Ananias and Sapphira
Acts 5:1-11
As an application story for Ananias and Sapphira, we spent time discussing telling the truth and telling lies. Sometimes we tell "little white lies" to cover up something so we won't get into trouble. But then we find we have to tell another lie to cover up that one, then a bigger lie to cover up that one, then a bigger lie, and so on.
When we were discussing this, I had a large tan paper (card stock) pocket in my hand. When I told them about the little white lies, I pulled out the little bitty snake. (They could not see the other snakes.) I told them that when they tell lies, it's like this little snake was in their own pants pocket. It might bite but it wouldn't hurt much. Then as the lies got bigger, so did the snakes. Each time the snakes got bigger, the children got more and more worried. I told them that if the larger snake bites, it hurts worse and worse. When we got to the largest snake, their eyes opened wide.
Telling little lies often grows into bigger and bigger lies. Even telling a little lie is bad. It's like having a little snake in your pocket. The best thing to do is to tell the truth even if it means you will get into trouble. God always wants us to tell the truth.
The snakes are all connected with fishing line. The fishing line is taped to the back of each snake. There is about 6-8 inches between each snake so when one snake is pulled out of the pocket, the next larger snake cannot be seen.
I let each of the children make one of these to take home. Instead of fishing line for them, I let them use a thin string. (Fishing line curls up too much and made it too difficult for the children to make by themselves.)
For my snakes, I did not find a pattern nor did I have a die cut; but since I had 30 children in the class, I had to find a machine to cut them all out. I actually used a pattern of a lion's tail on a Cricut die cut cartridge (Paper Doll Dress Up). I cut 5 different sizes of the tail. I cut the snakes out of creme colored card stock. The children colored each one to look like a snake and then taped them to the string. They created the pocket for the snakes out of two half pieces of construction paper.
For my snakes, I did not find a pattern nor did I have a die cut; but since I had 30 children in the class, I had to find a machine to cut them all out. I actually used a pattern of a lion's tail on a Cricut die cut cartridge (Paper Doll Dress Up). I cut 5 different sizes of the tail. I cut the snakes out of creme colored card stock. The children colored each one to look like a snake and then taped them to the string. They created the pocket for the snakes out of two half pieces of construction paper.
When this step was complete, the children glued the application story on the pocket so they could retell the application story at home.
I created a snake pattern for you. For the snake pattern, click here.
I created a snake pattern for you. For the snake pattern, click here.
For story to glue on the pocket, click here.