Thursdays = Science, the Bible & Fun!

My husband and I are members at a large church (about 6000 people). Our church is in the middle of a major building and renovation project. Since April we have been meeting at a local college (Calvin College) on Sundays in their sports arena, as our own auditorium is being renovated (balcony removed, roof raised a few inches, back wall pushed back to make more room). We are hoping to return to our newly renovated auditorium in December.

The Children's Ministry area is also being made new with a new addition, but it will not be ready until August 2017. So, due to available space issues on Wednesdays (the old Children's Ministry area) they had to limit registration in our mid-week ministry this year. I knew this was going to be the "plan" while the new area was being built, so a year ago I wrote, Science, the Bible & Fun to use with my grandsons while the new children's area was being built. (My grandsons attend my church's mid-week ministry.)

Today is the first day of our Science, the Bible & Fun! We decided to have it on Thursday nights this year, so their poppa is picking them up from school and we will have supper together. After supper we will spend time discovering more about God through fun science projects, work on crafts or bake something tasty and most importantly, learn about real Bible people who chose to love, know and follow God. We will talk about how we can do the same and spend time learning to pray the Psalms back to God. The boys will learn how to keep a prayer journal . . . it is my prayer at the end of our year of Science, the Bible & Fun, they will be boys who are serious about talking to and with God!

So, tonight we will be having fun with a science project where we combine yeast, dish soap and peroxide . . . we will learn about obeying from this project. We will make our prayer journals, play some fun games and spend time talking about Jeremiah 29 and 33 and how God promises to listen to and answer our prayers! Over the coming months we will learn about Noah, Jehoshaphat, Josiah, Jesus, Daniel, Caleb, John and the Judges - and have a lot of fun doing so!

As I mentioned, I wrote Science, the Bible & Fun to use with my grandsons, but it is available for you to use with your grandchildren/children, too! You'll find all the details at this link . . . check it out and try this free lesson, too! This is one tool you can use as a grandparent to pass faith to your grandchildren!

Welcome to, “Science, the Bible & Fun” which has 52 weeks of activities and Bible Adventures to help you pass on a heritage of faith to your grandchildren (children). Each week’s activities include a Science Project, Craft, Nature Walk or Cooking project, time for Active Games—the type which take just a minute to play (look these up on-line as for copyright reasons, I could not reprint them). Along with all these fun activities, you’ll find a verse to memorize each month, a portion of Psalms each week to read, think through and pray back to God along with the opportunity to look at real people from the Bible who chose to love, know and walk with God! As you get to know them, you will learn more about how to do this as well! Feel free to use any or all of these resources as best fit your schedule.  Science, the Bible & Fun is available at this link!

I Can Praise Science, the Bible & Fun – Week 6

I Can Praise God & Jehoshaphat Stood Firm!

Psalm 9 & 2 Chronicles 20

(Especially verses 6-19)

Science—Balloon in a Bottle!

SUPPLIES: · Empty 1-liter bottles (one per child) · Balloons · Nail/Hammer

What You’ll Do

Lead children in a science experiment which will help them think about the wonderful things God does and help them t praise Him.

· Place balloon in bottle with mouth of balloon over bottle opening.

· Have children try to blow up balloons.

· Remove balloons, fill bottles with water and cap. Carefully use hammer and nail to make a small hole in side of bottles near bottom.

· Pour out water, replace balloon and try to blow up again.

· Place finger over small nail hole and hold bottle away from your mouth; what happens?

· Remove finger and talk about what happens.

(Look up, “balloon in a bottle” on-line for examples and photos of this project.)

Wrap up with something along the lines of: For this project you were able to do something surprising; blow up a balloon inside a bottle!  This is the kind of project you are likely to tell others about and today you are going to learn about how David told others about the wonderful things God did for Him. You will also see how Jehoshaphat praised God for the wonderful things He did. You can choose to be like David and Jehoshaphat by telling other about the wonderful things God does for you, too!

Memory Verse

Psalm 8:1, 2a – Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in the whole earth!  You have set your glory in the heavens. ² You have made sure that children and infants praise you.

The Bible Adventure —

SUPPLIES: · Bibles · Prayer notebook—one per child · Crayons/Markers/Colored pencils

Read it!:

Open your Bibles and read the following -

· Psalm 9

· 2 Chronicles 20 (especially verses 6-19)

Talk About it:

Talk together about the verses you read; emphasize the following—

· Talk about what it means to thank God with all your heart.

· Talk about the wonderful things God has done and how you can tell others about them.

· Talk about what it means to trust God and how you can trust Him.

· Talk about how Jehoshaphat chose to trust God, stand firm and then praised God.

· Sing a song of praise once again to God praising Him with all your heart.

· Have children write/draw in their notebooks specific things they will pray about this week. Spend time praying together. Talk about how God is answering their prayers.

Scripture Prayer—

Dear God, I will give thanks to You with all my heart for all the wonderful things You have done! Please help me trust You more and more each day. Thank You for Your great love for me; I love You, too! Amen.

The Fun! —

Choose activities as you like —

· Games -Active Games and/or Board Games

· Craft - All My Heart!

SUPPLIES: · Rocks—palm-size · Permanent ink pens

1. Talk about what it means to thank God with all our heart.

2. Let them use markers to draw a heart on their rock.

3. Talk about how children will thank God with all their heart in the coming week.

4. Tell children to put their rock where they will see it and be reminded to thank God with all their heart.

5. Lead children in popcorn prayers of thanks to God.