LearningCycles series The Miracles of Jesus Creative Activities for Teaching about Miraculous Gospel Stories

The LearningCycles series offers a creative approach to faith formation based on different learning styles, appropriate for K-5th graders.  Each LearningCycles unit generally includes seven workshops: Art, Story & Games, Drama & Activity, Music, Kitchen, Movie, and Publishing.  This series works well for whole family/intergenerational catechesis and is a great basis for grandparent camps or other vacation bible schools.

Many of the stories we know about Jesus are based on his miracles, but have we ever really thought about how it would feel to be touched by God? What does it say to us today that Jesus was willing to be with the sick, the needy, the broken – instead of the rich, the powerful, the elite? How does this affect us, and what can we learn from these ancient stories? Where can we find ourselves in these miraculous tales?

During this LearningCycle, children will explore several of Jesus’ miracles and talk about what the miracles mean for us today.

• Art Workshop – Create fish prints and focus on Jesus’ miracles of feeding the five-thousand with a few fish and loaves and the disciples' miraculous catch of a net full of fish.
• Publishing Workshop – Engage the stories of Jesus’ miracles through imaginative prayer and writing a prayer journal entry.
• Drama Workshop – Unscramble miracle stories and act out a miracle using costumes and working together in small groups.
• Movie Workshop – Watch a movie that features miracles from Jesus’ life and talk about the difference between miracles and magic tricks. (Supporting DVDs can be found for sale here.)
• Story Workshop – Hear stories and a poem about Jesus’ miracles and talk about the characters in the story, especially what it might have been like to be an eyewitness of Jesus’ miracles.
• Kitchen Workshop – With a focus on the feeding of the multitude, discuss how Jesus took care of the people who had come to hear him and explore how we might take care of others, too. Bake bread to be donated to a parish ministry.
• Music Workshop – Sing songs about the miracles of Jesus, complete with musical instruments.

Click to find additional resources for use with this unit.