Swap Shop is a place to exchange ideas for activities in Sunday school; share your success stories in teaching the Bible to children; and provide ways to foster a love for the Bible.

Swap Shop - 3rd grade and up

Ever have problems with students not knowing where to find their favorite Bible characters? Or not knowing anything about a Bible character’s family?

Often I find students don’t know if a person is from the Old or New Testament, let alone in which book of the Bible we might find the character. Over a year ago, I used an erasable white board to list Old Testament characters on the left side and New Testament characters on the right side. A poster of the Books of the Bible is next to the white board. Whenever we discussed a person not on the board, the students would determine which Testament they belonged in and in which book(s) the person appeared.

At first it was just a random list of Bible people. Then we reorganized it chronologically. Each pupil was responsible for finding out who was next and why. The most important aids in learning about these figures were organizing them into families and learning about them as families. These two steps dramatically heightened their interest. They wanted to learn about the moms and dads and siblings. They had fun discovering grandparents and great grandparents. One child commented, “I didn’t know they even had parents like us.”

We talked about how families relied on God.

As Mother’s Day and Father’s Day approach, the students are asked who some of the famous mothers or fathers are in the Bible. What are their children’s names? What qualities of parenting were expressed? Did they have a brother or sister? How did they work through hardships? What kind of Father – Mother is God?

After a quick glance at the board, the students start talking about these people and their lives. A year ago that didn’t happen. They didn’t have a clue where to find them or who they were or why they were important to their spiritual growth. The students are getting much stronger about recognizing the names and who these wonderful people are. Putting them into families helped them understand the people and their relationship to God as well as whether they were Old or New Testament figures.

GAL