Taking Church out of Church, Part II

I want my kids to be useful.  Heck, I want to be useful.

But how do we find our purpose?  Our identity?

Most people spend years and years trying to "find themselves."  I want my kids to grow up knowing who they are and what they believe.  Sure, they will question it.  They NEED to question.  Otherwise, how do you know what you believe? 

I don't want them to have any doubt what we believe.

So here's another way I brought church home:

My kids love Play-Doh.  I think that's a requirement for being a kid.

So I capitalized on their love of rolling and squishing and cutting it.

 

 

Okay, Thing One is not exactly showing the love in this picture, but sometimes he gets tired of posing for pictures.  I also think he was a little "hangry".

 

 

While we were playing with Play-Doh, I read this verse:

 

"Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand." (Jeremiah 18:6)

 

Naturally, this went right over the boys' heads. 

 

So I asked what the Play-Doh was for.  And I got no response.  Ha.

 

"It's just a lump of dough, isn't it?"  I asked.

 

Thing One nodded.

 

"What if I take it in my hands and make a bowl?  What can I do with a bowl?"

 

"Eat out of it!"  Thing One shouted.  Definitely "hangry."

 

"Right!  And then it has a purpose; it becomes useful.  That's what God says in the Bible.  He says that we're like giant lumps of clay, and he molds us and shapes us and gives us a purpose."

 

"Oh, okay," Thing One replied. 

 

Thing Two just kind of stared at the dough. 

 

But that's okay.  Because later, they'll remember this.  We'll do it again.  I will remind them.  We will talk about it more and more as they are able to understand it more.

 

We also did a color and cut/tear activity with via Brown Bear, Brown Bear:

 

 

The first activity was God-inspired, but the second was all Pinterest!