Object Lesson | Have It On The Inside!

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: A camera or phone camera

Preparation: None

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: We need to internalize God’s word!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the camera.  Ask them if they know what it is.  Then ask them what the use of a camera is.  Now tell them you are going to take a picture.  The first time explain to them you click the button, there is a flash and the picture is captured so you can look at it later.  Then goo around the room and just point it at people but don’t click the button.  Now look in the camera and wonder out loud that none of the pictures you took are stored in there.  The kids will probably say you didn’t push the button to make them save.

Explanation:  Explain that a camera is a great thing to recall information and moments in time, but if we don’t actual push the button and let the image store on the inside, then we make the camera obsolete and useless.  Sadly that’s what a lot of us do with the Bible and God’s word.  We carry it around with us, but never internalize it.  If we don’t let it be stored on the inside then when we need it it won’t be there!  We need to hide God’s word in our heart!

Object Lesson | Who Do You Affect?

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Glass of water, food coloring

Preparation: Fill a glass with water

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: We affect more people than we realize.

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the glass of water.  Explain that this glass of water represents all the people you know and come in contact with.  Friends, family, neighbors, people at school, etc.  All those people you affect in some way.  Drop one small drop of food coloring in the glass.  You see boys and girls, all of us have an affect on the others around us in some way.

Explanation:  Now when we decide to go like Jesus did, we can impact people in a great way!  Drop a bunch more food coloring in and shake a little.  When we allow God to use us, and we start sharing the love that God has, we can make a huge impact in the people around us.  If everyone trusts God to use them, and we all affect the people around us, we can change the world for God.  We don’t have to do it alone!  It starts with those around us.

Object Lesson | Blind Catch

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: A soft lightweight ball, blindfold

Preparation: None

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: Vision is important!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the ball.  Ask the kids who thinks they can catch the ball.  Choose a volunteer (one that won’t be easily embarrassed) and have them come up to the front.  Throw the ball a few times back and forth and show that they can catch the ball.  Now reveal the blindfold and blindfold the volunteer.  At this point start talking about how vision is important.  We use our eyes for just about everything we do.  Vision is really important!  As you talk about this stuff throw the ball toward the volunteer.  It is very unlikely they will catch the ball, especially if you surprise them with it.

Explanation:  You see boys and girls, our physical vision is really important, but more than that we need vision for our lives!  God helps gives us vision on where we need to go and what we need to do.  It is like having a plan or direction for our life.  Just like this volunteer kept dropping the ball when they were blindfolded, we can drop the ball in our life when we don’t open our eyes to what God has for us!

Object Lesson | Puzzles

Source (Where I saw it): Original (This went along with the story of David and Goliath)

Supplies: Puzzle

Preparation: I used this as a challenge to kids and parents in a service, and actually passed out puzzles to each family.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: Don’t let fear stop what God wants to do in you!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the kids the puzzle.  Ask a few people how they attack a puzzle.  Is it from the corners in, or maybe somewhere in the middle, or something else?  Everyone has a certain way they attack a puzzle.  Surprisingly no one said they try and conquer a puzzle by hiding under the table.  Would anything get done that way?

Explanation:  Of course not!  In our lives their will always be puzzles, there will always be problems and issues that come our way, and we can’t let fear stop us from moving forward.  We need to be able to trust God and cast away any fear about any situation.  Whether it is a test that is coming up, or the dark, or losing a job, or where the next rent payment is coming from, when we dwell on our fears we are frozen.  Much like the Israelites where frozen in fear when faced with the puzzle of Goliath.  David said no way!  With God on my side no puzzle will stop me from accomplishing what God has for me!  In fact David had told King Saul that God had delivered him from a bear and lion already so Goliath isn’t anything.  As we grow and trust God it’s like starting out with an easy puzzle and working our way up.  The more we trust God the more we push the puzzles of life out of the way.  As we pray, I want one representative of each family to raise their hand.  As you raise your hand a leader is going to come and hand you a puzzle and a sheet with a family devotion on it.  This week, I challenge you to sit down with your family with no electronics on, and work on this puzzle together.  While you work on the puzzle talk about the fears each person has and talk about how God can help with that, then pray with each other!

Object Lesson | Fear Pushes God Out

Source (Where I saw it): Original (This went along with the story of David and Goliath)

Supplies: Glass of water, sand, bowl/pan/something to catch water

Preparation: Fill a glass with water and place it in a pan or something to catch the water that will fall out

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: Don’t let fear stop what God wants to do in you!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the kids the glass of water.  Explain that God wants all of us, and when we give ourselves to Him we are able to see all the great things He has planned for us.  Sometimes though either life, or sometimes even the plan God has for us can be scary.  David must have been a little scared when he fought Goliath!  But just like David we can’t let fear stop us from allowing God have all of us.  Then pour some of the sand in the glass.  

Explanation:  At this point some of the water will be pushed up and out of the glass.  When we let fear stop us and fill us we are missing out on what God wanted for us.  The Israelites where satisfied just living in fear of Goliath and were missing out on what God had for them.  David refused to let fear push out what God had for his life!  In our life, whatever our fear is, we can’t allow that to fill our life.  We need to trust that God is bigger than our fears, and has a plan that is greater for our lives.

Object Lesson | Virus

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Box of tissues

Preparation: None.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: Forgiveness means letting go!

Illustration: Come to the front and ask the boys and girls how many of them enjoy being sick. Now we aren’t talking about a little sick, but throwing up, coughing, sneezing, nose constantly running, headache, can’t get out of bed sick. Of course not! When we even start to get sick, we take medicine and vitamins and anything else to make it go away. So lets pretend that these tissues are the beginnings of a cold. Pass out a few of the tissues, or even give one to everyone. Now each of you have a choice. You could hang oonto that cold. You could still eat really bad, take extremely cold showers, not take your medicine or vitamins, and basically feed the cold so you get sicker and sicker. Or you could do the opposite, take care of yourself, and get better so you can go and play outside with friends. Who wants to throw away the sickness? Go ahead throw it!

Explanation: In the same way unforgiveness can be a cold. When someone hurts us, or does something wrong against us it is like a virus. If we dwell on it, and don’t forgive the person, it could end up making us very sick on the inside. It would be like not taking medicine when sick. When we hold in anger, it ends up hurting ourselves more than anything else. But when we forgive, it is like throwing away that tissue! When we decide to forgive we not only show God’s love to others, but we don’t allow someone else’s mistake destroy our joy! Forgiveness means letting it go and not looking back to it!

Object Lesson | Peanut vs Rock

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: A peanut and a rock.

Preparation: None.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: An attitude from God is like a rock!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the rock and the peanut. Explain that both of these things are hard, at least from the outside. What happens though when pressure is added to the two items? Like what if I step on them? At this point, step on the peanut and the rock. Now show both to the boys and girls. The peanut was crushed under the pressure of my foot, but the rock wasn’t.

Explanation: It is the same way with our attitudes. When we allow God to influence us and give us joy and peace, that will fuel our attitudes. Even when bad things come it won’t crush us. It is like the rock. On the other hand, if we have a bad attitude or an insincere attitude it is like the peanut. It may seem good at times, but when pressure from life happens it can leave us crushed and destroyed. So be like a rock! Ask God to give you the strength, peace, and joy that fuels a good attitude!

Object Lesson | Attitudes Are Contagious

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: A sticky hand or other toy like that.

Preparation: None.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: Attitudes Are Contagious!

Illustration: Come to the front and sneeze using the sticky hand as fake “snot.” Act like you are sick a little bit and fake sneeze a few times. This will gross out the kids. Then calm everyone down and ask how many of you have ever been sick before? We all catch a cold sometimes. Now how many of you have had a brother or sister give you a cold? Colds are contagious we can pass them along to other people.

Explanation: It is the same way with our attitudes. Attitudes are very contagious, both good and bad. That is why it is so important to have a positive attitude. When we have a positive attitude we can spread that to those around us. It is also a way of showing the people around us that we are different thanks to having God be a part of our life. We can have a positive attitude even in hard times by trusting and looking to God!

Object Lesson | Paper Marks

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: A marker and clean sheet of paper.

Preparation: None.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: We need to tell the truth!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the clean sheet of paper. Tell them to imagine that this is what other people see when they look at us. Our actions and words shape what other people see. We want what other people see to be clean like this piece of paper. Even more than being clean! We want people to see Jesus! When we lie, or cheat its like marking up this piece of paper. All of a sudden, this paper isn’t clean. If you wanted to draw a picture, you probably wouldn’t grab this sheet of paper anymore.

Explanation: It is the same way with us. When we lie, and cheat with our words and actions, we are kind of marking ourselves like this sheet. People will not be able to trust us, and we are not being a very good witness to our relationship with God either. Once we break trust with someone it is really hard to gain that trust back. Just like it would be really hard to remove this mark from the paper. That’s why we need to do our best to tell the truth and do what is right the first time! When we do mess up, we need to ask for forgiveness from God and the person.

Object Lesson | Pepper Looking Like Salt

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Pepper and a shaker that is not see through, but very distinguishable as a salt shaker.

Preparation: Fill the salt shaker with pepper.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: Our inside should match our outside!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the shaker. Who knows what this is? That’s right it is a salt shaker. You can use salt for a lot of things. It makes food taste better, you can use it preserve food, and there are many other uses for salt as well. Now if I am looking to use salt and then I pour this out (pour some out) I would expect salt to come out. Now is this salt? No! It’s pepper! But on the outside this looks like a salt shaker. The inside does not match the outside.

Explanation: We are the same way. When the pepper came out of the shaker there is no confusing what it is. Even though the shaker would want us to think it was salt, it was definitely pepper. Sometimes we tell people that we love God, and we may even come to church, listen, and participate in worship, but if we then during the week do all the things opposite of what God would want for lives then the truth is coming out. We may say we are salt, but pepper is coming out. We can’t worship God on Sunday, and then cuss at people on Monday. We can’t say God I love you on Wednesday night, and then constantly disobey our parents with no regret. Our inside and outside need to match! And when we do mess up, we apologize and do our best to be better! We worship God through our consistent actions and words!

Object Lesson | Running With Scissors

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Scissors.

Preparation: None.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: We should obey God!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the scissors. Ask how many of them have ever used scissors before? Who knows what our parents, teachers, pastors, and just about every adult always tell us about scissors? What are we not supposed to do with them? That’s right, we are not supposed to run with scissors. Why is that though? I mean what if your mom really needs some scissors in a hurry, so run to the drawer they are in and then you run to give them to her. Doesn’t that make it ok? Why shouldn’t we run with scissors? You can then take some answers, and then explain that we don’t run with scissors because it can seriously hurt us. Even though it may seem like a faster and easier choice sometimes, ultimately running with scissors is a seriously bad idea!

Explanation: It is the same with our choices in a lot of our life. Sometimes some choices may seem like a good idea and maybe even fun it may end up hurting us in the long run. That’s why we should always check with God. When we look for God’s plan for our life through reading the Bible, and praying, we can find the absolute best choices for our life!

Object Lesson | Napkins

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Napkins, something dirty to wipe.

Preparation: None.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: Jesus took our punishment!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the napkins. Ask if anyone has ever used one of these. Hopefully you have! Napkins help you stay clean right? Now I know some of you use your sleeve, or hand, or your siblings shirt, but we are supposed to use a napkin. The napkin can wipe away the dirt or food that is making us a mess and make us clean. The napkin takes all that mess and puts it on itself.

Explanation: Our saving relationship with Jesus is very much the same. Jesus took our dirt and mess which is sin and wiped us clean. The Bible tells us that Jesus took all the bad things we have done a wiped them away when He died on the cross and rose again. The great thing is that all we have to do is to ask Jesus to forgive us and we can have a relationship with God! Jesus helped make us clean so we could stand before God!

Object Lesson | Battery Powered

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Batteries, various things that need batteries.

Preparation: None.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: God is powerful!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the different objects and ask them if they use any of them. Ask the kids if they know how any of them work. For example, a cell phone is a very useful tool. It can do a whole bunch of stuff. A cell phone is actually pretty incredible, you can talk to people that are thousands of miles away. Now what if the phone didn’t have a battery? What if I took out the battery of all these items, would any of them work? No! They would lose their ability to function at their highest level, and sometimes they wouldn’t work at all!

Explanation: It is the same with people. God is our source of power just like a battery is the source for this stuff. We can accomplish some amazing things, just like Moses in our Bible story, if we count on God as our source. God should be the center of our lives and our source of power!

Object Lesson | Balloon Won't Pop!

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Balloon, pin, vaseline.

Preparation: Blow up the balloon and on the top part rub a small amount of vaseline (What this does is when you put the pin in the balloon it creates a seal and won’t pop or deflate).

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: God is powerful!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the balloon and the pin. Ask them what would happen if I poked this balloon with the pin. It will pop that’s correct. Now it would be basically impossible for the balloon to survive the pointiness of this pin. (Now push the pin into the balloon where the vaseline is, don’t get too close to the kids with this one just in case they can pick up on the vaseline.) The balloon didn’t pop!

Explanation: What seemed impossible happened. In our lives we may come across situations where we think its impossible. Maybe the situation is something like someone we care about gets sick, or we can’t figure out something in school, or we are having a hard time making friends and feel alone. There are a lot of other situations that can feel impossible to end, but we can turn to God. God is more powerful than anyone or anything and can make the impossible happen. God can help us with our situations and wants to help. He can and wants to help us, all we have to do is go to Him and pray!

Object Lesson | Sand Mix

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Different color craft sand and a see through (glass or clear plastic) bowl.

Preparation: None.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: God is always with us.

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the sand. Ask them how many have ever made anything with these different color sands before. You can make all sorts of different things with the craft sand. Now once you mix the different colors can you separate them and start over (At this point actually mix the two colors into the bowl)? No! It would be almost impossible to fully separate the sand.

Explanation: It is the same way with us and God. Once we give our hearts to God, there is no separating us from Him. God will never leave us, and will always be there to help us. God sticks with us no matter what. It is why we don’t need to be afraid and can always know we can count on God even if other people let us down.

Object Lesson | Basketball Air

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: A Basketball.

Preparation: None.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: God helps us even when we don’t realize it.

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls the basketball. Ask them if anyone has ever played basketball. Then try to do some cool moves with the ball to get the kids laughing. Ask the kids if they can describe the ball and what it takes to make something like this. At this point take a few answers of boys and girls that are raising their hands. If someone says “air” then move on to the explanation. If not just tell them they missed something important! The air inside.

Explanation: Many people may overlook the air inside the basketball, but without the ball wouldn’t work. It can be the same way with us. There are many times that we overlook our need for God and how God is always there with us. God wants to have a relationship with us and is there to help us in many ways we don’t even realize. We need to really think about all the different ways God helps us so we can thank Him at the end of each day. Things like remembering the answers for a test you studied for, or someone saying something to encourage just at the right time, could be God helping you when you don’t even realize it!

Object Lesson | Give It Away!

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: A bunch of candy.

Preparation: None.
The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: We need to give what we have!

Illustration: Come to the front and show the boys and girls all the candy you have. Ask them who likes candy. Explain that with all the candy that you have there is no way you could eat it all. You would get sick! So instead of getting sick you thought it would be good to share it with others.

Explanation: In the same way we need to share what God has done for us with other people. God’s love and salvation is way to big for just one person. God wants everyone to experience His love! It would be selfish of us not to share it with all those around us. That’s how we become a witness, by sharing what God has done for us with others!

Object Lesson | Accepting Money

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Some coins, a few dollars

Preparation: None.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: God loves, accepts, and wants all of us.

Illustration: Ask the kids if they have ever paid for something at the store. Now ask them how do people pay at the store for their items, like what kind of things do they use. That’s right, some people pay with cash, some people pay with a check or a bank card. There are all sorts of ways to pay. Now lets say that I decide to pay with cash. Does it matter if I use pennies, nickels, quarters, dollars, etc? Of course not, because money is money. It may be different, and have different characteristics, but it is all worth something.

Explanation: You see boys and girls, it is the same with us! God values and loves each of us. We all may have different characteristics, talents, and we may act differently, but God loves us all just the same! God sent His son, Jesus to save all of us!

Object Lesson | Candy Bucket

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Bucket of candy

Preparation: Have a bucket of various candies ready. The more diversity the better.
The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: God loves, accepts, and wants all of us.

Illustration: Show the group the bucket of candy. Start pulling out different pieces of candy and asking if someone would want it. Then pull out a different kind, describe it and then ask if anyone wanted it. Do this a few times, and you can even hand out a few pieces to those that are well behaved.

Explanation: You see boys and girls, every single one of you were trying to get a piece of candy. It didn’t really matter which one, you were constantly raising your hand for one because you know that candy tastes really good. God is the same way with us. Even though on the outside we are all different we have one thing in common with every single person on the planet. No matter if a person is young, old, rich, poor, healthy, sick, tall, short, or anything else we were all created by God. We are all also loved by God. Because of that fact and that connection we should be nice to everyone, and by being nice and doing the right thing we can show others that God loves them!

Object Lesson | Dodgeball Team

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Dodgeball

Preparation: None

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: God choses anyone!

Illustration: Ask the kids if they have ever played dodgeball. How many of you normally get picked first for dodgeball? Why is that? And how many of you get picked last for dodgeball? It isn’t fun getting picked last for something is it? How does it make you feel? Sometimes getting picked last can make you feel like you are worthless or even not good at other things too.

Explanation: You see boys and girls, God looks at us differently. There were a lot of people in the Bible who would have got picked last by other people. David, Gideon, Moses, Peter and tons more all had issues that would have gotten them made fun of or picked last by other people. God sees us differently though! God took all of those people and because they offered themselves to God, He did great things through them! All we have to do is surrender ourselves to God and follow His plan! God chooses anyone!

Object Lesson | Never Ending Water Jug

Source (Where I saw it): Original

Supplies: Never ending water jug magic trick (It's actually called a Lota Bowl), cups... a lot of cups.

Preparation: Set up the trick.

The object lesson & how I used it...

Main Point: God will meet our needs

Illustration: Show the kids the water jug and explain to them that ever container can hold a certain amount of water. Normally when you pour out a container and it is empty, you would have to refill it. But this is a special container, it can do the impossible. Start pouring out the water into cups.

Explanation: Keep randomly pouring out more water as you explain the point. The point is that God will always be there to meet our needs. We just need to trust that he will always be there for us and that He can do the impossible. The Bible tells us that if we had faith as tiny as a mustard seed we could move mountains! When other people think there is no hope we should know that God can do anything and has a plan. God will meet our needs and take care of us!


*Normally I try to keep as many object lessons as possible to be as cheap as possibly, but this is one amazing trick.  It is a magic trick that can be used a lot of different ways.  If you want to check one out, hear is a Morrissey Lota Bowl - 6" Standard from amazon.

Big Change

Over the past few years I have worked on becomeahero.org and have loved it.  As I tried to decide what it would become the site was becoming more and more fragmented.  As I looked at the site, I wanted to focus more on one thing and something I can keep up with.  With that in mind, I have transitioned becomeahero.org into Object Lesson Central.


Object lessons were always the backbone of becomeahero.org. So in order to become more focused on the strength of becomeahero.org I have created this site.  Object lessons were always the main thing, and wanted to focus on that kind of lesson help, whether you are in children's, youth, or adult ministry. I will still have a few other posts once in a while about great children's ministry tools, and deals that I come across, but the main focus will be object lessons. Check everything out as I update and move the older lessons to this new platform.