Add your ideas for the feeding of the 5000 activities...

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Exchange Volunteer modified post and title for clarity.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: CreativeCarol,

One thing I did with older kids was to cook fish like they would have eaten it. The recipe is in "The Good Book Cookbook" by Susan Woolhandler, et.al. Basically take a filet of fish and put a 1" square of honeycomb on it and broil it. If you can't find honey w/comb, a tablespoon or two of honey poured over the fish works too. I know it sounds gross, but I never have any left over! However, you could make that a part of your lesson - to intentionally leave some fish. This book is a must-have for rotaters!

Here is the recipe for the Broiled Fish With Honeycomb. (page 57, Good Book cookbook)

per serving:
1/3 pound white, firm-fleshed fish fillets or steaks
1 T olive oil
1 T honeycome
Vinegar or lemon juice

Rub fish with olive oil and put into an oiled baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or broil on low hear for 5 to 7 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and put a tablespoon of honeycomb on each fish steak or fillet. Turn up broiler to hight and put fish directly underneath heat to glaze. Honey should caramelize into a light brown. Serve hot or cold with vinegar or lemon juice. (Accompany with barley cakes)

Barley Cakes (page 128, same book)
1 1/2 cups hot milk
1/4 tsp salt
3 T honey
3 cups barley flour
3/4 cup raisins
oil for frying

Combine all ingredients and shape into balls. Flatten into rounds. Fry in hot oil 5 minutes on each side or bake 20 to 25 minutes in a preheated oven at 400 degrees. (Served with Green Butter Herb Cheese)



[This message has been edited by julie burton (edited 04-02-2001).]

This is the cooking activity we used with our kids. We had them bake cookies shaped as fish and sell them during fellowship time. The money they raised was used as part of their One Great Hour of Sharing campaign. This was a big hit with all of the congregation-both the kids baking and those buying!

Copyright Note from Neil:

Please note the exemplary recipe posting above which gives the source of the recipe.

Recipe ingredients and simple cooking instructions CANNOT be copyrighted, hence Julie's ability to copy it here. However, she DID refer to the source which is good practice! <>< Neil

More ideas moved here to consolidate posts...

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Posted by Terri K on December 11, 2000

fish windcatchers - staple/glue/whipstitch two paper "fish" together, decorate, stuff w/ newspaper, hang.

-or maybe make a "stringer" w/ 3 fish (isn't that how many the boy had?) and have the kids write one each one a way they can help God... something as simple as "bring SS collection money" or "helping my parents" or "inviting my friends to chruch"

HTH,
Terri
Gum Creek Pres
Oxford, GA

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Posted by Valerie on December 11, 2000

We made fish banners. Used muslin fabric. Used small fresh fish...painted them and used them as a stamp on the fabric. The kids loved it cause they were using the real thing. You need to buy one fish per child. And you can use all kinds of different colored paints - even the metallic kind. 

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Posted by WAM on December 21, 2000

...two activities...

Have the kids cut out the shape of a fish from sponge, and then use the sponges to paint an outline of a gigantic fish on mural paper.

Draw outlines of fish (of various sizes) on two brown paper shopping bags, cut them out, staple together and stuff with newspaper. Punch holes, string up and make a huge mobile.

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Posted by <Ron S.> on January 26, 2003

...Our craft rotation is making small woven baskets which will hold 5 'loaves' (small breadsticks cut into 3" long loaves & shellaced) and 2 fish (wooden cutouts approx. 3" long) The memory verse is being laminated and it will be attached to the woven basket.

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Posted by JaneJane on November 19, 2003

We focused on sharing & stewardship for this rotation. I teach preschoolers & we have a snack of some kind every week. We had two cooking experiences for this rotation. We made breadsticks to share from refrigerator dough. We also made a trail mix. Each child got a plastic bag containing a different ingredient (raisins, cheerios, pretzels, M&M's, etc-) & we talked about how we all get different gifts from God. They all dumped their bags together into a bowl and took turns stirring. Everyone got some trail mix to eat and a bag to take home to share with someone else. We talked about how just like the feeding of 5000, we had enough for everyone.

On more of a science idea, I had thought about making popcorn (in some kind of a popcorn maker they can actually see into vs microwave bags) because it starts off small & unimpressive, but expands & changes into something better. Didn't want to do a science project that seemed to equate the miracle of the feeding with a "magic trick", so we never did find a true science workshop for this one.

Good luck!

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Posted by Su-Z-Q on December 10, 2003

... science workshop is going to use baking soda/vinegar/water (like what they use to make model volcanoes erupt). We haven't figured out the details yet...but we'll use the idea that if you trust in God, you can take very little and turn it into a lot...

Also, for the cooking workshop, you can do Amish Friendship bread. The dough expands and you give it to 10 friends so they can make their own loaf of bread...and then they give 10 more friends the dough...

Good Luck! Susan

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Posted by Neil MacQueen on December 11, 2003

When I cook, it's an experiment.
And here quite literally, is both a science experiment that includes a cooking element.

I'm thinking of the boy's bread. When he offered it, it grew in quantity.

There's a fun and simple "yeast breath" experiment involving a bottle and baloon...

1 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup warm water
1 balloon

In a 1-liter bottle (like a pop bottle) combine the sugar, the yeast and the warm (not hot) water. Hold your hand over the opening and shake to mix well. Blow up the balloon once or twice to pre-stretch it, then put it over the opening in the bottle, and tie it on securely. Set the bottle into a bowl filled with very warm water, and go away for about an hour. When you return, the balloon will be partly inflated. Leave it alone and see how big it gets.

What happened?
The yeast, helped by the warm water, feeds on the sugar and, in the process, produces carbon dioxide gas. That's what's in the balloon.

...it's something each kid can do. They can take it home to explain it to family.

Following that, I'd pull out some already "expanded" bread dough and bake some bread. The yeast makes it plentiful. What else can we add to it that reminds us of God's goodness?

One of the reasons I like the idea of using this Yeast experiment is because this is very similar to Jesus' one-line parable: the Kingdom of God is like leaven in the loaf. A little bit goes a long way!

Neil

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This message has been edited. Last edited by: CreativeCarol,

Posted by TLLane on June 25, 2004 (this post moved to this location so information will be easy to access)

For the feeding of the 5000 we made some fish shaped pinatas and filled it with those little fish crackers. We read the story and stopped where the little boy comes forward with the fish and loaves. At that point in the story we had the children put the bread and fish in the pinata. At the end of the story the children got to break the pinata and of course TONS of fish and bread come out. As they were cleaning up one of the kids said "look at all of this fish!" The point was made.

Terri
Just an all around unique individual!

How about renaming these lessons "Feeding the Thousands"? First, there are two versions of this miracle, listing the crowd at different sizes. Also, the crowd size is calculated by the number of men, not including the women and children. So the crowd may have been as much as four times that number. Since the lesson is for children, and I bet many teachers out there are women, why not readjust that figure in recognition of their presence?

Loaves & fishes - Songwriting idea - new verses to Johnny Appleseed

With all that bread and meat showing up out of nowhere, this was an occasion for a mealtime grace!

There are some well known sung graces the kids hear at camp, etc., that don’t however make reference to the loaves and fishes story. So, let’s create new verses and teach a few graces!

Scouts Canada has a good page with sung graces. Every kid should now Johnny Appleseed. As well scroll down the page to Bless our food, Bless our food (to the tune of Edelweiss) for another nice one.

Working in teams, have your class brainstorm new verses for these grace based on key moments in the Loaves and Fishes story.


Other workshops in this rotation include: arts/ bread clay sculptures and papier mache bread boxes; kitchen/ bake bread; music/teach song Break thou the bread of life; computer/Cal & Marty, Fall of Jericho. For more detail, click here.