It seems that the majority of issues in my own home stem from our words.
Complaining. Whining. Arguing.
So most of the verses I feel we are memorizing lately have to do with our tongues and learning how to use them for God’s glory.
As I was planning for my chapel this month, I thought I would share some of the things my boys and I have been studying and, by God’s grace, trying to apply. But boy am I thankful the Lord is patient! 🙂
Click Image for Photo Credit
Click Image for Photo Credit
Click Image for Photo Credit
To start the chapel, I told the kids that I was going to show them some funny pictures on the screens and they were going to have to guess what they thought my chapel topic would be.
I shared a bunch of ridiculous photos of animals sticking out their tongues that I found on the internet.
Of course, they all shouted, “TONGUES” when the photos were done.
And I said, yes, we are going to talk about the tongue and how God wants us to use it to honor Him.
I shared James 3:5 –
“The tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do.”
I asked the kids if any of them had ever had a puppy before and what happens when you leave something so small alone in the house.
Then I showed another photo I found on Google of a giant mess a puppy had made with a roll of paper towels.
In the same way, our tongues are a small thing, but we can make enormous damage to people’s hearts and situations.
Then I taught them another verse that is a favorite in our house,
“Keep your tongue from evil,” Psalm 34:13.
We had some fun and got into it with a rhythm and some hand motions. 🙂
Next, I said, how can we keep our tongues from evil?
We need to look to God’s Word!
Then I invited 3 volunteers up and placed them in front of a table which I had prepped with some props.
I instructed the first volunteer to take what was in the bag and dump it out.
BLOCKS!
Next, I told him to build a tower.
I shared the verse from 1 Thessalonians 5:11 –
“Encourage one another and build each other up.”
I had the kids repeat it and sing it with me to help them remember.
When we say kind words to others, it helps their hearts grow. It makes others stand taller and stronger.
On the opposite side of that – have volunteer knock the tower down – when we say unkind words, we crush people’s hearts.
So with our tongues we BUILD EACH OTHER UP.
The second volunteer had a bowl of cotton balls.
I said, “Aren’t those cotton balls so hard and pokey?”
Haha – no. They are so soft. Soft things make us feel good. I asked the kids if they have a lovey at home – typically bedtime lovies are not made with spikes. They are soft and cuddly and help us feel comforted as we fall asleep.
In a similar way, when we use gentle, or soft, words, we can calm a person down.
I had fun with this one and as I taught, I kept rubbing the volunteer’s face with the cotton balls. 🙂
Then we memorized Proverbs 15:1 –
“A soft answer turns away wrath.”
I had prayed and prayed for a relevant illustration of this and the morning of the chapel, I remembered a scene from the movie Moana where at the end, Moana is singing all of these beautiful and gentle words to the crazy lava lady and it totally calms her down. You can take or leave that – but I thought it was helpful and so many of the children had gone to see the movie with their families over Christmas break.
So we can use our tongues to BUILD EACH OTHER UP and we can use SOFT WORDS to help others.
Finally, the last volunteer had a tambourine.
We talked about how the best thing we can fill our mouths with is PRAISE. I shared one of my favorite verses, Psalm 34:1 –
“I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise will ever be on my lips.”
I had the volunteer play the tambourine while we all practiced memorizing this verse.
We tend to want to whine and complain about things, but God’s Word challenges us to use our words to praise Him at ALL TIMES – no matter what’s happening in our lives. How instructive and life-giving!
I went back and we reviewed all 3 verses and concepts of how we can use our tongues in ways that honor the Lord.
Finally, we prayed and committed these things to God and asked His Spirit to help us grow in how we use our words to build His kingdom!
When we said “Amen,” I had one last funny picture of an animal sticking out its tongue hit the screens.
In case it is helpful, I am including the Powerpoint that I used for this presentation. If you choose to download it, please know that I used images that I found off of Google and I didn’t properly credit them, so maybe don’t share that part lol and extend to me all the forgiveness.
I hope this blesses you and helps you teach kiddos this important topic!
CLICK HERE FOR THE POWERPOINT
CLICK HERE FOR MY SCRIPT
Joyfully,
Julie 🙂
You are a great teacher!
Beautiful illustrations, thanks
This is great! Thanks! I deal with this daily in the classroom. I also use Ephesians 4:32 “And be ye kind one to another…”
That verse is a favorite of ours too!!!
Hi Julie, I’ve been reading your blog for a few years now. I always read EVERY post but I’ve never commented – sorry!! I just wanted to say thanks for all your posts, but particularly this one. I have a 3 and 5 year old and knowing how to address their (fairly regular) whinging is one of the toughest things I’ve found with parenting. The way you’ve taught about the tongue here is amazing – so scriptural and truthful, yet simple and engaging for kids. I will definitely be passing on this wisdom to my children. Thank you so much! Please keep posting these teaching examples, especially with the script and powerpoint! God bless you 🙂 Kind regards, Christina (Australia)
Christina! You just made my whole month! Thank you thank you for taking the time to share all of this encouragement with me! I LOVE hearing from my readers and how God is using this site! You blessed me just as I know you are blessing your sweet kiddos each day! You’re awesome, girl! xoxo
Thank you for your brilliant site! I have been looking for some ideas to inspire children at my Church ministry and came across your site. I am loving the way you’ve made it simple enough to inspire young minds and to make them understand and plant the seeds of faith in them with the help of Holy Spirit. Thankyou for your time and generosity in sharing them. May the Almighty God bless you abundantly, your family and your ministry. I will be visiting your site more for words of encouragement and ideas to engage children.
You have blessed me today with these life-giving words! Thank you!
You have blessed me with your lessons. Thank you for sharing your ministry.
God bless you, Ancy, for these encouraging words!!!
THank you for this.. I am a full time teacher, and i don’t have a lot of time to prepare for chapel messages. I stumbled upon this message this week. I love how organized everything is. It’s all ready to go. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much for sharing this lesson and even the PowerPoint!! Very creative, Scripturally sound and engaging ! I’m going to share it with my little ones tomorrow 🙂
Thank you for sharing this – as well as sharing the lesson and powerpoint! It’s so perfect for me to share with my students and you’ve just saved me a lot of time. Thank you so much! 😀
Thanks for your beautiful and willingness to share you Spirit led vision! I have quite a few “broken families” (aren’t we all though) who bring their kids to our weekday children’s ministry, and hurt kids have a tendency to hurt kids 😔 I realized rather quickly that we we’re going to have to give this to God and ask for his purification and healing! I did 2 lessons in a row (2 separate weeks) teaching kids that our tongues are mighty in strength and we had a choice…. To build up or tear down, and which would they rather be known for in the world, and more importantly, known for to God! It is not perfect, but better. The kids will kindly (usually) remind each other “are those lifting up or tearing down words!?” 🥰 Praising God for my next class on our tongues and what we are called to do with them! Thank you again 😊
Thank you! I am going to use this and now subscribe to help me with my daily class worships and also my student leaders so they can give powerful and memorable devotions at our weekly school assemblies! Thank you so much for sharing your faith!
Hi Julie
I love this! I have chapel in a couple weeks and this is perfect! I am unable to access your script… would you be able to send it to me another way? I guess it is because I don’t have microsoft? I would so appreciate it!