Free Bible School Materials: 2013

Back to the Beginning Overview

Sometimes you have to get down to the basics and remember how it all got started. We went back to the beginning and wrote lessons on creation, sin, salvation, faith, and the church. In Galion we used these materials in 2006 and again in 2012.

This theme is mostly complete, but I'm still working on getting it all posted online.

	Elementary		Preschool		Teens
Monday	Bible Lesson:	The Beginning of Creation (The Altar to an Unknown God)	Bible Lesson:	Creation	Bible Lesson:
	Visuals:		Second Lesson:		Discussion:	9 Questions
	Memory Verse:	Acts 17:24	Memory Verse (all week):	Acts 17:24 (abbreviated)	Memory Verse:
	Missions:				Missions Discussion:
	Craft:	Origami Inflatable Creation Box	Craft:		Craft:	Wax-Dipped Origami Animals
	Game:	Animal Match-Up Relay	Game:	Animal Game (Pretending)	Game:	Animal Match-Up Relay
	Snack:
Tuesday	Bible Lesson:	The Beginning of Sin (The Tree and the Snake)	Bible Lesson:	Adam and Eve Sin	Bible Lesson:
	Visuals:		Second Lesson:		Discussion:	9 Questions
	Memory Verse:	Romans 3:22	Memory Game:		Memory Verse:
	Missions:				Missions Discussion:
	Craft:		Craft:	Paint By Shape	Craft:	Cross Wall Hanging
	Game:	Board Foot Walk	Game:	Bubbles *	Game:	Board Foot Walk
	Snack:
Wednesday	Bible Lesson:	The Beginning of Salvation (The Ark and the Christ)	Bible Lesson:	Noah and the Flood	Bible Lesson:
	Visuals:		Second Lesson:		Discussion:	8 Questions
	Memory Verse:	1^st Corinthians 15:22	Memory Game:		Memory Verse:
	Missions:				Missions Discussion:
	Craft: Painted Ark Scene
	Game:	Two-By-Two Race	Game:	Animal Match-Up Race	Game:	Two-By-Two Race
	Snack:
Thursday	Bible Lesson:	The Beginning of the Promise (Abraham's Offspring, the Woman's Seed)	Bible Lesson:	Abraham's Faith	Bible Lesson:
	Visuals:		Second Lesson:		Discussion:	9 Questions
	Memory Verse:	Hebrews 11:6	Memory Game:		Memory Verse:
	Missions:				Missions Discussion:
	Craft: Abraham and the Stars Window Hanging
	Game:	Egg-Push Race *	Game:	Hot Potato *	Game:	Egg-Push Race *
	Snack:
Friday	Bible Lesson:	The Beginning of the Church	Bible Lesson:	Beginning of the Church (Preschool Version)	Bible Lesson:
	Visuals:		Second Lesson:		Discussion:	8 Questions
	Memory Verse:	Acts 2:32	Memory Game:		Memory Verse:
	Missions:				Missions Discussion:
	Craft:		Craft:		Craft:	Garden Stone
	Game:		Game:		Game:
	Snack:

Substitute Indoor Games:

Decorations:

Stage Decoration: 1/24 Scale Model of Noah's Ark
Bulletin Boards (Questions and Answers)
Additional Decoration Photos, 2012

Footnote:

* - Marked items either need some work or may be replaced when we get back to this theme again (tentatively in 2018).

Acts 2:32

Friday:	Acts 2:32
Bible Lesson:	Beginning of the Churc: The church was begun in order to witness for God in all parts of the earth.
Memory Verse:	God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Acts 2:32

Introduction: Witnesses

What's a witness? Have you ever seen a court trial? On television, or in a movie, maybe, a court scene? What does a witness do in a court room? A witness is called to do what? To tell what they saw or heard. When a witness tells what he saw or heard, that's evidence. If several witnesses saw the same thing, that's good evidence. If six different people all saw the bad guy breaking into the store, what's the jury going to do? They'll find him guilty – they know he did it, because there were six witnesses.

Explanation: Acts 2:32

[Show the card with the verse.] Let's look at today's verse. [Read it through a couple of times.]

Who was talking in this verse? Who's the “we”? Who wrote the book of Acts? [Luke did.] Luke is the author. When he says “we”, he's talking about himself, and other people who saw what he saw. What do we call those people, who saw something – in this case, people who saw Jesus after he raised from the dead? Witnesses!

How many witnesses were there, people who saw Jesus raised from the dead? John did. Peter. Mary Magdelene? All eleven of the disciples (except Judas). 1 Corinthians 15 says that he appeared to more than 500 people at one time. That's a lot of witnesses! That's a lot of people, who saw that Jesus really was alive.

Game: Popcorn

Whoever the teacher points to with the ruler/pointer/whatever has to pop up like popcorn (i.e., stand up quickly out of their seat) and say the next word of the verse. Leave the poster displayed at first, then after a while cover it up. Go through the verse this way until time expires. Make sure to point to all the children so that everyone participates, but don't go in order; jump around so that they never know when it's going to come to them.

Announcement: Verse Points

Tomorrow, when you come to Bible School, if you can say your memory verse without looking, you can earn points for your team's score. Each person who can say the verse can earn 200 points. So, if you want to help your team win more points, go home and practice your verse a few times. Don't forget the reference! On your way out the door tonight, you will be given a slip of paper with your verse on it. Don't lose it, because if you learn your verse, your team gets 200 more points!

You can say your verse for points tomorrow when you check in at the registration table.

Hebrews 11:6

Thursday:	Hebrews 11:6
Bible Lesson:	The Beginning of the Promise: We should have faith like Abraham.
Memory Verse:	Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him, Hebrews 11:6

Explanation: Hebrews 11:6

[Needed]

Explanation: Hebrews 11:6

Let's look at today's memory verse. [Show the verse and read it aloud.]

What's faith, anyhow? What does it mean to have faith in God? The rest of the verse talks about it. Look, it says right here, “anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” What did [name of volunteer] have to believe about the chair? That it was there? That it would hold [him/her] up? What do we have to believe about God? That he's there? That he's real? What else? That he rewards those who earnestly seek him. What does that mean?

What does it mean to seek God? [Accept a couple of answers from the children.] Sure, you're trying to find out about God, trying to find God. What does it mean to do something earnestly? It means you're not just playing around, you're really trying to do something, really working at it. If you're earnestly seeking God, you really want know God, and know about him. The verse says we have to believe that God rewards those who earnestly seek him. What's a reward? [Accept a couple of answers from the children.]

Game: Hot Potato

Read the verse through a couple of times, as a group, then introduce an object that you call a potato. Explain that each person must say the next word of the verse, before they can pass on the hot potato. Run through the verse one time for practice, passing the potato around, then introduce the timer.

The goal for each child is to avoid having the potato when the timer goes off, but you have to say the next word of the verse before you can pass the potato on to the next person. (At the end of the verse, say the reference, and then the next person starts at the beginning again.) Use short times on the timer and run through the verse as many times this way as possible. (If the group is too large, split it up with a potato for each group; you can still have just one timer.) Leave the card with the verse displayed until you think the kids know the verse, then try removing it. If someone has trouble with a word, you can help them after a few seconds.

Announcement: Verse Points

You can say your verse for points tomorrow when you check in at the registration table.

1st Corinthians 15:22

Wednesday:	1^st Corinthians 15:22
Bible Lesson:	The Beginning of Salvation: Sin brings a penalty. Jesus paid our penalty so that we can be saved.
Memory Verse:	For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive, 1^st Corinthians 15:22

Introduction: Analogies

Let's play a comparing game! A sock is to a foot as a glove is to a... [Let the children say hand.] Good. Now, a harder one: A jet plane is to air as a submarine is to... [Let the children say water.] Good! Okay, how about this one: Drink is to punch as throw is to... [Let the children suggest some possibilities, and then suggest ball if they don't come up with that.] Okay, now let's try one that goes along with our verse: Adam is to die as Jesus is to... [Let them try, and then give the answer: live.] Let's read the verse together and see how we got that answer...

Explanation: 1^st Corinthians 15:22

[Show the verse and read it aloud.]

Why does it say that all die in Adam? How did Adam bring death into the world? Adam sinned, in the Garden of Eden – Adam and Eve were the first sinners. What happened when they sinned? What did God say would happen, if they ate the fruit? (“You will surely die.”) Are Adam and Eve alive today? Why not? (They died.) God took them out of the Garden, when they sinned, so they couldn't eat the fruit from the Tree of Life, and live forever. So they died, because they sinned.

Were Adam and Eve the only people who ever sinned? (No.) The Bible tells us that we all have sin in our lives, we all want to do bad things sometimes, because Adam and Eve are our ancestors – we're their great great great... grandchildren, after all these years. So we inherit their sin; Adam and Eve sinned then, and we still sin today, because we come from them, and we have their sin nature, the part of us that wants to sin. Because everybody sins, everybody has to die. But look at the end of the verse: in Christ, all will be made alive. We can get eternal life, from believing in Jesus.

Game: Faster and Slower

Let's all say the verse together. [Do this.] Now, let's see if we can say it faster. [Do this.] That was pretty fast, but can we do it even faster? [Do so.] Great. Now let's see if we can say it slower. [Do it.] Wonderful. I bet you can go slower than that. Let's say each word really slowly... [Do that.]

Who thinks they know the verse now? Do you know it well enough to say it without looking at the card? Can I have a volunteer? [Have a volunteer (or two or three, time permitting) say the verse.] Now let's see if we can all say it together, without looking. [Hide the card and say the verse. If time is left over, do it faster and slower without looking, forward, backwards, et cetera.]

Announcement: Verse Points

You can say your verse for points tomorrow when you check in at the registration table.

Romans 3:22

Tuesday:	Romans 3:22
Bible Lesson:	The Beginning of Sin: We are sinful and require salvation.
Memory Verse:	This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, Romans 3:22

Introduction: Sin

Today we learned how Adam and Eve brought sin into the world. Did sin stop with Adam and Eve? (No.) We still have sin with us today, don't we? We need to have our sin taken away. We need to be made righteous. What does righteous mean? It means you don't have sin in your life. Does that mean we don't sin? Does it mean we've never sinned? Is there anybody here who's never sinned? So how can we be righteous?

Explanation: Reference

[Hold up the card with the verse and read Romans 3:22]

So, how can we be righteous? Where does righteousness come from? The verse says it comes from God. God gives us righteousness. Can we be righteous on our own? No. We need God's righteousness. How do we get it? What does the verse say? It comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. What does that mean? Is righteousness just for good people? (No.) Is it just for people who go to a certain church? (No.) Is it just for people who like Ohio State? (No.) Righteousness comes to all who believe in Jesus Christ. That's how we become righteous – through faith. What do we have to believe about Jesus Christ? We have to believe that he is God. Why is it that believing on Jesus can get us righteousness? Where did he get it? He already had it, because he was God. God doesn't sin, does he? Jesus was already righteous, because he was God, and God is without sin.

Learning Activity: Sign Language

Tell the children that you're going to learn sign language for this verse. Explain that sign language is what deaf and mute people use to communicate. Show the children the sign language as you say the verse through one or two times, then teach them the sign language for each word individually, and help them do the sign for that word until they can do it. When you've done all the words, start putting them together. Make sure you and the children are saying each word out loud while signing it. Put longer and longer strings of words together until eventually the children can say and sign the whole verse.

Announcement: Verse Points

You can say your verse for points tomorrow when you check in at the registration table.

Acts 17:24

Monday:	Acts 17:24
Bible Lesson:	The Beginning of Creation: God created the world and deserves our worship.
Memory Verse:	The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands, Acts 17:24

Introduction: Creation

Today we learned about how God made the world, and most of the story is found in Genesis, in the Old Testament. But the New Testament talks about it some too.

Explanation: Acts 17:24

[Show the verse and read it aloud.]

There is only one God, but the Bible likes to tell different things about who God is, when it tells different things that he did. When it calls him the God who made the world, it's talking about something he did – the creation story that we learned about earlier. From God's creation, we know about his power.

When the Bible calls God, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, it means that he is the one who is in charge of everything that happens – both here on earth, and also in heaven. It means he's the master.

When it says that he does not live in temples made by hands, what's it talking about? Does it mean God isn't with us when we're in church, worshiping him? (No.) Does it mean he wasn't with the people of Israel, when they worshiped him in the temple? (No.) It means that God is not just in one place, and he's not only there, just because of us. God is, like the verse says, the one who created everything, and is the master in charge of everything. He's God whether we come to church and worship him or not.

So, if God is the same powerful creator whether we worship him or not, why does he want us to worship him? Is it because God gets more power if we worship him? (No, he has all the power anyway.) God wants us to worship him, because it's good for us.

Game: Clapping

Demonstrate for the children how to clap once for each syllable while talking. Do this while saying the verse through one time, with the reference. Now have the children do it with you. Repeat two or three times, until the children can clap and say the verse more-or-less together in what passes for unison. Encourage them that they're doing well, but let's see if we can do even better at staying together and all saying each word at the same time, and all clapping at the same times. Repeat until they get it right, or time runs out. Optionally, after a few times through, divide the children into two groups, and alternate the two groups in a competition to see which group can stay together better.

Announcement: Verse Points

You can say your verse for points tomorrow when you check in at the registration table.

God's Sheep (Theme Overview; updated, 2013)

Sheep are all over the place in the Bible, used as examples and illustrations for a variety of things in both testaments. They're also cute and make for easy decorations, so naturally we had to use them for a Bible School theme. The lessons we take from this theme talk about sin, salvation, obedience, security, and the church. In Galion this was our theme in 2007 and again in 2013.

This theme is mostly complete.

	Elementary		Preschool		Teens
Monday	Bible Lesson:	Going Astray: Moses and the Rock	Bible Lesson:	Moses and the Rock: Obey God	Bible Lesson:	Going Astray: Moses and the Rock
	Visuals:	Available 2013
			Sheep Lesson:	We All Sin*	Discussion:	6 Questions 2013
	Memory Verse:	Isaiah 53:6 (Follow the Shepherd)	Memory Verse (all week):	John 10:14 (Explanation)	Memory Verse:	Isaiah 53:6
	Missions:	Feeding the Sheep 2013			Missions Discussion:	7 Questions 2013
	Craft:	Shadow Box	Craft:	Sheep Bank	Craft:	Vase Candle
	Game: Pass the Sheep
	Snack: Popcorn: Sheep Going Astray 2013
Tuesday	Bible Lesson:	Lamb of God (Isaac and the Ram)	Bible Lesson:	Praising God (David the Shepherd)	Bible Lesson:	Isaac and the Lamb (teen version)
	Visuals:	Available 2013
			Sheep Lesson:	Thanking the Creator*	Discussion:	6 Questions 2013
	Memory Verse:	Romans 4:25 (Every Other Word)	Memory Game:	Follow the Shepherd	Memory Verse:	Romans 4:25
	Missions:	Where the People Are 2013			Missions Discussion:	7 Questions 2013
	Craft:	Ram in the Thicket	Craft:	Watercolor (David playing the harp for his sheep)	Craft:	Cloth Painting (ram in the thicket, or Abraham and Isaac)
	Game:	Sheep Gate Tag	Game:	Sheep Gate Tag	Game:	Marshmallow Ram 2013
	Snack: Sheep and Cross Cookies: Taking Our Place 2013
Wednesday	Bible Lesson:	Stolen Sheep: Saul and the Spoils regular version or skit version	Bible Lesson:	Baa, baa, baa! (Saul and the Sheep)	Bible Lesson:	Stolen Sheep (teen version)
			Sheep Lesson:	Obey the Shepherd*	Discussion:	6 Questions 2013
	Memory Verse:	1^st Samuel 15:22 (Divide and Conquer)	Memory Game:	Clapping	Memory Verse:	1^st Samuel 15:22
	Missions:	Lost Sheep of Israel 2013			Missions Discussion:	7 Questions 2013
	Craft:	Obedience Bookmark	Craft:	Pull-Through Filmstrip	Craft:	Obedience Bookmark
	Game: Sheep Golf
	Snack: Donuts: Obey God 2013
Thursday	Bible Lesson:	Sheep Security: The Good Shepherd	Bible Lesson:	Jesus Loves Children (Let the children come)	Bible Lesson:	Good Shepherd (teen version)
	Visuals:	Available 2013
			Sheep Lesson:	The Shepherd Knows His Sheep*	Discussion:	6 Questions 2013
	Memory Verse:	1^st John 10:28 (Show Your Card)	Memory Game:	Hot Potato	Memory Verse:	John 10:28
	Missions:	Unwatched Flocks 2013			Missions Discussion:	7 Questions 2013
	Craft:	Plate Masks* (sheep, bear, or lion)	Craft:	Sheep Plate Masks	Craft:	Soap Molding
	Game: Sheep Maze
	Snack: Jell-O Jigglers: The Good Shepherd 2013
Friday	Bible Lesson:	Shepherded Sheep: Leading and Following	Bible Lesson:	God Loves Us: The 99 and the 1*	Bible Lesson:	Shepherded Sheep (teen version)
	Visuals:	Available 2013
			Sheep Lesson:	Jesus Wants to Be Your Shepherd*	Discussion:	6 Questions 2013
	Memory Verse:	Ephesians 2:10 (Simon)	Memory Game:	Simon	Memory Verse:	Ephesians 2:10
	Missions:	A Shepherd's Priorities 2013			Missions Discussion:	6 Questions 2013
	Craft:	Noodle Mosaic (Follow God)	Craft:	Chalk Drawing (sheep)	Craft:	[needed]
	Game:	Sheep Chin Relay	Game:	Sheep Relay	Game:	Sheep Chin Relay
	Snack: Salad: Feed My Sheep 2013

* - Items marked with an asterisk are incomplete or otherwise need work.

Substitute Indoor Games:

Decorations:

God's Sheep Decoration Plans
Comic strip for teen room walls 2013
Bulletin Boards 2013
Sheep on the Walls 2013
Three-Panel Scene: Isaac and the Ram 2013
Stage: Sheepfold 2013

God's Sheep Preschool Memory Verse

Preschool Memory Verse:	God's Sheep
All Week:	Jesus said, I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me. John 10:14

Monday: Explanation

[Show the verse and read it aloud.]

What kind of shepherd is Jesus? Is he the kind that's out in a grassy field, taking care of fluffy white sheep? (No.) That's not what he meant. What kind of sheep does Jesus have? People who follow Jesus are his sheep. People who trust Jesus, and let him take away their sins are his sheep. If we believe in Jesus, he is our shepherd.

[Lead the children in saying the verse fifty bazillion times.] If you come to Bible School tomorrow and can say the verse at the beginning, you'll get a prize! So you should go home and practice saying your verse.

Tuesday:

[Review the explanation from Monday.]

Game: Follow the Shepherd

We're going to play a game called Follow the Shepherd. I'll be the shepherd, and all of you get to be the sheep and follow me around the room. Whatever I do, you do. So if I take big steps, you take big steps. If I swing my arms wide, you swing your arms wide. If I say a word from the memory verse, you say it too, but if you say a word I didn't say, you're out and have to sit out until the end of the round. When we get through the whole verse, we'll start a new round and everybody's back in.

[Lead the children in saying the verse a hillion jillion times.] If you come to Bible School tomorrow and can say the verse at the beginning, you'll get a prize! So you should go home and practice saying your verse.

Wednesday:

[Review the explanation from Monday.]

Game: Clapping

[Say a word of the verse, and clap once. Say two words, and clap twice. Continue saying words and clapping all the way through the verse. Add a word and a clap each time, until you have the whole verse. When it gets to be too many claps to count, just clap a whole bunch of times.]

[Now go back, and you prompt the children with the words to say, and they say the words, and then you clap together. Start with one word, and one clap, and progress from there. If necessary, go back to the beginning and start with one word again. Continue until the children can say and clap the whole verse.]

[Lead the children in saying the verse entirely too many times.] If you come to Bible School tomorrow and can say the verse at the beginning, you'll get a prize! So you should go home and practice saying your verse.

Thursday:

[Briefly review the explanation from Monday.]

Game: Hot Potato

[Seat the children in a circle and practice saying the verse together. Now introduce an item (which you call a potato, even if it's actually a tye-died stuffed weasel). Each person must say the next word of the verse, before he can pass the potato to the next person around the circle. Whoever gets to say the last word of the verse wins, and everybody claps. Then you start over with a different child and go through the verse again until everybody gets to win at least once.]

[Lead the children in saying the verse a whole lotta times.] If you come to Bible School tomorrow and can say the verse at the beginning, you'll get a prize! So you should go home and practice saying your verse.

Friday:

[Briefly review the explanation from Monday.]

Game: Simon

The teacher says one word (the first word of the verse), and the whole group repeats it. If they get it right, the teacher repeats it again, adding one more word, and the group repeats that. Add another word each time through the verse until you have the whole verse or the children miss a word. If they miss, you start over with one word again. Each time, the teacher says the words first, and the group repeats.

[Lead the children in saying the verse as many times as you have time for.]

God's Sheep Visuals: Shepherded Sheep (Leading and Following)

Images are copyright 2013, Mary Beth Frey. Permission is granted to display these visuals as a presentational aid when presenting the corresponding Bible lesson. All other rights are reserved. Contact Mary Beth Frey or the Grace Brethren Church for other permissions.

God's Sheep Visuals: Sheep Security (The Good Shepherd)

God's Sheep Visuals: Lamb of God (Isaac and the Ram)

God's Sheep Visuals: Going Astray (Moses and the Rock)

Having had a closer look at Google's storage limits, and the scanned file sizes, I have concluded that it is reasonable to post this year's visuals in full. We printed these visuals on overhead transparencies and projected them up on the screen that way. (This puts the visuals directly in the hands of the teacher, who does not need to know how to work a computer projection system; anyone can figure out an overhead.) However, it would also be possible to print them on paper or to project them using a computer projection system.

God's Sheep Decorations: Sheepfold on the Stage

Okay, I don't have a very good photo of this, because we didn't decorate the stage until after the Sunday service, just a few hours before Bible School started, and I had taken the decoration photos previously and was in kind of a hurry to get the last few things done. So I'm just going to post the picture I've got, and you'll have to let your imagination fill in the gaps. The sheepfold walls were made in kind of a hurry this year, so they're flat rectangular boxes with a few "stones" painted in hastily. (We did much better six years ago, using wads of newspaper covered with paper mache to give the walls shape and then painting in the stones better. But I didn't have a digital camera yet then, so no photos of that, sorry.) The sheep are "lawn sheep" that Sarah picked up at a garage sale. Anyway, here's the picture:

God's Sheep Decorations: Three-Panel Isaac and the Ram Set

Just inside our building's front entrance, there are some indoor windows, between the foyer and the auditorium. I'm not sure why. (I wasn't around yet when the building was built.) Perhaps they were meant to block sound so that foyer noise doesn't disturb people in the auditorium, or vice versa. If so, they fail. Perhaps they're just meant to be an interesting visual design feature. Whatever their intended purpose, we've decided that for Bible School week their purpose is to house a three-panel scene that goes with one of the lessons. This gives us one really nice decoration where absolutely everyone who walks in the door can see it (umm, unless a blind person comes, I guess; if that had happened, I suppose we'd have taken them up to the stage and let them feel the lawn sheep we had set up there -- I may have a photo of those sitting around here somewhere; if so, I'll try to post it tomorrow). As with the wall decorations, we get these things onto posterboard using the overhead projection method, and then we paint them and outline it all with markers.

This year our three-panel scene depicted Abraham, Isaac, and the ram caught in the thicket.

God's Sheep Decorations: Sheep on the Walls

When we did this theme six years ago, we printed out a lot of black-and-white sheep images, cut them out, and laminated them before sticking them on the walls. Being laminated, they're well preserved, so this year we just got them out and stuck them up again.

In the hallway, we put up a green plastic tablecloth, to represent grass, and stuck a bunch of sheep to that. (It's all just stuck to the wall using Sticky Tack or BlueTack or Handi-Tack or some such -- I get the different brands confused; we typically just buy whichever brand the store we're at happens to have.) In other locations, we just put the sheep directly on the wall, in some cases with paper grass for added effect. We put some in the main room...

Some in the preschool room...

Some in the teen room...

By the stairs...

Here and there...

Sheep everywhere...

(Yes, that green metal cabinet is probably exactly as old as its color makes you think it is.) Oh, and while the mural on the nursery wall wasn't done specifically for Bible School, it does have sheep in it, plus a shepherd, so I'm counting it.

Incidentally, the mural was created by the same person who has been doing our lesson visuals, and we do have visuals for four of the God's Sheep lessons. I'm planning to post those, or at least thumbnails of them, probably some time next week.

God's Sheep Decorations: Bulletin Boards

Here are the bulletin boards we did. The first one is in the main area...

And here's the one in the preschool room:

God's Sheep Decorations: Comic Strip for Teen Room Walls

I think I've previously explained how we, who do not have the artistic talent to free-hand draw everything, get things onto posterboard: we trace line drawings (from coloring books or the internet) onto overhead transparencies, using wet erase markers. Then we use an overhead to project the drawing onto a bulletin board, where the posterboard is stuck up with thumbtacks. We use pencil to trace the projected lines onto the posterboard, then we take them down and lay them on tables and paint them with poster paints. People with all levels of artistic skill starting from try to color mostly inside the lines can participate. Once the paint dries we take black magic markers and draw in the outlines, which helps to cover up the sloppy edges and also makes everything look better.

For the teen room walls, we did up this series of five comic strips, one of which goes with each day's lesson.