Our church having weathered the effects of Hurricane Sandy (of all names!) children will respond to pictures of the devastation, along with the Bible story through...
Puppets: Retelling the story using puppets, dolls, action figures, stuffed animals, etc. Allow kids to tell the story in their own words, creating character for the two builders and voices for each character, get creative with the scenarios, etc.
Writing Lab: Compare and contrast key words and definitions to get the concepts across. Use the ideas to rewrite the story into a new parable.
Building Lab: Build two simple stick houses (out of cards, popsicle stix, balsa wood, etc.) Place one on rock and the other on sand in a dish pan or other container. Pour water and watch (and record on video?) what happens. Discuss.
Cooking: Using a cake mix, show the concepts of sand and water, of liquids and solids, of change (baking) into a solid (cake). Bake cake and decorate it in a “beach” theme (frosting sprinkled with sugar for sand, M&M’s for rocks, etc. Discuss: What would have happened if we put the frosting and M&M’s on the cake BEFORE we baked it into a solid, etc. Eat and enjoy!
Art: Sand painting, sand art
Science: Experiments with sand, water, rocks, etc.
