For today’s lesson, we covered three questions (18-20) about the soul, including a fun painting craft!

Children's Catechism Questions 18-20:

Q & A. 18. What did God give Adam and Eve besides bodies? He gave them souls that could never die.

Q & A. 19. Have you a soul as well as a body? Yes; I have a soul that can never die.

Q & A. 20. How do you know that you have a soul? Because the Bible tells me so.

Scripture Verses to read with your kids:

• Genesis 2:7 - Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

• Ecclesiastes 12:7 - And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

• Matthew 10:28 - And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell

• Luke 23:42-43 - And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

This post is in a series of posts working through the Children's Catechism! For more information on how this started, be sure to read the beginning of this earlier post. My kids I'm working on this with are 7, 4, and 2.

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These questions may seem a little random if you jump in here, but they continue from where the previous questions have led us.

We’ve talked about how because of sin, Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden so their bodies wouldn’t last forever (Genesis 3:22: Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever”). This may sound sad at first to our kids (getting kicked out) but it was a gracious act of God.

It’s important for kids who have such a limited understanding of the world around them to understand that their bodies won’t last forever but their souls will. This is something that will help anchor a future conversation when they hear the term “spiritual life” or when someone they know dies.

Even when you feel like the conversations with your kids aren't everything you hope they will be, remember it's all the little moments that add up to their understanding later!

While we are teaching this, it is obviously abstract to kids, so for this lesson, instead of forcing a way to “craft” up our souls, we focused on the love of Jesus for both soul and body, since both were made by God.

As our kids grow, their views of themselves change. It’s our job to point our children to Jesus so that as they grow, they look for their identity in the fact that they are covenant children, redeemed by Jesus’s death and resurrection.

My kids are pretty sheltered. They are homeschooled pastor’s kids. And yet, because of sin in the world and in themselves, they are already struggling with anxieties and questioning their worth. This seems like a simple craft (and it is!) but it is such a good reminder to our kids that Jesus loves all of them! It's also a good reminder for us as moms to treat them as such too. 

As usual, to aid us in memorizing the answers to the Children's Catechism questions, we listened to some of our favorite albums (available with a free trial of the Amazon Unlimited Membership):

• From Family Devo: "Do You Have a Soul as Well as a Body?"

• From Ask me Whooo: "Q &A 19-21". (Note that this album uses the GCP version of questioning so the numbers are slightly different. If you'd like to see the comparisons between the 1840 version and the GCP version, just click here.)

While we did the craft, we also talked about one of my favorite verses - Romans 8:38-39. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

Now, on to our craft!

Jesus Loves Me Craft

Materials needed:

• Cardstock

• 2 Page Printable that you can get here

• Paint (I linked to what I used so that I could pick the colors I wanted but you could also use washable paints if you want easier clean-up)

• Painting tools (brushes or q-tips, whatever you have)

• Scissors (just for you, not for the kids)

• Glue

Steps:

1. Print both the pages of the Printable on cardstock (you'll need one set for each child).

2. Have your kids write their names (or if they are too little, you can write it for them) inside the heart, below where it says “Jesus loves”

3. Have your kids paint on the second page of the printable (the one with no words). Tell them that the shaded part will be covered, so they don’t need to paint there but they can outline it so that it looks nice when you glue on the heart. I picked up some paints that matched the colors in my house – so make sure you’re kids are wearing their “painting” clothes if they will be ruined with paint. Here is what our pictures looked like when the kids were done painting (you can see I have a rule follower and the opposite - as one completely painted in the spot that would be covered - but that still works!).

4. While they are painting, cut out the heart with the words. The shaded area on the painted page is a bit smaller than the cut out, so just try to cut it as close to the line as possible, but on the inside.

 5. Once the painting has dried, glue the heart onto the page. Ta da! The printable is an 8 x 10 so you could crop it a bit and frame it if you wanted to! You can see our finished projects here.

If you can't do this craft today, pin it to your Teaching the Bible or Homeschool board so you have it for later!

I hope you liked this craft! Let me know in the comments below!