"Patience"
A lesson for SPROUTS ages 2-6. Laying a foundation for purity through the teaching of patience and trust in my parents and God.
PURPOSE
My child will embrace the idea of patience; waiting for the right time and place to experience and enjoy certain things.
MATERIALS
SENSORY: Cookie making ingredients and/or Legos
LESSON: 2 marshmallows for following up video
CRAFT: Recycled materials and hot glue gun OR modeling clay
EXPERIENCE: Variety of art materials
INSPIRATION:
“We pray that you will be strengthened with all His glorious power so that you may have great endurance and patience.” - Colossians 1:11
“Jesus taught that we must overcome every difficult situation with patience. From patience arises mercy and goodness. Jesus emphasized the love of heaven, the patience of heaven, and the faithfulness of heaven. Through this practical philosophy, we can be elevated to the heavenly way of life.” -Sun Myung Moon World Scripture
SENSORY ACTIVITY
Choose 1:
COOKING- Bake a batch of cookies together! Emphasize why we have to have patience and WAIT while the cookies bake and become ready for us to eat (If you have a window on your oven door, watch the cookies baking through the window!). Explain why eating the ingredients before they’re mixed together and cooked wouldn’t taste good and wouldn’t be healthy for us.
LEGOS- Build a house together using legos and practice patience with the delicate small blocks and tiny hands.
INTRODUCTION
We’ve learned how our amazing bodies grow and change. God also made a plan for us to learn new, exciting things at just the right time- when we are good and ready! We don’t need to get impatient and frustrated at not being able to know something or do something right away! We should trust that God and our parents will show us and explain to us at the time that is right for us.
*TEACHING MOMENT*
Read this script to your child like a story time.
Our Creator loves us and values us infinitely! He knows what we need. He knows what will make our body, heart, mind and soul happy. He knows what things are meant for us at what time or phase in our lives.
Parents: Watch this video together with your child for a lesson on patience and delayed gratification. Use it as a basis to discuss and share more about the value of waiting.
VIDEO HERE: The Marshmallow Test by Igniter Medi
After watching the video together, ask your child his initial reaction. How did the video make him feel? What did he observe? What did the children have to do in order to receive 2 marshmallows? What does he think he would do if he were in the situation the children in the video were placed in? (For extra fun, you may wish to enjoy a marshmallow with your child!)
The children in the video learned that when they were able to be strong and practice WAITING, they were rewarded! They got an even better deal: two marshmallows instead of just one! Good things come to people who wait. Life is like a cookie. You have to wait until it's baked to perfection. Then it tastes so good! How would it taste if you ate it before it was ready?
Let’s look at another example. Are you ready to be a husband or wife right now? Or a Mommy or Daddy? Do you want to cook and clean and pay bills and go to work today? That’s a silly idea, isn’t it? You just want to be a kid and have fun playing and learning! And that's ok- that's good! It's all a part of God's plan because we take life one stage at a time. Right now you are learning to be the best child and friend you can be. You are in your time of waiting- one day in the future God will bring you your prince or princess at the right time.
Mommy and Daddy work hard to understand God and the plan He has for all children, including me. We want you to be so happy! To feel glowing and giggly and warm and fuzzy inside! For that to be possible, we need to know what it means to wait. We need to know how to be patient. There are some things that we're not ready to experience or see or feel until we reach the right age and stage of growth. So we learn to be patient and then when we are ready to receive- it's such an exciting moment of joy!
God designed it this way- so we can learn and grow into a true son or daughter one step at a time. Isn’t it wonderful?
So next time you're feeling impatient and you really want to have something right away- remember this lesson and the value of waiting for those 2 marshmallows! ;)
DISCUSSION
Have your child try to answer first and then you answer as well, sharing about your own experiences growing up.
What does waiting mean to you? What does patience mean to you?
Can you think of a time when you waited for something? Tell me about it.
When you waited for that thing or experience, how did you feel? Why?
What are some things that people have to wait for? (even grown-ups!)
Why is it good for us to know how to wait for things?
What should you do if someone asks you to do something you’re not ready for? Like going to the store by yourself or driving a car? (Say “No, thank you” and tell Mommy or Daddy!)
Why do you think God and our parents want us to wait for some things?
CONCLUSION
When we are young, we know certain things. As we get older, we start to learn more and more. Some things are so important that we have to be very, very careful about when we learn about them. We have to be sure our hearts and our minds are ready to receive. When it is the right time, God and our parents will show us and teach us more about life. So when mommy or daddy say "not right now" or "let's wait" "be patient" we remember the value of patience and remember that waiting doesn't last forever. God and our parents want the best for us and they will do everything they can to protect us and help us learn and grow the right way so we can be truly happy!
PRAYER
Dear God, I learned today that some things are worth waiting for. Thank you for caring about me so much that you made a plan for what things I should know and do now, and what things I should find out later. Thank you for my loving parents who help me to be patient and wait for the right time to learn some of the most important things in life!
Use these activities together with your child over the next month to create ongoing conversations on patience! Click on the blue links!
VIDEOS
CRAFTS & SCIENCE
UP-CYCLED CRAFT: Create a structure by hot gluing recycled materials together (for example, old blocks, bottle caps, Styrofoam peanuts, etc.) Alternatively, use modeling clay. Get creative and excite your child about making a building or a house or an interesting animal! When your creation is finished, explain that your child has to give the project time to dry and set. Remind them that we have to wait for it to be finished and ready to handle or play with.
CRYSTAL SCIENCE- Grow a crystal rock garden. Check on it daily and watch it grow. (All you need is yarn, a clear container with lid, salt and water- see directions here)
GARDEN- Plant a mini indoor garden using soil, seeds and a paper cup.
SONGS
DAILY LIFE EXPERIENCES
MY DAY TIMELINE: Together with your child, create a timeline of what you do daily from morning until night. Take pictures to print out or draw pictures with your child to illustrate. Then, display them in chronological order. You may like to paste them on poster board or temporarily adhere them to your wall. If, at any point during your day, your child suggests “jumping ahead” and doing something that has been scheduled for later on, remind him of the activities that are listed beforehand and that need to be completed first. For added emphasis, you may like to insert something a little unusual on the chosen day, such as a trip to the playground. Explain what having patience means. We need to be able to wait to do things in the order that God and our parents have set for us. It would not be smart for us to try to rush to do things we want “now, now, now”! It may be hard, but for many things, waiting is our best choice in life!
Throughout the week, emphasize with your child the concept of being rewarded after doing something well, such as chores around the house. For example, say, “Once you finish clearing the table for the family, you’ll be able to use your tablet for 30 minutes.” Also, emphasize patience in general. For example, say, “Becca, I would really appreciate you being patient and waiting for the show your brother chose to finish. Then, you can choose a show you like.”
