The Widow's Mite

Puppet Workshop

(Our Drama room is called- “The Book of Acts")

Grades 3-6

Concepts:

• A gift is special when it is a sacrifice.
• An offering can be money, time or talents.

Lesson Objectives:

• This lesson will focus on helping children understand the “spirit of giving”. Jesus taught that the widow’s gift was more valuable because she was sacrificing so much to give it. This suggests that our gifts are more special, too, when we sacrifice or “give up” something.
• Children will explore this idea of “giving up” (sacrificing) in their gifts to others.
• They will also discuss that gifts are not always money or presents, but can be time or a talent shared with someone as well.
• Have fun using puppets.

Leader Preparation:

1. Read the scripture passage and Bible Background
2. Familiarize yourself with the lesson before Sunday

Supplies List:

• Bible
• Copies of skits, teacher could cut scripts apart so not as many copies are needed. http://www.kirkofkildaire.org/...ons/WidowPuppets.htm
• 2 “people” puppets for each of the 5 skits, or they can share the puppets if there are not enough
• Puppet theatre

Presentation

Opening - Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Welcome the children as they arrive. Tell them that we are going to start off the new Sunday School year with a new theme. Last year’s was, Best Friends, Blessed Friends, and this year’s is, Come Join the Circle. To start off the circle of Bible characters that we will meet this year is a very humble and generous woman that we know only as a “widow”. What is a widow? (Allow time for answer.)Before we meet this widow, let us begin with prayer.

Dear God, we ask that you be with us today as we begin a new Sunday School year. Help us to be good listeners as we learn about today’s story and how we can apply it to our daily lives. Show us how to live our lives as witnesses to your truth. And all God’s children say, AMEN.

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Read Story: Mark 12: 41 – 44

1. After reading the story, begin a discussion of it with the following ideas. What was different about the widow’s gift compared to the rich givers? The widow was very poor. The other people had plenty of money. The widow gave only a few pennies but the rich people gave many dollars. The rich people didn’t need the money they gave; it was extra. The widow gave all the money she had. Jesus said the widow’s gift was bigger than all the others. How can that be? Jesus was thinking about the effect the gift had on the giver when he said this. For the widow, the gift was everything she had. She could not give any more even if she wanted to. But for the rich people, it was just a little bit of what they had. Jesus said that made the widow’s gift much more valuable even though in dollars it was not worth as much as what the rich people gave.
2. This would be a good time to introduce the word “sacrifice”. Help the children understand that a sacrifice is something that requires the giver to “give up” something. The giver is not just giving something unneeded or unimportant to them. We probably have to do without something because of what we give.
3. Is giving money the only things that we have to give? No, we can give anything we have: our time, our talents or abilities. What might be some examples of this? Allow for any answers, visiting the sick, singing in a choir, helping a younger child with homework, sending a card, etc.

Application:
Note: there are 5 short skits rather than one longer script. Each skit has 2 characters. If time is a problem, or class size, one or two skits could be eliminated, or children can act out more than one.

1. Give each child a skit script and 2 puppets.
2. Allow the groups a few minutes to practice their script.
3. After each skit, the teacher could ask the puppet a question about some aspect of the skit. The puppets should respond. (Ex. Speaking directly to the puppet “Don’t you wish you could spend that money on something for yourself?")
4. At the end of each skit, ask the performers to sit down and have a brief discussion about which gift in the skit would be considered ‘special’, ‘best’, or ‘most valuable’ by Jesus based on the “Widow’s Mite” story.
5. Act out the subsequent skits allowing time for a brief discussion at the end of each.

Spend a few minutes talking about how sacrificial giving makes the giver feel. Ask the children how they feel when they give a gift they have made or they have earned the money to buy. Do they feel differently when they have been involved in the giving in these ways rather than a parent just buying something for them to give?

Journal Activity:
Ask the children to write the name of a friend at the top of the page and the name of a relative about half way down the page. Below these names, ask the children to write at least 3 gifts they could give to this person that they would not buy at a store.

Closing:

Dear Jesus, Thank you for teaching us how important it is to offer our gifts of time, talents, and money to do your work among your people. Help us to see ways that we can give to others that do not involve money. Lord, help us to be generous and cheerful givers. And all God’s children say, AMEN.

Resources:

• Lesson taken from Widow's Mite Puppet lesson of Kirk of Kildaire http://www.kirkofkildaire.org/quest/contents.html

A lesson written by Kathy from: Augustana Lutheran Church,
St. James, MN