Here are some ideas that you could do with your children at home, that link the children’s everyday experiences to the Bible. As you play or create, you can talk about what happened in the story of the prodigal son.

You could watch this video of the story:

TEACHING POINT

Jesus forgives!

PROGRAMME

Let’s Pretend

Design an invitation to a ‘welcome home feast’. What would you wear? Eat? Drink? How would you decorate the place? Maybe through a ‘welcome home feast’ at home and enjoy having a party at home… just because you are loved…

Board game - Prodigal Son

Source

Make your own board game on a large piece of construction paper. Glue the son on one end of the paper and a father character with arms outstretched at the other end.
Use or draw dots on a curvy path going from one character to the other across the paper.
Draw pictures on the board that go along with the story such as the brother, a pile of money, people having a party, pigs in mud, etc.
Use dice for the children to roll to take turns going across the board.
Use playing pieces to move (such as bingo markers or even mini pigs!)

Craft

In the story of the prodigal son, Jesus is telling us that no matter what we do or say, God will always love us and welcome us back. You could make this as a reminder that He loves you always!

MESSAGE AND PRAYER

As toddlers/preschoolers/reception- wash the muddy animals (you can use cocoa or hot choc and water to make a paste to make your animals dirty).

School children can help you wash the real dishes!!

Talk about how the son felt when he was cleaning the dirty pigs, how lonely he felt, how silly he felt, how sad and dirty he felt.

Then talk about how when he went back to his Father, his Father welcomed him, ran to him and gave him a huge party and the best clothes. Sometimes we can feel that we have done something so wrong that we can’t tell anyone but God will always love us no matter what we have done and He will always listen and help us to make the right choices.

Thank you Jesus that you are good and you told us this story to remind us that we are so loved, no matter what we say or do. Help us to make good choices this week and help us to love others like you love us. UNCONDITIONALLY!! (showing someone love, no matter what you feel or think about them because giving them the best is what Jesus would do).

Pray for your week together!