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(WT) Parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin ~ Art Workshop

Rotation.org Writing Team

Parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin

Art Workshop


Summary of Activities

After a Bible study game of "finding the lost verses," students will create a large two-sided coin using embossing foil to help visualize and create a take-home memory of the scripture's "lost and found" meaning and God's promise to them. The lesson also demonstrates how to use coin "flipping" as a prayer tool!

Scripture for the Lesson

Lost Sheep: Luke 15: 1-7
Astray Sheep: Matthew 18: 10-14
Lost Coin: Luke 15: 8-10

The following key verses are to be written on paper plate coins in advance, then found and assembled by the students in the opening activity:

Red Group, Verses to Introduce Both Parables: Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him (Jesus). And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he (Jesus) told them this parable... Luke 15:1-3 (NRSVue)

Yellow Group, Verses for the Lost Sheep: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices." Luke 15:4-5 (NRSVue)

Blue Group, Verses for the Lost Coin: “...what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’  Luke 15:8-10 (NRSVue)

Lesson Objectives

See the Bible Background at Rotation.org for insights on this story and this set's complete list of objectives.

Advance Preparation and Materials

  • Read the Bible Background and scripture.
  • Gather and prepare the supplies listed below for the opening activity and the coin embossing project.
  • Emboss a sample coin so you understand your supplies and can guide others in the technique.

Prep for the Opening "Find the Scripture Coins" Activity and Scripture Reading:

Divide the phrases of the three groups of key verses of scripture seen above, writing them across a set of paper plates or round paper "coins." (Change the translation if needed.) You can also print the scripture and glue it to the paper circles. You will be scattering these "lost scripture coins" around the room for the children to find and assemble.  For younger children, spread the words across fewer plates.

Mark each of the blank backs of the paper plate coins with a color: red for Group 1 Verses, yellow for Group 2, and blue for Group 3 (this will help students know which verses go together).

CoinPlate-ScriptureScramble-[2)

  • You will need:
    • paper plates (or circles of paper or cardboard)
    • markers
    • brooms or large brushes (two or three of any type)
    • flashlights (two or three of any type, a cellphone's light is fine)
    • a white board or easel paper for the teacher


Preparing the Coins for Embossing:

  1. Ahead of time, the teacher will need to cut two 5" circles of embossing foil per student and one circle of craft foam sheet or 1/4" thick cardboard per student, (Cut a few extras just in case.) Cut the foam paper or cardboard circle about 1/8" LARGER in diameter than the two pieces of foil so that the sharp edge of the embossing foil won't stick out beyond the foam/cardboard, thus keeping any sharp edge away from fingers. If the embossing foil curls a bit when you cut it, roll it flat with a rolling pin to keep the edges down. If you will be using the alternative "heavy-duty kitchen" foil, cut those circles now. In both cases, the craft foam sheet or cardboard between the two pieces of foil will allow the student to press into the foil and it will give rigidity to the finished coin.
  2. Use school glue to glue the foil sheets to either side of the craft foam or cardboard circle, making sure you glue the edge of the foil to the circle.
  3. After the glue dries, your coins are now ready for embossing.

Supplies for Embossing the Coins

Collect a variety of blunt tip embossing sticks ("styluses"), such as the blunt end of a small wooden craft paintbrush and pencils with erasers. The pencil's eraser will slide nicely on both embossing and heavy-duty aluminum foil. The pencil tip can be used to trace lightly; however, it will poke through lighter foil if pressed.  Sharper pointed embossing styluses will poke through thinner foil. Craft-quality tooling foil will be more forgiving to younger hands.

You will also need scratch paper and pencils so students can doodle designs before embossing them onto the coins. Consider having 5" circles drawn on the paper for the students to use while thinking about their design layout.

About Embossing Foil

Embossing foil is also known as "tooling foil" or "craft foil." Embossing on foil is an ancient artistic method known as "repousee."  Embossing foil comes in pre-cut sheets or rolls and is easily found online and in some craft stores. Look for 36 or 38 gauge (the higher the thinner). Do not purchase anything thicker than 36 gauge or "metallic paper" as it won't work for this project. Also, check your price. A pack of twelve 5" 36 gauge squares from DickBlick online is less than 50 cents a sheet.

Silver, gold, copper, or bronze are all fine. They had all colors of coins in Jesus' day.

Embossing foil is much less likely to tear than heavy-duty kitchen foil. If using kitchen-quality foil, use a lighter hand.

The edges of real embossing foil can be sharp after cutting, which is why you cut the circle of foam/cardboard slightly larger. It leaves a nice raised edge too --just like a real coin

In this particular repousee project, students will not be embossing both sides of a single foil sheet; rather, they will be embossing one side of two different sheets that are glued to a circle.


Lesson Plan

Opening

Welcome children as they arrive and draw their attention to the brooms and flashlights. Ask them what each is used for. Talk about times they have used either a broom or a flashlight. Brainstorm times they have lost something very valuable and how they found it.

Say: Like the woman in one of our stories today who uses a light and a broom to find something very valuable that she's lost, we're going to "find" our scripture lesson for today that's been scattered around the room.

Play the "Finding & Assembling the Lost Scripture Coins" Game

Depending on the number of students and amount of time and space you have, the students can be split into three teams of 2 or more, or work together to find all of the "scripture coins."  You can assign a team to find and sweep together only the red plates, another group to only find the yellow, and another to find the blue. All of the teams can search at the same time or only when it's their group's turn. Your choice. You can scatter the plates (color side up) ahead of time on the floor, tables, shelves, or do so just before playing the game.

Game Instructions:

  1. Distribute the brooms and flashlights to the team(s).
  2. Students/teams can only broom the color of plates they have been assigned.
  3. Plates can only be touched with the broom when the flashlight is shining on the plate.
  4. Only one plate at a time can be swept by each team! Once they collect a plate by getting it to the "finish line" (a location of your choice), only then can they go back to find another.
  5. At the finish line/collection point, place the plates verse side down on a table.
  6. Once all of the verse plates have been collected, teams open their Bibles to Luke 15 and when the teacher says "GO" they can turn their team's verse plates right-side-up and sort the verse phrases into the correct order.  (This can be a bit of a race but don't emphasize competition, just the fun.)
  7. Once the verse coins are all placed in their correct order, invite the teams to read their verses out loud to the rest of the class, starting with the red verses, then yellow, then blue.

Now ask these questions...

Red verses:

  • Who are the Pharisees and scribes and why were they upset with Jesus?

Yellow verses:

  • Jesus is asking a question. Does a "good" shepherd leave 99 sheep to go find one lost sheep? What kind of shepherd would care so much about one sheep when he had so many more?

Blue verses:

  • The sheep was lost in the wilderness. What was the coin "lost" in?  (Think both literally and figuratively. How does a person become lost down in the dirt?)

Questions for all:

  • Who is the shepherd and woman in these parables?  (It's God!)
  • Who are the sheep and coins? (It's us!)
  • What do these parables tell you about the love of God for each one of us?
  • What are these parables calling us, the shepherd and woman's friends, to rejoice about?

Coin Making Activity

Explain using one of the blank coins you have prepared:
Just as there are two sides to any coin, a heads and a tails, Jesus gives us two important things to remember in each of these parables. On one side the sheep is lost, and then it is found. The coin is lost and then it is found. The shepherd and woman are worried and looking and then they are rejoicing!

Using special drawing tools called "styluses," you are going to "emboss" or "press" designs, words, and maybe even images from the parables into the foil of the two sides of your coin and take it home as a reminder of the wonderful promise that our Lord will always come find us and save us no matter how lost we are.

LostFoundDesignsBrainstorm with your students: Give each student a pencil and piece of scratch paper. Stand at the easel and draw two large circles labeled "lost" and "found." Begin sharing and brainstorming ideas about the images, words, and textures that could be embossed on the LOST side of the coin, then move to the FOUND side of the coin. As you do, move students to think about what it feels like to be lost, abandoned, hopeless, to think that God is angry or doesn't care—and represent these feeling with simple symbols and line styles (like angry lines and faces). Then do the same for "found"—the sense of relief, joy, gratitude, and love that we feel when we know God will never give up on us and will put us on his shoulder rejoicing. Invite them to practice drawing some of these shapes, textures, and key words on their scratch paper.

Now let them begin embossing their coin.

Suggestions:

  • Start with your name. How should it look on the "lost/sin" side and "found/rejoice" side?
  • Add a key word from the scripture and then add designs around it.
  • Encourage students to glean ideas from each other as they emboss.
  • Watch your time and move them to emboss the "found/rejoice" side.
  • Younger students may draw more literal images, like a scared sheep, whereas older students may want to represent "lost" with curly angry lines hovering over a small sheep.
  • Help younger students add at least one word to each side, such as "lost" and "found" or "sin" and "love." Add "Luke 15" to one side of the coin.
  • During the embossing, the teacher should continue to teach—expanding on what "lost" and "found" can mean to us. Lost in sin, lost in doubt, lost in apathy or anger or depression. Found as in "finding God," discovery and relief that your sins are forgiven. Rejoicing that God loves sinners, rather than judging or shunning others for their sins (like the Pharisees were self-righteously doing).
  • Give everyone a 2-minute warning to finish, and remind them that they can finish at home if needed.



LOST-Coin

Pictured: A "lost" side of an embossed coin with textures and words that symbolize and visualize the feeling of being lost, frightened, abandoned. Some students may be more visual than word-oriented, others may be more literal. In this example, the lines are angry and against and blocking.

A Reflection Using the Embossed Coins

Invite students to gather in a circle and quickly show their coins to the group. Tell them that they now have a tool for prayer. Show them how to flip their coin—letting it fall with one side facing up. Depending on which side is showing, they then come up with a prayer for either help (lost) or thanksgiving (found). See examples below. If needed, write the starter phrases on the board for all to see.

Practice by having one student flip their coin and help them come up with a one-line prayer. Then invite the other students to flip their coins all together and give them a moment to come up with a one-line prayer and be prepared to share it with the group when you call upon them. Be ready to suggest ideas and help students put their thoughts into the form of a prayer.

After everyone has offered a prayer, if you have time you can have everyone flip their coins again and offer another line of prayer. Conclude with a prayer of thanksgiving for Jesus and his wonderful parables.

Examples of Found Prayers:

  • Father, thank you for... finding me and saving me.
  • Jesus, make me... as forgiving and as joyful as you are.
  • Holy Spirit, help me... invite my friends to believe in you. Make me a person that others find welcoming and friendly.

Examples of Lost Prayers:

  • Father, I am sometimes lost in... selfishness, trouble, and sin. Thank you for loving me, and help me to feel you reaching out to guide me.
  • Jesus, keep me from wandering away from... your teachings, your church. Make your ways and presence clear to me.
  • Holy Spirit, comfort me when I am feeling... lonely, depressed, hurt.


Adaptations

For younger students:

Read the verse phrases on the coins to them and ask leading questions to help them put them in the correct order, such as "which of these two coins do you think goes next?"

Provide simple pictures, like a variety of emojis (facial expressions), for students to trace or emboss with. Write words such as "lost," "found," "love," and "sin" on the board for them to copy and help them spell other words as needed.

For older students:

Invite students to share the pressures that are keeping them from spending more time in prayer or keeping them away from Sunday School (being guided by God's Word).

Write and distribute the "starter" lines of prayer used in the Coin reflection so students can take it home. (Tape it to their coin so it doesn't get lost.)

For those with more class time:

Provide permanent colored markers and encourage students to decorate their foil designs with color. Color can be applied in the embossed lines or around them. Encourage students to choose colors that to them represent "lost/sin" and "found/rejoice."

For at-home use or a less expensive coin:

If embossing foil is unavailable, try using heavy-duty aluminum foil. Pencil erasers or other rounded-end items work best when embossing on aluminum foil, as will a light touch.

For more inspiration:

Check out this wonderful embossing with children webpage. Some Sunday School classes may have the time to color their embossing projects.

Written by Dena Kitchens and the Rotation.org Writing Team
Copyright Rotation.org Inc.

Attachments

Images (6)
  • Aluminum Embossing Foil Squares
  • CoinPlate-ScriptureScramble-(2)
  • mceclip0
  • Coin Plates Scripture Scramble
  • LOST-Coin
  • LostFoundDesigns
Last edited by Amy Crane
Original Post
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