Rotation.org Writing Team

Fruit of the Spirit

Growing Fruit—Drama Workshop Lesson

Summary of Activities

After a fruit seed demonstration, students will watch a free Fruit of the Spirit scripture video that describes how God's spiritual fruit is meant to grow in us. They will then play a "Fruit Situations" drama game to help them think through how to apply the Fruit of the Spirit in various life situations and share God's fruit with others. There is also an option to play an additional drama game: "Demonstrate This Fruit."

Scripture for the Lesson

Galatians 5:22-23a

"...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,* faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (NRSV)

* "generosity" or "goodness"  See the Bible Background for an explanation and to learn more about Paul's word choice here.

Lesson Objectives

See the Bible Background at Rotation.org for insights and this set's complete list of objectives.

Preparation and Materials

• Read the Bible Background and scripture.
• Preview and prepare to show the scripture video from YouTube in your classroom. If your classroom doesn't have wired or Wi-Fi Internet access, you can use your cellphone's Internet connection to access YouTube (learn how here) and play videos on a larger screen (learn how to do that here).
• Decide if you will have students do both types of drama games. Start with the "Fruit Situations" game and if you have time, play "Demonstrate This Fruit." (Read below for the drama game descriptions.)
• Recruit some "drama teens" or adults to help play the drama games.
• Print on cardstock the appropriate PDF attached at the end of this lesson for each drama game—the Fruit Situation Cards and the Demonstrate This Fruit Cards.
• Cut the printed sheets into cards for each game, keeping the two types of game cards separate.
  
• Print one copy (for teacher's use) of the Fruit Definitions Chart.
• An easel or a whiteboard
• Sketch on the board a large "fruit tree" using a person as the trunk and branches. (Draw your tree in this manner to make a visual connection between the fruit and us.) Draw nine fruits on the tree leaving room in each to write a Fruit of the Spirit.
• A tomato, a banana, and an apple for the opening demonstration; a cutting board and a knife to cut them open and get at their seeds
• Hand sanitizer
• Plates and/or napkins (one per student)

Lesson Plan

Opening - A Fruit Seed Demonstration

Welcome your students and tell them what they'll be doing today and what you hope they'll learn. Start with this voting question and then cut open the fruit.

VOTE: Here are the three "most grown" fruits in the world. Which one is #1, #2, and #3?
   a) bananas
   b) apples
   c) tomatoes

Answer: More Tomatoes are produced across the world than any other fruit! Bananas are next, and apples are the third most grown fruit in the world. Yes! Tomatoes are actually a fruit, though most people think they are a vegetable. (For more on fruits vs vegetables, see the explanation at the end of this lesson.)

Which of these fruits is your favorite?

Do: Cut open the tomato and the apple, and pluck out their seeds and distribute them to your students explaining that the way to grow MORE fruit is to first grow the fruit and then spread that fruit around by planting it so that its seeds turn into more fruit plants and trees.
Say:  Bananas that we buy in the store have seeds but they are very tiny.
Do:  Cut open the banana and show them the seeds.
Say:  Bananas from the store are unique in that we can't plant their seeds and grow a banana plant that produces bananas. Bananas that grow in the wild produce much bigger seeds that can be planted.

Do: Cut up the fruit and share it with students.

Ask:  How can a person be like a seed or a fruit tree? (If needed, give them some hints using gardening terms like "plant, water, weed, prune" and eventually "produce and drop (share)" fruit that will turn into more fruit plants and trees.)

Transition:

Say:  The video we're now going to watch introduces one of the most famous passages in the Bible: Galatians 5:22-23a, also known as the "Fruit of the Spirit." This was part of a letter written by the Apostle Paul to new Christians living in a region of Turkey called Galatia. The Galatians were having a hard time figuring how to ACT like Christians. Some people were telling them they had to follow the old Jewish customs and rituals about what they should eat and wear, how to worship, and which Holy Days to celebrate. But Paul told the Galatians that they were FREE from those old customs. In their place, he gave them a list of NINE WAYS to act as a follower of Jesus. He called them "fruit" coming from the Holy Spirit. Today's video is going to tell us what those NINE fruits are and how we can get them into our lives.

Before starting the video, refer to your fruit tree on the board with nine blank spots for the Fruit of the Spirit. Alert your students that the Fruit of the Spirit Bible passage—which lists the nine fruit—will be in today's video and that after they have watched it, you will ask them to fill in the nine fruits on our tree.

Show the "Fruit of the Spirit" Video

Link to the video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/E2bhXAR1gCU

Debrief the Video:

First, have students add as many fruits as they can remember to your tree drawing, then read Galatians 5:22-23a to either remember the fruit they missed or simply to repeat the verse one more time.

Then ask these two questions:

1. How does the video say the fruit of the Spirit grows in us?  (These things grow in us when we choose to let our lives be led by the Holy Spirit.)

2. According to the video, what different kind of fruit grows in us when we don't let the Holy Spirit lead us? (Selfishness, pride, anger, disobedience, greed—the things that don't let us get along with each other. That fruit leaves us empty.)

Say:  Before we play a drama game, let's dig into the Fruit of the Spirit.

Create "A Fruit Definitions Chart" in Preparation for the Fruit Situations Game

In this short exercise, you and your students will prepare a Fruit Definitions Chart on the board that describes each Fruit of the Spirit. These definitions will be a reference for students during the Fruit Situations game—helping them know how to act and what to say.

Begin by listing each fruit and telling its important explanations as found in the Bible Background and summarized on the attached Fruit Definitions Chart. Add a few keywords to your chart.

Then ask students for "other ways" to describe each fruit word and write that on the board as well. (Don't worry about studying the definitions too much right now. You'll have ample opportunity to expand on them through the Fruit Situations Game.)

If you have non-readers or early readers, write single words, and illustrate. For example, for "love" draw a heart. For "joy" make a smiley face. For "faithfulness" draw a strong arm.

Drama Game Time!

Below are two different "Fruit Drama Games" which make use of game cards to guide students in acting out scenes. We recommend starting with the first drama game and continuing with the second if you have time.

(1)  Fruit Situations asks students to act out and use one of the nine fruit to resolve a dilemma listed on a Fruit Situation Card. These cards include specific life application situations that are ripe for enacting! A situation may involve one or more students in the acting. Each skit ends with the rest of the class guessing which fruit was used to deal with the situation.

(2)  Demonstrate This Fruit has students acting out a specific fruit listed on a Demonstrate This Fruit Card, with the class guessing "which fruit" is being shown. It is less life-application but could be a fun alternative or a follow-up depending on your class and age range.

(1) Fruit Situations Drama Game

Deal one Fruit-Situation Card to each student and give them a few moments to think about how to act out their "Situation." Let them whisper questions to you if needed.

Some cards will need other actors to read and help act them out. Any "how-to" conversation the actors have should be done in secret so as not to reveal which fruit they will be acting out. Some cards require only one student.

When everyone is ready remind everyone of the rules (see below) and have the first actor(s) step forward.

Fruit Situations Drama Game Rules:

1. The actors cannot announce which fruit they are going to act out.
2. During the skit, the actors cannot say out loud the name of the fruit printed on their card (if any).
3. After their skit (not during), the rest of the class tries to GUESS WHICH FRUIT(S) were used in the skit.
   
   

Demonstrate This Fruit Drama Game

Deal the Demonstrate This Fruit Cards, one to each player. One at a time, a player steps forward and begins to act out the fruit printed on their card. They can do it with dialog or actions. They cannot use the word printed on the card.

Note: Some of the cards include the "Bad Fruits" mentioned in the video!

Tips for Both Drama Games:

• Recruit some drama-helping teens and adults to help dramatize the situations. Invite two of them to go first and set the tone.
• For younger children, have an adult or teen help them act out their part.
• If a student says they "don't know what to do," give them a few ideas, and then if needed, have one of your "drama teens/helpers" jumpstart the situation with the student.
• It may take acting out one or two situations to get the ball rolling.
• Offer some hints and suggested movements and things to say.
• Jump into their situation to add some action and dialog. Sometimes being an antagonist in a situation (being a selfish person toward the person trying to act out the fruit of love, for example) can really help sharpen the action.
• Humor is the soul of an activity like this. Keep it light and don't be afraid of a little goofiness. It will make the content stick!
• Keep it moving, reshuffle the deck, stack the deck any way you like.
  
  

Remember: Every acted situation is a teachable moment for you to share your thoughts and ask the "audience" what the actors did well, how they could have said something else or changed the outcome (without criticism of course!)

Closing Prayer:

Thank God in prayer for sending the Holy Spirit to plant the seeds of faith and good fruit in us. Ask God to help us grow and share the fruit of the Spirit with others. Leave time for each child to ask the Holy Spirit silently for help with a particular fruit they need more of in their life.

Adaptations

For Younger Students:   

Younger children tips are included in the lesson plan. With the Fruit Situations Drama Game, have some older drama helpers join in.

For those with more class time or older students:

Use both drama games, beginning with the Demonstrate This Fruit game first to help them think about how to express each fruit.

Have students write additional situations.

For those who need a shorter/simpler lesson plan:

Eliminate the opening seed demonstration.

Play the Fruit Situations game and not the Demonstrate This Fruit game.

For At-Home:

Look at various fruits and vegetables in your home to find out which ones have seeds and are therefore fruits.

Makeup situations to act out that are particular to your family.

Videotape your dramas and watch as a family.

Notes

**Tomatoes: The biggest fruit crop in the world. The definition of "fruit" and "vegetable" can get quite scientific, but in general, a fruit is the edible part of a plant that contains seeds and is surrounded by some type of edible pulp. If you pick a tomato or an apple and plant it in the ground, its seeds can grow into a tomato plant or an apple tree. By contrast, a vegetable is the normally eaten part of the plant that doesn't have seeds. Carrots, for example, are a vegetable. If you plant a carrot, it won't reproduce more carrots.

Written by Sharon Hamilton and the Rotation.org Writing Team
Copyright Rotation.org Inc.