The "Boat and Butter" Sunday School lesson

from the Rotation.org Writing Team's "Peter Sinks, Jesus Saves!" Lesson set
Matthew 14:22-33

This really fun and popular lesson about Peter sinking in the waters and having to have Jesus rescue him has the kids making tasty butter through a series of "shaking and rolling" activities that illustrate "Jesus boat" things like "life can have rough seas," "learning to trust Jesus," and "we're in this together --turning milk into cream, doubt into faith."

In short: Kids make their own butter as they roll and shake heavy cream in small plastic "tupperware-type" container.

For the renewal theme:
It's time to shake things up!  Time to get in the boat, set sail, brave the seas, and make some butter!

The "Shaking" Activity includes the use of a wonderful music video, Finding Favour's "Shake the World" to help that cream turn into tasty butter.

when the sons and daughters start to singing this song,
then everybody all around them will start singing along,
we're gonna shake the world

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EXCERPTS from the lesson plan that give you the basic idea...

The butter-making activity lets you talk about the story while they transform their milk into butter. You can't make butter sitting still! You gotta shake it up!   Afterwards, they'll love putting their butter on breads you've brought, and maybe even some jam. Has God shaken your faith and started to turn it into butter? Who do you need to share God's tasty goodness with?

This activity can easily be transformed into an intergenerational or Rally Day event with a "transform" theme.

After introducing and discussing the story...

Butter Shaking Activity 1: Rolling, scooting, and shaking the jars "across the sea"

Students sitting on the floor will roll their container across the sea to another student who shakes it and then rolls it back. Do this one pair of students at a time, asking story-related and "stepping out in faith" questions in-between. Go easy and expect some fun results from the containers rolling around and maybe even colliding. And remember: When they are not rolling they are to keep shaking their container!

Say and Do: Difficult or challenging things in your life are like waves and wind threatening to sink you or send your life out of control. When you roll your butter container, name something that scares you or would upset you (for example, losing a friend or a pet).

Butter Shaking Activity 2:  "We're in this boat together"

Say: Jesus knew he wouldn't always be here on earth walking around, so he left a different kind of "body" for us to be part of. We call that body "The Church." Sometimes we in the church describe that body as a BOAT, did you know that?  

What are some of the jobs in our boat? What can you do to help? Where do we need to go?

As part of being in a boat together, sit in a circle and pass the butter containers from one person to the next as quickly as possible (still shaking the containers). If one drops, that's fine—just work together and keep passing vigorously.

Butter Shaking Activity 3:  "Shake (Transform) the World!"

Have this awesome music video ready to go on your monitor or tablet. The lyrics are visible in the video, so be sure your screen is big enough for all to be able to read them.  

Introduce the video by saying:  Jesus works through his disciples to transform the world and transform people's lives. Transform from bad to good, from weak to strong, unbelief to belief. Disciples are followers of Jesus like us who step out into the world and shake it up! In this song, you're going to hear that message load and clear.  As we listen to and watch the song,  use the music to move your containers to the beat, and whenever you hear the word 'shake' —SHAKE BIG to help TRANSFORM our cream into butter.

Stirring in a bit of salt and spread the button on crackers or bread as you celebrate being a part of a faith community that works together to Shake Up the World.