Rotation.org Writing Team

Psalm 8: When I look to your heavens

Heavenly Cookie Workshop 

Summary of Activities

Students will decorate already-baked "Psalm 8 Heavenly Cookies" using a special technique, then share them with others to encourage all to look for God's message in the nighttime sky as the Psalmist saw it.

Scripture for the Lesson

Psalm 8: 3-5, if not all 9 verses.

When I look at your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings
that you are mindful of them,
Mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.

Lesson Objectives

See the Bible Background at rotation.org for this set's complete list of objectives. 

Preparation and Materials

• Read the Bible Background and scripture.
• View the instructional video and prepare to show to students (see notes at the end of the lesson about viewing/downloading it).
• Assemble the already baked cookies (3" or bigger in size)
• Toothpicks for each student to manipulate the icing once it's on the cookie.
• Chopsticks or bamboo skewers for manipulating the icing on the cookie.
• Piping bags of Royal icing: dark blue, lighter blue, red, and white. "Royal" has meringue powder or egg whites in it to make it harden. You can purchase it pre-made in piping bags, or make your own by consulting a baking website.
• White paper to line the cookie trays or place inside the foil you will wrap around the cookies being shared with others.
• Markers to write/draw on the white paper.
• Foil to wrap cookies for sharing and to go home.
• Hand sanitizer.

Lesson Plan

This lesson plan requires pre-made cookies from home or store. Be sure they are big and sturdy enough for students to handle. Sugar cookies are recommended over more crumbly varieties. Be sure to purchase "snappy" sugar cookies or use a recipe that makes cookies that don't crumble! 

The lesson activity focuses on designing the cookie to represent what the Psalmist sees, and writing key words and synonyms from the Psalm on the cookies. 

In addition to decorating cookies for themselves, they will be decorating cookies to share and remind others to look for God's message to them in the nighttime sky. They can be shared with members of the congregation, put out for fellowship time, or given to family and neighbors. 

The following "Galaxy Cookie" instruction video shows how to pipe the various colors of icing onto the cookies and then mix and draw them with a toothpick.  It's a simple technique that younger students can easily master. Several design ideas are presented in the video. In addition to the cosmic background on the cookie seen in the video, your students will be adding these additional things to the cookie:

1. Stars and a Moon (v3)
2. A human being (v4)  
3. Key word(s) from the Psalm discussed during the Bible study.
   
   
   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xf1A8q2UA0

Opening Bible Study

Welcome your students and ask them what their favorite "space movie" is. (Star Wars perhaps?)

Show and discuss several beautiful pictures of God's universe (several are attached). Ask them if they have ever seen pictures like these. If they can guess what they are. 

Ask them if they have ever looked up at the nighttime sky and wondered what it would be like to travel between the stars, go to the moon or Mars.

Read Psalm 8 together out loud.

Now write the following words on the board –one at a time, and see if your students can guess which word in the Psalm they match, the same word (synonym).  The correct answer is in parentheses.  (The word list will be used to decorate the cookies.)  The synonyms are from the Bible Background. They are what the Psalmist's words mean in Hebrew.

• Awesome, Excellent, Wonderful (Majestic)
• Defense, Wall  (Bulwark)
• Encircled, Surrounded (Crowned)
• Presence, Shine, Beauty (Glory)
• Majesty, Decorated, Exalted (Honor)
• Take Care, Rule (Dominion)

Watch the video of how to decorate galaxy cookies.  (For younger children or if short on time you may simply give a demonstration.) Note the different types of "nighttime sky" designs that can be created. Note how the decorator uses the piping bag and then the toothpick.  

Decorating the Cookies

Gather around the table with your decorating supplies and pre-made sugar cookies. Give each student several toothpicks, a wooden skewer or chopstick, and a paper plate to work over. Remind them again of the steps to the decorating techniques. You do NOT want the icing of the cookie to turn into a "slather of blue icing with white dots." It's important to use the techniques seen in the video to achieve the end result –which is a VISUAL connection to the heavens described in Psalm 8.

The piping bag is not your drawing tool, It's the icing application tool. 
The toothpick or small wooden skewer is the drawing-decorating tool.

Creating the Galaxy -Nighttime Sky Cookies:  Technique and Steps

Before you start, sanitize hands!

1. Have the children select a blank cookie and place it on their paper plate.
2. Take the darker color piping bag of icing and squirt skinny rings of icing from the outer edge toward the middle of the cookie –leaving room in the center for a color change (as seen in the video). Change colors per your design needs. 
3. Pull and mix the cosmic colors with a toothpick or stick. Do not over mix. 
4. Add TWO DOTS of white icing on the cookie and pull it with your tools into the shape of a human being (v4). This is an important visual addition to our design and is not seen in the instructional video.  
5. If desired, add TINY DOTS of white icing to the blue background above the human figure to represent the stars and moon. Star dots can be applied with the toothpick. To make the moon, pull a dot of icing with a toothpick, rather than trying to pipe a crescent shape.
6. Last but not least, add a key word or words from the Psalm onto your cookie. You wrote several on the board during the opening Bible study (glory, honor, majesty, etc.).

Decorate several cookies (at least one to eat, one to take home, and one to share!)  

Sharing - Reflecting

Once all the cookies are made, you now need to divide them up, sending some home, and preparing others to be given away to spread the message of Psalm 8. Discuss who you will be sharing the cookies with, and why we want to send them this encouraging word from Psalm 8.

You may prepare a tray for members of the church, or package individual cookies to give to special members. You may use a tray to hold lots of cookies, or have squares of foil to wrap them individually. In either case, invite students to cut a piece of paper to fit in the package or tray and have them write the following things on the paper using a marker.

1. The title: "Psalm 8," 
2. And an encouragement, such as, "Look up into the heavens," or, "You are crowned with glory and honor by God," ...or some similar encouragement based on the Psalm and your study. This last statement serves as a 'reflection.' As students write down an encouragement, ask them to read it out loud so that others can hear it.

Adaptations and Tips

For Younger Students: Have the teacher apply the rings of royal icing on the cookie, and then let students use their toothpick to "pull" the icing into galactic shapes the moon, the human. Have them use dots of white icing for stars.   Have helpers apply the word that the student chooses from the list.

For those short on time:  The day before, ice the baked cookies with dark blue royal icing, so that students can focus on what to apply to the blue background. Apply stars and moon and "Milky Way" designs using the toothpick method seen in the instruction video (pipe a small amount of icing onto the cookie, then 'pull' it with the toothpick into the desired shape.

Who to share the cookies with?  Consult your pastor. Perhaps you have a group in the church or deacon's ministry that could distribute them that day.

Royal Icing Tips:   Royal icing takes several hours to harden all the way through, however, you can get the top to harden in about ten minutes by placing it under a fan or in the fridge. After that, you can lay wax paper between layers. Use a minimal amount of icing.  In addition to making your own (and using disposable piping bags), you can buy it pre-made in piping bags.

You can also sprinkle colored sugar or edible glitter (comes in silver and gold, for example) on top of the icing to make the nighttime sky. Press into the royal icing using a small piece of wax paper.

Don't have an internet connection in your classroom?  Here's how to download the videos from YouTube. You can then put them on a thumbdrive to plug into your smarttv or laptop. Easy-peasy.

Written by the Rotation.org Writing Team
Copyright 2017, Rotation.org Inc.