When I am on Sunday school or doing projects, the first thing I do is pray about it. I think it's a really important job to be teaching the children about God and so we should really do it properly! I think it's important to listen to God and hear how He would lead the class forward. After or during prayer, I write down any thoughts that come to me as a sort of starting place. Often the ideas come slowly over a few days and I just keep praying about it and noting things down as I go. When I have some solid starting points I think about how to communicate these messages to the kids in a way that they will enjoy and understand. I like to look on-line to see how other people have done similar projects or if I have an idea but am not sure of the best materials to use, I look it up to see if I can find any good tips!
For this week's Sunday school I would be working with the younger children (aged 3-11) which is a fun group to work with but can be quite difficult since the ages are so spread out. From working with the group before I knew the younger half really enjoys colouring in and the older half would probably prefer something a bit more demanding. I began thinking of ways to involve colouring in for the younger half but I wanted to make it a bit more exciting than a straight forward sheet. After a bit of research, a lot of thought and a couple of trial runs this is what I came up with:
1. Left Side The man is blind
2. Middle Open the flaps and fold them round the back to reveal Jesus putting mud on the man's eyes.
3. Right side Turn the sheet around to show the man who is now able to see!
We began the lesson with a game of pin the tail on the donkey as a fun way to introduce the topic. The kids went crazy for it which I did not expect! I actually began to wonder if I'd made a serious mistake because I thought they'd never settle down again but thankfully it worked perfectly and lasted just the right length of time. Once everyone had taken their turn we sat down and I asked if they had found it easy or difficult and when I asked what would make it easier and they all replied "If we could see!!" This made an good introduction for the story of the blind man which is what we looked at next. |

Equipment needed on the day:
Small bag of soil
Water
Tub and spoon for mixing the mud
Cloth for washing the mud off
Kitchen roll for when finished

So there you have it...Jesus healed a Man Born Blind and did you know he still heals today!