Teaching kids (especially young kids) about the deeper meanings of the Bible that go beyond just the stories on the surface isn’t always easy. But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. And these are the most important lessons that we can teach our children, the ones that we need to be instilling in them.
With Passover coming up I’ve been wanting to come up with a good object lesson for my preschooler that can help him to see what Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29), really has done for us. Of course, being that he’s so young he won’t fully comprehend this yet. But it’s all about repetition and exposure at this point.
I found this great object lesson about how the blood of Jesus washes away your sins on Pinterest. And it’s a great one! But, I wanted to change it up a little bit to show that Jesus doesn’t just wash away your own sins, but those of the entire world.
So I hope that this helps you and that you and your child enjoy this object lesson activity. I know my son really enjoyed it. He wanted to do it over and over again!
Jesus Washes Away Sins Object Lesson Supplies:
- free Earth printable (click to download) laminated
- laminator
- black WET erase marker (NOT a dry erase marker)
- water
- red food coloring
- clear spray bottle
- paper towels
Jesus Washes Away the Sins of the World Object Lesson Instructions:
First gather your supplies. Some important things to note about the supplies…
It has to be a wet erase marker as opposed to a dry erase. The reason being that you are going to demonstrate to them that we can’t wash away our own sins by our own efforts, we need the blood of Jesus to be able to do that (Ephesians 2:8-9). A wet erase marker doesn’t rub off until water is applied. That’s what’s so special about it. 🙂
Also you can use any earth printable. Or you can click here to download the one I used for free. And there isn’t a set amount of red food coloring you need to use with the water. Just add enough to make it look as red as possible. A clear bottle is important here so that your child can see the red liquid that represents the blood of Jesus inside.
Place the Earth printable in front of your child. If they’re old enough to know what it is you can ask them what it is, otherwise tell them that this represents the Earth we live on. The home that God made for us (Genesis 1:1).
Now take the wet erase marker and mark a small spot on the map (any place) and tell them that this represents sin. Sin entered the world when Adam ate from the tree that God told him not to eat from (Romans 5:12).
Next you can either continue to color the marker all over or let your child try. I started out and then he wanted to help, so we both kind of did (even daddy jumped in at one point to add “his sin” to the mix). While you do this tell your child that like a disease sin spread ALL OVER the world. There isn’t anyone or any place that doesn’t have sin (Psalm 14:3). And it’s quite a big mess that we’ve gotten ourselves into.
Next take the DRY paper towel and start trying to wipe off the marker, let your child help if they want to (as you can see mine did). As you do this tell your child that we often try to wash away our own sins. Sometimes we think that if we’re good enough then that’s enough. But, it’s not. No matter how hard we try, we can’t wash away our sins on our own (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5). God knew this, which is why He had a very special plan for us because He loves us so much (John 3:16).
Pull out the bottle of red colored water. Tell your child that God’s special plan was to send Jesus to die for our sins (John 3:16). We can’t be close to God if we are covered in sin because God is holy (1 Peter 1:16, Leviticus 11:44-45;19:2;20:7). But God wants to be close to us and that’s why he came up with this plan.
As you spray it on the world tell your child that no person on Earth could wash away their sins on their own. So God came as a man named Jesus, which was God’s only begotten son to wash away our sins (1 John 1:7).
Now place the paper towel onto the Earth. It’s interesting to note here that as I asked my son to do this he just set it there and didn’t move it. So as an impromptu part of the lesson, I told him that we have to spread the good news about Jesus in order for people’s sins to be forgiven (Matthew 28:19; Mark 16:15). So we have to spread it (the paper towel). As I said this I helped him to wipe the entire picture of the Earth clean. I thought this actually fit really well with the lesson, so I wanted to include it here.
As you do this tell them that Jesus’ blood atoned for all the sins in the world (1 John 2:2). Because of Him we could have our sins washed away and we are saved!
After everything is wiped away tell your child that the Bible says that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29). We can’t ever wash away our own sins no matter how good we are. In order to be saved we must ask God for forgiveness and believe on Jesus and the sacrifice He made to be the payment for our sins (Mark 1:15, Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9).
We should always strive to obey God and do what the Bible tells us, but that isn’t what saves us. Jesus saves us from our sins. And because He saves us, we show our love towards Him by obeying His commandments (John 14:15).
A wonderful object lesson for Passover
This lesson is perfect for doing on Passover. It’s great for all ages and I think it will help to drive home the life changing message of the gospel to young children. In case you aren’t sure if you, as a Christian, should observe Passover, please head on over to this post which explains how Passover is not only applicable to Christians, but a celebration Christians should be observing because it’s all about Jesus!
I hope you and your child(ren) enjoy this object lesson. Leave a comment below if you give this a try. I’d love to hear how it goes for you and your family. 🙂
To get the free printable Earth that you can use with this object lesson just click the button below. Enjoy!
8 Comments
Comments are closed.