Parable of the Lost Coin

This year, we started to work a couple of subjects together to make the school day go somewhat smoother. One of the subjects is our Bible Time. We are working through Telling God's Story Year One - Meeting Jesus. It is a hands-on bible curriculum that offers enough activities to do for the week. You pick and choose what you would like to do. Our first week was experiencing the Parable of the Lost Coin - Luke 15:8-10. We talked about how happy the woman was when she found the lost coin and how happy we are when we find something that had been lost.

"In the same way, I tell you there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10 NIV

Our lesson began with reading the bible story and coloring the page of the widow looking for her lost coin. She searched high and low for her coin, knowing that if it was lost, she lost a day of food and oil for her lamp.

I found some wooden disks that I created a secret message on each one. Then I hid the coins in some corn meal. Giving the kids little brushes, they had to sweep away the dust to find the coins.

J translated the message by putting the letters in the correct order.

I made a simple message for Kaleb that spelled out "Jesus" and had him match the numbers on the coin to the numbers on a paper strip. Telling God's Story is not aged for preschool but I found he can do most of the activities and those he can't, I adapt. Then, we played coin hide-n-seek. We each took turns hiding the coin around the room and trying to find it. And how happy they were when they found it!

Then, we made our own coins by painting the wooden disks with silver paint.

We learned about some of the designs on Roman money and created their own designs on the coins that they painted the day before. Kaleb made car designs on his coins.

And what good is having coins without something to put them in? We made little coin pouches to place our new coins in. Our first week with this new bible curriculum was eventful. They both loved reading the story, playing the games, and creating the crafts. If all the weeks are like this, I am sure I will only have to call them once to tell them it is time for bible!