Broken Telephone

Today's Craft:

A string telephone craft shows us that we need to be like Samuel. He had good hearing, and listened and obeyed whenever God spoke to him.

Materials Needed:

For each child you need:
Two empty paper cups.
About 10 m of thin string.
2 Paper clips or small buttons.
A small nail.
Scissors.

Preparation:

Use a nail to make a small hole in the centre of the bottom of each paper cup. Poke the end of the string through the hole in the cup and tie the end to a paper clip or to a button. Repeat this with the other cup. A friend then walks away from you until the string is tight and holds his cup up to his ear. You then hold your cup to your mouth and talk to your friend.

Telephone Craft:

Today we are going to each make a string telephone. I want you to use your nail to make a small hole in the centre of the bottom of both paper cups. Now, poke the one end of the string through the hole in a cup and tie the end to a paper clip. Repeat this with the other end of the string and push it through the second cup and tie it in the same way. Now you each have a telephone and it's got special features that you don't have on your cellphone!

Samuel Listened:

Samuel as a boy grew in stature and favour with God and men, and grew up to know the Lord. All Israel recognised him as a prophet of the Lord and listened to his words. He had one thing that really pleased the Lord. What do you think that was? Yes, he had good hearing and listened and obeyed whenever God spoke to him.

However, Jeremiah tells about people who would not listen when he warned them about their sins, and that God was going to punish them very severely.

Jeremiah 6:10, "Their ears are closed so they cannot hear."

Telephone to Jesus:

I need a helper to try out my telephone. You'll see it's much better than your cellphones! I want one of you to stand this side of the room and hold the cup to your ear. Now, I'll walk over to the other side of the room and hold the cup in front of my mouth. I'll pull the string tight and speak to you.

"Hallo there, this is Mission Control, you are about to crash in the ocean!" Did you hear anything? You did? What did I say? Now let's try it the other way. You speak and I will have a chance to listen to you .... so that's what you said!

Broken Telephone:

I think we will make a telephone to Jesus. I need two more helpers. You can pretend you are Jesus and your friend can say a little prayer to you. Did you hear his prayer? What did he say? Now you can answer him and tell him if you are going to answer his prayer!

Let's do that again. But, this time after you have said your prayer, I want you to pinch the string with your fingers while "Jesus" answers you. Did you hear him? You didn't? Then you have a broken telephone! This telephone has a special feature unlike your cellphones!

Your voice, like all sounds, is a vibration. When you talk into one of the cups, the vibrations of your voice travel along the string and out of the other cup. The telephone only works if the string between the two cups can vibrate freely. If you pinch the string then your friend won't hear your voice. The string between the cups must also be pulled tight or the telephone won't work. If the string is loose, the sound vibrations die out before they reach the other cup.

Broken Prayers:

It's easy to talk to Jesus but we need to do three things to hear Him talk back to us and answer our prayers:

We make sure all our sins are forgiven.
We need to be quiet.
We must take time to listen.

And then like Samuel, we must be ready to do what Jesus tells us to do. Let's bow our heads in prayer and pray to Him, and then be quiet for a while and listen for His voice in our hearts.

God bless!