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 —Good thoughts vs. Bad thoughts

A few Sundays ago, I observed this wonderful exercise with five pre-school boys and girls.

The Sunday school teacher was teaching her class how to recognize good thoughts versus bad thoughts and what to do with bad thoughts.

The children sat in a row against the wall. The teacher gave them each a 5x7 card with a thought on it. The first child got up and walked to the other side of the table so he would be facing the other children. He then knocked on the table as he would knock on a door. The children asked, “Who’s there?” The child responded, “Matthew.” He then handed his card to the teacher to read. She read, “I am God’s image and likeness.” The teacher asked, is that a good thought or a bad thought? Matthew responded, “That is a good thought. I am God’s image and likeness.” He sat down and the next student got up and knocked on the table. Once again the class asked, “Who’s there?” The child replied, “Claire.” The teacher read her card, “I want to disobey my mother and leave the back yard.” The teacher asked, “Is that a good thought or bad thought, Claire?” As she answered all the children shouted, “Bad thought.”

The teacher then asked, “What do we do with bad thoughts?” Matthew responded by putting his hand up like a stop sign and said, “Stop. That’s not my thinking.” The teacher asked, “Now what do we do?” Matthew said, “We change it to I will obey my Mother.”

This activity continued until everyone had an opportunity to decide on a good thought or a bad thought. My fifth graders had stopped in to observe this exercise and found it very helpful not just to discern between good and bad thoughts, but to be alert to and understand how to stop the bad thought and replace it with a good thought.

Other statements on the cards:

I am the perfect child of God.

I argue with my Dad about sitting down in the car.

I love God and want to honor my father and mother.

I want to hit my brother.

I want to grab the doll from my sister.

I want to thank God for this day.

You obviously can add to the list and use it for your classes. Just by changing the difficulty level of the questions, you can use it for groups up to 6th grade.

GAL