Christianity Cove

As you teach the Sunday school lesson on the wisdom of Solomon, you can use this craft idea for  Sunday school class. Solomon, King David’s son, is known as the one of the wisest men in the world.

Explain to your students that someday they will be coming into adulthood like Solomon. If they ask God for wisdom, the book of James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

Crowns of Wisdom
Tell your students that they are going to make crowns of wisdom, so they can remember to pray for the wisdom of God as they grow.
• Give each child a piece of card stock cut in half lengthwise.
• Have them create a jagged edge on one of the longer sides with scissors.
• Have them line up their pieces of card stock side by side with the straight edge closest to them.
Staple the two sheets together in the center with about an inch of overlay.
• Depending on their ages, they or you, can write on the crown, KING SOLOMON’S WISDOM CROWN.
• Have them decorate their crown with whatever you have: Crayons, markers, craft store jewels, buttons, glitter, glitter glue, various colored hole punches, paper scraps.
• When they are finished decorating, fit the crown to each child’s head and staple the ends together so it makes the circle of a crown.

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Solomon, David’s son, has been known in Judeo-Christian circles as the wisest man in the world. This story from 1 Kings shows how Solomon became king, with a request to God for wisdom. Try these Sunday school activities with your younger Sunday school students to teach one of the lessons of Solomon.

Kids ask for a lot of things—toys, games, play time, popularity, and fashion are at the top of the list. This is a lesson about keeping priorities straight. Solomon asked for wisdom, and God was so pleased with his request that he gave him riches and long life as well. Solomon got all because he had his priorities straight.

Game of Riches
Need:  2 Tubes of Pringles

Tell the children in your Sunday school class to all wash their hands before starting. Bring one tube of Pringles to the table and open it. (Put the lid in your pocket for later use.)

Tell them they are  going to pretend they’re a king like Solomon. God said that he would make Solomon rich. It’s kind of important for a King to have lots of stuff and lots of money to buy stuff with.

Let’s pretend we’re a king, too, and pretend that each of the Pringles in the tube is a solid gold piece worth a million dollars. Hand the jar to the first child at the table. Open the tube and have them take out as many million dollars as they think they want so that they can buy all the stuff they want as king. They can’t eat them yet! “Take as many as you want—first come, first serve—and don’t break any! Any broken Pringles have to be swept away, and can’t be used or eaten!”

Let each child reach in the jar and take as many Pringles as he wishes. Soon, the tube may be empty before all the children have gotten any. Encourage the children who were first to share with their classmates and not be greedy. If one child has none, ask others what they want to do about it. Let them decide. If some children snatch, discourage it. If some children don’t have as many, whisper to them,
“Don’t worry! It will all work out!”

Everyone count your dollars. We’re going to go around the table and see how many each person has. Ask children how many dollars they have and what they want to buy with all that money. Don’t let them eat yet.

To the child who has the least amount of Pringles, say, “You don’t have as many. You have the least amount. You were close to the end, and you’re not the type to grab, huh? Would you like to have the empty tube as your reward?”

The child might be ambivalent, but encourage him. Remove the lid from your pocket, put it back on top, and hand the tube to him. Next tell the child “I think there’s a secret message in the lid especially for you.”  Have the child peel off the lid and read the message. If he or she is too young, read the message on the lid for him:

Congratulations. God often chooses the youngest or smallest or the one who has the least to be his special wise servant. You didn’t snatch, and you were wise. Therefore, God will reward you with more wisdom and with riches, too.

Give the child the prize, which is a second, private Pringles can. Use the tube to fill in so that everyone has the same amount, and give the remainder of the tube to the child so he can take home with him for later.

Everybody can eat now eat their Pringles!

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While teaching Sunday school and the lessons of David and Goliath, here are some ideas to use in your lesson to show your students how we learn to become strong Christians.

Today we’re going to talk about responsibility and how God trains us. Ask your Sunday school students to think  of a chore that their parents ask them to do for them. You can list these on the board or ask the children to draw pictures or list these.

Sometimes our training can seem kind of goofy. We can’t always make sense of why our parents make us clean bathrooms (ew!) or make our beds when we’re just going to get in them again the following night. Sometimes we can’t make sense of the things God asks us to do either.

How would you feel, staring down a huge, hungry lion or bear like David had to do when shepherding his flock? Scared. Wouldn’t you rather not?

Let’s talk about your family for a minute. How many of you get asked to do chores? What are they? Have children discuss chores or times their parents have asked them to help out. Ask if they ever thought, “I don’t want to do this chore. I’d rather keep playing or watching TV”?

An example to use:
When I was small, my parents used to make me help carry in the groceries from the car. Back then, they used to have very big grocery bags.  Sometimes the parents would take some groceries out of the big bag and put them into a smaller bag, just so the kids could help. Why did our parents make us help with the groceries? To make us strong and responsible.

Sometimes our parents ask us to do things that seem bothersome, and we don’t understand. However, all responsibility we take now is great training for becoming a hero to others.

Remember as you go your way this week that your worst days are probably your best training for becoming a strong Christian. Do your chores, and don’t argue with your parents!

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One of the greatest Bible stories for children is David defeating Goliath in the Valley of Elah.  This lesson shows them that God is willing to use the small and the young to stand as his most important servants and come out victorious over giants.

This Sunday school lesson will teach how God gave David training for killing Goliath by making him a shepherd. Sometimes our lives don’t make sense, but it’s all a part of God’s training and God’s plan.

God gave David the power to do something very brave, something not even the biggest and bravest soldier in the Israeli army could not do. God gave him power to kill Goliath, a man who stood over nine feet tall.

But God gave him some special training as well. He got this training because he was a shepherd, and when he was watching over the sheep, what would happen sometimes?

David killed at least one lion and one bear with his bare hands to protect the sheep. The story goes that David would knock out the huge lion or bear with stones flung from his sling shot. But who would have ever thought that protecting sheep would be training to kill a huge bully like Goliath?

How would you feel, staring down a huge, hungry lion or bear? Scared.

Do you think David really wanted to kill lions and bears when he was just a kid or just a teenager?  If God can do anything, why didn’t He just kill the lion or bear himself ? Why did God set it up so David had to kill the lion or bear? Because he wanted David to be strong and responsible and not lazy.

What did David’s training enable him to do? It helped him to kill a giant bully.

What if the Lord had not asked David to kill wild animals to protect his sheep?  He could not have killed Goliath.

Sometimes our parents ask us to do things that seem bothersome, and we don’t understand. However, all responsibility we take now is great training for becoming a hero to others–this is one of the many lessons we learn from the story of David and Goliath.

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Here is an activity to continue your Bible study for Joshua and the walls of Jericho.  I have used this often with my younger Sunday school students to reinforce the message of the lesson.

God and Joshua worked together to get the walls of Jericho to come down. Joshua had to lead the men who blew the horns. After the walls came down, Joshua had to lead the army in to take over the land. God made the walls tumble down.

When we work together with God, amazing things can happen. To remind us of that, we’re making our own “Jericho Horns” today.

Jericho Horns
• construction paper, one sheet for each child
• glue sticks
• marker pens
• stapler
• brown construction paper, maybe five sheets cut into little squares to make bricks.

Give each student a sheet of construction paper. You should have the word JOSHUA written in large letters at the top of each sheet, or show them how to do this if they are old enough.

The small brown squares are bricks of the walls of Jericho which they can glue on in a haphazard fashion (as if they are flying).
**Note to students: If they only glue down half of each brick, the unglued part might vibrate and add to the noise, depending on the type of paper used, once the horn is made.

Have each student roll his paper lengthwise but unevenly, so that near the mouth, there is only a very small hole, and near the opposite end there is a bigger hole. They can blow through the horns.

Sometimes we think of being strong as having lots of muscles. But one of the most important things about true strength is that true strength sees the good in everyone.  A strong heart is more important than a strong body!

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