The In-House Field Trip
by Debra Conley
Sometimes you just want to do something a little different
or change the scenery. Try taking what I call an in-house field trip. Younger
children find this great fun and can learn from it as well. Pretend that your
building will be Asia and Macedonia. Create a map of your building and
designate certain rooms or areas as stops on the Apostle Paul’s missionary journeys.
Using a large appliance box, let the students decorate the box like a ship,
complete with emblems and cloth sails. Each student can be given a stop on the
journey to be in charge of. As you “sail” your ship through the building (Fred
Flintstone style with your feet), the student in charge of the stop will tell
us why we are there, who we will be visiting, what church Paul established
there, and other interesting points about the location and its people. Create
“storms” along the way with flashing lights and sounds of thunder. For older
students, you can include a jail at Rome and make the explanation of Paul’s
imprisonment part of the journey.
While at each of Paul’s stops, give the students a printed
maze or puzzle to work that depicts elements true to Paul’s experiences at that
location. When you stop at Ephesus, a church “elder” might be reading a letter
from Paul while he is in the Roman jail. The students can act out the reactions
of parishioners, or conduct a question and answer period. Ask them to quote
verses, give the names of Bible characters they remember from that location, or
be the first to tell us where the next stop on the journey will be. Just be
sure to make it back to your classroom by snack time since eating in a boat
will make some students sea-sick!
Mature students may not find the pretend boat such a thrill.
Send them on a scavenger hunt with clues that match each of the locations along
Paul’s journey. In each room designated as a part of Asia, “plant” items or
written clues to the next part of the journey. The first one or group to
successfully complete the journey in the correct order by following the clues
gets to serve the snacks, or be served first. Whatever floats their boat! If
you don’t want to risk turning them loose in the building, create the same
journey clues in a board game format. Give each team the same board (map of
Asia) and clues. See who can figure it out first.