‘Marvel at the Master’ Childrens Lesson on Calming of the Storm

BIG IDEA: JESUS IS AMAZING!

SONG AND VIDEO IDEAS available on our dedicated Pinterest Board.

GAME IDEAS:

1. Messy Minions. (regular/widescreen) Preparation: Put the minions candy sweets in four big buckets/bowls of custard. Cut up some bananas and mix them into the custard. One bowl or bucket per team. Teams must choose one team member to play this yucky game where they must retrieve the candy from the custard. The player to get the most minions out of the custard. Application: Wow! That was pretty disgusting! Did you see how they managed to get the minions out of the custard with only their mouth! Pretty impressive – but today we’re looking at how there was someone who could do absolutely incredible things! Better than you have ever seen!
2. The Great Minion Dash. (regular/widescreen) After gathering all their points throughout the day, the teams then choose five different people (Group Leaders to record who has played  a game each day) to answer a review question about the story/skit/object lesson of the day. Once the five members are chosen they will line up on one side of the room. The first member of each team must put on the scuba flippers and mask. Once the question has been asked, if they think they know the answer, they must flip flop carefully over to the front of the room and tell the games leader the answer. The first member to tell the games leader the answer is the winner. Then the first team member runs back and hands the space hopper to the next player, who is given a different question. This is repeated for each of the five players. At the end of the game the points are added up. This is when the POWER Points are added and the winning team chooses one of their group leaders to be gunged.
3. Banana Split. (regular/widescreen) Children compete to make the best banana split using a banana, spray cream and lots of fun toppings such as sprinkles and chocolate buttons and chocolate sauce. You can choose the winner depending on speed of the creation or design and creativity – it’s upto you!

 

BIG VERSE: “I love all who love me. Those who search will surely find me.” Proverbs 8:17 (NLT)

(regular/widescreen)

Balloon Pop. The leader will lead the children in saying the memory verse and will pop each balloon after they have said the memory verse once through. This continues until all the balloons are popped.

Download Bible cards

MEMORY VERSE VIDEO 

 

SET the Scene:

Read Matthew 8:23-27. You can use the drama found here to communicate the story in a fun way using a minion theme.

REVIEW QUESTIONS:

1. Who followed Jesus into the boat? (disciples)
2. What happened next? (big storm and waves coming into boat)
3. What was Jesus doing? (sleeping)
4. Why did the disciples wake Jesus? (they were scared)
5. What did they ask him to do? (save us, we’re going to drown!)
6. Who did he say they were? (You of little faith)
7. What did he do next? (Calmed the storm)
8. How did the men react? (amazed)
9. What did they ask? (what kind of man is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him)

 

SPOT the Simple Meaning:

1) You can say WOW now!

Egg in a bottle experiment. You will need a hardboiled and peeled egg, a bottle and some matches. Take a boiled and peeled egg and put it over a bottle. Then light four matches. Put the matches inside the bottle, followed straight away by the egg. Watch as the egg slowly gets sucked into the bottle. 

Say: Wow! Did you see how Jesus calmed that storm! Jesus is amazing! He was able to calm the storm with just His words. Just stop and think about that. [Pause] He simply said, ‘Quiet! Be still!’ and they stopped!’ That’s pretty powerful! That’s someone that I want to follow! How about you?

I’m going to show you something that is fun and might seem impossible. Do you think I can get this egg into this bottle without crushing it? [wait for response]

You might think this is impossible, but watch what I do to make it possible! [light matches and put them in the bottle. Then put the egg on to the top of the bottle. Watch as it gets sucked in.] That was pretty cool wasn’t it! That was just a fun experiment to show that sometimes we think things are impossible.

Did you know that with God ALL things are possible? In Matthew 19:26 Jesus tells the disciples when they asked how people can be saved; “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Now, imagine what the disciples thought when Jesus was able to calm a scary storm. 

The disciples thought they were going to die and Jesus the Master was able to calm the storm and show His power simply through His words. How? Because Jesus is God – and He can do anything! Jesus tells us in John 10:30 that He and the Father are one and John 1 reminds us that ‘the Word’ (the ‘Word’ means Jesus) was with God and was God. 

God is able to do anything and Jesus is God. That makes Him the greatest Master and someone that is amazing to follow! He still does miracles around the world today. He is able to do the miraculous in our lives when we ask and trust in Him. He promises that no matter what, whether we are given a miracle or not, He will always be with us. He is close to us (Jeremiah 23:23). He can be with us wherever we are because He is God and can be with every single person around the world all at once (Psalm 139:7-10).

You can say wow now!

SEARCH the Scriptures:

Popcorn Scripture. (regular/widescreen) You will need the Bible verse printable. A child reads one of the Bible verses and then shouts another child’s name. They must then read the next Bible verse (unless they choose not to participate). After all the Bible verses have been read, discuss the questions below:

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What would someone need to do to amaze you? 
2. What do you find amazing about Jesus?
3. Why is Jesus able to amaze people? Discuss some of the different ways from the verses.
4. In what ways are you hoping Jesus will amaze you or others? 
5. Are there any miracles you are waiting to see?

 

SENSE How You Feel:

Invite the children to imagine they are one of the disciples as they think about their answer to the questions below. Encourage them to do one of the activities as they think about their answer.

Why did you feel so afraid?

What was it like to see Jesus calm the storm?

1. For minion craft ideas go to our Pinterest Board.
2. Fill in/Color the activity sheets for 5-7s (UK Spelling) and US Spelling 5-7s and all spelling 8-11s.
3. Build: a boat at sea scene with Lego or building blocks.
4. Sensory: Have a water station with some toy boats. You will probably need someone to attend to the area so the children don’t get water everywhere!
5. Mould: a boat with the disciples inside using playdough or clay.
6. Make: the Calming of the Storm mini book by printing the PDF and folding it twice after coloring.

 

SEEK God:

1. WOW well: Children will put post it notes on the wall or paper with things that are amazing about Jesus. Or they will write things that they want prayer for so that one day they can say ‘Wow!’ at the help god gave them to get through or the things He has done.
2. Popcorn Prayers. Invite the children to use the same popcorn style game as they did reading scripture, but this time praying and thanking God for things they are wowed about Him! So a child will pray and say ‘Thank You God that I am wowed (or amazed) by your ______’ and then they will pass it on to another child to have a go. This continues until everyone that wants to join in has had a go.