About the Children’s Department: Popsicle Stick Chain Reaction – Bible Point

In the past when I taught First graders – mostly boys – on Sunday mornings they LOVED science projects . . . whenever I used one I had their complete and total focus! Plus – and more importantly – they remembered the project AND the point which goes with it, so to me, it seems like a “no-brainer” to add science projects to my lessons whenever possible!

One Sunday the Bible lesson was about how Hannah prayed and asked God for a baby. Hannah was really sad because she was being bullied by her husband’s other wife who had children, so not only did she feel sad because she really wanted a baby – which she did not have – but she was bullied and feeling bad about herself for not having a baby. Hannah could have let her sadness grow and cause a chain reaction of anger and bitterness, but instead, she turned to God! She poured out her heart in prayer to God and asked Him for a baby. As we know, God answered Hannah’s prayer and she had a son who she named, Samuel, which means, asked of God. Hannah’s sadness was turned to joy when she turned to God with her sadness!

When I taught this lesson I used a fun new experiment which I found on-line – it used popsicle sticks – LOTS of popsicle sticks. When we laid them on the table in a certain pattern, children were able to see first hand what a chain reaction looks like. More importantly, I connected the project to how sadness can “weave” into our lives and cause a chain reaction of anger and bitterness which will “hold” us down, but when we turn to God, He causes this sadness to “release” and the result will be noticeable!

After the project I had kids each take a popsicle stick and write, “talk to God” on one side and added a magnet strip to the other so they were able to take it home and remember to release their sadness to God like Hannah did!