There are so many great verses about PEACE. I have not been sure if I want to go the route of peace during a storm, being a peace-maker or having a peaceful spirit. So, I think we might just hit on all of them.
The first thing we did was read the story of Jesus calming the storm. It’s one of Lydia’s favorite stories. Once we read the story from the Bible (which is actually pretty exciting), we started talking about the differences between Jesus’ actions and the disciples’ actions. Jesus was asleep during the entire storm while the disciples were screaming. (Hmmm….who did this remind us of? Oh yeah, Lydia every time it thunders.) She was really into the story, so we read it again in a kids’ book.
Calming the Storm is actually a song-story. You read the words in the book to the tune of “Row Row Row Your Boat”. We’ve read this one so many times I think she knows it better than the real song. And that’s fine with me!
(FYI: There are several books in this Sing-With-Me series. We have Creation
After reading and talking…which I’m surprised at how much of a conversation I can have with a 3 year old…we made a little boat so we could act out the story for ourselves. I found this craft on DLKT, I think. It’s not much and honestly didn’t work too well.
It’s just a little piece of playdough/clay stuck on the top of a plastic container lid. Then stick a plastic straw in the middle and add a sail. We filled a tub with water and set sail!
Soon, we added some rain, some wind and waves (aka plastic cups). I pretended to be the screaming disciples and let Lydia be Jesus. She got to yell, “PEACE!” Then I would stop screaming and calm the waves down.
SHE LOVED IT.
We played this for so long I finally had to take Asa inside so he wouldn’t get sunburned. She would say, “Mommy, YOU be Jesus!” And then she’d start wailing like the disciples and pouring water on the boat. Then she’d change her mind and say, “NO! I’ll be Jesus!” And she’d start snoring. It was so fun.
I’ve posted before about role-playing with her. I am always surprised at how well it works for her. She wasn’t role-playing her own fears, but the actual story of another and I think it really helped cement the idea of Jesus’ power and his ability to give us PEACE into her heart!
Cool thing to do at home. This week I am working at my church’s VBS and instead of having a regular ole bible story time we are leading the kids in experiencing what it must have been like and acting it out. It really sticks with the kids!
🙂
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I love this role playing that you’re doing with Lydia! What a great idea!