Welcome to our public forum of lessons, ideas, and resources for teaching kids the story of Jesus' Temptation in the Wilderness, Matthew 4:1–11, Mark 1:12–13, and Luke 4:1–13. In addition to this public forum of lessons and ideas, supporting members can view the Writing Team's seven different creative lessons about The Temptation of Jesus. Its lesson summaries and Bible background are open to all.
This thread is for posting Computer and/or Cooking workshop lessons and ideas for teaching the story of Jesus' Temptation in the Wilderness.
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Note: This lesson has some discussion activities that could be used with other types of lessons.
The Temptation of Jesus
Computer Workshop Lesson
Summary of Lesson Activities:
Uses the software programs- Life of Christ software and Let's Talk (Sunday Software)
It's common to find both of these programs in a Rotation Model computer lab because they both cover a lot of stories and lesson ideas. In fact, I thought up the idea for Let's Talk driving home from church one Sunday having JUST USED Life of Christ and wishing I had another program I could have used to FOLLOW UP and reflect on what we had learned. Let's Talk is that program
Let's Talk is now FREE to Supporting Members at Rotation.org. Learn more. See video alternative below. Life of Christ is also available again as a free download. Learn more.
You could substitute the Life of Christ software portion of this lesson with another type of presentation about Jesus' temptation, such as viewing the scene from the movie SON OF GOD (2016). This video can be viewed on your computer if you're online. https://youtu.be/hu26294vXnc
Scripture Reference:
Matthew 4: 1-11
"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Leader Preparation:
Supplies List:
LESSON PLAN
Opening:
Place a handful of candies on the table without comment and watch what happens, then comment on what happened.
Ask for the candies to be returned. (How did that feel?)
Explain that "temptation" is the thought and impulse to take what isn't yours and do what you know you should not do.
Explain that BEING tempted is a normal feeling. Giving into temptation can be a sin when we are tempted to do something wrong. Working to CONTROL those feelings and not give into them -- and confessing is what makes us followers of Jesus.
Ask: Do you think Jesus was ever tempted to do the wrong thing? (Yes, he was! he was human and God sent him into the world to experience everything that makes us human, such as, hunger, sadness, laughter, and yes, being tempted to do the wrong thing.)
Then, welcome your students and explain what they'll be doing and what you hope they will learn.
Software ~ Scripture Time:
STEP 1. Use Life of Christ Lesson #12, "Three Temptations" (Matthew 4:1-11)
This presentation presents the scripture. Summary: "Jesus is tempted by Satan in the wilderness and what those temptations meant. How do you prepare yourself to fight off temptation?"
View the presentation together and take the six question quiz at the end of the presentation. Have them do the quiz again if they don't get them all right.
[At the end of this lesson you'll have the option to view Lesson 13 "New Wine out of Water" (John 2:1-11), the Wedding at Cana. WHY? I think it's a VERY INTERESTING counterpoint to the Temptation story. When being tempted to help himself, and change WHO he was obedient to, Jesus resisted. But when asked to turn water into wine by a concerned member/friend of the family FOR THE GUEST and FAMILY, Jesus performs the miracle!]
STEP 2: Play the "Temptation Excuses Game" using Let's Talk's "TALK NOW" module
After a brief discussion (below), the kids and you will be playing a game using Let's Talk software to give voice to the excuses people use to give in to temptation. Whatever the kids type, the animated character that they created will speak ALOUD from the computer. (It's like a fun way to get your kids to answer your questions!
Teach the kids the following concept about Identifying and Resisting Temptation
There are simple temptations, like being tempted to take a candy off the table before asking, or being tempted to say something mean when someone says something mean to you. These kinds of temptations often happen without thinking. We act on impulse or out of habit. With these simple temptations, we need to learn to THINK BEFORE WE SPEAK AND ACT. Count to Ten, etc.
But there are more complex and sinister temptations that we should be especially concerned with. And these are the "EXCUSE or LIE TEMPTATIONS" where we CONVINCE OURSELVES that it is okay or won't matter or "nobody is looking." For example:
EXCUSE TEMPTATIONS are LIES you tell yourself and other people. But God wants us to be honest. In fact, "do not lie" is one of the Ten Commandments.
Giving into your temptations shows what you think of God and what you think about yourself. (How is that true?) When you sin, you are going against God's commands and deciding to be your own authority, your own god. Instead of following God, our sins make us turn our back on God and walk in our own way.
The Excuses Temptation Game:
The teacher will reveal the following temptation scenarios one at a time. The students will type into their Let's Talk "TALK NOW" screen their answer. They are to come up with a REASONABLE EXCUSE for giving into the temptation. (Notice how I have mixed the tempations we face, with those Jesus faced.)
1. Situation:
You are Jesus, you've been in the wilderness for days with little food, it would be okay to use your powers for yourself and turn a rock into some bread because...
Excuse:
2. Situation:
It's okay to hate a bad person because...
Reasonable Excuse:
3. Situation:
I need $10 to go to the movies but don't have the money, and I found $10 laying near a wallet, so I take it because....
Reasonable Excuse:
4. Situation:
Mom wants me to go with her to church this Sunday, but between school, sports and friends I'm pretty busy, so I resist going because....
Reasonable Excuse:
5. Situation:
It's okay to call somebody a jerk to their face and talk bad about them if...
Reasonable Excuse:
6. Situation:
It's okay for Jesus to use his powers to force everyone to believe in him because...
Excuse:
7. Situation:
If I were the Messiah, I would go to Washington DC and jump off the Capitol Building while being broadcast on CNN in order to win everyone over with this giant miracle, and that would be okay because...
Excuse:
Closing:
Have the students type into the TALK NOW module of Let's Talk a plea-prayer to God to help them resist temptation, and be aware of when they are making EXCUSES. Play them back. -and Amen!
Summary of Lesson Activities:
Children will play three games with Oreo cookies to remind them of the three temptations.
Supplies Needed:
Before class starts, arrange chairs in two groups for the scripture reading:
Group 1, World: 4 or 5 chairs (one per student) side by side at the other end of the room. Group 1 Temple: 2 chairs back to back at one end of the room.
NOTE: The second activity will be really messy. Leave ample time for everyone to pitch in and clean up. Since there is no actual cooking going on, you may find it easier to hold this in a location where there are no stoves and refrigerators for cookies to roll under.
Lesson Plan
Opening:
Greet the children and explain what they'll be doing and learning about today.
Read the Bible Story by traveling to three locations in your room as you read the appropriate part of the story:
1. Stones -- take everyone to the pile of stones
2. World -- have everyone stand on a chair to "overlook the entire world" while you stand
3. Temple -- have one student stand on the chairs with you while everyone else lies on their backs looking up at the two chairs (to imagine the crowd at the Temple who would have seen Jesus being saved by angels if he had jumped).
After the interactive reading, go to the board and have students help you list the three temptations/promises Jesus was tempted by, and what they think those temptations were about.
“Bread from Stone” (Luke 4:1-4). Jesus was tempted to use his divine power and do miracles for his own gain, rather than to help others. Temptation of selfishness.
“All this will be yours.” (Luke 4:5-8). Jesus was tempted with power and fortune and controlling everybody. Temptation of power and possessions.
“The angels will catch you.” (Luke 4:9-12). Jesus is tempted with the power of fame and reputation, "showing off." What will Jesus ultimately become famous for?
Return to the tables with your chairs...
First temptation – loaves from rocks
Ask the children if they like Oreo cookies. Pass out napkins and tell them you are going to give them each a cookie, but they must do exactly as you say. Go through a guided imagery such as this:
The Teacher's Temptation Patter: First, look at the dark cookie against the white plate. How does it make you feel to see a cookie there? Pick the cookie up and hold it in your hand. Do you feel like eating it? Turn the cookie over and look at the decorations on each side. Imagine how that dark chocolate cookie tastes. Now look at the creamy middle. Do you like to eat the middle first by twisting off the top? Imagine twisting apart those two sides and licking the middle. Or do you like to eat it all together? Maybe you like your cookies dipped in milk.
Close your eyes and smell the cookie. Imagine how it will crunch in your mouth. Imagine how the how good it will taste. Will you eat it fast, or enjoy it nice and slow?
Now open your eyes. Put your cookie on the plate in the middle of the table and write your name next to it.
Here are the rules. You cannot touch or eat that cookie until I give you permission. You cannot eat that cookie or any other cookie during the whole class time unless I give you permission. I want you to keep your minds off of cookies and focus on the things we are teaching. Do you think you can do that?
Why am I doing this to you? Review Jesus’ first temptation. Do you think after 40 days of not eating anything Jesus was hungry? Do you think he wanted some bread? But he wouldn’t turn those stones to bread. What did he say to Satan? We cannot live by bread alone, but instead we LIVE by being nourished with God's word -- which our lesson is teaching. So we will not eat our cookies until it is time -- even if we are tempted to eat it. Do you think you can resist that temptation? Let's try!
Count out a pile of cookies in the middle of the table and explain the rules:
1) You have one minute to grab all the cookies you can.
2) You can only use one hand, the other hand must stay behind your back.
3) When you take a cookie, you have to KEEP it in front of you and you CANNOT cover it or hide it.
4) You MAY take cookies from another player – in fact that’s what’s fun about this game. Messy is allowed.
5) And you MAY NOT touch the cookies we put on the plate during our first activity! (If you do, you will loose all your cookies.)
Ready? Go!
At the end of one minute, count how many whole, unbroken cookies each child has. Throw out any that are broken or dropped on the floor.
Who got the most cookies? The least?
How did it feel having your cookies stolen?
How many would each of you have gotten if you had divided them up and shared, rather than playing the grabbing game?
If I had given ___ all the cookies and nothing to anyone else, how would all of you have felt?
Ask ___: Would you have felt good if you got everything and saw that everyone else had nothing?
Divide the children into teams of about three, and give them each a bag of cookies. Explain that the team that builds the highest tower will get to divide up the cookies in their bag and take them home. Remind them that nobody can eat a cookie until the teacher gives them permission!
I will ask each team a question about the story. If you get it right, I will tell you to either add 1, 3, or 5 cookies to your tower, or you can tell the other team to add 1, 3 or 5 cookies to their tower.
Cookie Tower Rules:
1) You must take turns adding cookies – no fair having one “master builder” with a steady hand doing all the building.
2) You cannot touch the stack that is already built; only the new cookies you are adding.
3) As towers fall, children restart the building process on the ORIGINAL FOUNDATION – whatever is left after the fall.
4) If you are supposed to add 3 cookies, and the tower falls after the first cookie, your turn ends. You start rebuilding on your next turn.
Cookie Tower Game Questions:
(Teacher: You decide whether to award 1, 3, or 5 cookies to build with depending on the skill and height of the tower and who's ahead.)
[NOTE: The questions should be read approximately in order, but you can read only the EVENS, and then go back and read only the ODDS or BOTH ODDS AND EVENS, depending upon how well the game is going. You can also periodically backtrack and ask a question again, particularly if it was missed the first time through. Repetition builds understanding.]
Check to see whose tower is tallest and divide the cookies between the children on that team.
What strategy worked best – to build slow and steady or to add as many cookies as you could?
What strategy worked best – to build your own tower, or try and get the other team to overbuild their tower?
It was kind of funny when the cookies fell down, wasn’t it? But did it help you win the game?
Do you think it would have been fun for Jesus to fling himself off the pinnacle of the temple and have an angel catch him while he was falling? Would doing that have helped the people of the world know about God’s love?
The tower cookies will have had a lot of hands on them, so toss them out and give each student TWO COOKIES to ADD TO the ONE they saved on the plate at the beginning of the activities.
Invite them to eat their cookies one at a time as you ask them to summarize each cookie and you reinforce each with these observations:
God wants us (and wanted Jesus) to be:
Cookie 1: Focused on God's Word instead of just our own needs.
Cookie 2: Focused on doing good instead of desiring power and possessions.
Cookie 3: Focused on showing God's Love, not showing off or trying to impress others with our faith.
Close with a prayer asking God to help us resist temptations and forgive us when we sin.
A lesson idea originally posted by Lisa Martin from: Trinity UCC, Pottstown, PA
Updated by the Rotation.org Content Team
Students will view the story and then bake "tempting treats" as part of their exploration of Luke 4:1-11, its vocabulary, setting, and meaning for us today.
This lesson includes a fascinating step in the baking process that creates a number of BITTER TASTING look-a-like cookies to help make a point about temptation that "looks good" but leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.
Scripture:
Luke 4:1-11 The story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness. Both video clips follow this scripture closely.
Recipe:
This lesson uses a popular recipe featuring everybody's favorite peanut butter and chocolate candy pressed into cookie dough after it has baked. There are many versions of it online and in cookbooks. This one's ingredients come from All Recipes. We've chosen this not only for its popularity and short baking time, but for the visual metaphor it will provide in the lesson.
In addition to the following treat and baking supplies, you will need a TV or computer connected to the internet to show one of the free videos. If you own a video that shows the "temptation" story, use that.
Temptation Treats Ingredients and Supply List:
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup peanut butter
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 36 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, to be unwrapped after the cookies are baked.
- Non-stick metal or silicone mini muffin pan that can hold 18 or more treats.
- Mixing bowl(s), spoons
- Napkins
- Water and cups (to rinse after tasting the "look good taste bad" cookies.
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, cream together the brown sugar, white sugar and butter. Stir in the peanut butter, then the egg and vanilla. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the peanut butter mixture until the dough comes together.
Shape into 1 inch balls and press them into the cups of an unprepared mini muffin pan.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven.
When done baking, take them out and immediately press the peanut butter cups into the center of almost every cookie.
Yields approximately 36 treats.See the lesson plan notes below about putting baking soda under SOME of the cups!
For a shorter class-time with less mixing, use premade peanut butter cookie dough.
Lesson Plan
Overview:
Opening:
Welcome the children and share what they'll be doing and learning today.
Ask these two questions and then introduce this video clip of the Jesus in the Wilderness story. After the video, you'll jump into the mixing and baking and pick up the discussion during baking time.
Use this one for younger children:
Use this more realistic and dramatic one from 2014's "The Bible"
So returning to our question:
Why do you think Jesus went into the wilderness just before he started gathering disciples and beginning his teaching ministry?
One possible answer: It was like a test -- a test Jesus himself started to see whether he was ready to become the Messiah God wanted him to be and resist the temptations to power and fame that he would soon be faced with.
Do you think Jesus will face more temptations? Yes, probably! Like make the temptations to make the Pharisees MUTE or stopping his crucifixion. But Jesus always did what God wanted. Jesus chose to follow God's word and ways -- which are to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly (Micah 6:8)
Being tempted is part of what it means to be a human. Making GOOD choices is part of what it means to follow Jesus. Confessing our sins when we don't is how we follow too!
Read Luke 4:1-11 together from your classroom Bibles, or use a storybook.
Discussion:
Be careful not to touch the pan, it will be hot!
As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press a mini chocolate covered peanut butter cup down into the center of most of the cookies until only the chocolate top is showing.
However, have the teacher carefully put a 1/4 teaspoon of BAKING SODA in the bottom of 6 of the cookie cups before pressing the peanut butter cup in them. 
Create as many of these "look good, taste bad cookies) as you have students and teachers. Be sure to note or mark which cookies have the baking soda hanging in them!
Allow the cookies to cool for 5 or more minutes before removing from their pans.
Say: While our treats are cooling, let's talk a little more about temptation by taking a close look at the cookies we made with the baking soda hidden beneath the candy.
Do you think that baking soda is going to taste good?
Why do you think we hid baking soda in some of our tasty treats?
Can you tell the difference between the "good" cookies" and the ones with baking soda hidden in them? (You shouldn't be able to tell until you bite into the cookie.)
Part of being tempted or giving into temptation is when we convince ourselves it will "be okay" and there's nothing wrong with certain choices/decision. We say things like, no one will see, or it doesn't really matter.
To illustrate/demonstrate the idea that temptation OFTEN LOOK GOOD on the outside, but "taste" bad when you bite into them, we're going to play a bit of a game with our peanut butter cookie temptations.
I'm going to mix the ones we put baking soda in with some of the "good" ones. Then each of you gets to choose a cookie to take a bite out of. Hopefully you choose CORRECTLY!
Do the taste test. Have water ready. Do it until all the "baking soda" cookies have been found.
Closing:
Sometimes, the thing we are being tempted with feels or tastes really good, but it's still the wrong thing or a bad thing. For example:
Jesus turned to God's word and was himself an example for how to act in all situations, especially when we are tempted to do the wrong thing. And the answer is to simply ask, "What Would Jesus Do?"
Let's close with a prayer asking God to give us the strength and wisdom to make good choices just like Jesus did.
The story of Jesus' temptation in the desert wilderness is one of the terrific presentations found in the SunScool Bible App for Kids.
Look for it in the "Early Life of Christ" section when you select either Level 1 or 2 in the app:
The App is free, ecumenical, and can be downloaded for use on tablets, smartphones, Windows, and Mac! Get the download link and look up the story you need in our Outline of all 170+ stories in SunScool. That page also includes app helps.
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