14

"Can My Words Hurt Others?”

Big Idea

Your words are a sword, use them for good!

Materials Needed:

1. Large stuffed animal (monkey or bear would work best)   2. Optional: Elastic bandages

    

Setup:

None.

Lesson

1. Review the big idea from last meeting's lesson: "Gossip separates close friends." Ask the question, "Should I talk about my friends behind their back?" and have the children repeat the big idea a few times, doing the motions below as you say each word.
Gossip: use your hand to mime a puppet talking too much
Separates: hold your forearms together in front of you and pull them apart
Close: cross fingers on one hand
Friend: cross fingers on other hand.

 

2. Explain the following:

    Today, we're going to talk about words. (Write "words" on the board.) Does it matter what words we use or how we use them? Does God even care about our words?

3. Hold up the stuffed animal so that the children can see it. Explain the following:
    This little guy here is named Billy, Billy T. Bear. The "T" stands for "the." Billy's a pretty ordinary bear. Nothing too special about him, except for the fact that he's not a real bear. He's just a stuffed teddy bear. Inside of Billy, there are no bones, no kidneys, heart, blood, or brain. Just a bunch of stuffing.
    And that's a good thing for Billy because we're going to do something a little weird today, something we'd never do to a real bear or a real person. We're going to see  how many different and creative ways we could come up with to hurt Billy. And since he's a stuffed bear, he won't feel a thing.

4. Have several children come up one at a time. Hand Billy the Bear to each child and instruct them to demonstrate a new way to hurt Billy. After each child, write down on the board a brief description of the method they used to hurt Billy (ex. dropkick). If you have elastic bandages, use them to wrap up various parts of Billy after each child is done with him.

5. Explain the following:
    You guys really thought of a lot of different ways to hurt Billy. It's a good thing he's just a stuffed bear and couldn't feel any of it. It it'd be a real bear, or a real person, that we did all those things to, they would definitely be hurting.
    But God tells us in the Bible that there's something about can hurt somebody just as much as any of the things we did to Billy.

6. Select a volunteer to come up front and read Proverbs 12:18 from the Bible: "Thoughtless words cut like a sword. But the tongue of wise people brings healing." Instruct him/her to return to his/her seat and explain the following:
    God teaches us in the Bible that "thoughtless word cut like a sword." We did a lot of things to Billy, but we didn't cut him with a sword! When people say unkind and mean things, it can hurt others just as much as punching them in the stomach or cutting them with a sword.
    Let's see if we can understand what this verse means. Now we're going to try to hurt Billy, not with our hands or our feet, but with our words. And while we do, I want you to try to imagine how Billy would feel if he were real and not just stuffed.

7. Have several children come up one at a time. Hand Billy the Bear to each child and instruct them to say something mean to Billy (ex. "Your fur is ugly!"). Explain the following:
    You can probably guess that, if Billy were really, he'd be feeling pretty upset right now. Just like the Bible says, our words can hurt others just as much as a sword.
    We need to remember the second part of that verse: "Thoughtless words cut like a sword. But the tongue of wise people brings healing." Our words can hurt, but they can also bring healing, which means that they can do good as well. Instead of hurting, our words can help. Let's see if we can help Billy feel a little better.

8. Have several children come up one at a time. Hand Billy the Bear to each child and instruct them to say something nice to Billy (ex. "You're a smart bear!"). Explain the following:
    So, can our words hurt others? Yes, definitely! Mean words cut like a sword, but kind words heal. I'm sure Billy, if he were real and not stuffed, would be feeling a lot better now after all the kind words we said about him.

7. Explain that the big idea from today's lesson is: "Your words are a sword, use them for good!" Ask the question, "Can my words hurt others?" and have the children repeat the big idea a few times, doing the motions below as you say each word.

Words: hold fingers of one hand to lips and pull away, spreading fingers as you do
Sword: mime swinging a sword to the right
Use: mime swinging a sword to the left
Good: mime holding a sword up in air in a triumphant pose