Learning Centers

Learning Centers are a valuable instructional tool for both Bible School and Sunday School teachers. Centers can be used to encourage critical reading and research; they can spark enthusiasm for a subject and broaden student interest. Centers can be used to provide interesting activities for:

• the early arrivals,
• highly motivated students,
• fast workers,
• students who learn easily,
• disabled students.

Learning Centers should be self-instructional and should require a minimum of direct teacher supervision. Their value as an instructional tool may be further enhanced by these basic guidelines:

1. A poster, sign, name, or symbol should identify each center’s location and activity.
2. Instructions should guide students in each step of the activities in the centers. The instructions may be posted on a bulletin board, pre-recorded on a tape recorder, or printed on sheets of paper. They should be appropriate for the age and level of the students using the centers.
3. Materials needed to complete the activities in the centers should be easily accessible to the students.

Learning Centers can be placed:

• on a classroom table,
• on the floor, with a rug or pillows,
• on the top of a large box,
• in the hallway,
• in the church library,
• in any appropriate space and place.

Ideas for Learning Centers to be used in a Sunday School or Bible School could include some of the following activities:

1. Students must place information in the proper sequence.
2. Students must match definitions or descriptions with the proper information.
3. Students must research and then share their information.
4. Students must list information.
5. Students must follow directions for a creative activity.
6. Students use activities for Bible memory work.
7. Young children use pictures to tell stories.

STUDENTS MUST PLACE INFORMATION IN THE PROPER SEQUENCE

Younger students can place pictures in a sequence. Examples of these centers would be:

1. Directions: These pictures tell how some kind men carried their friend to Jesus. Place these pictures in the order in which they happened. Tell the story to someone.

The directions for this activity are written on the outside of an envelope. The pictures are kept in the envelope.

2. Directions: These pictures show events in the life of Jesus. Place the pictures in the proper order. Talk to your teacher about each picture or tell the story of each to a friend.

The pictures for this activity are mounted on heavy paper. Students place these pictures in a book made from construction paper which contains strips to hold each picture in place.

This center is called “The Flood.”

Directions:  These events are not in order. Ask a friend to help. Talk about what happened 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, etc. Then get a piece of paper and draw the events in order.

These are the events:

___Noah preached to the people.

___The people became very wicked.

___Noah sent a dove out of the ark.

___God made the rainbow as a sign of His promise.

___Noah and his family entered the ark.

___Noah built an altar.

The vocabulary of such a center would have to be adapted to the level of children using the center. This center may be mounted on cardboard and should include appropriate pictures.

STUDENTS MUST MATCH DEFINITIONS OR DESCRIPTIONS WITH THE PROPER INFORMATION

1. Directions:  Here are some important men from the book of Daniel. Match the names with the sentences that tell something about the person or persons. You may use your Bible.

The names of the persons listed include:

King Darius King Belshazzar

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Arioch

King Nebuchadnezzar Daniel

Soldiers Ashpenez

The sentences include:

His Chaldean name was Belteshazzar.

He commanded that Daniel be thrown into the lions’ den.

They refused to worship the golden statue.

He was King of Babylon and attacked Jerusalem with his armies.

While he was giving a great feast, a hand appeared and wrote on the wall.

Nebuchadnezzar asked him to choose Jewish youths who would become 

   counselors.

They were killed when they threw the three Jewish youths into the fiery furnace.

He was the king’s chief executioner.

2. Directions:  These names are all taken from the story “Feeding the 5000” (John 6:1-14). Match each name with the correct sentence or question.

The names of the persons listed include:

Jesus

Philip

The people

Andrew

Jesus

Jesus

The sentences include:

There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fishes?

But what good are these, with this crowd of people?

Now gather the scraps, so that nothing is wasted.

Tell everyone to sit down.

Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not enough for them.

Where shall we buy bread, so that the people may eat?

Surely this is the great Prophet we have been expecting.

3. This center is named “The Fiery Furnace or Daniel and the Lions.”

Directions:  The phrases listed here are from two stories found in the book of Daniel. One of the stories is from Daniel 3, “The Fiery Furnace.”  The other story is “Daniel and the Lions,” found in Daniel 6.

Divide a piece of paper into two parts. At the top of one part print “The Fiery furnace;” at the top of the other part print “Daniel and the Lions.”

Reach each phrase and decide in which story the phrase would be found. List the number of that phrase under the correct title.

You may use a Bible or a Bible storybook to help you. If you wish, you may work with a friend. Ask one of the teachers to discuss the finished paper with you.

If you wish you may choose phrases from two other stories in the book of Daniel. Ask a friend or a teacher to place phrases under the correct titles.

Phrases:

1. thrown to the lions 11. prayed three times a day
2. faithful and honest 12. signed the law
3. in a terrible rage 13. band striked up
4. beside himself with joy 14. everyone must fall down
5. seven times hotter 15. den of lions
6. four men walking 16. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego
7. knelt down as usual 17. thrown into a furnace
8. killed the soldiers 18. dedication of his statue
9. ninety feet high 19. thanks to his God
10. deliver you 20. open toward Jerusalem

STUDENTS MUST RESEARCH AND THEN SHARE THEIR INFORMATION

1. This center is named “Shepherds in the Field.”

Directions: Read the story about “Shepherds in the Field.” Then write ten true or false statements about the story. Ask a friend to print TRUE or FALSE for each sentence, and then discuss the paper with you.

This center is made on a file folder. The front of the folder has a picture of the shepherds and angels. Verses on the front are:

• And there were in the same country SHEPHERDS….
• the SHEPHERDS said one to another, let us go now even unto Bethlehem…

Inside the folder is the story, “Shepherds in the Field,” for the pupils to read. It may be taken from a used Bible activities workbook.

2. This center is named “The Lost Sheep.”

Directions:  On the opposite page are two pictures from the story. (This center is made on a file folder.)  Draw at least two things that happened between the two pictures. Draw one thing that happened after the last picture. Write a sentence for each of your pictures. You may read this story in Luke 15:1-7. Please share your pictures with a teacher.

The pictures may be cut from an Old Sunday School quarterly.

3. This center is named “It’s Harvest Time.”

Directions: Read these verses about the harvest in Matthew:

Matt. 12:33-36

Matt. 13:1-9

Matt. 13:24-30

Find at least three songs in your church hymnal that tell about God’s harvest time. Describe in writing how the pictures on this card compare with God’s harvest time.

This center is decorated with paper pumpkins and a corn shock.  The harvest picture is cut from a calendar.

4. This center has a picture of a city at the top. Places or buildings in the city are labeled:

church

bus station

library

hospital

museum

school

Directions:  List in writing at least ten answers to this question: “As a servant of God, what might you do to help meet needs in this community?”  Show your list to two adults in the congregation and ask them for some additional suggestions. Place your final list on a poster and share it with your classmates.

STUDENTS MUST LIST INFORMATION

1. This center is named “Being a Friend.”

Directions: Sue is special. She can do many things. She has many friends. Everyone likes her and wants to be her friend. You would really like to be her friend, too.

Read the story about Sue.

Read the book The Giving Tree to a friend.

Make a list of at least five things a friend like Sue would do.

A Friend loveth…Prov. 17:17

2. This center is named “She Sees with Her Ears.”

Direction: Tom, my best friend, is not able to see with his eyes. He “sees” by using his hands and his ears. Sometimes he helps me to see things that I had not noticed before. Sometimes, I tell him what I see so he can enjoy it, too. I am thankful for a friend like Tom.

Read the story and study the pictures.

Make a list of at least five ways Tom’s friendship is helping you.

List some ways your friendship is helping Tom.

Read the story in the Bible about David being kind to Mephibosheth. (II Samuel 9).

Illustrate the Bible story by drawing cartoons, or making a movie roll, or drawing slides, or painting a mural.

STUDENTS MUST FOLLOW DIRECTIONS FOR A CREATIVE ACTIVITY

1. This center is named “A Box Movie.”

Directions: Make a box movie to show the main parts of your story. You can be your own movie writer, artist, director, and producer with this project.

Just follow these directions:

Take a strong, uncovered, corrugated grocery carton, and lay it on its long side.

You will need two rollers (dowels or pieces of an old broomstick) at least 5 or 6 inches longer than the height of your box. Cut two holes at each end of the box, one at the top and another right below it in the bottom of the box. The holes must be big enough to let the rollers pass through easily.

Now take a roll of shelf paper and draw your story. Remember, a movie is a story shown in continuous pictures, so plan your drawings carefully and draw your pictures in sequence. Then tape the end of the drawing onto one of the rollers and wind it up carefully.

Use the tape recorder and make a story to listen to as you show the movie.

(The above directions are illustrated with helpful pictures.)

2. This center is named “Mothers are Special.”

Directions: Make a list of at least six reasons why your mother is special. Make a card for her. On the card write a poem telling her why she is special or draw pictures on the card to illustrate the list you made.

doilies

colored paper

magic markers

pictures

glue or paste

crayons

STUDENTS USE ACTIVITIES FOR BIBLE MEMORY WORK

1. The following verse is written on a large white piece of heavy cardboard:

B nbo uibu ibt gsjfoet nvtu tipx

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

iuntfmg gsjfoemz

______ ______ Proverbs 18:24a.

The cardboard is laminated, so that students can print the verse correctly on the cardboard with washable magic marker, after they have discovered the code.

2. Each word of a Bible verse is printed on a different piece of cardboard; each piece is shaped in a different way. Each piece has a small magnet glued on the back.

The pieces are placed in the correct order on a large piece of cardboard and traced around with a magic marker. Then each shape on the cardboard has a magnet glued in the center of it. Students match the shapes and place the verse in correct order.

3. Each word from John 10:11 is written on a different sheep.

Directions:  Build the verse – put the sheep in the pasture.

YOUNG CHILDREN USE PICTURES TO TELL STORIES

1. Have the student look at a picture mounted on a small card. Then ask the student to find that same object in one of the large pictures. Ask the student what the object is and how it was used in the story.

The pictures are mounted on heavy cardboard. Some objects from each picture are cut from a duplicate picture and mounted on a small card. Used quarterlies are good sources of duplicate pictures.

2. This center is made on a file folder. Inside the folder is a Bible picture cut from a coloring book. The front of the folder is cut into strips or flaps.

Have the child tell the story about the picture as one flap at a time is lifted.