Tweens Overviews
TWEENS YEAR ONE - WORD OF GOD - Lesson Overviews
How the Bible Came to Be: Eat Your Way through the Bible: Become familiar with the books of the Bible by associating them with various foods.
How the Bible Came to Be: Moved by the Spirit: Become a team of Bible librarians who race to organize all of the books of the Bible on a shelf, first by type of book and then by order. Play Bible Baseball to learn how to look up scripture.
How the Bible Came to Be: Created by the Spirit: After viewing examples of illuminated manuscripts, particularly the Book of Kells and the St. John’s Bible, create an illuminated verse.
How the Bible Came to Be: Video Live!: Using a table of contents of the Bible, share information about how the Bible came to be. Create a video archive of testimonials from classmates and congregational members regarding their favorite Bible stories.
Psalms: Bedouin Encampment: Explore Psalm 122 as it focuses on the centrality of Jerusalem to the nation of Israel and to worship. Learn how hymns and gospel songs found their inspiration in the psalms.
Psalms: Faith Today: Focus on Psalm 67 and then select from a variety of outreach projects to respond to the call to international mission.
Psalms: Moved by the Spirit: Playing a variety of games, explore Psalm 139, learning that God is always watching over us.
Psalms: Where in the World Is?: Explore a variety of geographic images in the Psalms. Create a journey through a “Psalms board” or write a Psalm for a local geographic feature.
Ezekiel: Video Live!: Create a newscast of Ezekiel’s extraordinary life of prophecy, filled with on-location interviews. Script provided. (Four-Week Broadcast.)
Christmas: Gospel Comparison: Created by the Spirit: Review how the nativity story is rendered on Christmas cards. Organize the Christmas cards in terms of their illustration of the Matthew, Luke, John and combined accounts. Create ornaments that express a favorite detail of the nativity story.
Christmas: Gospel Comparison: Bedouin Encampment: Hear Mary tell her story of Jesus’ birth, using a box of mementos that she has kept over the years to remember that blessed time. Create a potholder to weave the various threads of Mary’s story together.
Christmas: Gospel Comparison: Moved by the Spirit: Play a game of life-size Checkers to learn the names in Jesus’ family tree, as found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Christmas: Gospel Comparison: Video Live!: Use the script provided to make a “radio broadcast” of the story with sound effects. You may choose to copy and distribute the tapes to homebound members of the congregation.
Beatitudes: Bedouin Encampment: Meet the author of the book of Matthew and hear about the Beatitudes. Play a large board game to reinforce the Beatitudes and to see how they relate to everyday life.
Beatitudes: Moved by the Spirit: Play several games to become more familiar with the different Beatitudes. Use Body Sox™ to internalize the Beatitudes.
Beatitudes: Video Live!: Select one of the Beatitudes that speaks to each participant personally and put it in his or her own words. Videotape these personal versions of the Beatitudes.
Beatitudes: Created by the Spirit: Shape clay as you hear the Beatitudes. Look at various famous sculptures. Create an individual sculpture of one of the Beatitudes.
Great Commandment: Bedouin Encampment: Hear from a man who heard Jesus teaching in the Temple in Jerusalem and experiment with various physical attitudes of prayer. Do an activity to encourage prayer life at home.
Great Commandment: Created by the Spirit: After playing a Jeopardy game to understand how the Pharisees tested Jesus, paint a plaster cast of the Great Commandment.
Great Commandment: Moved by the Spirit: Work through a circuit of activities to ponder the sections of the Great Commandment: heart, strength, soul. Using balloons, experience the power of neighbors to support each other.
Great Commandment: Where in the World Is?: Making the connection between the Great Commandment and the Good Samaritan parable, ponder how we can be a good neighbor in relation to the environment.
Holy Week: Gospel Comparison: Bible Improv: Enact the different events from Jesus’ trial through the resurrection in a melodramatic style. This is a very fun and interactive lesson.
Holy Week: Gospel Comparison: Puppetry: Portray the events of Holy Week and choreograph several songs. Script provided.
Holy Week: Gospel Comparison: Where in the World Is?: Learn the story of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. Participate in a foot-washing service and ponder how we express our faith through service to others. Make personal service banners to take home or decorate washcloths to give to a homeless shelter.
Holy Week: Gospel Comparison: Bedouin Encampment: Hear Simon of Cyrene tell his story of carrying Jesus’ cross on his way to Golgotha. Do an exercise that ponders how we give our burdens to Jesus. Create a cross with nails and lacing.
Acts of the Apostles: Bedouin Encampment: Hear the story of Peter’s visit with Cornelius from the point of view of one of Cornelius’ servants. Share various fruit as a way to explore the concept of diversity. Explore ways your congregation welcomes visitors. Create a welcome wreath to display in the greeting area of your church.
Acts of the Apostles: Moved by the Spirit: Bowl through the book of Acts. During each frame, hear one of ten different stories from the book of Acts. Fantastic lesson!
Acts of the Apostles: Video Live!: Create a “Survivor” type video of Paul’s adventures, with each class filming a different episode of Paul’s incredible journey. (2 weeks.)
Epistles on Location: Created by the Spirit: Focus on the book of Romans. Create a picture frame using bent wire and colored glass as symbols of life experiences.
Epistles on Location: Faith Today: Learn about Paul’s many prison experiences and his letters from prison to the churches he helped to establish. Learn about how Jesus’ command in Matthew 25 encourages us to care for those in prison.
Epistles on Location: Mary & Martha’s Bed & Breakfast: Hear Priscilla tell about her friendship and travels with Paul as they visited Christian churches around Asia Minor. Create string-art maps of the region, marking the cities of Rome, Corinth and Ephesus, where Priscilla, Aquila and Paul crossed paths.
Epistles on Location: Where in the World Is?: Become travel agents for Damascus Road Travels: Where a life can change in a flash! by creating travel brochures and travel posters that will encourage others to follow in Paul’s footsteps.
Church Year: Faith Today: See how the seasons of the church year are mirrored in our own lives. Put together a time capsule of ways your congregation celebrates the church year. Create a round calendar to celebrate the church year.
Church Year: Created by the Spirit: Hear the story of Jesus calming the storm. Look at famous pieces of art that depict this miracle. Use watercolors to create a personal response to this story.
Church Year: Moved by the Spirit: Review the events of Holy Week, focusing on the emotions experienced by different participants. Create a roller coaster to depict the emotional ups and downs of Holy Week.
Church Year: Bedouin Encampment: A butterfly grower tells a story about butterfly watching, metamorphosis, and the connection to Easter. Release butterflies and do a butterfly craft.
TWEENS YEAR TWO - TEST OF FAITH - Lesson Overviews
Garden of Eden: Created by the Spirit: Juxtapose Bible reading, chalk art and classical music to develop a deeper understanding of Eden, free choice and grace. Part of the storytelling could include Adam and Eve telling their story side-by-side.
Garden of Eden: Moved by the Spirit: Play some games of choice to discover how we have free choice, how we can suffer the consequences of those choices and that God’s grace is what keeps us right with God.
Garden of Eden: Where in the World Is?: Focus on the relationship between the Garden of Eden, stewardship of the earth and current agricultural practices. Learn about organic gardening. Create garden tool hangers to use as a congregational fundraiser for organizations that encourage sustainable agriculture. (2 weeks.)
Ruth: Bible Improv: Using props and costumes act out seven scenes from the story of Ruth. Script provided.
Ruth: Created by the Spirit: Hear the story of Ruth through a paper-tearing exercise. Create divided hearts from either plastic or clay to share with someone you love.
Ruth: Faith Today: Hear the story of Ruth and learn about pockets of emptiness and pockets of fullness. Create reversible pockets that are filled with love, hope, kindness, joy, patience ----- and hugs and kisses.
Ruth: Video Live!: Understand the story of Ruth against the backdrop of human migration across the millennia. Create the experience of an immigration office with each student role-playing potential foreigner who wants to enter Bethlehem, connecting that experience with God’s open invitation to enter the kingdom of God.
Daniel: Bible Improv: Play “Babylon Squares” to learn the story behind the first six chapters in Daniel
Daniel: Eat Your Way through the Bible: Make apple turnovers while hearing the story of how Daniel consistently turned his tests of faith over to God.
Daniel: Moved by the Spirit: Play a variety of lion beanbag games to understand how much Daniel relied on God and how God was active in his life.
Daniel: Where in the World Is?: Discover Daniel’s dilemma regarding idols in Babylon. Play a Concentration game to discover images of God in Hebrew Scriptures. Make a representation of an image of God using an aboriginal art form. Gather around a world map and lead a guided imagery prayer service.
Jonah: Bible Improv: God does have a sense of humor and it is poured out in the Jonah story. A wide variety of improv and comedy games will help participants deepen their knowledge of this story and God’s grace.
Jonah: Created by the Spirit: From fuse beading to beaded jewelry, create symbols of the Jonah story, reflecting on how many small pieces come together to make a whole new creation.
Jonah: Moved by the Spirit: This story has many twists and turns in its plot. Play a variety of games to explore this aspect of Jonah’s story.
Jonah: Eat Your Way through the Bible: Make foods that express how God kept on wrapping up Jonah in a mission of witnessing to God’s presence.
Christmas Dreams: Mary & Martha’s Bed & Breakfast: Hear the story of Jesus’ birth through the eyes of Joseph and make a wooden step stool.
Christmas Dreams: Puppetry: The Innkeeper’s cleaning tools will share the story of the first Christmas. Broomstraw stars will be made as a reminder of God’s Christmas dreams and love for us.
Christmas Dreams: Where in the World Is?: After hearing the Christmas story do an art scavenger hunt and then create either a batik pillow case or a string art project.
Healing Miracles: Bible Improv: Capture the miracle healing of the Gerasene demoniac using digital photography.
Healing Miracles: Faith Today: After learning how being unclean meant exclusion from the community at the time of Jesus, create a soap project to be donated to a benevolent organization.
Healing Miracles: Moved by the Spirit: Play a card game called “Interruptions Matter,” a circular togetherness game and a color touch game (modification of blind man's bluff) as interaction with the story of Jesus healing of Jairus’ daughter and the woman with a hemorrhage. Play countdown to internalize the story of the healing of Jairus’ daughter.
Healing Miracles: Video Live!: The class will become investigative TV reporters investigating several of Jesus’ healing miracles.
Rich Young Man: Created by the Spirit: Hear the story, The Quilt Maker’s Gift, and create a tissue paper quilt. Consider launching a blanket drive.
Rich Young Man: Mary and Martha’s Bed and Breakfast: Greet the class as the rich young man who must decide what to do about his stuff. Experience two ways that wealth can be a burden. Lead the class in deciding whether to keep the possessions or follow Jesus.
Rich Young Man: Where in the World Is?: Participate in a two-person narration about the rich young man’s encounter with Jesus. Learn about the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights and do some interactive exercises to highlight some of the elements of poverty and need for basic human services. Consider one of several service projects in response to the story. (2 weeks.)
Garden of Gethsemane: Bedouin Encampment: Here the story of Holy Week from Judas’ perspective. Create a potpourri while reflecting on Holy Week and then create new verses to be sung to the traditional tune of Amazing Grace.
Garden of Gethsemane: Moved by the Spirit: Discover and interpret the concepts of the cross with large body movements to music from Handel’s Messiah. Body Sox™ would be a great asset to this lesson.
Garden of Gethsemane: Video Live!: After making a clothesline story sequence of Holy Week, create silhouette tableaus of the major events of Holy Week.
Garden of Gethsemane: Where in the World Is?: What is a pilgrimage? Is it a journey or a destination? Do map work using country road atlases, city maps and GPS system (possibly) as a way to understand how faith is a journey to and with God.
Doubting Thomas: Eat Your Way through the Bible: Experience the Resurrection when we eat anything, dead matter comes to new life in our bodies. Share food together and write graces that will remind us of the life giving gift of Jesus’ resurrection.
Doubting Thomas: Mary and Martha’s Bed and Breakfast: Thomas tells his story in the house when Jesus appeared and Thomas could touch his wounds. Do a pierced paper activity to reflect on this story.
Doubting Thomas: Where in the World Is?: Explore a wide variety of maps. Each map reveals to us a truth about the world but no map reveals the whole truth about the world. How do images of Jesus and the Resurrection reveal pieces of the truth to us so that we can come to a more complete understanding of God’s grace and love for us.
Doubting Thomas: Moved by the Spirit: The story of Jesus comes full circle from the understanding that Jesus was with God in the beginning and returns to God after the Resurrection. Circle games and leaps of faith will be used to come to a deeper relationship with God.
Pentecost: Bedouin Encampment: Peter’s sermon on Pentecost was the beginning of the church. Explore ways the Holy Spirit has continually been poured out on people of faith since that time.
Pentecost: Eat Your Way through the Bible: What would dinner for 3,000 look like? Share potluck pleasers with congregation or shut-ins or a local meal site.
Pentecost: Mary and Martha’s Bed and Breakfast: A woman from out of town shares her experience in Jerusalem as the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples. Create a hand print banner that will represent the flames of Pentecost still burning in our congregations today.
Pentecost: Where in the World Is?: Consider the wide variety of products that we use on a daily basis that come from other parts of the world. Use this as a point of intersection with our faith story that has traveled around the world since that first Pentecost.