The Golden Rule

January 3rd 2015 Primary Sabbath school lesson is about the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you from Matthew 7:12. I deviated from the activity and craft of the Sabbath school lesson and focused on the key point they emphasized in the story lesson. They focused on the first part of Matthew chapter 7 with the do not judge, the speck in your brothers eye while you have a plank in your own eye and then it goes on to verse 12 about the golden rule. I decided it would be more effective to have the children make mask like the bandanna mask that ninja turtles wear with the eye holes cutout. I cut 9x12 inch paper into 2inch strips; according to the child’s head size they should be able to glue two strips together to make the circular shape. I then used my 1 inch circle punch to cutout the eye holes. I have small pieces of paper that I will tape over the eye holes. I will have the kids look into a mirror to remove the pieces of paper from over their eyes. The point I want to get across is that you can’t see clearly the speck in your brother’s eye when your eye is blocked with a plank (the pieces of paper). The mirror will represent them looking and reflecting on the deeds they do in their lives and how they can improve (listening to mom/dad, not hitting little siblings, not lying, etc.). Hopefully once they have reflected on their deeds they can tell others of their downward paths or even share it as a testimony of how they overcame it.

 The memory verse for our lesson is taken from Matthew 7:12 and I decided to make a jigsaw puzzle. I will give each child a puzzle piece and have them work together to solve the puzzle. i made the puzzle with printer paper and chipboard paper for extra thickness. I have a die cutting machine but I decided to cut them by hand which was harder and not as neat looking. I found a jigsaw puzzle shape and printed that on a separate sheet of paper from the memory verse paper. Then I used double sided tape to adhere the memory verse to one side of the chipboard paper, and a small amount to adhere the puzzle shapes to the other side of the chipboard paper. I cut out the puzzle shapes with my Tim Holtz scissor and then removed that paper from the back of the chipboard paper and I was finished. Next time I may use Mod Podge or cardstock paper for the memory verse so that it will not get the wrinkles I see around the edges of each puzzle piece.