I know you didn’t come here to read some long-winded intro about object lessons and how great they are for use in Sunday School. So I won’t bore you by doing that! 🙂

Without further ado….the “super clever” object lessons you were promised:

1. Invisible Ink

 

For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed…

Luke 8:17

 

Materials Needed:

• 1 lemon cut in half
• Plastic cup
• Paint brush
• Large piece of paper
• Blow dryer or iron

 

Directions:

1. Squeeze lemon into cup.
2. Dip paintbrush into the cup.
3. Write examples of sin on the piece of paper with the paintbrush.
4. Set paper aside to dry for approximately five minutes.
5. Use a hairdryer or warm iron to heat the paper.
6. Hear your audience applaud as the invisible ink is revealed!

 

Ever get angry?  Call a friend stupid?  Cheat on a test?   Then guess what? You are human!  After all, we’ve all sinned; even me!  But when we sin, we try to hide the bad things that we’ve done.  For example, I wrote down some sins that I’ve struggled with here.  Do you think I’d let you read about my secret sins?  No, of course not!  I used my invisible ink!

 

And I’m not the only one who likes to keep my sins secret.  We all like to keep secrets.  But when we keep our sins bottled up inside, it can make us bitter or angry.  Even worse, it can make others feel angry, too.

Key Thought: Nothing is hidden from God

 

2. Pepper Pickup

 

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Psalm 103:12

Materials Needed:

• Plate
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• Red balloon

 

Directions:

1. Put salt and pepper on plate.
2. Blow up and tie balloon.
3. Rub balloon against your head.
4. Hold balloon above the plate, moving it back and forth.
5. Hear oohs and aahs from your audience as the balloon picks up the pepper. ¹

 

I have bad news and good news to share with you today.  First, the bad news:  We’ve all done bad things. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Like this red balloon and this pepper.  The red balloon represents Christ’s blood that was shed for our sins.  And the pepper represents our sins.  Do you see how far away our sins are from God?  They’re far away, aren’t they?  But I didn’t just want to share the bad news with you, I also had some good news to share!

 

The good news is this: Christ died for you!  We read in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

Let me rub this balloon against my hair.  Watch what the balloon does.  Wow!  Look at the balloon pick up all of the pepper!

 

I’m reminded of the good news that we read about in Psalm 103:12 which says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”   Realize that you’re a sinner, and trust Jesus to forgive you of your sins.  And just like the red balloon picked up the pepper, so Christ will remove your sins.

 

Key Thought: Christ removes and forgives us of our sins

 

 

3. Easter Explained

 

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

John 12:24

 

 

Materials Needed:

• Small plate
• Small white candle
• Half cup of dark-colored water
• Coin
• Lighter
• Clear glass

 

Directions:

1. Put penny on plate.
2. Pour colored water on penny.
3. Place candle near the penny.
4. Light the candle.
5. Take cup and put it over candle.
6. Watch as flame is extinguished and water is sucked up!²

 

Tip: Practice beforehand.  Make sure that there’s enough water to surround the cup so that it will suck up all the water.  Don’t let children help!

 

When you think of Easter, what do you think of?  Do you think of all the chocolate Easter bunnies and colored eggs?  Or do you think of Easter as so much more than something you can buy in a store?

 

To help explain what Easter is all about, I brought a demonstration for you.  See this penny?  This penny represents us.  And see the purple water?  It’s our sin.  And see the white candle?  It represents Christ.  And the cup?  It’s the cross.

 

Christ, the spotless Lamb, died in our place.   John 12:24 says, “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”

 

Now, back to the demonstration…

 

As you can see, the candle has gone out and all of the water has been sucked up into the candle!  That’s incredible!  So remember this: Jesus gave up His life so that you could be free from sin and be with Him in heaven one day.  And that’s what Easter is all about!

 

Key Thought: Jesus died so we could be free!

 

4. Stain Solution

 

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

1 John 1:7

***can’t access video

 

Materials Needed:

• Tap water
• Iodine
• Bleach
• 3 glass jars

 

Directions:

1. Label the 1st jar “You” and fill with tap water
2. Label the 2nd jar “Sin” and add the iodine
3. Label the 3rd jar “Christ” and fill with bleach
4. To do the experiment: pour the “sin” into the “you”. Watch it turn red!
5. Stir some of the red-colored water back into “sin”.
6. Now take “Christ” and pour it into “You” and watch the liquid turn clear
7. Try to add more of the iodine liquid in the jar (“sin”) into you and it will become clear.

 

 

Coffee.   Ketchup.  Crayons.  Those are all deadly to me.  You see, I’m a magnet for stains.  And if I wear a white shirt, you’d better stay far away from me because I’m bound to spill something all over my shirt.  What’s the worst type of stains?  Sin!

 

We can’t escape sin because each of us are stained with the temptation to do bad things.  Watch as I pour “sin” into “you.”  What color does it turn it?  It turns it red.   And if I pour a little bit of “you” back into “sin,” it turns red too!

 

What happens when I add Christ into “you?”  It finally becomes clear and the stain is gone!  Then if I add “Christ” back into “sin,” “sin” becomes clear again!  Wow, this is incredible.  It’s just like God who provided a solution for our sins!

 

1 John 1:7 says, “…the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

 

The solution was for Christ to die on the cross.  And if you want to be free from the stain of sin, it’s as easy as the ABC’s!  First, admit that you’re a sinner and ask for forgiveness.  Second, believe that Jesus died on the cross.  And third, choose to follow Christ.

 

Key Thought: Christ washes away our sins

 

5. Rising Water

 

 “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”

1 Peter 2:24

 

Materials Needed:

• Plate
• A glass
• Water
• Food coloring
• Candle

 

Directions:

1. Mix a few drops of food coloring into the water.
2. Pour some of the colored water onto the plate.
3. Then place the candle in the center of the plate and light it.

 

While doing this explain how Jesus took our sins upon Himself as he died on the cross, place the glass over the candle, and watch as the water rises into the glass, leaving the plate clean just as Jesus took up and washed away all of our sins.

Key Thought: Jesus loves us so much he took up sin and sickness for us

 

6. Messy Twister

 

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10

 

Materials Needed:

• Twister game
• Dawn dish-washing soap
• Relish
• Mustard
• Ketchup

 

Directions:

1. Lay out the Twister game.
2. Find a volunteer and hand him or her the ketchup bottle. Instruct the volunteer to pour ketchup on the red circles.
3. Get an additional volunteer and hand them the mustard. Instruct the volunteer to pour the mustard over the yellow circles.
4. Choose a 3rd volunteer and have them put relish on the green circles.
5. Pour the blue soap on the blue circles.
6. Play a game of Twister.

 

Tip: This object lesson is a bit messy and really should be done outside. So…kids should either put on some clothes they can get a little messy or be ok with getting ketchup and mustard on their clothes!

 

Today, we’re going to play a game. How many of you guys have ever played Twister?

 

Well, if you have played Twister, you know that it can get a little…well, twisty! Your body has to move in all sorts of different ways, and sometimes, it’s really hard to hold your balance, right? Well, what if I told you that today we’re going to play a version of Twister… everybody come here and sit around the Twister board. Take off your shoes and socks so you’re ready to play when it’s time.

 

I want you to think of this Twister board like your heart. It’s nice and clean, for the most part, right? On these circles, we have all of the things you love, and the things that make you, well, you. This Twister board has all of the spaces where it’s supposed to be, and everything looks perfect.

 

Let’s say you showed up at school, you realized there was a test, and you knew you weren’t prepared. You decided to look on a friend’s paper and copy all of his answers… Well, that’s called sin, and it makes your heart a little messy.

 

Let’s say your parents tell you they want you to clean your room before they get home… but you don’t want to clean your home, you want to play video games. So you either don’t, or you take all your stuff and shove it under your bed, and then you lie and tell your parents that you cleaned your room. That’s also sin, and that makes your heart a little more messy.

 

Then, let’s say your neighbor gets a new bike. And you really, really, really want that bike. You keep thinking about that bike, dreaming about that bike. Suddenly, your bike doesn’t seem good enough. All you can do is think about that bike and how much better your life would be if you had that bike. You start coveting that bike. That also makes your heart a little more messy.

 

Now, let’s say that you’re on the playground, and I come up to you, and I start bullying you. I call you really mean names, and I push you, and I make fun of you. That’s also sin. Even though it’s not sin that you committed, it’s still sin, and it still makes your heart messy.

 

So now, your once clean heart is all messy… let’s see how easy it is to stay upright when you’ve got so much mess under your feet.

 

Do you think it was harder, or easier, to stay up when you had all that mess on your feet? It was probably a lot harder, right? Well, that’s what sin is like. It makes our life harder, but it also does something else. Do you know what else it does?

 

It makes it harder to do the right, clean thing. Once you get a little bit of sin, it starts to get everywhere! Just like when you stepped in the ketchup, the mustard, the relish, or the soap, and then you spread it everywhere. It gets messy, and it causes us to fall down, and it causes other people to fall down, too.

 

God doesn’t want us to have messy hearts. God wants our hearts to be clean. He wants us to do what’s called “right living”, or to be righteous. But the thing is, we can’t be that way unless someone helps clean us up.

 

We need God to come into our hearts and clean them just like we need to take a water hose to this Twister board. And once he does that we are made clean in God’s sight and have a way to go to heaven someday.

 

Key Thought: God can give us clean hearts

 

7. Severed Rope

 

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.

Romans 5:12

 

 

Materials Needed:

• Long piece of rope
• Scissors

 

Directions:

1. Be sure to watch the full video demonstration to learn the “magic” of this activity
2. Start by folding the piece of rope in half. Bring the middle up to the top and take your scissors and cut the middle portion in half. Bring the ends down so that you now have two pieces.
3. Tie the top two pieces together to make a knot.
4. If you blow on the knot, you can slide the knot off the rope leaving you with a solid piece of rope!

 

When you sin, you may feel guilty and feel like you’ve cut yourself off from God. You may think he’s mad and will never forgive you, but that’s not true! God loves us unconditionally and there is nothing we can do that will cut us off from his love.

 

Key Thought: Sin can’t cut us off from God’s love

 

8. Writing on the Wall

 

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace.

Daniel 5:5

Materials Needed:

• Crayons
• Baby wipes

 

Directions:

1. ** test this ahead of time to make sure your walls work with the crayons and baby wipes you bought. (IF for some reason it doesn’t, a magic eraser is another good thing to use).
2. Draw the hangman on the wall and have the conversation described below as you continue.
3. Give them each a baby wipe and let them wipe it off until no trace remains.

 

 

How many of you have ever gotten in trouble for coloring somewhere you weren’t supposed to? If you have, you probably don’t remember it, right?

 

Somehow, though, we have all learned that when you want to draw a picture, you’re supposed to do it on a piece of paper. Some of us learned that because someone told us, and some of us learned that through exploration… and finding out that our parents were mad when we drew on the wall!

 

Today, we’re going to learn about some writing on a wall… but first, let’s play Hangman.

 

(Take a crayon and draw the Hangman board on the wall. Do whatever word you want to do, or use it as a review of the past few lessons. Don’t answer any kids that call out to ask why you’re using a crayon, or to tell you that you shouldn’t be. Once the game is over, try to wipe the crayon off with your sleeve.)

 

OH NO! I wrote on the wall with my crayon. Why didn’t any of you tell me?! Have any of you guys ever done something wrong, and not really known what to do? Maybe it wasn’t writing on the walls, but something a little more… well, bad? (take stories if kids have them).

 

Well, you might not know this, but God has a special plan that helps you when you do bad things. It’s called repentance. All you have to do is tell God that you messed up and you won’t do it again, and God forgives you. I mean, you have to mean it when you say you’ll try to do better. But the Bible says that when you mess up and God forgives you, it’s wiped away.

 

So let’s pretend that this Hangman is the bad thing I did. I wrote on the walls. I can try and get rid of it all by myself, but we all saw that didn’t work before, didn’t we?

 

Now, let’s pretend that this wipe is God. Let’s see what happens when I’ve told God I’m sorry and repented. He is able to do what I can’t do. He can wipe it away. (rub the crayon on the wall with the baby wipe. It will come off).

 

We can always trust God to forgive us when we ask him too, and once he forgives us, we can show our gratitude and our love for him by obeying him.

 

Key Thought: God forgives when we earnestly repent

 

9. Soap Soufflé

 

Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…

Isaiah 1:18

 

Materials Needed:

• Bar of ivory soap
• Microwave
• Dinner plate
• Knife

 

Directions:

1. Cut the soap into four pieces.
2. Place soap on dinner plate and put into microwave.
3. Microwave on high for one minute.
4. See your audience’s eyes get bigger and bigger as the soap grows!

 

What takes dirt away and floats in water?  Ivory soap. After all, it’s known as the “soap that floats.”  For such a small size, it’s awesome to see how much cleaning power it has!

 

To show you, I brought some ivory soap.   Watch carefully to see what happens when I microwave the soap for one minute.  See how large the bar of soap has expanded!  That’s amazing.

 

But ivory soap isn’t the only thing that takes dirt away and cleanses.  Christ’s sacrifice also cleans and turns us white as snow.  We read in Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

 

Only Christ’s blood can wash us clean.  If you’ve never put your faith in Christ, now is the time to do it.  And you don’t even need a bar of soap or a microwave—it’s free!

 

Key Thought: Christ’s sacrifice on the cross has cleansed us

 

 

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