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Art and Cooking Lessons, Ideas, Activities, and Resources for Teaching the Story of Deborah in Sunday School.

Post your ART and Cooking lessons, ideas, activities, and resources for teaching the Story of Deborah in Sunday School.

Judges, Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Barak, Sisera, Gideon, Samson, etc.
Bible lessons about Deborah -with Art, Craft, Painting, Construction, Drawing, etc.
 
Use the "Post Reply" button below to post your art lessons for teaching the Story of Deborah in Sunday School. 
 
Supporting Members:

Be sure to see our Writing Team's set of lessons about the Judges (including Deborah). Everyone can see the lesson summaries and Bible Background for that special set.



Deborah

An Art Workshop Lesson
by member Peggy Franciosa, Thorndale UMC, Thorndale, PA 

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Children will make sponge art to demonstrate the pattern and acts of disobedience by the Israelites and how they grew weaker with each one. 

Scripture Reference:
Judges 4 & 5


Key Memory Verse:
Judges 5:31

Lesson Objectives: At the end of this rotation, participants will be able to:

  • Locate the story in the Bible; identify the book of Judges as an Old Testament book of history.
  • Recognize the characters in the story and know something about them -- Deborah: a judge, obedient to God, confident in her faith; Barak: military leader summoned by Deborah; Sisera: enemy general; Jael: a woman who hid Sisera but then killed him.
  • Explain the role and meaning of a judge in Old Testament times.
  • Examine the cyclical structure of the background to this story: people go astray, there is suffering, the people ask God for help, God sends a judge who delivers, then the deliverer dies and the cycle begins again. Discover a foreshadowing of the need for a leader who wouldn’t die -- Jesus.
  • Judge the actions of the characters in the story based on their obedience to God; extrapolate this to making judgments about our own choices. To learn about the pattern of the Israelites relationship with God.

 


Leader Preparation:

  • Read the Bible background.
  • Make sure that you can tell the story in your own words so that the children can follow. Perhaps making a storyboard or outline would help.
  • Gather the materials.

Supplies List:

  • Dried flat sponges
  • Washable paint in different colors
  • Scissors
  • Construction paper in light colors
  • Bucket of water
  • Paper Plates
  • Bible
  • Journals
  • Markers/crayons/pencils

Advance Preparation:

  • You may want to cut some of the sponges out in shapes before the lesson for the younger children who may have trouble with the scissors.


Lesson Plan:

Opening-Welcome and Lesson Introduction:

Say that today we are going to talk about one of the Judges from the Old Testament. Show them the Old Testament in the Bible and where the Book of Judges is. This happened before Jesus was born (hence the OT). Deborah was one of the judges that ruled the Israelites before God gave them a king. Now tell them the story in your own words. Explain that the Israelites kept turning away from God and then fell under the rule of their enemies. They would then beg God to send someone to deliver them. Once they were saved from their enemies, the cycle would begin again. This happened over and over again until they ended up at war with themselves and almost destroyed each other.


Dig:

Today we are going to make patterns with sponges. Just like the Israelites followed a pattern with their judges, so we will make a repeating pattern on our paper. Have each child take a few pieces of dried sponge. They can cut the sponges in whatever shape they like. They could do symbols of God, like a dove, cross, fish, etc. Once they have cut their sponges, they will need to put them in the bucket of water and then squeeze them out thoroughly. Put the paint in a thin layer on a paper plate. Have them dip the sponge in the paint, being careful to cover the entire bottom of the sponge. Then they will take the sponge and press it down on their paper. They will then move the sponge over on the paper and press again. Continue to do this until there is no more paint coming through. They can do each print separately, or overlap them. They can use a different color each time they use a new sponge to make the pictures colorful. When they are done, they can put their sponges back in the bucket of water to wash them out. 

Reflect:

Point out to the children that each time they pressed their sponge on the paper, the print became lighter. This is like the Israelites. Each time they needed a new judge, they became weaker. Ask the children if there is a rule they have disobeyed more than once. If so, why did they disobey again? If they have trouble coming up with reasons, ask them these questions. Was the broken rule better than the punishment? Was the temptation too much? What could they do to keep themselves from breaking the rule again?

Closing:

Explain that the Israelites got themselves into trouble by disobeying God. If we try hard to follow Gods rules, we won’t have a perfect life, but we will have the strength from God to handle whatever troubles come our way.
If there is additional time, have the children spend some time writing or drawing in their journals how they feel about obeying God.


Resources:

  • I used the Bible Background from the Writing Team.
Last edited by Neil MacQueen
Original Post

Cooking Idea for Deborah and Jael: 

Posted by member Alison Hild

I had our "Daily Bread Kitchen" section on our rotation and focused on the recurring theme -- bad things happen when we turn away from God and sin, but God loves us anyway. And, the people he sends to save us are often "unexpected" -- in this case two women, Deborah and Jael.

Deborah means "Bee."
 
Jael means "Mountain Goat" (referencing the Goat's milk she fed Sisera).

I linked the meaning of their names back to Exodus and "the land flowing with milk and honey" which the Judges were trying to help settle and keep the peace in. So we made tea with milk & honey and an appetizer with crackers and a little bit of cheese and honey  (I used goat cheese). 
On a related note, in Psalm 23 the Shepherd leads his flock to sit at a table in the presence (with) their enemies. It's a peace table, or in modern phrasing, "a peace offering."  So as we ate the "Deborah and Jael" foods, we also talked about simple gestures we could make in different situations to show kindness, forgiveness and our desire for peace/friendship with someone we are arguing/fighting with.

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