Explore the Story - Children

Experiment: Measure a tablespoon of baking soda into a large bowl, the same size of bowl you used to mix up the flour and yeast object lesson. Pour a tablespoon of vinegar on top and watch how quickly the mixture grows. Talk about the differences between the slow growth of the flour and yeast and the rapid growth and decline of baking soda and vinegar. What does this show us about the kingdom of God?

Write: On a blank recipe card, write out a recipe for prayer. Think about the lessons learned on prayer last week and pull them into recipe form. Consider writing recipes for prayer and giving them to friends or neighbors along with a bag of homemade focaccia (recipe in section 4 of this lesson).

Move: Cut a few pieces of paper into strips and scatter them on the floor. Play a round of Red Light/Green Light, encouraging everyone to pick up as many strips of paper as possible during the fast green light and the slow yellow light. Instead of trying to get to the end as quickly as possible, the goal is to pick up as many pieces of paper as possible. Talk about how much easier it was to pick up pieces during the slow yellow light than the fast green light. What does this show us about the slow growth of the kingdom of God?

Listen: Turn on the song “Leaven Bread” from the Rain for Roots album The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like This. Listen closely to the words and discuss the ways it demonstrates today’s reading. This song is linked on our digital resources page.