God’s Covenant With Abraham And Sarah Sand Pudding Cooking Workshop

Summary of Lesson Activities:

Make sand pudding and discuss God’s covenant with Abraham, relating the key verse to a reminder that God keeps his promises. [Note: Scripture references are slightly different for this workshop.]

This workshop was visited by 1st-3rd grades.

Scripture References:

Genesis 12:1-9; 15:1-6, 17:1–8, 15–17; and 21: 1-3

Leader Preparation:

• Read the scripture for this lesson
• Read and reflect on the overview material provided for this lesson
• Gather the materials
• Divide the contents of each box of pudding in half (put half in each quart jar).
• Place 3 cookies into each sandwich sized bag (one bag per child)
• Wash the metal table
• Prepare a pitcher of ice water

Supplies List:

• Items in kitchen:
  • Liquid measuring cups – 1 cup (1 for every 4 students)
  • Rolling pins
  • Serving spoons (1 for every 4 students)
  • Spoons (1 per student)
  • Clean-up supplies
  • Napkins
  • cups or small bowls (1 per student)
  • Spatulas
  • Aprons
• Large box 5.1 ounce (6 servings "family" size) Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix (1 box for every 8 kids)
• Item in refrigerator: Milk (1 cup for every 4 students)
• Quart size jars with tight fitting lids (1 for every 4 students)
• Sandwich-size plastic bags (1 per student)
• Vanilla Wafers - 3 or 4 cookies per student
• The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories or your favorite picture Bible with this story

LESSON

Opening:
Gather everyone around the tables in the Social Hall. Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the Cooking Workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults.

Say: Today we will learn more about Abraham and his relationship with God.
But first let’s begin with prayer.

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. A suggestion: “Dear God, please help us listen to what God wanted Abraham to do. Help us listen to what God wants us to do. Amen”

Dig:

Ask: How many of you have ever gazed at the stars at night?
Have you ever tried counting the stars?
Were you able to count the stars?
How many were there?
What about sand on a beach, have you ever tried to count the grains of sand?

Say: We are going to hear a story about a time when God told a man named Abram to count the stars! Let’s see why God told Abram this.

Ask:  Jesus learned this story as a child, so where would we find this story in the Bible? (Old Testament)
Say: The Bible is divided into two testaments – the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is stories that Jesus learned as a child. The New Testament tells us the story of Jesus’ life and the start of the church after Jesus’ death.

Ask: Who knows in what book of the Bible our story is found? (Genesis)
Say: We find our story in the Old Testament of the Bible, in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. Genesis means “beginnings”. This is a story at the beginning of the Bible. It is a story that comes after the story of Noah that you learned last month.

Say: Before we read our story there are some words I want to be sure that you understand. Last month we learned about God’s covenant with Noah.
Ask: What is a covenant? (a promise or agreement)
What does it mean if someone has descendants? (it means that they have children, and those children have children)

Hand out Bibles (or open your Bible with pre-readers). Find Genesis, chapter 12. Make sure to point out that chapters are the large, orange numbers.
Say: Our story continues all the way into chapter 22. It is too long to read from the Bible today.
Do have them look up the key verse: Genesis 22:17.

Hold a copy of the story “The Story of Abraham and Sarah” in your open Bible while you read the retelling of the story. At the appropriate times, show them the pictures on page 24-25 of The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories. Or read the story from a picture Bible.

Say: God said Abraham would have millions of descendants. Our key verse for the month tells us about this promise God made. Let’s all say this key Bible verse together.

Have the students repeat the key verse a couple of times:
“I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.” Genesis 22:17a

Say: We are going to make sand pudding in the kitchen to demonstrate the million of grains of sand representing the millions of Abraham’s descendants.

Have everyone put on aprons, wash their hands, and gather around the metal table. Give each student a sandwich size bag with the cookies in it. Have each child pound on the cookies with the rolling pins to make them into crumbs. Set aside.

Ask the assistant teacher to help you divide students into groups of four. Provide them with:

• Quart jar and lid with ½ a box of pudding mix
• One cup - measuring cup
• A serving spoon and spatula
• 4 cups or small bowls

Say: Work together in your group to make pudding. We’re going to make the pudding by shaking the ingredients in these jars. Everyone can take a turn shaking the jar.

Pass the milk among groups, having students measure 1 cup. Instruct students to:
1. Add the 1-cup of milk to the pudding mix in their jar,
3. Cover tightly (check!),
4. Shake. Warn them about being careful to hold jars tightly when shaking!

This pudding thickens quickly (because we are using less milk than recipe calls for). When the pudding is ready, have them spoon it into their cups (or bowls), layering in their crushed cookies.

As the kids work:
Ask: Do you suppose you’ll be able to count the grains of “sand” in your sand pudding?
Say: This sand pudding reminds us of God’ promise to Abraham.
Ask: What was it that God promised? (that Abraham would have many descendants)

Go back out to the Social Hall to eat the pudding. Take the pitcher of water with you.

Reflection:

While the kids are eating, review:

• Where was this story of Abraham found? (in Genesis)
• What is a covenant? (a strong promise)
• What was the covenant God made with Abraham? (that he would have many descendants, that he would have land & be blessed)
• Who knows another example of a covenant God made with someone? (with Noah, the rainbow, the promise never to destroy the earth with a flood)
• What does Abraham mean? (father of many)
• Did God keep his covenant with Abraham? (yes)
• Why did we make sand pudding? (various answers, to remind us that God keeps his promises)

Say: Abraham trusted God when he left his home to go on a journey.
Ask: Do we trust God to guide us?

Say: While Abraham was on his journey, he had lots of chances to learn to trust God.
Ask:

• Are we on a journey – a journey where we are learning about God?
• What are some times where you’ve had a chance to learn to trust God?

Say: This week during school and at home, let’s see if we can listen to what God wants us to do. We need to remember that with God, all things are possible.

Have the kids repeat the key verse with you.

Before dismissal, everyone helps clean up the mess!

Extra Activities (If you have extra time):
Play a name game: start off by saying: “God made Abraham, Jesus, and me - members of God’s family.” Each person adds his or her name to the list in place of “and me,” until everyone is named. Then go around and see if everyone can do the entire list. “God made Abraham, Jesus and Andrea, and Carol, and…”

Resources:

• Batchelor, Mary. The Children’s Bible in 365 Stories. Batavia, IL: Lion Publishing, 1985. (Story paraphrase was adapted from this Bible. The paraphrase is not included here because it is basically just copyright words rearranged.)
• Shackelford, Paul and Barbara . “Abraham and Sarah lesson set.” 2001. (name game). Rotation.org
  
  Scripture quoted is taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

A lesson written by Carol Hulbert from" First UMC, Ann Arbor, MI

Copyright First United Methodist Church, Ann Arbor, MI.
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Teener, Carol and Carol Hulbert. "God’s Covenant with Abraham and Sarah: Cooking Workshop ." Oct. 2007. Place URL where lesson found inside angle brackets<>.

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