Fruit of the Spirit

Summary of Lesson Set:

The students will know: the Holy Spirit provides Christians with attributes in order to portray their faith; begin to cultivate the attributes the Spirit has given them in order to become more Christ-like; be motivated to develop their faith through reading of Scripture and praying.

Workshop Ideas:

Game: Fruit of the Spirit Tree Charades

Game: Musical Fruit

Craft: Fake fruits

Drama: Apple Action!

Craft: Fruit Tree Display

Games Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Fruit of the Spirit Tree Charades

Lesson Objective:

• The student will know what the fruits of the Spirit are and what they mean.
• The student will act out what the fruits mean in his/her terms.
• The student will be confident in his/her receipt of the Spirit.

Materials List & Preparation:

• Cardboard game tree
• Pieces of fruit with a FotS (Fruit of the Spirit) written on one side (the back)
• Lollipops
• Bibles
• CD of Fruit song and lyrics
• Hang Game Tree on wall in room - attach Fruit of the Spirits to it (making sure names are on the back - facing the wall).

Lesson Plan

Opening:

Welcome kids into the classroom with a smile. Introduce yourself if there are new children. Ask children their names if you do not know them.

Open with a prayer.

Dig:

Read the Bible. Galatians 5:22-23—Have children read it to each other, if they are old enough to know how to read.

Sing a Fruit of the Spirit Song. Link to song no longer works (see resources for song used at end of this lesson set).

Discuss the Bible. Emphasize that you cannot fake these fruits, but they are evident when you become a Christian. When you become a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes to you and helps you to live a better life. Still, these fruits do not come naturally. Just because you have an apple tree does not mean that you get apples. You have to take care of the tree by watering it, pruning it, and picking the apples.

Play the Game. Each student will get a turn to come pick a fruit off the tree. On the back of each fruit is one of the Fruits of the Spirit that we discussed a few minutes ago. Don’t tell anyone what it says. Your job will be to act out (without words!) what the “fruit” is. Your friends will guess what you are acting out! Whoever gets the answer right gets a lollipop! However, you cannot eat your lollipop until I tell you that you can. (When the game is over, make sure everyone has a lollipop, then use the lollipops to explain the fruits of the Spirit again):

You practiced SELF-CONTROL when you did not eat the lollipop during the game.
Explain that they need to wait until the lesson is over before having the lollipop.
This is PATIENCE
Ask; Does everyone like the flavor lollipop they chose?
Tell everyone to raise their right hand so they will know which is left and right.
Have them give their lollipop to the person on their right.
God commands us to LOVE one another. If we love someone we want them to have the best.
It’s also KINDNESS to give someone something that we really want for ourselves.
Ask: Now, if we didn’t like the lollipop we had, and gave it away so that we could get a better one, would that be an act of kindness or love? The answer is No, that would be selfishness.

Now let’s give our lollipop to the person on our left. (remind the kids which side is left.)
This is GOODNESS. (Everyone should have the lollipop they chose.) We gave back the lollipops so that everyone would have their favorite.
Ask. Is everyone happy? Do we feel good inside knowing that we have our favorite flavor lollipop back?
This is JOY. Let’s see some big smiles.

We should give thanks to God for everything. Lets be Faithful.
Before we have our lollipops lets give thanks to the Lord. Would anyone like to say a prayer before we eat? This is faithfulness.

Now let’s pretend our lollipops are eggs. We have to unwrap them very gently or they will break. Be very gentle. This is gentleness

Now you can taste the lollipop.
While all are eating their pops and the room is quiet, explain that this is what peace feels like. (maybe just for the teacher)

Now we have an idea of what Love Joy Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control feel like.

Reflection:

Close in Prayer. Specifically pray that the children will live their lives in a way that is directed and led by the Spirit.

Resource:

http://www.christiancrafters.c...on_spirit_fruit.html

Fruit of the Spirit (Content Workshop)

Games Workshop

This workshop is derived from: Amy Crane's Fruit of the Spirit Lessons (link).

Lesson Objective:

• The student will know what the Fruits of the Spirit are.
• The student will want to live a Christian life that represents Christ through the Spirit.
• The student will begin to imitate Christian behaviors.

Materials List:

• Rotten banana and a good banana
• Two copies of nine fruit shapes with FotS written on them
• Chair for each person
• CD of the FotS song and printed lyrics
• CD player with pause button
• A room that is set up with chairs in a circle.

Lesson Plan

Opening:

Greet the children and introduce yourself.

Open with a prayer.

Introduce the topic: Offer the kids the rotten banana. Have them answer if they would like to eat it.
Say: This banana is yucky and rotten. We want to throw that banana away.
Then offer them the good banana. Have them answer if they would like to eat it.
Say: This banana is probably very yummy. Our life is like these two fruits. On one hand, we have people who do bad things and make us feel sad. While on the other hand, we have people who like to do good things, like help others and be nice to others. Which fruit do you think Christians should be, the rotten banana or the ripe banana?
What is a way that you can be a good banana?

Dig:

Read the Bible. Read Galatians 5:22-23 (and the surrounding text).
Discuss the Bible. Have the kids answer these questions:
According to Paul, what are the fruits of the Spirit?
How do we get them?
Once you become a Christian and receive the Holy Spirit, are you automatically the nicest person in school or your family?
How can you “work on” making your “fruit tree” better?

Play Musical fruit.
Preparation: Have two copies of nine fruit shapes. Within each shape write one of the traits of the Fruit of the Spirit. Make sure your two copies match.
Say: Today we are learning that God wants us to be good "fruit" or good helpers and kind to people. We are going to play a game to help you learn what the Fruit of the Spirit are.
Instructions: Play like musical chairs, except you will have a chair for each child to sit in. On the back of each chair, tape a fruit shape that has one of the Fruit of the Spirit on it. For instance, an orange that says "Joy" and a strawberry that says "Love," etc. Make similar shapes for a bag that you will pull from. Play music and have the children go around in a circle. When the music stops instruct the children to sit in a chair. Pull a fruit from your bag and whichever child has the matching fruit on back of their chair wins that round! You can give small fruit candies as a prize, if you like. Keep playing until every child has won the game.

Reflection:

Close in prayer. Specifically pray that the children will come to accept Jesus so that they can have the Holy Spirit to help them to live their lives the way God wants us to live our lives.

Art Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Making Fake Fruits

Lesson Objectives:

• The student will know the difference between real Christian living and fake Christian living.
• The student will want to be genuine Christians.
• The student will accept the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives through acceptance of Him and a daily, consistent relationship with Him.

Materials List:

• Blank construction paper (one per child)
• Construction paper with fruit shapes drawn (one per child)
• Construction paper with fruit shapes and “love” “joy” “peace”, etc written on it (one per child)
• Scissors
• A real apple (or some other fruit)
• A fake apple (or some other fruit)
• CD player
• CD of FOTS song and lyrics
• A room that is set up with tables and chairs

Lesson Plan

Opening:

Greet the children and introduce yourself. 

Open with a prayer.

Introduce the subject. Show the students the fake fruit. Tell them that this is their snack for the day. When the students complain, ask them why? Show them the real fruit. Ask if they would rather eat that? Why would they rather have the real fruit to eat? How can they tell the difference between the two? Allow them to describe the differences. Ask them, “If you didn’t know that this one was plastic, and you bit into it, how would you feel?”

Dig:

Read the Bible. Today we are going to learn about real fruits and fake fruits. Everyone wants real fruits. Sometimes we use fake fruits for decoration, but they are not useful to us, and they are not useful to God. In fact, they just make more work because we have to dust them! Let’s read about how we can be useful fruit to God. Read Galatians 5:22-23 (and surrounding text.)

Discuss the Bible. Ask the children these questions.
How can you know that the Holy Spirit is working in your life?
How do you probably act if you don’t have these fruits of the Spirit?
Why wouldn’t you have the fruits of the Spirit?
Do you think there are people that act like they have the FOTS but aren’t Christians?

Carry it out. Give each student a blank piece of construction paper and NO scissors! Have them begin to tear out a fruit shape, any kind of fruit that they would like. If they can get two or three fruits that is better. Ask them how frustrated they were trying to make fruit without any help.
Next, give them construction paper with fruit drawn onto the paper, but still no scissors. Now, have them tear out the fruit shapes. Ask them how they felt doing it with a guide.
Finally, give them a copy of the same sheet of construction paper, but allow them to use scissors. Ask them how they felt this time, since they had both a guide and the right tools.

Explain the thought: In our lives we all want to have the characteristics of the FOTS. Even most non-Christians really want to have love, joy, peace, etc. Trying to have the FOTS without the Spirit is like trying to tear out shapes without the lines drawn on it. It is very hard. It might look pretty good, but it isn’t great! When you receive the Holy Spirit, and you have Him guiding you, you can do a better job than you did before, and that is like having the lines drawn on the paper. However, when you have the Holy Spirit, and you read your Bible and pray, you will be a much better person because you will have even better FOTS, and that is like cutting out the shapes with scissors. Finally, you had all the tools you needed, and you did a great job!

Reflection:

Close in prayer. Pray specifically that the children will know the difference between faking being a Christian and the true work of the Spirit. Pray that they will all accept Jesus as their Savior and that those who have already done so will live their lives in a way that is led by the Spirit of God.

Drama Workshop

Apple Action!
This workshop is derived from a post on rotation.org

Lesson Objectives:

• The student will participate in acting out the drama process.
• The student will know what the FOTS are.
• The student will feel motivated to live more fruitfully.

Materials List:

• A room with space for the children to move
• CD player/CD of FOTS song and lyrics

Lesson Plan

Opening:

Greet the children and introduce yourself.

Open with a prayer.

Dig:

Introduce the subject. Ask the children how it is possible for you to recognize who they are. Is it how they look? How they act? How they talk? Now, how do you know the difference between an apple and a banana? How do you know the difference between a grape and a pineapple?
Let’s pretend for awhile. Can you all help me?
Let’s pretend to be a fruit tree….start little, and grow to be very large and healthy. What does the farmer do to get the tree to be healthy? (water it, prune it, fertilizer it). FREEZE! Who do you think the farmer represents? Who do you think the tree represents?

When the fruit tree is growing and healthy, what does the tree produce? (fruit). Ok, let’s act out being fruit. First we are very tiny and then growing and showing yourself on the tree. FREEZE! If the farmer is God, and the tree is us, what you do think the fruit represents? (our lives)

Now pretend that you are walking through the trees and see the fruit. Pick it and eat it! Pretend it taste bad! FREEZE! What’s something you might be doing or saying that you’d have “bad” fruit? Taste again … pretend it tastes good. FREEZE! What would you be doing or saying that it would be good.

Is your life fruit like the bad fruit of like the good fruit? Which do you think God prefers us to be like?

Matthew 7:20 say 'You will know them by their fruit.”
Just like a tree grows “plant fruit” we grow “life fruit”. The life fruit is the fruit of the spirit … and let’s look at the Bible verse we’ll be learning:

Read the Bible. Read Galatians 5:22-23 and the surrounding verses.
Discuss ways that they can show these fruits this week. Remind them that it is not possible to pretend to have the fruits for a long time unless they have the Holy Spirit in their lives and are doing what He tells them to do. Sing the FOTS song.

Reflection:

Close in prayer. Pray specifically that the children will live out their lives as Christians and remember to pray and read their Bible too.

Art Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Making a Fruit Tree Display
This workshop will require three different segments, each group will be a part one of the segments.

Lesson Objectives:

• The students will understand the symbolism of the FOTS passage.
• The students will make a display of the fruits of the Spirit.
• The students will feel a part of the community of believers at HOPE.

Materials List:

• Several different flavors of kool-aid packages (B,C)
• Paintbrushes (B,C)
• Paper plates (B,C)
• Small amount of water(B,C)
• White paper (B,C)
• Markers (B,C)
• Fruit cut outs (B,C)
• Large sheet of brown paper (approximately 6 feet long) (A)
• Multiple colors of Construction paper (like fall colors) (A)
• A room set up with tables and chairs and a blank wall space (ABC)
• CD player/CD of FOTS song/lyrics(ABC)
• Scissors(ABC)
• Tape (ABC)
• Newspaper to cover the tables (Week B and C)

Lesson Plan

Opening:

Greet the children and introduce yourself.

Open with a prayer.

Dig:

Read the Bible. Read Galatians 5:22-23 and discuss it briefly.
Sing the FOTS song with the kids.

Begin the project.
WEEK A:
You will need one child to volunteer to be the tree. Have them lay down on the brown paper with their arms stretched out like tree limbs. Trace around the child’s torso, arms, and head. Leave the legs together like a tree trunk. While you are cutting out the tree trunk, have the kids trace their hands on different colors of construction paper and cut them out. These hand prints will be the tree leaves. When they are done, have them tape their hand prints to the tree up on the wall. Explain to the children that our life is the tree. When we don’t have any fruit on it, that is the evidence of not having the Spirit.

WEEK B and C:
(Important: Start the project before the lesson so there is time to dry.)
Lay newspaper on the tables to protect them from the “paint.” Give the students white construction paper with drawings of different fruit. Each child needs to have a total of five different fruits. You will also need five different flavors of Kool-Aid, mixed with a small amount of water. (Practice this before so you get a good consistency.) Have the children paint each fruit a different color.
While you are waiting for the fruit to dry, do the lesson:
Pick four of the FOTS plus love, and explain those to the children. Each week should be a different set of four, but each week talk about love as well.
After the fruits have dried, give them a marker and have them write the one of the FOTS on each of the backs of the fruit shapes that were discussed today. Allow them to tape the fruit to the tree that was created the first week.

Reflection:

Close in prayer. Pray specifically that the students would begin to understand the FOTS and see the Spirit’s work in their lives.

Resources

Coloring page:  http://www.sermons4kids.com/fruit-of-the-spirit.gif

The Fruit of the Spirit by Brentwood Music, Recorded by:  Kidz Jamz, Brentwood Music "Crazy Praize: Songs From the Lighter Side Vol. 2".

Moderator removed Lyrics due to Copyright

A lesson from Hope Evangelical Free Church

A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.