BBC 2019: Birthright and Blessing

What an amazing week here at Backyard Bible club!  The kids got to make "Jacob's Famous Bean Soup Mix" for their craft.  I often heard, "Mmmmm.  Something smells good." as the kids arrived at the craft table. 

Since it was raining on Monday, I offered the kids a chance to play Tenzie or Legoes.  My other groups got the choice of Legoes and Gaga Ball.  Although I only played a round or two of Gaga Ball, I am sore.  I don't know how the kids play for hours! 

This week's challenge was who could drink their bottle of cherry Kool-Aid first.  Unknown to my contestants the Kool-Aid was made with salt instead of sugar.  Some made a faces.  Others spit it out.  But E and L from Monday's group drank it and were politely going to sit down before I asked them, "so did you like the Kool-Aid?"  Then and only then did I get the response I was looking for.  I explained that I had deceived them into thinking they were getting wonderful, refreshing Kool-Aid, but really they were getting salt-water (Yuck!).  Then we looked at our verse of the week: Leviticus 19:11.  I hope the kids remember that God views deceit as sin. 

We had fun this week with the Bible Lesson.  I chose a volunteer to be Isaac.  Then we sang (to the tune: Farmer in the Dell), Isaac lived in Canaan.  Isaac lived in Canaan. High ho a derry oh!  Isaac lived in Canaan.  (vs 2) Issac got a wife.  (vs 3)  The wife's name was Rebekah.  (vs 4) Rebekah gave birth to Esau.  (vs 5) Easu was red and hairy.  (vs 6)  Jacob was Esau's brother.  (vs 7)  Jacob loved to cook.  In doing this, I got four volunteers to help act out the story of Esau and Jacob.  The kids did a wonderful job.  (In fact, I have a number of kids begging me to let them be Jacob, Rachel and Leah next week!) 

We played a number of games with Hula Hoops.  There favorite hoop games still is color hoops.  You play this kind of like Musical Chairs.  I am always amazing at what games end up being a favorite. 

For our review game, we played Checkmate.  If they answered a question correctly, they could pull checkers out of a bag.  Each black checker was worth 1,000 points.  They could pull until they pulled a red checker.  The team with the most points at the end wins.  I love review games, because it gives me an idea of who was listening, what they learned and if I need to correct a wrong assumption. 

 P.S. the kids earned 5 Bible bucks, if they handed in an essay to this question:  What do you think Isaac was thinking when his father put him on the altar?  I had many wonderful answers.  The kids really thought about this.  Here are some of my favorite answers. 

M.R said, "I think Isaac was thinking I'm scared, but God will help deliver me from this altar."

K S said, "He was sad in the beginning and happy when the angel saved him."

J W said, "I think Isaac was thinking his dad was crazy." 

E. S said, "Isaac felt confused.  I think this because he was probably thinking something along these lines.  "What is my father thinking?"  "Why are we building an altar with no sacrifice?"  "Why is my father being so secretive?"  and "why are we going to this exact spot?"  This is why I believe Isaac felt confused."

G.S said, "I think Isaac was thinking where is the animal to sacrifice.  When his dad tied him up, he was thinking, I'm going to die and my dad doesn't love me."