Parables of Jesus VBS: Day 3.The Lost Sheep & Coin

The Lost Sheep & Lost Coin parable is found in Luke 15:3-10 and is the third night for our Parables of Jesus VBS. We are designing our own this year and this post will have what I did for my classroom. The room will be used for grades 1-4.

 

This is the corner that I have a tent set up. I used the gray bulletin board paper to look like the outside of her house and stapled the sides to the wall. The top is 4' tall, and cut to the length I needed to cover the front of the tent, and the sides are 2' wide each, cut to the length from the top part of the house to the floor. I glued the sides to the top before I hung it up.

Here she is inside the house. As you can see, the tent fabric is on the walls and floor, and I added the baskets and jars to look like a Bible time home. She is just stapled to the wall, and I used big binder clips to hold the tent back behind her 'house' walls.

I used the overhead projector to draw the woman onto poster board. I painted her and used a black Sharpie for the outlines.

I found the 'broom' at The Dollar Tree in the floral section.

My husband made the small wood table for me. The grandkids LOVE it and want to play with it! The top is 9" x 15" and it 17" tall.  I made this lamp and used it on the table. You can click on the picture to see the post with the directions. Don't forget the lost coin somewhere! 

For the Parable of the Lost Sheep, I wouldn't be too impressed with this wall, except I think the wood sheep will add the pop that I like for VBS! And, bulletin boards always look better in person than in the picture. I decided to use the shepherd I already had. I like that the sheep was across his shoulders. I printed sheep to go with the wood sheep, but decided to use these that came with the shepherd. The 'pasture' is to the floor, and I added the grass at the bottom for accent. Click to see the grass border.

Here are the wood sheep that will be added to the front of the Lost Sheep wall. I used the overhead projector to draw the sheep onto the wood and my husband cut them for me. I painted the face, feet and legs on the front and back. I used a Sharpie for the outlines. I found the perfect wool fabric at the back of my Hancock Fabric store and also found the suede for the ears. I did the small one first, just to see how it would work.

I cut the ears first (8 pieces for 4 ears) and sewed them together, leaving the top flat side open. Then I turned them right side out, and laid them aside.

Note: When I laid the wool down for cutting, I made sure I had the fray edge along the legs. You can see how it hangs, and there wasn't any trimming. It really looked better.

I cut the wool out in a big square (rectangle for the bigger sheep) by laying the sheep on top of the fabric and making sure I had enough for seams. It was plenty big enough for both sides. First, I laid the wool on the face area, and eye balled around the face, leaving the wool slightly more than what I needed. Once I had the face area cut out, I cut a straight line where the ear needed to be attached. I used Aleene's Tacky Glue and glued the straight, open edge to the wood. Put glue above and under the ear, and place the wool in it's correct area. I glued the rest of the face to the wood. Then, I hand sewed, cutting as I sewed the rest of the wool onto the wood. It's not as hard as it sounds, I just sewed it in sections, starting around the face and working my way down each side, pulling and fitting as I went along, making sure there was enough fabric to cover the wood. When I was at the legs, I trimmed it, leaving the fray edging and glued it to the wood, then sewing it to the ends.

All the available printables for these two parables can be downloaded here.

We have 20 minutes to teach and review our lesson. The kids rotate to 4 different activities for 20 minutes each. They have the Bible lesson, Paul's Theater where they watch the lesson as a play, they have a craft time, and their food time. The Elders say there's no excuse not to come because you can even get a meal! When the kids are done eating, they see a puppet reenactment. The kids practice puppets for Lads To Leaders (L2L), so why not use those skills for our kids?

 

Paulette began by greeting everyone, talked about what a parable is, and moved into out theme for today is God Loves Everyone. When I review the theme, and I ask, "Does God love everyone?", I tell them I want a loud, positive 'YES!'... be sure of God's love!

For the lesson, I had a stuffed sheep (bigger than the one above) 'hidden' up on top of a cabinet. I carried my shepherd's staff around with me and I looked all over the room for my lost sheep! I looked and looked and when I found it, I cuddled it and put it on my shoulders and looked so happy to find my lost sheep!

Then I carried a lamp and used a broom to sweep and search all over the room for my lost coin. I looked and looked as I taught the lesson, and I was really excited when I finally found it! We also had a coin to give them for reinforcement. Dollar Tree has packages of super big coins and there are 10 silver coins in a pack with other coins that can be used for a different lesson. And I did pick some big silver coins up at Party City, but they are more expensive.

Update information: I set up a display for this lesson. Even the older students would appreciate seeing some hands-on visuals! For the Lost Coin, I have these lamps on the table. I give each student a bag with 9 silver coins and have them count them. Oh, no! They have lost a silver coin! They look until they find the lost silver coin which I hid before class. I have a small broom from Dollar Tree and use the lamp to search around the room for the lost coin that I 'find' while I tell the lesson. Put clay oil lamp in the search bar where you like to purchase items to look for the oil lamps. These are from Amazon to help you get started.    first lamp     middle lamp    last lamp    The lamps are palm size, so don't be surprised by their size when you see them in person.

For the Lost Sheep, I have a sheep 'hiding' on top of the cabinet. I use a shepherd's crook to walk around looking for the lost sheep and explain what the hook on the end was used for. I 'find' the lost sheep and bring it down and lay it on my shoulders and talk about how happy I am to find the lost sheep. Then the students find a lost sheep I have hidden before class. I find the stuffed lambs here and they don't always have the same ones in stock. Put in stuffed lambs in the search bar.

For our reinforcement game, Paulette printed 4 photos of groups of different people she found on the internet, glued them to poster board and cut them out into 9-piece puzzles. The kids were divided into groups, and it was a Minute to Win it! game. Whoever put the puzzle together the fastest won, but the point was to be able to talk about the different people and that God loves everyone.

I purchased the Jesus Standup at Oriental Trading. I am moving Him each night to be by the Parable that we are discussing. I want the kids to remember that Jesus is the One telling the Parables.

I used these PHOTO visuals for the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin.

(There are more available for both parables.) I am not permitted to add the ones I used here, so just use their search bar to download the visuals. I used 2 visuals for each parable, and the wall decoration.

Click on the above picture to see the main foyer and hall decorations, and the links for all four Parables of Jesus VBS classroom decorations, lessons, games & more.

Click here to see the lesson & more for the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin.