If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that we’ve spent the past two weeks working our way through the Fruit of the Spirit! Originally, I’d planned for more low-key lessons but, with a global pandemic and who-knows-how-many-weeks of self-isolation, we had to ramp things up for the sake of staying busy. (And let’s just say that these lessons are even more pertinent when you’re crammed together in close quarters for so long!)
Overall, these activities and discussions have been “fruitful” reminders for the whole family. It’s been a joy to watch our children grow in their understanding of scripture and what it means to follow God!
Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
(For those who are just joining in, be sure to check out Week One!)
Day 6: Kindness
Monday, Week 2
Verse: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32 (ESV)
Reading: Our Bible reading today came from the Book of Ruth. While I paraphrased bits of it to keep the attention of an antsy listener, we then discussed all the examples of “kindness” (or the times we heard the word “kind”) within the book of Ruth.
Discussion Questions:
- What does kindness mean?
- How can we show kindness to others?
- Why does God want us to be kind to others?
Activities: Today’s “kindness lemon” colouring page was found here.
In addition to colouring and taping our fruit to the tree, we worked on making a bouquet of “kindness flowers.” Each flower is decorated with a family member’s name. For each petal, my five-year-old wrote (or came up with) something that he likes about that individual. The bouquet looks beautiful and was made completely with supplies on hand. To make your own kindness flowers, all you’ll need is paper, markers, a glue stick, and pipe cleaners or a stick for the stem.
Day 7: Goodness
Tuesday, Week 2
Verse: “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” Romans 12:9 (ESV)
Activities: Today we learned about “goodness” and coloured a beautiful, red apple. The colouring page we used can be found here. (And because sometimes mama likes to colour too, check out these Fruit of the Spirit, adult colouring pages from Stevie Doodles — free, of course!)
Craft: While I’d originally looked at a craft involving turning apples into stamps (check here for inspiration), apples are just too prized of a commodity during this time of self-isolation. Instead, we decided to make our own, paper apples!
Each apple is made out of paper strips, with each of the fruit of the spirit written on one of the strips. (See below!) This craft was simple (just paper and staples) and the kids loved how they turned out.
Discussion Questions:
- How is goodness different from kindness?
- Why do we do “good” things?
- Discuss “heart motivation” — some apples look good on the outside but are rotten and squishy on the inside. What if we do “good” things with a grumbling heart? Or, if we only do these things so that we’ll “look good” to others, is that really a fruit of the spirit?
Reading: Our reading today came from our “5 Minute Bible Stories” book — the story of “The Seeds and the Storm.” In it, we learned the parable that Jesus tells of some seeds falling on rocky ground, amidst the weeds, or on good fertile ground. We talked about how when the seeds fell on fertile ground, they grew into plants that produced fruit — just like we can produce fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, etc, as we submit to and follow God.
Day 8: Faithfulness
Wednesday, Week 2
Verse: “A faithful man will abound with blessings…” Proverbs 28:20 (ESV)
Activities: Ever had one of those days where nothing seems to get done? That’s where we found ourselves today. Still, a lovely new banana was added to our fruit of the Spirit tree. (You can find the colouring page we used here.)
Instead of a “craft” we decided to make slime (using this jello slime recipe). My five-year-old had a ton of fun watching how the goop was always “faithful” to return to its original puddle shape. (And since our fruit for the day was a banana, of course, we made the slime yellow!)
Reading: Today we used out 5 Minute Bible Stories to read through the Story of Daniel. We talked about examples of Daniel’s faithfulness to God, even amidst persecution. God rewarded Daniel’s faithfulness and shut the lions’ mouths.
Discussion Questions:
- What does it mean to be faithful?
- How has God been faithful to our family?
- Are people always faithful? Do we always keep our promises? Who does?
- Where do we see examples of “faithfulness” reflected around us? (Things that are dependable: gravity, the seasons, the tide, slime, etc.)
Day 9: Gentleness
Thursday, Week 2
Bible Verse: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:1-2 (ESV)
Activities: If there’s one word I find myself repeating more often than anything else throughout the day, it’s “gentle!” And with a one-year-old and a five-year-old trapped in close quarters for the past two weeks, this was a much-needed lesson!
The colouring page for today’s “gentle blueberries” can be found here. The kids also inhaled bowlfuls of frozen blueberries for snack. Blue fingers, blue faces, and blue stains on my carpet! It’s all part of the fun.
Craft: To emphasize gentleness, we created a “calming bottle.” This is essentially a clear bottle full of water, oil, and food. My son loved watching the oil bubbles dance throughout the bottle — a “calming” success!
Discussion Questions:
- How can we show gentleness?
- What are some other words to describe gentleness?
- Where can we see examples of God’s gentleness in the Bible?
Day 10: Self-Control
Friday, Week 2
Verse: “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Proverbs 25:28 (ESV)
Activities: The past two weeks have gone by surprisingly quickly and today was our last fruit of the spirit lesson — self-control (a watermelon). The fruit of the Spirit colouring page we used can be found here.
Reading: “The Temptation of Jesus” found in Matthew 4:1-11 was our reading for today. We worked our way through, talking about and explaining each of the times Jesus was tempted and resisted.
Discussion Questions:
- What are some different areas in life where we can show self-control? (Food, respecting rules, etc.)
- What can we do when we’re feeling tempted to do something we shouldn’t?
Craft: This craft was one my five-year-old had been looking forward to all week: a “Fruit of the Spirit” necklace. The template can be found here at Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station. Both kids really enjoyed the finished product!
We also did a mini-lesson in self-control for dessert. I gave my son three pieces of chocolate candy and told him that if he still had one left after five minutes, I’d give him four more. I have never seen him wait so patiently! (And accountability time… self-control is clearly something I need to work on as I finished the bag of chocolate this morning for breakfast. We’re learning lessons all around this week!)
So, to sum it up, the past two weeks have been a huge success! Not only did we have fun (ie. keep ourselves sane amidst self-isolation during a global pandemic) we were also able to enter into some really encouraging family discussion. I’m sure there will be many more crafts and activities taking place over the coming weeks — so share your OWN ideas and suggestions in the comments!
What sort of activities have you all been keeping busy with? And don’t forget to check out Week 1 of our Fruits of the Spirit Lessons for more fun, Spring Break inspiration!