ROTATION.ORG WRITING TEAM

PSALM 8
GAMES WORKSHOP

PASSAGE

Story: Psalm 8
Key/Memory Verse: Psalm 8

PURPOSE

See Bible Background.

Objectives for Rotation

See Bible Background.

Objectives for Games workshop

Play games – water xylophone and beanbag toss – to help learn portions of Psalm 8.

PREPARATION

Read Bible Background

Materials List

Bible

Game 1:
Copy of song notes [See bottom of lesson]
Cloth to cover glasses
Metal soup spoon
Paper towel
Piano to tune glasses [Optional]
Pitcher
Tape
Tray
Water glasses, four identical tall

Game 2:
Beanbags, one for every two students (use large beanbags that are easy for young children to catch)
Binoculars (can be a toy one, but needs to adequately produce effect of bringing close something that is far away)
Construction paper, one piece red
Scissors
Sharpie marker

Advance Preparation Requirements

Cut the construction paper into a large heart shape. On the heart write: “God’s Heart”.

Tape the heart to the binoculars.

See Resources to listen to the music for the water xylophone.

Fill up the pitcher with water. Place the four glasses on a tray. Fill them with water so that each glass has slightly more water than the previous one. The idea is to try and create the notes B, C, D, and E (with B being the fullest glass). Glasses with more water will produce a lower pitch, and those with less water will produce a higher pitch sound. Once the levels are good, mark each one with tape. (Next week it will be easier!)
Practice saying or singing the key verse while playing the jars. (See song notes.)

PRESENTATION

Open – Introduction

Greet your students warmly, welcoming them to the Games Workshop. Introduce yourself and any other adults.

Say: Let’s begin with prayer. Ask for any prayer requests. Ask if anyone would like to lead the group in prayer. Be prepared to say a prayer yourself, working in prayer requests. A suggestion: “Awesome God, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Thank you for loving us and for watching over us. Help us to see the majesty, beauty, and wonder in all of your creation. Guide us as we watch over all the gifts you have given us. Amen.”

Ask each child to say his or her name and one awesome thing in our world that God has created.

Say: God is an amazing God. There are so many fantastic, beautiful things God has created. All the things you have listed are praises to God - we praise God for … [name a couple of the items the kids mentioned]. In our Bible lesson we are going to learn about praising God with music or song.

Ask: Have you ever praised God with music or song? (accept all answers)

Say: A long, long time ago, before Jesus was born, the Hebrew people wrote their praises down and used them in worship. These special praise songs or poems are called “psalms.” Many of them are collected together in one book in the Bible, the Book of Psalms. We are going to look at one of these Psalms today - Psalm 8.

Dig - Main Content

Hold a Bible.

Say: The Bible is divided into two major sections or testaments - the Old Testament and the New Testament. We find Psalms in the Old Testament.

Ask: Who remembers an Old Testament story about a boy named David?

Say: With God’s help, David fought a giant named Goliath. David was also a shepherd – someone who cared for sheep. David liked to write down songs he wrote to God. The book of Psalms contains 150 chapters or psalms. David may have written about half of them. Some of them he may have written while watching over his sheep.

Open the Bible and read Psalm 8. Read slowly and dramatically. [On the first week of the Rotation because time may be short, read only a portion of Psalm 8 - verses 1, 3, 4, & 5.]

Ask: Where was David when he wrote this Psalm? (maybe with sheep, at night)

What clues help us know it was nighttime? (work of your fingers - moon & stars)

How do you suppose David is feeling as he writes these words? (amazed; wondering)

Have you ever had a similar feeling? Where, when? (accept all answers)

What do you suppose David is trying to say about human beings? (important to God)

Say: It would be really fun to learn part of Psalm 8, not memorizing it like there would be a test, but learning it just like you’d learn your address – because it’s good to know. Let’s play a game to help us learn part of Psalm 8.

Game 1:

Say: First let’s play a musical game. Psalm 8 is a song of praise to God so let’s sing the first verse of Psalm 8, and to make this more interesting, let’s take turns playing the tune using a water xylophone.

Uncover the glasses. Play the tune for the children. Then play the tune while saying or singing the key verse. [Don’t be embarrassed if you flub-up! It’s good for kids to see that it isn’t easy right away.] Play it several times until the children catch on to the tune.

Allow each person a chance to gently play the tune, while the class sings the key verse.

Added Variation (when kids seem to know the verse):

Play like musical chairs – Set out enough chairs so are three less than the number of children. One child plays the jars while everyone else repeats the verse. The musician gets to decide when to stop playing. When music stops, everyone sits down. The two children without seats get to say the key verse together.

Game 2:

Divide the class into pairs. Explain that pairs of students will play catch with a beanbag. As they toss the beanbag they are to say one part of the verse.

You and the Shepherd should demonstrate.

You toss to the Shepherd saying: “O LORD”.

Shepherd tosses to you saying: “our Lord”.

You toss back saying: “how majestic”.

Shepherd: “is your name”

You: “in all the earth!” (Repeat, but Shepherd would start)

Give each pair one beanbag. Have the students spread out around the room and begin tossing. If students are doing really well, assign them the next verse:

You have/ set your/ glory/ above/ the heavens.

IMPORTANT: Stop games with enough time to do the closing, approximately 5 minutes.

Reflect - Closure

Gather the class outside the classroom door. Bring out the binoculars. Ask the Shepherd to go down to the end of the hall.

Say: On a starry night David, the Psalmist, compared himself to the splendor of the sky. He felt small, like a tiny speck. But he realized God saw him as large and important. David realized humans were important; God had crowned them with glory and honor.

Invite one child to use the binoculars to see if the Shepherd appears closer/larger.

Say: God’s love is like these binoculars, making us big and important in God’s eyes. Because God loves us, even though we are “tiny specks,” we are close to God; we are big in God’s eyes. In fact Jesus said, God knows us so well, that he even has the hairs on our head counted! What a wonderful feeling to know that God loves us and feels we are each important!

Allow all to take a turn looking through the binoculars.

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

If you have extra time

Allow the students to continue with the water xylophone tune to learn the next portion of Psalm 8: “You have set your glory above the heavens” (remainder of verse 1).

SOURCES

Derden, Jaymie. “Rotation.org Writing Team Lessons on Psalm 8: Drama Workshop.” 2005. (for early “dig” portion)

MacQueen, Neil. “Rotation.org Writing Team Lessons on Psalm 8: Computer Workshop.” 2005. (for some discussion questions and closing idea)

The Big Book of Bible Games. Ventura, CA: Gospel Light, 1996. (for game ideas, found on Pages 51 and 48)

Song notes - to hear the tune go to http://www.acadisc.com/better.htm#majestic

Attachment

Music for Water Xylophone (use tall water glasses tuned to four notes of the musical scale) to play the key verse using the beginning of the song, "How Majestic is Your Name" by Michael Smith.

D B C D D D D E C C E D D D C B D
O LORD, our Lord, how ma- jes- tic is your name in all the earth!

CONTRIBUTOR: Carol Hulbert