The Woman at the Well ROTATION STATIONS
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ROTATION STATIONS Cooking Games Art Missions Storytelling /Drama Science Spiritual Practices The Woman at the Well ROTATION STATIONS Art Cooking Games Art Missions Storytelling /Drama Science Spiritual Practices The Woman at the Well The Woman at the Well Bible Story My Plan John 4:1-42 q Bible Story q Bible Verse Sculptures Bible Verse q Discovering Living Water—All She said to the people, “Come and see!” Children (John 4:28b-29a) q Come to the Water—All Children Anchor Point q Life Story—Younger Children Come and see Jesus! q Marbleize Paper—Older Children q Worship DID YOU KNOW? Though there are many women mentioned in Scripture, many of them do not have names. The Samaritan woman is known to readers of the Gospel only through her ethnic heritage. Her heritage is significant because Jews and Samaritans did not associate together. The two groups had a long history of disliking each other. This is why the woman is so surprised when Jesus speaks to her. When Jesus comes to a well, he is thirsty for some H2O. When he meets the Samaritan woman, he learns that she is the thirsty one, searching for salvation. In biblical tradition, wells carried overtones of courtship. Abraham finds Rebekah, a bride for Isaac, at a well. Jacob and Rachel meet at a well. Though Jesus and the Samaritan woman are not matched romantically, they are matched spiritually. Jesus shows the woman that he is the source of the living water that she has been seeking. At first, the woman misunderstands Jesus and believes he is talking about literal water. Jesus helps her understand the spiritual meaning of his words by telling her a prophetic truth about her own life. Jesus’ extraordinary knowledge shows the woman that Jesus is a prophet. The woman brings up the theological dispute between Jews and Samaritans, about the location of God’s holy mountain. Jesus assures her that true worship is not about the location as much as it is about “spirit and truth.” The Samaritan woman begins to suspect that Jesus is more than a prophet. Jesus affirms her suspicion, and declares that he is the Messiah. Overjoyed, the woman becomes an immediate preacher of the gospel, sharing the good news and bringing people to meet Jesus. She invites the people to “come and see” the person who would change the world. deepbluekids.com The Woman at the Well: Art Station Permission is granted to duplicate this page for local church use only. © 2018 Cokesbury. 1 JUMP IN! BIBLE STORY Supplies: Deep Blue Kids Storybook Bible SAY: Our Bible story today is about insiders and outsiders. Some people pay a lot of attention to the boundaries that divide them from other people. Jesus was not one of those people. He didn’t care who was on the inside and who was on the outside. As we read the story, listen for how Jesus crosses boundaries. • Invite the children to find John 4:1-42 in their Deep Blue Kids Bibles. • Encourage a few strong readers to read the passage aloud or invite the children to follow along as you read it. If you have younger children, read an abridged section: 4:4-13, 25-30, 39-42. BIBLE VERSE SCULPTURES Supplies: poster board, marker Before class: Write the Bible verse in large print on a poster board and hang it in your space. • Form a circle with the children near the Bible verse poster. Read the verse as a group. SAY: Our Bible verse is from our Bible story. We find it in the Gospel of John. The word gospel means good news. The Gospels tell us the good news about Jesus’ life and all the people he met. This verse is what the Samaritan woman says when she tells everyone about Jesus. Let’s make our bodies into living sculptures that show how the Samaritan woman might have looked when she told people about Jesus. • Read the Bible verse as a group. Then count out loud to three. In three counts, the children have to strike a pose that shows how the woman at the well might have looked while saying, “Come and see Jesus!” Read the verse several times to give children a chance to make different body sculptures. DIVE DEEPER Choose from the following activities as your time and the children’s interests allow. DISCOVERING LIVING WATER—ALL CHILDREN Supplies: watercolor paints, paintbrushes, water, white paper, white crayon Before class: On each piece of white paper using white crayon, write the sentence: You are known and loved. SAY: Today’s Bible story is about Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman. Jesus was a Jew. Many Jews thought they could not be friends with Samaritans. Jesus thought differently. He talked to the woman at the well, even though she was from a different place. ASK: How do you think Jesus felt as he talked to the Samaritan woman? How do you think the woman felt talking to Jesus? What clues did our Bible story give about how they were feeling? deepbluekids.com The Woman at the Well: Art Station Permission is granted to duplicate this page for local church use only. © 2018 Cokesbury. 2 SAY: When Jesus talked with the woman, she found out that he knew some personal details about her life. He had never met her before, but he knew things about her. What he knew about her did not make him want to avoid her. In fact, it made him want to be her friend. Jesus knows all about us and loves us no matter what. • Give each child a piece of paper with the message in white crayon. SAY: Using watercolor paints, try to find out what the secret message is on each of your papers. These watercolors remind us of the “living water” that Jesus told his friend about at the well. • Let the children use the watercolors to discover the words written on their paper. • Lay the papers aside to dry. COME TO THE WATER—ALL CHILDREN Supplies: device to play music, variety of art supplies of your choice Before class: Search YouTube for a video of the song “Come to the Water” by John Foley. Arrange the art supplies in your space so the children will have access to all the materials. SAY: Jesus shared living water with the Samaritan woman at the well. She had come to the well to get regular water to drink, cook, clean, and water plants. But Jesus offered her living water that would never run out. ASK: What do you think Jesus meant by living water? What is living water? Where do you find living water? SAY: We are going to listen to a song inspired by this Bible story. Some people sing it when they celebrate baptism. Some people sing it to remember that God invites us all to come to the living water. Listen to this song. As you listen, you may create an art project inspired by the song. We will listen to it two or three times. • Give the children time to create their artwork. Listen to the song two or three times through, depending on how much time the children require to work. • After the children are done with their artwork, invite them to share what they made. ASK: Was there a certain part of the song that inspired you? Why did you choose the materials that you used? LIFE STORY—YOUNGER CHILDREN Supplies: white construction paper, tape, crayons, pencils Before class: Cut the construction paper in half lengthwise. You will have strips measuring 4½-by-12. • Give each child two long strips of paper. SAY: The Samaritan woman in our Bible story was surprised that Jesus knew personal details about her. She had just met Jesus for the first time. How could he know about her? As Christians, we try to follow Jesus. We share our lives with Jesus, just as he shared his life with us by becoming human to teach us about God. We are going to make a timeline that shares important things about our life. deepbluekids.com The Woman at the Well: Art Station Permission is granted to duplicate this page for local church use only. © 2018 Cokesbury. 3 • Direct the children to fold each of their long strips of paper in half widthwise, twice, then unfold. Each strip should now be divided into four sections. Have the children tape the two strips of paper together end-to-end. Each child should end up with 4½-by-12 strip divided into eight sections. • Invite the children to write or draw important events from their life in each of the eight boxes. ASK: How do you decide what are the most important events that have happened in your life? What events are you including in your life story timeline? • When the children are finished, invite them to share their life story timeline with the group. MARBLEIZE PAPER—OLDER CHILDREN Supplies: foam shaving cream, food coloring, heavy white paper, painter’s tape, paper towels, several rectangular baking sheets or pans, rubber spatulas or plastic forks, table covering Before class: Cover the workspace in plastic or newspaper. SAY: Jesus and the Samaritan woman were not supposed to be friends. People thought Jews and Samaritans could not be friends. Mixing with others outside their culture was not good. Jesus and the Samaritan woman did not care what other people thought. They met and had an important conversation. This art project will remind us that mixing is OK, and many times beautiful things come from it! ASK: When have you mixed something that people thought was bad and it turned out good? with food? with games? with your friends? Does mixing ever surprise you? • Have a conversation about the different ways people draw boundaries to prevent mixing and the ways that people break boundaries and mix together.