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Reply to "STORYTELLING, "SCIENCE," "MUSIC" and OTHER Workshop Lessons & Ideas for Shepherds, Angels, Stable"

Jesus' Birth through the Eyes of the Shepherds, Angelic Host, and the Stable


Storytelling and "Science" Workshop  - "Snow Playground" Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:
Ahead of time, create a "snow playground" by filling a room with at least 6" (deep) of white packing peanuts. The children will explore the 4 elements of the shepherd's encounter with God (Fear, Trust, Discovery, and Praise) in a very memorable way.

Scripture Reference:
Luke 2:1-20

Memory Verse:
“Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.”  Luke 2:10 (NRSV)

Concepts

  • God cares for us all.
  • Explore the 4 elements of the Shepherd’s Encounter with God:
    • Fear upon HEARING the news.
    • TRUSTING God.
    • DISCOVERING the Christ Child
    • PRAISING God
  • We can learn from the shepherds about how to respond to God

Lesson Objectives

  • Use the room full of packing peanuts to help us create gestures and actions to represent and think about the story.
  • Discuss the meaning of the story
  • Learn where to find the story in the Bible.

Leader Preparation:

  • Read the scripture passages and review curriculum sheet
  • Have already hidden a few or several small bibles in the peanuts before arrival.
  • Have already hidden the small item in the peanuts for the DISCOVERING section. (Maybe a coin or other small object)
  • Have vacuum ready at the entrance.

Materials List:

  • Lots of packing peanuts
  • Bibles
  • Coin or other small object
  • Vacuum
  • Whiteboard or Chalkboard


Lesson Plan

Opening- Welcome and Lesson Introduction

  • Before going in the Snow Playground, meet and introduce yourself to the children in the Hallway.  Remember you are dealing with a new group of students each week.
  • Go over the rules of the Snow Playground.
  • Tell the children what they will be doing inside the snow playground and that they must be paying attention throughout the lesson.

Dig- Main Content and Reflection

  1. Before entering the Snow Playground, ask…

  • Can anyone look up in their bibles the story of the Shepherds and Angels? (the kids more than likely don’t have a bible in their hands)
  • What? You don’t have a Bible?  Well, there are a few buried in the Snow Playground… Lets go find them! (let them go find the bibles buried in the peanuts) 

  2. When all the Bibles have been found.

  • (grades Prek-2) Help or explain to them where the Story can be found; New Testament, Gospel of Luke, etc.  Read the story to them
  • (grades 3-6) Make them find it even if it takes forever.  They should naturally help each other if there’s a struggle. If they need extra help finding the chapter, tell them something like, “how does a book usually go?  Beginning = birth, end = death”  When they find it, make them read it TWICE out loud taking turns reading. 

  3.  After the story has been read...

discuss what happened in the story.  When someone says one of the 4 Key Elements (Hearing, Trusting, Discovering, Praising) write it down on the board.  When all of them are up on the board, tell the class we are going to do some more activities to help us remember them.

Hearing and Trusting

  • What happened when the Angels appeared to the shepherds?  (the shepherds were filled with fear)  When we get scared, sometimes we fall backwards. 
  • Have everyone find a partner to make a big pile of peanuts, then take turns falling backward into the pile.  After everyone has done it a few times… have everyone freeze.
  • Ask, “Did falling into the snow hurt?” (no) Why?  (God catches us when we are scared and comforts us)  So if we fall, can we TRUST God to catch us? (yes)

Discovering

  • When the Shepherds trusted God and the Angels, did they do something about it? (yes, they went to go find Jesus in the manger) 
  • Tell them to find a difficult to find object that you hid.  If it’s really well hidden, have them all work as a team to find it.

Praising

  • After the shepherds discovered Jesus, and after they returned back to where they came from, what did they do? (They glorified and praised God) 
  • So lets praise God with the peanuts for sending Jesus to us!  Throw the peanuts in the air!  Praise Party!

Reflection Time:

After a few minutes of having a praise party, have everyone sit and review the actions that we did. 

  • What were the 4 things the shepherds did in the story?
  • What did we do for Hearing? and Trusting? Discovering? Praising?
  • How do we hear God in our everyday lives?
  • When we hear God in our everyday lives, how should we respond?

Closing:

Prayer: Thank you God for keeping the promise of long ago to send the Savior of the world, the Prince of Peace.  Thank you for the shepherds who brought this great message to the world.  Help us to learn how to respond to You when You call us.  Help me be a good shepherd and share the good new of Christ.  Amen.

Tidy and Dismissal: 

  • Have the kids push back the peanuts away from the entrance area. 
  • Have them line up at the door and have them brush off as much of the peanuts as they can, using a partner if needed. 
  • Have the teacher at the door with the vacuum and one at a time get as much off with the vacuum as possible. 
  • When all the kids have been cleaned, they can get their shoes back on. And be dismissed.

Resources:

St. Elmo's Choir Rotation Writers Group. "Drama Workshop: The Shepherds and The Angels." 2001.  Web.

Faith Challenge Lesson Sets at Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church.  "Shepherds and Angels." 2005.  Web.


 

A lesson written by Chris Stuberg from:  St. Mark's Lutheran Church
Bowling Green, OH

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

Last edited by Luanne Payne
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