Materials:
Water based paint
Syrup, Crushed crackers
Dirt, Water & Bar of soap
One Bucket & Four bowls
Paper Towels
Newspaper

Duration:
Approximately 10 minutes

Topics:
Salvation, Sin






Target Age:
Grades 3 4 5 6

Preparation:
Before class, crush crackers into fine pieces and place them in to a bowl. Place a water-based paint in one bowl, syrup in one bowl, dirt in a bowl and water in the bucket. Cover the tabletop in newspaper and place the bowls and bucket on top of the newspaper, in this order paint, syrup, crushed crackers, dirt, water

What you will do during class:
Greet the class and begin the object lesson. Say, "Today we will be talking about a very important subject, that subject is sin. Simply put, sin is gross! It is not cool, cute or something you want to see how close you can get to before falling in. Sin is vile, unholy and deadly!

Put your hand in the bowl containing the paint, ensuring that you get a good amount of paint on your hand. Raise your hand above the bowl and say, "What would happen if we never washed our hands or took a bath?" Allow a few kids to answer the question.

Put your hand in the bowl containing the syrup, ensuring that you get a good amount of syrup on your hand. Raise your hand above the bowl and say, "Our bodies would become dirtier and dirtier. Soon we would begin to smell really bad."

Put your hand in the bowl containing the crushed crackers making sure that the crackers stick to the syrup on your hand. Lift your hand above the bowl and say, "Before long, germs would begin to breed and disease would set in. It would be very unhealthy and we would begin to contaminate others.

Put your hand in the bowl containing the dirt. Say, "Our condition would continue to worsen until the final outcome would be death. Did you know that sin affects our spiritual lives in much the same way?" We can take a bath to wash the dirt off our bodies, but what can we do about sin? We all sin, but a bath cannot remove sin, so does that mean we are all doomed?

Say, "By the grace of God there is an answer to our sin problem. God sent His only son Jesus into the world to die for our sins. The blood of Jesus will wash away our sins." Put your hand in the bucket of water and thoroughly wash the contents of the bowls off your hand using the bar of soap and water. Recite Isaiah 1:18. Raise your hand out of the bucket and show the class that your hand is now clean.