Scripture: Jonah
Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn God expects us to obey Him.
- Students will learn God expects us to warn people of the consequences of disobeying Him.
- Students will learn God wants us to be happy when people turn away from their sin, even if we don’t like them.
- Students will learn the importance of following God’s instruction through origami.
Guiding Question: How does following God’s rules and plan for our life lead to a positive outcome?
Materials: Origami paper or lightweight paper, Links to origami whale: http://www.origami-instructions.com/easy-origami-whale.html
https://www.origamiway.com/origami-whale.shtml
Procedure: Review the story of Jonah from the scripture above. Remind the students that God expects us to obey Him because we should trust that He has our best interest as part of His plan. He also has plans for us to do great things for Him and wants us to obey Him so those things can be accomplished. Tell the students that it is important to follow what God asks us to do or else they might mess something up along the way.
Give each student a piece of origami paper or lightweight paper. Give instructions on how to make an origami whale. Tell all of the students not to follow your instructions exactly. After you are done giving instructions, have the students compare their whales to your example done the right way. Then give each student a new piece of paper and have them follow your instructions for the whale exactly.
Have students compare this whale to the first whale that the made. Have the students explain where they went wrong and why it was important to follow instructions exactly how they were told. Ask students what are some things God wants us to follow exactly how it is laid out in the Bible and why that is important.
Additional Questions: Why is it important to always follow directions?
Supplemental Activity: Have the students split into groups and try to play a board game by not following the rules/changing some of the rules. Ask the students why that does not work and why it is important to follow directions.