Christian Character Lesson Plans Lesson #14 Cooperation Ages 6-12 Preview Cooperation, essential in the Christian life, must be limited to the right people and goals. Young people in the 6-to-12-year-old range learn about Christian cooperation with the final chapter of Mystery at Lake Cachuma. Optional Stand Up and Lap Sit Games help children understand the importance of cooperation. Suggestion: Read through the lesson and prepare well before class time. What you will need: 1 or more copies of Mystery at Lake Cachuma 1 copy of the picture on page 3 What you will do: 1. Before lesson time, gather all materials needed for the lesson. 2. Say: Today, we come to the end of our book, Mystery at Lake Cachuma. Charlie and Hailey found a picture of a blue heron on a tree trunk. They ran to the store to get a shovel. Will they find treasure? 3. Read, or have a good reader read Chapter Thirteen Final Dilemma 4. Close the book. 5. Say: Hailey and Charlie exercised several character traits in this chapter. 6. Ask: Can you name some of the character traits the twins exercised? 7. Say: (after several answers have been given) We re going to talk about just one of those traits cooperation. 8. Hold up the picture you printed from page 3, 9. Say: You exercise cooperation when you and someone else work together to reach a goal that will help you both. 10. Ask: What goal did Charlie and Hailey want to reach?
11. Say: They wanted to get the treasure. Both of them wanted it, and both would be helped by it. 12. Ask: How did the twins cooperate to get the treasure? How did they work together? 13. Ask: Was it all right for the twins to pretend they were going to dig for fishing worms? (No!) 14. Ask: Did the twins dishonesty hurt anyone? Is it all right to lie if it doesn t hurt anyone? (No!) 15. Hold up the cooperation picture from page 3 again. 16. Say: You must be careful about cooperation. You should not cooperate with everyone. Whenever someone wants you to work together to reach a goal, you should stop and think first. Think about 2 things: Think first about whether it is safe for you to work with that person. If you know the person, and know it is safe to be with that person, it may be all right to cooperate. Think second about whether the goal that person wants to reach is a good goal. If the goal is good, you may want to exercise cooperation. 17. Say: Charlie and Hailey exercised cooperation toward each other, and found the treasure. Then they exercised cooperation to get the gold back to the yurt. They exercised cooperation to open the box. They exercised cooperation again when they decided to give the gold to Cleaver. 18. Say: Cooperation is an important character trait. Just be sure when you exercise cooperation that you cooperate with the right people and for the right goals. Optional Games The point of each game is to see how cooperation helps you reach the goal. Stand Up Players sit on the floor in pairs, back to back with legs stretched out in front of them. At your signal, they must try to stand up. They must keep their backs together, and cannot use hands or arms. First pair to stand wins. Lap Sit Everyone stands in a circle, each one facing the back of the person to the left. At your signal, everyone tries to sit on the lap of the person behind. They must keep the circle shape and may not sit on the floor.
FOR CHRISTIAN TEACHERS and WORKERS Joshua and His Army Exercise Cooperation Before a class for younger ages, print copies of the coloring picture on page 5. After your cooperation games are finished: 1. Say: When we exercise cooperation, we all work together to get something done. 2. Say: The Bible tells us about thousands of men who exercised cooperation. First, they cooperated in being quieter than mice. Then they cooperated in giving an enormous, earth-shaking shout! 3. Say: See if you can be quieter than mice as you listen to what they did. 4. Tell the story of Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. You will find the account in Joshua 6. 5. Say: Can you imagine how the army of Israel felt as Joshua talked to them? He said they would make the walls of Jericho fall apart and tumble to the ground. They d do it without even touching the walls! But they d have to cooperate to do it. They couldn t just all do whatever they wanted. 6. Say: They d march silently around the city. Many of the men with weapons would go first. Then would come seven men blowing horns. Behind them would come men carrying the shining golden ark. Then would come more men with weapons. And nobody would say a word! Even if people up on the wall shouted at them, they wouldn t answer. They would just keep marching. 7. Say: Think how strange it was! All week every day thousands of men paraded around the city without speaking and went back to their tents. It made the people in Jericho nervous. They wondered what was going to happen! 8. Say: Joshua was cooperating with God to conquer Jericho. The men in Israel s army were cooperating with Joshua to conquer Jericho. 9. Ask: What did they do on the seventh day of the week? 10. Say: Yes, they marched around the city 7 times instead of 1 time. That must have worried the people inside the walls. They had gotten used to those men going around their city once every day. They probably thought they would go back to their tents as they had before. But they didn t. They cooperated in marching around the city 7 times. Then they shouted! They cooperated in 1 gigantic, loud shout and the city s strong walls crashed to the ground. 11. Say: If Joshua had shouted by himself, the walls wouldn t have tumbled. If seven men had shouted with Joshua, nothing would have happened. They had to cooperate to make the walls crash. 12. Say: When we exercise cooperation, we can make things happen that we can t make happen alone. 13. Say: The most important cooperation is when you work together with God to do what He wants. 14. Close with prayer that each one will learn to exercise proper cooperation. 15. (For younger ages - Distribute coloring pictures as take-home reminders.)