A Walk on Water

Art Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Create watercolor paintings to help the children express the meaning of the story.

Note: This lesson has been improved after reviewer comments made during the 2013 Miracles Forum Renovation project.

Scripture Reference & Key Bible Verse & Objectives: 

Refer to first post in this lesson set.

Leader Preparation:

• Read the scripture for this lesson.
• Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson.
• Gather the materials.

Supplies List:

• Easel; appropriate maker
• Bibles; One Adventure Bible with tabs (Law, History, etc.)
• For younger students: The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories
• Watercolor paper, watercolor paint, palettes with compartmentalized paint wells, a variety of paint brushes, water containers (2 for every 2 students), cotton balls, hairdryer (optional), old shirts for smocks
• Pencils: should be soft (4B or 6B would be best) and Erasers: white plastic/vinyl type - cut them in half and share (DO NOT use the erasers on the end of pencils)
• Pictures of this scene from the Bible (see end of lessons for resources)
• A picture of a Bible-times fishing boat

Before Start of Class:

Presentation

Opening – Welcome & Lesson Introduction: 

Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the Art Workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults. Ask for any prayer requests. Ask if anyone would like to lead the group in prayer. Be prepared to say a prayer yourself, working in prayer requests. Use the Lord’s Prayer as the ending. A suggestion: “Dear God, thank you for always being strong and for giving me strength. Help me to keep my eyes on you when I struggle, because you will always help me. (End with everyone joining in on the Lord’s Prayer.) Amen.”

Dig - Main Content and Reflection:

Do:  Refer to the pictures of Jesus and Peter walking on water.

Say: On the tables are pictures of art works that have been created over the years, depicting our Bible story. Study these pictures as you hear today’s story.

For those who have completed 4th grade (to start 5th grade this fall) and up:

Ask: Where in the Bible would we read about Jesus teaching his disciples? (in the NT)
What are the first four books of the New Testament? (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John)
What do we call those first four books? (the Gospels)

Say: The word Gospel means “good news.” Jesus teaches us good news about his love for us, and how he is always with us.

Distribute Bibles. Have everyone find Matthew 14:22-33 in the Bible.

If this is the first week in the Rotation, read the scripture together. On the second week of the Rotation, ask the students if they can tell you the story. Have them check their Bibles for accuracy. Read portions as necessary.

For those who have finished 1st through 3rd grade (to be in 2nd - 4th grade this fall):

Refer to the Bibles distributed.

Say: For those of you who have just finished 1st or 2nd grade we don’t normally look at the Bible in class, but summer is a good time to do things differently.

Ask someone who just finished 1st or 2nd grade…
Ask: Where in the Bible would we read about Jesus, in the New Testament or the Old Testament? (in the NT)

Ask anyone…
What do we call the first four books of the New Testament? (the Gospels)
Does anyone know what the word “Gospel” means?

Say: The word Gospel means “good news”. These first four books of the New Testament tell the story of the good news about Jesus. Our story can be found in the gospel of Matthew.

Have the 3rd graders help show the 1st and 2nd graders about the quick way to find the New Testament – dividing the Bible in half gets them near Psalms. Dividing the back half in half again gets them near the Gospels in the New Testament. Then once they have found the story have them close the Bibles.

Read story #274 on page 312 of The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories.

For all students: Start the art project

Refer the students to the pictures on the tables. Lead the children in a discussion of the similarities and differences in the pictures.

Ask:

• What elements or things do we find in every one of these pictures? (Jesus? Water? Boat?)
• How does Peter look? (Happy, Sad, Scared)
• How does the water look? (Wavy, dark, scary)
• What is it about these pictures that you can relate to your life? (in a storm, stuck in the boat, walking just fine)  

Say: Today we have watercolors to work with. You will create a picture of this story - in any way you might like. You can decide which elements that we've talked about that you'd like to put into your picture.

Say:  [Note of the following info, give whatever their grade can handle.]  Perhaps you'd like to paint a picture of Peter or, perhaps you walking on the water with Jesus? Or perhaps you'd like to depict pictures of things that you might be tempted to focus on instead of focusing on Jesus.

Do: You may need to review the watercolor techniques. (See end of lesson for watercolor hints.) Help students decide what to paint in their picture.

Discussion (while the students are working)

Ask:

• What happened to the disciples when it became evening? (boat began to be tossed about by big waves, or a storm came - accept any answer similar to this)

Do:  Explain that this boat was probably not very big. Show a picture if one is available. Explain that the “fourth watch of the night” (verse 25) was between 3 am and 6 am. Discuss the story by asking how they think the disciples felt when the waves began to hit the boat. (accept any answer, but guide them to the fact that it was dark and they were in the middle of a huge body of water, so fear would be the natural reaction of most people)

Ask:

• How do you think they felt when they saw Jesus walking on water? (accept any answer)
• How would you feel?
• What did Jesus say to them when he saw they were afraid? (accept any answer that is similar to “It is I. Don’t be afraid.") 

Do: Refer to the Key Bible verse written on the easel.

Ask:  

• How do you suppose learning this key verse by heart, might help you the next time you are afraid?
• When did Peter begin to sink? (accept any answer similar to “when he saw the wind” or “he realized what was happening around him")
• When are some times when you've been afraid?
• When you start to "sink" do you tend to reach out to Jesus or try to make it on your own?
• How do you suppose Peter felt when he began to sink, and Jesus seemed to scold him?

 Say: Sometimes life can be very hard. Jesus wants us to have faith in him. When we focus on him, we strengthen our faith. Faith is like a muscle; it gets stronger when you use it a lot.

Ask:

• What does the Bible say that Jesus did to save Peter? (he reached out his hand and caught him) 

Say: God and Jesus are always with us to help us. We only need to ask them for help when we are having a difficult time. When we trust God and know that God will always be there with us, it is called “faith.” Faith is something we do. It is focusing on God and knowing that God loves us and wants to be with us.

Ask:

• What are ways that we can strengthen our faith? (You may wish to make notes on the easel: We can pray, learn Bible verses so that we can remember them later when we need them, act like Jesus would want us to act, worship God in church, we can tell God our feelings when we are having a hard time.)

Clean up! Involve everyone in cleaning up so that you will have time to share together in the closing. You may want to have a prearranged signal for clean up and tell them at the beginning of the art project what that will be – perhaps a 5-min warning and then the final clean up notice.

Closing:

1. Encourage them to have faith in Jesus; review the ways they can do this.

2. Say the key Bible verse together. Refer to the verse written the easel in the room, or on slips of paper that each child can take home.

3. Close the class with a prayer of your own, or use the following: “God, you are always ready to help us when we need you. Help us to know that you are always with us and love us very much. Amen.

Watercolor Techniques

➢ If a light pencil sketch was done, avoid too much erasing. It damages the paper. Use the white plastic erasers, not the ones at the end of a pencil.

➢ Use two different water containers, keeping them for separate uses – one to wash brushes (this water will get “muddy") and one to only be used to wet clean brushes.

➢ If using dried watercolors, wet them by dripping clean water from a brush into a “pad” of color.  Use the brush to mix the water with the color.  Use a palette to mix colors.

➢ If using tubes of watercolors use them in the following manner:  The paint can be used directly from the tube (which results in the densest color). However if large areas are covered in this manner it tends to dry to a dull, leathery appearance. Thus use of the paint in this manner should be discouraged.  Dilute one part tube paint with 2 to 3 parts water to produce the most saturated color; and with still more water to produce delicate tints of color.  The lightest color is obtained by using paint heavily diluted with water, or applied to the paper and then blotted away with a paper towel.

➢ Hints for painting:

• Start with lighter colors; then move on to darker colors.
• Work from background to foreground, adding details as you go.
• Avoid going back and brushing over an area.
• Encourage using a “light hand” with the brush – the color is supposed to be transparent.
• A “color wash” is useful for covering large areas with color.  Color washing is a “wet-on-wet” technique: you use a wet brush on wet paper. Take a “wash brush” (it’s wide and flat) and paint clean water evenly across the area to be painted. The paper should be wet but not too wet. No puddles allowed! Using your wash brush and a chosen color, paint horizontally across the paper. Paint another band of color next to it. The colors bleed and blend together where they join, this makes it interesting.
• Create clouds by first using a wash of color, then remove paint by touching the desired area with a cotton ball. This removes the color to expose the white paper.
• For more control, such as in painting foreground details, paint with a wet brush onto dry paper – use a hairdryer set on low to dry the paper.
• Never mix paint in the paint wells of a palette. Mix colors by picking up the desired quantity of dissolved paint from the pre-wetted paint well, using a moist, clean brush, then applying the paint onto the flat mixing area of the palette. Then the brush is rinsed before picking up any other paint. Once all paints are on the mixing area, they are mixed and/or applied to the painting.  If necessary, demonstrate this for students.

➢ Cleaning up tube paints: the excess paint remaining in the palette paint wells can be allowed to dry out and used again next week.

Resources:

• “A Walk on Water: Creation Station.” Faith Quest Lesson Sets at Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian Church. 2004. http://www.kirkofkildaire.org/...rCreationStation.htm
• Batchelor, Mary. The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories. Batavia, IL: Lion Publishing, 1985.
• “Crayola Art Techniques: Watercolor.” 2011. https://www.crayola.com/things...landing/watercolors/
• “Water Color Painting.” Wikipedia. 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercolor#Paint
• Paintings of this scene:
  • St. Peter is Walking on the Water by Lluis Borrassa
    http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.htm...rrassa/st_peter.html
  • Rescuing Peter from the Coptic Network Archives
    http://www.coptic.net/pictures...au.RescuingPeter.gif
  • Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee, 1633 byRembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn
    http://www.abcgallery.com/R/re...ndt/rembrandt99.html
  • That Sinking Feeling by Robin Jensen
    http://www.robinjaunt.com/3-Peter-3.jpg
  • Calming The Storm by James B. Jaknegt
    https://www.bcartfarm.com/pp89.html
  • Or do a Google Images search for "Peter Walks on Water"

Carol notes:  To the right is an image that wasn't available when we used these lessons. See more Hero of the Bible Posters at https://realherostudios.com/co...le-posters-amp-cards.

A lesson written by Lynne Pauer and Carol Hulbert from: First United Methodist Church
Ann Arbor, MI 

Copyright 2008, 2013 First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI. Permission to copy materials granted for non-commercial use provided credit is given and all cited references remain with this material.

 A representative of Rotation.org reformatted this post to improve readability.