Thursday, April 21, 2011

Easter Object Lesson

This the object lesson we did last night for Bible Adventures.  Of course when Fireman Joe found out we were lighting a match to light the candle he kept blowing it out.  He does not want us playing with fire at all! 

First, here are the things you need.


A plate or saucer, a coin, a candle, matches, cup of colored water (any color can be used), and a clear drinking glass.  Tell the kids that you are going to explain what happened at the cross. 


Hold the penny up and tell the kids that the penny represents us.  Place the penny on the plate toward the side.  Now take the colored water which represents sin.



Pour the colored water over the coin until it is submerged, just as in life we are covered with sin.  Experiment with the water to see how much to put on the plate for the experiment to work right.  Next take the white candle that represents Jesus and put it in the middle of the plate.



Light the candle, the flame represents the life of Christ.  Tell the children to watch carefully as you take the glass and put it over the lighted candle.





Within a few seconds, the flame will consume all the oxygen in the glass and be extinguished.  However, it will have created a vacuum which, in turn will draw the water up inside the glass (thus surrounding the candle) and leave the coin dry.  Tell the kids that on the cross Jesus gave up his life (the flame went out) so that he could take our sins on Himself and we could be free.  A great illustration as you present
 the gospel and give a salvation invitation.

56 comments:

  1. I couldn't get it to soak up all the water as illustrated, no matter how little water I used. What's the trick there?

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    1. "No matter how little water you used" could be part of the problem. make sure there is enough water to totally surround the glass, so that it can't suck up air. Also give the candle a chance to heat the air around the candle.

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  2. Please guide. I have been trying all evening.... but to no avail to get all the water sucked up.

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    1. I know I am replying rather late but make sure the plate is smooth and the glass rim is smooth and even too. There are times that I have had a small amount of water left too but it usually has not affected the illustration I am trying to get across.

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  3. This doesn't really work that great. But good example

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  4. This is great, I tried it a number of times and it works really well. I will be doing this with my Bible In School class tomorrow and another next week, I know it's Christmas, but the birth of Christ happened for this very reason, to take away the sin of the world, couldn't be a better Christmas message. Thanks so much.

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  5. All of my glasses did not sit well to the plate (they all rocked slightly). I took one glass and used a flat section of my garage floor and ground the lip just enough to get a good sit on the plate. Wow! What a difference!

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  6. I was able to read all of the comments before I attempted this object lesson. I used a clear glass pie plate and a jelly jar that gave the best and tightess fit. It worked on my first attempt. I am going to use this in my Bible Club class of Early-Release Time! Thank you :) Mari W.

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  7. Thanks! I will be trying this out at Bible Club.

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  8. This worked great!! Thanks!

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  9. thanks, I'll try this in my class,

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  10. we did this for children's church and it worked awesome! the kids loved it! it was so exciting to see the wow, how did it do that looks on their faces :-) thanks for sharing this with us!

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  11. maybe try using a ceramic tile piece instead of a plate.

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  12. As awesome as this trick is I don't understand the meaning of the lesson for this. Sorry but I think an even cooler trick would have been to have the coin sucked up into the glass and the light stay lite. As Jesus has never left us. We may be free but if we have excepted Him as our Savior than He is with us always. His light NEVER goes out as if we truly are His and am doing His work than His light lives in us and is to be shown to everyone in how we live and how we serve Him.

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    1. I think the illustration is that Jesus took our sin on himself, ( the blue liquid). And yes his light did go out for the time he died till he rose again. The you can explain that once he rose again his light came back on. You could even have a second candle beside the glass covered one, representing Christ after he dealt with our sin. Our sin is forgiven and gone. Light the second candle representing Christ after he rose again , and united it with the coin, us.

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    3. This worked my very first attempt! WOW! So powerful! I am very excited to use this lesson with my 7-13 year olds today. We will start the class off with this lesson first thing. WHat a great attention grabber for a group of kiddos first thing in the morning! Thank you!

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  13. Thank you for sharing the Lord

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  14. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will share with my class and teachers on Resurection Sunday! Many Blessings. Diana

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  15. This was a great Good Friday Object Lesson for my Sunday School Class.
    All the ages understood the point that Jesus did Sacrifice for us on the Cross. He die and took on all our Sins. It was a great illustration leading up to Easter Sunday when we focus on the Resurrection Story. Thanks for all the helpful hints about using a really flat plate to make sure that you get a good seal between the plate and the glass.

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  16. Thanks - also found it great. Have had fun experimenting and will go live with the kids church tomorrow!

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  17. Thank you!! This worked perfectly!! Definitely warming the glass helped. Happy Easter!

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  18. I was so excited about this and ready to use it for my Easter Sunday Children's message. Unfortunately, 6 hours over the past 3 days has proved it too inconsistent to take the chance. Different dishes, glasses, jars, liquid amounts sadly didn't give me the consistent results I felt was necessary to do this before the children and congregation.

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  19. Children's DirectorApril 4, 2015 at 10:24 PM

    I love this! I just tried it out and will be using it with my kids tomorrow :) I was having the same problem of the water not all coming up into the class, but I know that my kids will understand the principal of the lesson and will love seeing it :) Thank you so much for sharing!

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  20. I tried this twice before church. It works! I also used a glass pie plate and a tall spaghetti jar.thanks! Can't wait to do this today!

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  21. Some tips for those who are thinking about doing this experiment: I found that a cup with more volume worked best, and I also learned that a perfect seal between the cup and the other container will not work as it prevents any water at all from entering the cup when the suction begins.

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  22. I too found that a larger volume glass to cover the candle is what makes the difference. :-) thank you for this idea!

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  23. This is Awesome, I tried it three times just to make sure and it worked better with a smaller plate, but I am definitely going to do it. Thanks so much I LOVE this.

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  24. Worked great first time! Thanks for the idea.

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  25. I'm going to try this tonight and if all the "sin" doesn't go into the glass, I will explain that even though Jesus died for everyone's sin, some people choose not to accept that gift.
    This is too cool not to use!

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  26. This really did work! I've done it multiple times just to make sure that it works everytime and it does! I am going to use this in my college religion presentation. Thank you!!! ~Erin S.

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  27. I love this illustration!!!! My youth leader used it and tomorrow I am going to use it to teach the kids Sunday school class. Esther S.

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  28. Beautiful!I will use it for my children first then I will show it to my Fellowship.thank u!��

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  29. Beautiful!I will use it for my children first then I will show it to my Fellowship.thank u!��

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  30. Absolutely fantastic! I told the Bible lesson w/ visual today and my 14 preschoolers LOVED it! They said...again..again! Im so happy I found you! Thank you so much for sharing!!!

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    1. This made my heart smile! Thank you so much for being used of God as you teach precious little ones God love, grace and gospel!

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  31. Worked first time. Def use the glass dish and a glass jar not a glass. Fab thanks using it for Easter in kids at church. Gonna be a winner.

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  32. I figured out that you have to make sure the food coloring is not too dark. Keep it diluted pretty well, so that the residue that may not have been sucked up is not as easy to see! Also, I used a button that had a curve to it, in place of the coin! Worked great! I would also suggest to use red food coloring, to better represent sin, then you will also see the red "blood" surrounding the white candle "Jesus"!!

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  33. I love this! I tried it before teaching it at Kids church and it worked great!

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  34. Just tried it 2x and it worked great! Thanks so much for sharing.

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  35. Thank you. The water colour makes a difference to this experiment no?

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    1. You can make the water color any color you like, I just happen to like blue! 😁

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  36. I used this to show that God loves it when we pray. God inhabits the prayer of His people!

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  37. i have tried this today with kids, they loved it! Thank you sooo much for this.

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  38. This was a powerful lesson. It worked Great! Thank you so much for sharing this! God Bless you!

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  39. What would be some Bible verses to go along with this?

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  40. I took your idea as well as this experiment, https://sciencebob.com/clean-pennies-with-vinegar/, and combined them. This experiment uses a dirty penny and the nature of vinegar to clean it. So while Adam and Eve were like a clean, shiny penny, sin came into the world and they became dirty. And the world became filled with sin. (Here I pour the vinegar/salt solution into the pie plate rather than water). As I talk about sin and sacrifice, the penny is soaking in the solution. Jesus comes as light of the world... and your experiment begins! The solution/sin is soaked up. BUT! To continue the salvation theme, I now remove the jar, and the "blood" of Jesus washes over us and cleanses us... and, wait for it... the penny that was once dirty is now clean. So yes, a bit of change of the nature of what I call the solution from the beginning of the lesson to the end, but a powerful connection to Jesus' cleansing of our sin when we believe. Thanks for this idea!

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  41. This is an awesome illustration! I first tried it using a glass pie plate and it did not soak up all the water. I tried it again with a much smaller plate, luncheon size, and it worked perfectly. I will use this illustration this coming Sunday for my class of 4-5 year olds. Our lesson focus for this Sunday is Sacrifice, so this is perfect!

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  42. I love this!! I used a mason jar and glass salad plate. I took this on our Poland mission trip and have it packed for our Cuba trip. It is a wonderful visual on why we need Jesus for both adults and children! I use red food coloring to show sin. And, sometimes when not all the liquid is suctioned up, or if some is left on the penny, I explain that is why we need Jesus daily, every minute. Sin is always around us and sometimes gets on us so we have to stay in constant connection with our Savior.

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  43. Wowsers!!! this worked so well! thank you so much!!!

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  44. Just tried this and will be using this Sabbath for my class illustration.It really worked well. Thank you !

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  45. Haven't tried this yet but will. Just thinking that if you put vinegar in as part of the liquid it would take the tarnish off the penny and show how Jesus' death cleans us of our sins.......

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  46. my teacher recommended this and it worked amazingly!!

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  47. Worked for me. A wonderful illustration for my kids church class today

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