Art/Cooking/AV/Games Ideas

Mary & Martha inspired domestic life projects in our planning team.

Our Art Workshop will focus on pottery jars (Covenant People 3rd/4th grade resource card A-ll has some good suggestions.) A supplemental craft one of our group suggested was pot holders! This is a "restful" craft activity around which lots of conversation can take place.

Our Cooking Workshop will make biblical bread. (Another Covenant People recipe.)

Moderator Notes: Covenant People Curriculum is no longer in print.

We're not doing a video but creating our own transparencies for the AV workshop this time.

Miriam, Mary and Me [by Lois M. Wilson, Lake Books, 1998, 9781551450827] has some interesting Christian midrash, stories ABOUT Biblical stories, for Mary and Martha. We're going to try our hand at writing some group stories, too.

Our goal for our Games Workshop is to focus on jealousy and stereotyping, but I confess we haven't tied these down yet.

Video Idea

We have purchased a video on "Moderation" from the Adventures from the Book of Virtues series, Season 2 [Moderation: The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg"]. It is from a PBS series and is secular, but can obviously be adapted.

Editor's Note: This series seems to be out of print, but it looks to have been entirely posted on the web. Sometimes this is done by the copyright holder.

Our angle is that Mary made the better choice, listening to Jesus, while Martha was busy with other things -- something our over-programmed youth know too well.

The overarching video story is of a girl, Annie, whose grades have slipped because she is obsessed with sports. Illustrations include an African folk tale about a spider and the story of the goose that laid the golden egg. There is also a little character who gets his hand stuck in a cookie jar because instead of taking one cookie, he is grabbing a fistful.

The lessons could be used to discuss greed, but we are tailoring them to talk about priorities. Martha wasn't bad, but Mary made a better choice. In our Drama rotation, we will be acting out real life temptations to skip church, forget prayer, etc.

Hope this helps!

2020 Editor adds: a lesson using this video is posted in this Mary & Martha lesson set here and the video is now available in full on YouTube. Book of Virtues, Season II, Moderation: The Goose that Laid the Golden Egg" (PBS).

The Miracle Maker

Hi Lois,

For a video, try "The Miracle Maker." It's animated (claymation) and has a good part with Martha & Mary.

Julie

Cooking Idea

Another report moved here to consolidate this topic...

cj <><
Posted March 13, 2006 07:35

Using ideas from posts here (The Good Book Cookbook and The Frugal Gourmet Keeps the Feast) and from sundayschoolresources.com/food (link removed-site no longer exists) we had a wonderful cooking workshop yesterday.

The students prepared bean salad, yogurt dips with different spices, cut fruit and vegetables and cheese. I prepared fish sticks ahead of time (they were told to use their imaginations a little )and purchased hummus. There was also grape juice for the wine. The youngest student set the table. They then had to prepare a plate with a little bit of everything. Then they had to serve the plate to someone else. Of course, cleaning up was part of this workshop too.

Link to pictures from the workshop at vgumc children's ministry removed - no longer active.

cj

Preschool Puppet Idea for teaching the story of Mary and Martha

Bible Paper Dolls Making Friends - Bible Paper Dolls – bible paper dolls, you can print off hair & accessories, clothes, & bodies.  I was thinking you could make some neat tongue depressor stick puppets using the patterns above to decorate – first print off bodies and then an assortment of hairs, clothes, etc.  you’d need to pre-cut these, but then the children could have fun selecting different outfits, hair etc., then colouring them.  Markers might be easier as they will be working with smaller pieces of paper.   They could each make a Mary & a Martha puppet.  They could play Jesus’ part.  (Martha may want two faces, one angry and one happy, if you decorate her instead of a back and front, give her two fronts.)  Another idea would be instead of using paper use fabric or coloured foam sheets, then the children don't need to colour it.

Storybooks available on Mary and Martha

• Jesus Visits Mary and Martha (Arch Books), by Michelle Medlock Adams, Concordia, 2017, 9780758657381. New art work.  Ages 5-9.
  
  
• Martha / Jesus' Miracles (Flipbooks), Little Bible Heroes Series, B&H Kids, 2015, 9781433687143. Nice size for reading to class as each two pages is a full picture with minimum text, but stays true to the bible story.  Flip book over and you have Jesus' Miracles.  One two-page spread per miracle, but it does include Lazarus. Ages 2+
  
  
• Martha and Mary-Friends of Jesus (Bible Time Series), by Carine MacKenzie, Atlas Books, 2006, 9781845501679. Ages 5-9.
  
  
• Mary & Martha's Dinner Guest (Arch Books), Concordia, 1998, 9780570075486. Ages 5-9.

Make Hummus!   It's hands on and a traditional Middle Eastern dish.

There are a multitude of "how to make hummus" recipes online, but note this secret about preparing smooth hummus that many leave out:

Chickpeas have a waxy pectin coating that needs to be removed before smashing the beans into hummus. When you don't remove this cover, your hummus will taste gritty.

Check out America's Test Kitchen's video on YouTube for a quick process.

1. Add some baking soda. 2. Heat the beans. 3. Roll between fingers in a bowl of water.

Here are a few thoughts about what the food and its prep can say to us about Mary and Martha. Please add your own!

As this recipe illustrates, making food for a room full of hungry disciples is a lot of work, right Martha?  Martha chose to make food while Mary chose a different kind of "food" ---what Jesus was serving.

You might say that Jesus was the kind of teacher who rolled the Word in his hands to get the tough coating off and make it more appealing and tasty. 

In this lesson activity, are you allowing yourself to see the deeper meaning of the activity (like Mary), or are you focused on "just making some hummus for class" (Martha). When we do the skits and art projects, are you focusing on "getting it done" or do you think about "what it means."

When you come to church (the group of disciples in the story), are you distracted by BEING at church? Seeing friends, catching up on news, getting your juice, doing this and that.  Or do you see church as an opportunity to sit by Jesus' side and listen??

What's the point of having hummus, donut holes, juice, coffee for people? Is it to make sure they are not hungry? To have a good time?  Or to encourage them to stay and enjoy learning from Jesus?