Weekly Fun Plan: Lord of the Harvest

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Welcome to this week’s Weekly Fun Plan: Lord of the Harvest! If you haven’t already I highly recommend you read my introductory blog post “Faith-filled Fun: What Is It? And Why I Started It”. That post will give you some background into this blog and a little more in-depth explanation of my Weekly Fun Plans and how to use them. 

This Week’s Theme: Lord of the Harvest

One word that is synonymous with the Fall season is Harvest. If you actually research where the word comes from, you’ll find that “Harvest” comes from the Old English word for autumn, Haerfest, which means to reap, gather, and store what has been grown. The fall season is also often associated with feelings of abundance and joy as it’s the result of many months of hard work. As Christians we refer to God as the “Lord of the Harvest” and many use this season to reflect on the abundance of provisions that God has blessed them with. This week our Bible lesson will help your kids recognize the “harvest” God has blessed them with and teach them how Jesus wants us to respond. All our craft, snack, and activity ideas are going to be harvest/corn themed. If you try anything in this week’s plan don’t forget to share your experiences on social media! Tag us @faithfilledfun on Instagram or use #faithfilledfun. New Weekly Fun Plans drop each Monday so stay up to date with the blog each week by subscribing to my email list!

Bible Lesson: What to Read or Watch this week

Since this week we are learning what “Lord of the Harvest” means and how we are to respond, here are some great resources to read/watch:

If you have young children (ages 0-8): 

• Read/Do the following lesson together:

Lord of the Harvest Bible Lesson

Do you know what the word harvest means? Harvest means to reap, gather, and store what crops have been grown and it’s often this time of year (autumn) that is referred to as harvest time.

Did you know the Bible calls God the “Lord of the harvest”? What do you think that means?

In the Bible “harvest” is symbolic of how God provides for us and blesses us. God is in control of everything and is above everyone so we call him the Lord of the harvest because everything we have comes from Him!

With plants/crops, we only get one harvest a year, but with God, we get spiritual harvests all the time. God is providing things for us and blesses us every day. Can you think of some ways that God has provided for you or blessed you?

Now because God is the one who has given us everything we have, it all really belongs to him. So when God wants us to do something with what he’s given us we should obey because it’s all his anyway.

God tells us in the Bible that we should be generous with what we have. Do you know what generous means? It means to give to others from what we have out of kindness. To share our blessings with others more than what’s expected. That could be money, time, food, hospitality, and lots of other things.

So let’s remember that God is the Lord of the harvest, He has given us everything that we have, so we can say thank you to God by being generous and sharing all that he has blessed us with! 

Videos to watch:

• Watch “Bible story “God Gives Manna” by Hope Kids on YouTube. This is a quick 3-minute video animation of the Bible story in Exodus where God provided for his people in the desert by giving them manna to eat.
• Watch “The Widow’s Offering | Stories of the Bible” by Saddleback Kids on YouTube. This video is another quick 2-minute video animation of a Bible story in Mark when Jesus talks about the generosity of the widow’s offering.

If you have older children/teens (ages 9-18):

• Read/Discuss the same lesson above with them.
• Read or have them read the following verses in their own personal study time: Mark 12:41-44, Proverbs 11:25, 2 Corinthians 9:10-11, Galatians 6:8-9

Bible Lesson: Questions to Ask Your Kids/Discuss this week

If you read the recommended Bible lesson or watched the YouTube videos your kids should be able to answer this week’s question:

How should we respond to God’s blessings? Answer “Be generous!”

If you have little ones (ages 0-8): I would focus on that one question this week, and work on having them memorize the answer. Ask them that same question every morning or evening and see if they can remember the answer. 

If you have older children (ages 9-18): here are some additional questions you can discuss with them throughout the week:

• What has God provided for you? How has he blessed you? (Make a list)
• How can you be generous with what God has provided for you?
• How does it make you feel to give and be generous?
• Why should we be generous with our wealth?

Bible Lesson: Memory Verse

Memorizing scripture is such a vital skill to teach our children at a young age. Recalling and reciting scripture that they’ve memorized will help them as they grow and go through trials in life. It will also encourage them, equip them to go out and be little disciples of Jesus, and it will strengthen their own faith as they get older.

This week let’s have your kids work on memorizing Galatians 6:9. Memorizing scripture is so much easier for kids if you can find a way to make it fun. Here are some different ideas to try as a family to help memorize this week’s verse:

• Come up with some simple motions for each word of the verse and make a cheer or dance out of it.
• Come up with your own melody and create a song out of it.
• Make it a game. Start by saying one word or phrase of the verse at a time and have your kids repeat after you until you’ve gotten through the whole verse. Then repeat the process saying the words differently every time. Examples: slow, fast, in a silly voice, quiet, loud, etc.

Once your child/children have got it, I recommend practicing reciting the verse each morning over breakfast or before they leave for school and maybe even again before bed. Make it a part of your routine and you’ll be amazed at how fast they will begin to pick it up.

Supplies needed for this week’s activities

Here is a quick list of all the supplies that you will need in order to complete all the suggested crafts, activities, and snacks for this week’s plan. For a list of my most used craft supplies, and things I will be utilizing often in future Weekly Fun Plans be sure to check out my Links page.

• Glue
• Beads
• Construction Paper
• Scissors
• Pipe Cleaners
• Nontoxic Paint
• Legos
• Waffle Cones
• Fruit you like (grapes, strawberries, blueberries, clementines, apples, etc)

Snack: Fruit Cornucopias 

After practicing your memory verse or going over the discussion questions, have some fun as a family making these Fruit Cornucopias. We see cornucopias a lot around Thanksgiving time because they are known as a symbol of abundance. 

Fill your kiddos with an abundance of healthy fruit with this adorable snack. Simply take your favorite fruits (grapes, strawberries, blueberries, clementines, apples, etc.), wash then peel or cut them into bite-sized pieces and fill up a waffle ice cream cone with your fruit. That’s it!

Crafts:

For this week’s crafts, we are making Lego Corn Art and Beaded Pipe Cleaner Indian Corn. Both crafts are easy to make and make the perfect Thanksgiving decorations.

Lego Corn Art:

Legos are great for building and playing with, but have you ever painted with one? Grab a few Legos and get ready to make the most adorable Lego Corn Art! Follow the link for easy step-by-step instructions for this craft.

Beaded Pipe Cleaner Indian Corn:

For our second craft this week, we have this super cute Beaded Pipe Cleaner Indian Corn. This craft is great for your older children, will keep them busy for a while, and makes the perfect Thanksgiving decor. Follow the link for an easy step-by-step guide.

Activities:

With our theme this week “Lord of the Harvest” here are a few extra ideas for activities to do with your children. Feel free to come up with your own ideas too:

• Visit a local corn maze as a family.
• Make some popcorn together and have a movie night or sting it together if you already have your Christmas tree up.
• Try this Dancing Corn Science Experiment.
• Make a corn kernel sensory bin.

Parenting Tip of the Week:

One easy way we can help our children build a strong foundation of faith is through the music we listen to in our homes and in the car. It can be such a passive activity having music on in the background while we cook dinner, while they play with their toys, or while we drive them to school or practice, but it can make such an impact. Fill your home with praise and worship music whenever possible. You’ll see the greatest effects of this when you suddenly hear your children singing along to the words of your favorite worship song. Check out my Spotify for playlists I’ve created specifically with Christian Songs for Kids and My Current Worship Favs to play in our home!

Prayers:

Lastly, I like to end each Weekly Fun Plan with some example prayers for your week. One is to pray with your kids, maybe before they get on the bus in the morning, before a meal, or before bed, and the other prayer is for you, the parent, to pray over your kids throughout the week.

Prayer to say with your kids this week: 

Dear God, thank you for all the ways you provide for me. Help me to show gratitude for those blessings and to respond with generosity whenever I can. Amen.

Prayer to pray over your kids this week: 

Dear God, thank you for your provision and blessings in my life. Let me never take for granted all that you have given to me and my family and let me never forget that it all belongs to you. Thank you for entrusting my child/children into my care and helping me to demonstrate both gratitude and generosity to them on a daily basis. Amen.

Have an amazing week and don’t forget to subscribe to my email list and follow me on Instagram @faithfilledfun to stay up to date with the blog!