This particular week we were short on time for our family Bible study, so we didn’t do as much as usual, which also seems to happen in my Sunday School class, it’s like time flies while we’re doing it.. We read our weekly Bible story, Fall of Man, and learn how Adam and Eve listened to the snake and had to leave the Garden and how their sons Cain and Abel fought and Cain killed Abel, which of course follows right on the heels of the Creation story.
My thoughts on the Fall of Man
In this Sunday School lesson we included two big stories: Adam and Eve’s sin, and Cain and Abel. They could each be stories in their own right, but I didn’t want to focus a lot of time on how we messed up, I wanted to focus on how God rescues us, the whole Bible is God’s big rescue plan.
These stories also give us some big examples of how we can sin. Adam and Eve sinned because they doubted God and believed someone else over God. Cain sinned because he felt jealous and thought his brother got something he didn’t.
The first issue is a great one to talk about with older kids who are capable of higher-order thinking. The second issue is great for younger kids who are very familiar with the “It’s not fair he/she got this, and I didn’t.” And if I’m honest, I struggle with both of these issues from time to time, but this is a great lesson to spend lots of time talking, which is why the collage craft we did is so great because you spend lots of time working together as you search for just the right picture.
We only did a few of the activities included in Fall of Man, but everyone really enjoyed this activity.
Fall of Man activity
After reading the story we talked about how Cain and Abel gave gifts to God. God liked what Abel gave, but didn’t like what Cain gave. We talked about what could we give to God, then made a collage of what we could give.
Mac helped by trying to run over what we made. It wasn’t really so helpful, but he’s so gosh darn cute.
Our things to give God were heavily weighted towards toys. That may have more to do with the large number of catalogs I had for making the collage……….
We also talked a lot about how to handle disappointment. Cain did not handle his disappointment well (obviously), and it’s a struggle for young kids, and let’s just say people in general to deal with disappointment. A few suggestions we talked through for handling disappointment:
- write or draw your feelings
- go on a long walk and pray
- talk to your Mom or Dad (if your parents are the ones causing the disappointment, this can be especially good)
- find something to cheer you up, a favorite book or toy, something to do to get your mind off of it
My biggest regret from our Fall of Man study, is not having time to do this forgiveness activity from Fantastic Five during our week. Oh well, we’ll hit Fall of Man again in a few years and we can do it then.
You can get the Fall of Man study as part of the Pre-history in Genesis study.
More Fall of Man resources
A few more resources to learn about the Fall of Man.
- Fall of Man storybook and discussion questions (week 2 in the Pre-history in Genesis)
- Forgiveness activity from Fantastic Five
- Buck Denver Asks: What’s in the Bible? Volume One – In the Beginning
( seriously LOVE these DVDs and cannot recommend them highly enough)
- Cain and Abel study
You can also check out my Genesis pinterest board.
Follow Ticia Adventures in Mommydom’s board Genesis on Pinterest.
And for the whole Genesis unit head on over to the Genesis Family Bible Study page. Up next is Noah’s Genealogy, or why do I care about his grandpa?
The forgiving fingers are very cute – I’m sure there’ll be a chance to work them into another study.
I love the forgiving fingers!
I like “the gift to God” activity. I have to ask Anna this question and also stress “disappointment lesson”. We just read this story too in DePaola Bible Stories.