Clean Water for All God’s Children
Objective:
Psalm 34:8 says: ‘O taste and see that the LORD is good!’ This activity is designed to
demonstrate to students that, although all of our senses tell us of the goodness of the
Lord
, we
cannot always rely on our sight or our taste buds to determine whether
water
is good!
Materials:
permanent marker; 3 clear plastic cups, 12 oz.; clear plastic communion cups, enough for each
child to have 2; salt; finely ground Oreo (or other chocolate) cookie
Teacher Instructions:
Prepare the three large plastic cups as follows:
1.
fill with water, then add 1 tsp. table salt; stir until dissolved
2.
fill with water, then add 1 Tbsp. finely ground Oreo
3.
fill with water from the toilet!
Explain to the children that some water
looks
fine to drink, but may not be; some water
looks
bad,
but may be OK; some water tastes bad, but will not hurt us; some water looks OK and tastes OK,
but can be very bad. Tell the children you are going to do a little taste test, and you promise that
you will not ask them to drink anything that might hurt them.
As a demonstration of this, pour one small (communion) cup of the salty water for each child.
Pass them out, tell them not to drink until you give the signal. Drink together.
Did it taste OK? (no!)
Did it look OK? (yes)
So, we cannot know
for sure
just because water
looks
OK, right?
Next, pour one small cup of the cookie water for each child. Drink together.
Did it taste OK? (yes!)
Did it look OK? (no!)
So, we cannot know
for sure
just because water
looks
bad, right?
Now, hold up a glass of water from the toilet.
Does it look OK? (yes)
Does it smell OK? (you may pass it around) (yes)
Then tell the children that you are NOT going to ask them to drink this water, because it
came from the
toilet
, and there are
germs
in it!
BUT, does it
look
OK? (yes)
Does it smell OK? (yes)
So, is it OK to drink? (no!)
So, you see, we cannot know
for sure
by looking or by smelling, or even by tasting!
Then explain that many, many children in the world have to drink dirty (contaminated) water.
The water may look OK, it may even smell and taste OK, but it is full of GERMS! This is the
reason that the church is trying to help those children to have CLEAN water to drink, just like we
do in our homes and our schools.
Rev. 1/06
Day 2: Mission
O Taste and See!