I had a good time at a kids club I help with recently. Our church runs a club at one of the elementary schools. I started helping out and find that I really enjoy it! Reminds me of when our children where in Cub Scouts and I was a den leader.
On one day I was asked to share about some of the big things that God made. The examples they gave in the lesson plan were redwood trees, whales, and stars. I liked their write-up about them but didn't like the idea of just sitting in the classroom and talking about these things.
So when the day came I went and helped the other adults set up the room. I brought my 100-foot tape measure with me in my backpack and pulled it out just before the kids got to the room. No one had any idea of what I was going to use it for.
When it was my turn I asked the kids to tell me what was big in the room. They pointed out the dry-erase board, the cabinets, the window, etc. I then showed them a picture of a redwood tree and talked about how wide they are. Then I had them come out in the hall for a demonstration.
I gave the end of my tape measure to one of the kids and had the group walk down the hall until I said stop, right around 14 feet away. I told them that's how wide redwood trees can grow. Their eyes got really big! Then I gave the end of the tape to one of the kids and asked her to start walking further down the hall while we waited with the other kids. She walked and walked and walked. When she got 80 feet away I had her stop and explained that this is how long a small whale is, and that there are whales that are much bigger than 80 feet long! Everybody oohed an aahed.
What was neat was that the tape measure was now stretched across the entry area of the school. My hope is that the next few days when they come in to the school they'll remember how big a whale and redwood tree is in comparison to the entrance and will remember the lesson about how much God loves them.
It's fun to do this kind of thing!
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