Bethel Mission Team in Kasigluk.
This was our 9th year of Children's Programming in Bethel, AK. We took a two person team from Wrangell to join with the Arctic Missionary team on the ground in Bethel. We shared two days worth of programs for Kasigluk, AK and Bethel, AK.
Our theme this year was Good Soil, Jesus in my Heart inspired by a reading of the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13. We kept the decorations very simple because of various time constraints. As usual we found this theme to speak to us as well as the children. We hope you enjoy!
Our theme this year was Good Soil, Jesus in my Heart inspired by a reading of the Parable of the Sower from Matthew 13. We kept the decorations very simple because of various time constraints. As usual we found this theme to speak to us as well as the children. We hope you enjoy!
Lesson Inspiration
As mentioned above we were inspired to do the Parable of the Sower. This inspiration came later than usual. As we were reading the parable with the book Christ Object Lessons (book by Ellen G White), in July, we knew we needed this theme! And we were leaving in August. Anyways, we ended up using a couple more parables throughout the program including the parable of the wheat and tares for sabbath school and then using the first the blade then the ear parable along with the parable of the mustard seed for a sermon.
Schedule- 2 day program
| Songs and Prayer- 10 min Craft- 15 min Games- 15 min Story Time- 15 min Goodie bags- 5 min as they leave Total: 1 hour | Optional (We switched to this on Sabbath) Songs and Prayer- 10 min Story Time- 15 min Games- 15 min Craft- 15 min Goodie bags- 5 min as they leave Total: 1 hours |
Our programs were only an hour this year since they were linked with other programs, like in Kasigluk where we had an adult health program shortly after the kids program. This lead us to par down the programming from year's past to what we considered the essentials.
Memory Verse | Music |
| "He who has ears, let him hear." Matthew 13:9 Yes, despite the shorter programs we did have the kids learn a short memory verse. This one found at the end of the parable of the sower |  | Theme Song: His Banner Over Me is Love It was hard to find exactly what we wanted in a theme song this year, but this turned to work fine. We did 4 songs total for the music part of the program. |
Lessons
This year since only two of us went from Wrangell, we made a decision to have the kids do the acting for the story time. The way we set it up was to read the story once to the kids from the Bible, then we would ask for volunteers for each part (we will list optional parts below with each parable). We had some costuming or a stuffed animal the kids could act with. This was quite a hit with the kids and fun to watch.
| Lesson 1: The Parable of the Sower Matthew 13:1-9 and Matthew 13:18-23 Read it in Christ Object Lessons here Optional characters ideas Narrator Sower Seed Birds Rocks Thorns | Lesson 2: The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares Matthew 13:24-30 and Matthew 13:37-43 Read it in Christ Object Lessons here Optional character ideas Narrator Sower Enemy Servants Wheat Tares |
Games
 Growing Flowers Game |  Bird Shuffleboard |
| Game for Lesson 1: Growing Flowers (We modified this game from a more complicated version we saw online) Items needed: Scarfs (2 colors or more and enough for the kids to collect 3+ of each) Fake flowers Rope Set up: Using rope, designate an area in the room that is the garden. Make one for each team (we played with two teams). Have fake flowers nearby to give out. Designate a person to give out the scarves as directed below. Play: Split group into two teams. Have the teams line up single file facing the person with the scarves. The person with the scarves holds one of each color behind their back. One team picks a hand and receives the scarf from that hand and the other team gets the other scarf. Alternate between teams who goes first to even this out as you go. The scarves are raced to the garden and the kid returns to the line. Once a team has collected three of one color of scarves then they get a flower. Play continues until one team gets three flowers or whatever designated number you want to play to. | Game for Lesson 2: Bird Shuffleboard (We made this one up, because we needed an indoor game for Sabbath School. It is a mix of shuffleboard and hangman) Items needed: Table Tape Paper Markers Stuffed animal (preferably bird) White board and markers Set up: Write on slips of paper 0, 1, 2 (these represent how many guesses a kid will get for the word) and place them spaced apart on top of the table. Each one should act as a line the kids have to push their bird across. Have whiteboard nearby and group of words from the parable for the kids to guess. On the whiteboard, use lines (think hangman) to represent how many letters need to be guessed. Play: A kid steps up to the table and pushes the bird across the table. Whatever "line" the bird passes is how many letter guesses a kid gets. Example: Bird goes past line 1, but not 2 then they can guess 1 letter in the word. Play until a kid guesses the word. |
Crafts
| | Lesson 1: Tissue Paper Flower These were surprisingly a big hit. We needed something that didn't take up too much room while traveling. That being said we had to provide extra help to the littler kids in the group, but the older kids appeared to enjoy making these fancy. Instructions here Lesson 2: Butterfly Craft We had this craft in our supply closet at church. So while the link below is not exactly it, the idea is similar. To recreate our version you will need: a cut out of butterfly wings, pipe cleaners, rolled up construction paper, and something to color with. Optional instructions here |
Goodie Bags
| Since we had a shorter time to work with we opted to put a treat in the goodie bags instead of a separate snack time. We had odds and ends from previous VBS ventures that we used. That consisted of small bible story magazines, bookmarks, glow sticks (always a hit), and foam craft of a bible story. For treats we stuck to hard candies since they aren't perishable. We like to use paper bags for putting things in because they are easy and cheap to find for a large group. | |
Decoration
We ended up with a basic design this year. Some of it had to do with decorating two places (one of which we had less than 30 minutes to put stuff up) and the other was because of our flight schedule. We had to take down quickly after the last program. We also didn't have our lovely decorating people with us (you know the folks that have an eye for this stuff!) Anyways... the inspiration was garden. We used greens and decorated with birds, bees, flowers, and stuffed animals.
Ta-Dah! A Good Soil, DIY Children's Program
Another year down and what an adventure. We were excited to be able to do something with the small amount of volunteers that we had to work with. We are thankful to the Arctic Mission Volunteers, Collette and Joy, for suggesting this alternative to a full VBS program this year. We hope that this helps you in your children's programming and that are inspired to do your our DIY of Good Soil parables.
| good_soil_format.pdf |
RSS Feed