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We are an online community of Sunday School teachers, Christian educators, and pastors creating, collecting, and sharing free and premium Sunday School lesson plans, creative ideas, and discussion. We are also the official website of the Workshop Rotation Model (The "WoRM"), a creative way to organize and teach Sunday School. Visit our Bible story lesson forums. View our creative Writing Team Lesson Sets. Explore our 24 downloadable Bible story software programs. Get a free Registered Membership or become a Supporting Member for full access to all site resources. Learn more about our volunteer-led, ecumenical, non-profit, ad-free resource ministry!

In addition to these public lesson and idea topics below, be sure to check out the Writing Team's extra special set of lessons: Kingdom Parables ~ Seed, Leaven, Treasure, Pearl. Written for our supporting members, their lesson summaries and Bible background are open to all.

Neil MacQueenWebmaster and Writer Supporting Member!

Science Lessons, Ideas, Activities, and Resources for the Kingdom Parables

Post your Sunday School science lessons, ideas, activities, and resources for the Kingdom Parables.

Please include a scripture reference, supply lists, sources, suggested age range. age modification, etc.
Photos are much appreciated! Click "attachments" and upload to your post.
Please be careful not to post copyrighted materials. Excerpting and paraphrasing is okay. Include attribution.

Parable of the Mustard Seed - Matthew 13:31-32
Parable of the Leaven (Yeast) - Matthew 13:33
Parable of the Treasure in the Field - Matthew 13:44
Parable of the Pearl - Matthew 13:45-46
"What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it?" Luke 13:18, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Heaven, etc., etc.

Bible lessons and ideas about the Kingdom Parables -with science experiments, demonstrations, object lessons, magic tricks, presentations, etc.

Science Workshop Ideas:

These parables scream out for a Science Workshop.

Each of the one-line Kingdom Parables will be demonstrated for effect. A reminder: it is the teacher's "patter" that helps the visuals stick.

Demonstrations...

Yeast/Leaven Science Experiment

Helps children visualize the power of something unseen.
Yeast is tiny: Just one gram holds about 25 billion cells. That amount of fungi can churn out a significant amount of carbon dioxide. If you have a microscope, now would be the time!

http://www.exploratorium.edu/c.../activity-yeast.html

1 packet of active dry yeast
1 cup very warm water (105° F–115° F)
2 tablespoons sugar
a large rubber balloon
a small (1-pint to 1-liter) empty water bottle

Stretch out the balloon by blowing it up repeatedly, and then lay it aside.
Add the packet of yeast and the sugar to the cup of warm water and stir.
Once the yeast and sugar have dissolved, pour the mixture into the bottle. You’ll notice the water bubbling as the yeast produces carbon dioxide.
Attach the balloon to the mouth of the bottle, and set both aside.
After several minutes, you’ll notice the balloon standing upright. If you don’t see anything happen, keep waiting. Eventually, the balloon will inflate.

Mustard Seeds:

Let's give Jesus' "hyperbole" a modern twist... REDWOODS.
You can buy a packs of 50 or 100 redwood seeds, just do a an online search.

Treasure Hidden in a Field:

There are several free "apps" in the iPhone and Android stores you can download which turn your smartphone into a "metal detector." This is no joke. These apps use your phone's "compass" capability to detect small fluctuations in the magnetic field created when you move your phone over a metal object. They're lots of fun.

For example, see the app in the Apple store here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/...detector/id409682366

For effect, use a selfie stick so that you can wave your phone across objects like a real metal detector.

If you can bring in a REAL metal detector....go for it. I've seen 'toy' metal detectors out there too.

Next, you're going to show how it can find metal objects on a table. Do a quick demo.

Then...have the kids create a stack of 3x5 cards with things written on them that are either "Part of God's Kingdom, Not Part of God's Kingdom" ----things you want to find in your life, things you want to avoid. Be sure to make this distinction clear. (love, peace, honor, justice, kindness....etc). Tape a METAL WASHER to the bottom of the cards marked "of God's Kingdom." Now mix up the cards on the floor. Take turns trying to find the Treasure.

Finally.... and this is the capper... using a large rubber band FIX a BIBLE to your metal detector so that the Bible covers the top of the detector. You are now visually going to demonstrate that the Bible helps us know what is good and what is bad. Let the kids take turns using the Bible Treasure Detector.

Attn: Supporting Members
We wrote up this "metal detector" idea for a Writing Team Lesson here along with another science experiment in our Kingdom of God lesson set.
<>< Neil

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In addition to our public lessons, our Writing Team has created extra-creative, broadly-graded lessons that include class size and age range adaptations. Written in the Rotation-style, they can be used in any Sunday School or teaching event. Click a link to see their summaries. Lesson plans are open to Supporting Members. View a descriptive list of all WT lessons.

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Science Lessons, Ideas, Activities, and Resources for the Kingdom Parables

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