Sunday School object lessons might be one of my favorite ways to teach kids about Jesus. It “check” almost all the boxes for me. Object lessons keep kids interested (which is a HUGE win), they allow the teacher to explain sometimes complex things in simple ways, and the kids learn Scriptural truth while having fun!
That’s as good as it gets!
So here are 5 object lessons (taken from my Christmas curriculum) that I think you will LOVE. Every one of them are easy to setup, none require special stuff, and they all are impactful and have some element of surprise.
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Object Lesson #1 – Miracle inside Mary’s Belly
One day Mary is visited by an angel. (Luke 1:26-38) And in that moment Mary is plucked from basically complete obscurity to become the earthly mother of Jesus. WOW!
Admittedly this story is a little tricky with young ears listening because it involves the process of making babies, and how that didn’t happen in Mary’s situation. So…tread gently.
That being said, here’s a fun way to talk about a baby growing in Mary’s belly in a miraculous way!
Objects Needed: 2 empty plastic drink bottles, thumbtack (or nail), several latex balloons
Instructions: (how to do it with 2 volunteers, the video shows how to do the object lesson by yourself)
Before starting, use the thumbtack to make a small hole in the bottom of one of the plastic bottles. The hole should be about the size of a small nail head – big enough for air to come out but small enough you can’t easily see it.
Pick two volunteers and ask each to put the balloon inside the bottle with the opening of the balloon stretched out over the lip of the bottle. (so if you put your mouth on the lip of the bottle, you are blowing into a balloon).
Begin to talk about Mary and the fact that she was a single lady unable to have a baby by herself.
As you talk, have the volunteer who does NOT have the small hole in his bottle attempt to blow up the balloon. (It will be next to impossible due to air pressure)
Then one day an angel from God visited Mary and told her that the most amazing thing had happened! She had been picked by God to carry baby Jesus! A baby would begin to grow inside her belly!
As you talk, have the volunteer whose bottle DOES have the small hole attempt to blow up their balloon (Mary’s belly) … and it will work!
Mary experienced a true ‘Christmas miracle’ unlike anything the world has ever seen!
Object Lesson #2 – Finally!
The journey to Bethlehem must have been crazy difficult. Added on top of the stress that must have created, by the time Mary and Joseph actually got into town all of the houses were full of people. Every door they knocked on they heard the same answer, “Sorry all full”.
Ugh!
But eventually, finally, they found a spot…far from idea, but exactly as it had been prophesied many many years before. In a manger with the animals, the Savior of the world was born.
What a glorious Christmas that must have been!
Objects Needed: apple, plastic drinking straw (not the flexible type)
Instructions:
Begin by talking about Mary and Joseph’s search for a place to both sleep and deliver their baby.
As you talk about them being turned away at house after house, begin poking the apple with the straw as if you are trying to stab the apple with it.
Then, finally they found a place…not the best of locations, but it would have to do…a stable (likely a cave) out back with all the animals.
As you talk about Mary and Joseph finding a spot, put your thumb over one end of the straw and stab the apple with the other end. The straw goes in and can be pushed all the way through the apple!
The wait was finally over, now baby Jesus could be born!
Object Lesson #3 – Magic Star
The wise men saw a start they had never seen before and knew that something special was happening. So they saddled up their horses (ok, probably camels) and began the journey to find the newborn king.
What’s also amazing about their story is that when they got to the baby, they worshipped him with gifts offered…to a king. It reminds me of the verse in Galatians 4:4 that “the time had fully come” … it’s as if the whole world was waiting, and watching, and looking for any sign that it was time.
And when the wise men saw the star, they knew…IT WAS TIME!
Here’s a really fun, almost ‘magic trick’ style object lesson your kids will love.
Objects Needed: toothpicks, water, and something to dispense a few drops of water (syringe or the like.
Instructions:
Prepare the toothpicks by breaking each one in half (without completely separating them) and then align them in the shape of a star but leave the ends open so the edges of the star is still open.
One of the most amazing events to ever happen in the sky, happened shortly after the first Christmas.
Wise men, who probably regularly studied the sky, saw an amazing star they had never seen before rise in the east and knew it to be a sign.
At this point, pour just a few drops of water into the center of the arrangement. As the water hits the broken edges of the toothpicks, the edges will gradually come together to form a star!
Immediately they packed up their things and began the journey to discover what was underneath that star.
As they followed the star, they got closer, and closer, and closer to the greatest sight they had ever seen. The star had led them directly to baby Jesus – the Savior of the world!
When they found baby Jesus they fell down and worshipped him because they knew they were in the presence of TRUE royalty!
Object Lesson #4 – The Angels Appear to the Shepherds
Luke 2:8-20 describes the night the angels visited the shepherds.
Oh man what a sight that must have been. If you stop and think about it these shepherds had NO IDEA they were about to get the greatest announcement OF ALL TIME. They were just minding their business when all of a sudden out of nowhere…
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
Luke 2:9
Objects Needed: empty Pringles can, 2 clear lids from Pringles cans, sharpie marker, and a flashlight
Instructions:
Take each of the clear plastic Pringles lids and draw 1 angel on one of the lids. On the other lid draw lots of angels.
Then as you begin to tell the story of the shepherds seeing the angels, turn the flashlight on and drop it into the can.
Put the single angel drawing on top of the can with the flashlight in it as you talk about an angel appearing to the shepherds. When the light is projected on a wall, you’ll see your angel!!
Then when the whole host of angels appear switch the lid out for the one with lots of angels on it!
Object Lesson #5 – Light of the World
At Christmas we celebrate the fact that God sent His Son into this dark world to bring light.
So in Sunday School, as you describe why, and how Jesus is the light of the world, here’s a fun “electrical” object lesson that would work perfectly!
Objects Needed: Wire (with ends stripped of the insulation), low watt lightbulb, D battery
Instructions:
At Christmas, Jesus came to a world that needed saving. People needed hope that all the stuff that had done wrong would not mean they couldn’t get into heaven after they died. People everywhere needed a person to go between them and God and say “I’ll pay for all the wrong they’ve done so they have a clean record and can enter heaven.” And that “go between” was Jesus.
Another way to say that, is the world was DARK, and it need a LIGHT. And Jesus came into our dark world when we needed Him most and gave us hope for a future…He gave us LIGHT!
(Attempt to use the battery and lightbulb, minus the wire to turn the light on.)
As hard as we try, there’s no way for us to produce the LIGHT we need. We can’t do enough good to enter Heaven.
But when Jesus enters the picture, everything changes.
(show the wire and begin to connect the elements so the light illuminates)
Jesus brings light to our lives and hope that we have a future after we die. It is this light of Jesus that we celebrate at Christmas!
