Sick Day Sunday School - Fishers of Men - Mathew 4:19

We were home sick from Sunday school this morning, and since this is the second Sunday out for the younger girls, thanks to never ending colds, I thought I'd better step up, and have a lesson for them at home.

After a quick Internet search, I settled on Matthew 4:19, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men," as our central verse for the morning.

Before I called the children in, I cut a few gingerbread shaped people out of construction paper. Then, I colored a heart on each one, and placed paper fasteners through the hearts.

I also gathered:

• netting from oranges


• thin cardboard, cut into squares, with two holes punched in the top


• yarn


• glue


• and two jumbo popsicle sticks, with the verse written on them, as shown

For C (age 4) I wrote the verse in marker, but for D and E (ages 8 and 5), I wrote it in pencil, for them to trace in marker. All of these supplies were set aside for a later craft.

Then, I pulled out the cardboard fish, with the magnet and wood dowel fishing poles, from last week's birthday party, and let three younger children fish.




After, they'd been at it for a while, I mentioned to them that some of Jesus' disciples had been fishermen, too. And, I read to them from The Young Reader's Bible, the story of when Jesus told them to cast their nets back into the water, after they'd been fishing unsuccessfully all night. The story ends with Jesus saying, "Follow me. From now on you will catch people, not fish."

So...



We went back to the fishing game, but this time used our little people, instead of the fish. At this point, my 13 year old burst into the room.

"Mom! That's really lame. Jesus didn't mean they'd fish for people, he meant they'd lead people to Him."

"Really? Is that what He meant?" I said, batting my eyes innocently.

"Achh! You knew I was going to say that, didn't you!?!"

There's nothing like the predictability of a 13 year old.

Anyway, with our lesson learned, we moved on to the craft. The children colored in their people, and then glued them into nets, on the cardboard, between the popsicle sticks, and tied the strings on for hanging, as shown, following an idea I found as a craft kit, here.

I should say, the people were supposed to be smiling, and not looking so distressed. I didn't really look at the faces the kids had drawn, until after I had them in the net.

D, and E decided they wanted to use some of the people to act out the story, so we had to pause for a quick, paper boat, folding demonstration from Metacafe.

Then, it was time for a fishing snack. I've seen this done with fish crackers, pretzels, and peanut butter, before. I had chocolate fish grahams, and peanut butter, but no pretzels.

So, we used butter knives, to dip into the peanut butter, and then "catch" the fish with.

Finally, we reviewed our verse with a quick round of "I Will Make You Fishers of Men" - click, here for the words, and music. You'll have to figure out the actions for yourself :)

Don't forget to check out the Bible Alive! Tuesday link-up, this week at the Fantastic Five, for more Bible themed activities, and ideas.

It's great to be a homeschooler.