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Miscellaneous Lessons, Ideas, Activities, and Resources for Teaching the Story of Samson in Sunday School.

Post your Miscellaneous lessons, ideas, activities, and resources for teaching the Story of Samson in Sunday School.

Judges, Samson, etc.
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Samson Lesson Ideas

Posted by TLLane
The writing team met and these are the ideas we came up with. We are focusing on the Samson and Delilah story. Samson was strong physically but morally, he was REALLY lacking so we chose temptation as the over all theme.

We have a storyteller extrodinair that we will just turn loose, so that one was easy.

In the NIV Adventure Bible there was a little insert about "Stronger than Samson". It has the children recieving a "strong arm" picture every time they make the choice to do what is right rather than what they want to, which makes them 'stronger that Samson'. For the art class we are going to have the children make various forms of 'strong arms' and discuss how hard it is to choose the right thing to do.

For the food class we are having the children grind some whole grain and make some crackers with the ground grain. We are relating this to Samson having to grind the grain after his hair is cut and his eyes are gouged out. For the children that want to try it, we will have blindfolds available. With this class we will illustrate the results of Samson doing only what he wanted to do. But even then God was with him.

For the Drama class I am still debating between a 321 Penguins movie about not following the rules and doing some sort of play. The Samson and Delilah story is just great for acting out.

And last, I am thinking about putting a bowl of candy in each room with a do-not-touch sign on it to see how many can resist the temptation of the candy.
Terri



Question:   posted by counseller

We have four rotation rooms - Theater/movie, Arts/cooking, Games, and Storytelling. I need some lesson ideas for Samson for all rooms. Does anybody have any great ideas! Our age groups range from Pre-K to 5th grade!
Thanks!
Jennifer


Reply:  posted by Lisa M.

Jennifer,
There are a couple of themes presented in this story:

1) His unusual birth (Judges 13) Which has some parallels to other birth stories -- Isaac, John the Baptist, Jesus.

2) His desire for a Philistine wife, the honey out of the lion, the riddle about the honey from the lion, and his wife's betrayal to her people. (Judges 14)

3) His wife given to his companion by her father, and his revenge setting fire to the Philistine's food tying torches to the tails of foxes. The Philistine's seek revenge and Samson kills a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass. (Judges 15)

4) Samson tricks Delilah three times by not telling him the true source of his strength and then finally tells her the truth. His hair is cut, his eyes put out, and then calling upon God for one last time, brings the house down on all the people inside. (Judges 16)

The whole thing is quite violent. Certainly you could do activities centered around lions and honey, jawbones, haircuts, and a house coming down, but that would miss the main point, which I think is to say that our strength is not our own, but is a gift from God -- and also that we should not take our God-given gifts lightly.

That said, here are some ideas:

Movies: The Nest Videos site has stories about famous people. Try looking for a person whos heroism flows from their faith, such as Martin Luther King, Jr.

Art: Try building something (such as a sugar cube house) on top of a piece of paper and then try to carry it (it will fall apart). Now do the activity on top of cardboard and try and move (should be more stable). The strength of the structure is not what we build, but what foundation it is layed upon.

Storytelling -- I'd go a similar direction as with movies, but instead of a famous person, have a church member tell their story.

Games -- Build up pillars out of variously sized boxes and have one person try and stand between them to see how high they can be built. When they come crashing down, ask a question regarding story content. (Maybe some of the boxes can be like dice, and the question to be asked comes up in the topple?)

Now that I've given you some ideas, I'm going to put my two cents in: I'm not sure this is the best story for teaching to children. It is very violent, and also deals with sexual lust. A great "difficult text" story to work through with adults, but with second graders??? We can talk about the gifts God gives us through Solomon's wisdom, or Spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12.

Peace,
Lisa


Reply:  posted by jcounseller

Lisa,
Thanks for all the great ideas and advice. Unfortunately, I have to do Samson - a topic chosen before I started my job as coordinator. But you have been very helpful!! Thanks!
Jennifer



Question: posted by Connie

We are doing a games and activities workshop on Samson. Are there games and activities out there that would help the children experience strength and endurance and then the need for assistance and help to complete other tasks?
thanks


Reply: posted by Neil MacQueen

"Strength in numbers" can be illustrated by any number of variations on the "one stick easy to break, but a bundle of sticks hard to break" demonstration. Extra hands in a Tug o' war to illustrate that point would work too.

Strongman Competitions as seen on TV are held throughout the US and Canada. They are the descendants of lumberjack and Highland games. Typically they include these type of demonstrations/games which could be modified to fit kids. Of course, the point is not "who is the strongest" so weights/distances would have to be adjusted.

  • Farmer's Walk -- Competitors carry heavy "suitcases" weighing about 110 kg (245 lbs) in each hand for a set distance, and compete for the fastest time. Otherwise, they compete for total distance.
  • Loading -- Timed event. Five heavy objects weighting 100-150 kg (220-335 lbs) are loaded onto a truck bed or onto some kind of platform. The course is about 15 m (50 ft) long and the objects range from treasure chests, to sacks of sand, to ship anchors.
  • McGlashen Stones -- Timed event. Five heavy round stones weighing 110-150 kg (220-335 lbs) are put on top of high barrels. The course is about 5-10 m (16-33 ft) long. Scottish tradition.
  • Truck Pulling -- Timed event. A heavy vehicle is pulled across a "finish-line" hand-over-hand style with a 30 m (100 ft) rope as fast as possible. Sometimes the vehicle is pulled with a harness. I wonder if your class could pull a car in the parking lot? Would be fun to watch.
  • Log-Press / Stone-Press -- Strength event. Heaviest possible load is pressed overhead or lighter weight is done for repetitions.
  • Stone Lift -- Strength event. Heaviest possible stone is lifted to shoulder height. From the Basque tradition.
  • Log Throw / Caber toss -- Strength event. A five meter long log is thrown for distance or for height over a bar. The distance throw is from the Scottish tradition.
  • Weight throw -- Strength event. A 15-20 kg (33-45 lb) weight, usually a large ingot, is thrown for height over a bar.
  • Tug of War -- One on one tug of war in a single-elimination tournament. Competitors pair-off based on their current point standings.
  • Pole Pushing -- One on one pole pushing in a Sumo-style ring in a single-elimination tournament. The pole has handles at either end.
  • Crucifix -- Weights are held straight out at the sides for time.


<>< Neil

Last edited by Luanne Payne
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Samson - Arts idea - Snazzy Strongman Bandana

Protect Samson’s hair, symbol of his devotion to God, with a snazzy bandana.

Materials – Squares of precut cotton, 22 inches x 22, markers, pinking shears, safety pins, various beads, hardware washers.

What to do. Create a design or image from the Samson story for the centre and border of your bandana, and draw in marker on cloth square. Trim edge with p.shears if desired. Add specialness by putting beads, etc on safety pins and adding to edge of bandana. The washers will give the idea of coins or mirrors in the fabric.

Other workshops in this rotation include: game/obstacle course; kitchen/Strongman Stir Fry; rhythm routine; computer/Comic Life. For more detail, click here.

Last edited by Luanne Payne

Samson Chia Pet Activity:



A friend suggested this activity for Samson on a list I'm on, and I wanted to share. The activity is from Family Fun (Disney)  (Note:  original link no longer works - suggest just doing an online search for craft Chia Pet or plant pals.)

The idea is to grow Samson's hair back out. (Think Samson the Chia Pet!)

It would be a cute reminder of the story all week long. But to really give it meaning, I'd send some talking points home to mom and dad to talk about with the kids as the grass grew. Was it Samson's hair that gave him strength? etc. and let it be a "Faith @ Home" activity that could be asked about in the next week's rotation.

Staci

Last edited by Luanne Payne

"Samson: The Final Judge" Video

G-dcast.com (aka bimbam.com) a Jewish multimedia company, has a free 7 minute animated video, titled: The Final Judge. It's posted on YouTube.  Appropriate for grades 2-12, this rather humorous take on Samson presents him as Judge-superhero of sorts.

Last edited by Neil MacQueen

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