind it into flour. The barley that is ground would be made into barley bread.

What types of bread do you know about? (wheat, whole wheat, white, banana, oat, 5 grain, etc.)

Explain that all bread is made using flour. Flour comes from grinding grain.

Place a few tablespoons of the different grains on the paving stones. Let the children grind the grains into flour.If desired, put some of the ground flour into Ziploc baggies for the children to take home.

Discuss as children are grinding the grain:
Remind the children that gleaning in Bible tunes helped to take care of the poor and hungry. We have hungry people in our communities too.
What are ways we help the hungry? (food pantry, meals on wheels, Sharing Christ ministry, etc.)
Discuss with the children ways that they have helped in the past. (many of them have brought food to give to the food pantry, collected money, etc.)
Tell the children that we are going to save our soup and freeze it when it’s cooked. Then on July 27 when we take our field trip we will take our soup to the Haven of Rest (a mission that helps homeless people).

Illustrate your Take Home Soup Container

Include a scene of Ruth gleaning, memory verse, and name/location of nearest food pantry

Include their name on lid.

Taste the soup, the pour and seal in take-home container.

If you have worship AFTER Sunday School, place their containers on a table in the worship space such near or o the Communion Table! as an offering so they are reminded to take it home.