Clean Water for All God’s Children
General Instructions: Mission Activity Leader
Note: because of the rotation of classes, one or two of the groups who come to your activity will
not yet have heard the day’s Bible story. In some cases, you will be telling the story here, as well.
In any case, just be aware of which groups have heard it and which have not, so that you can
make the best use of your time with them.
Special Note, Day 1:
On day 3 of this Bible School curriculum, students will be learning about washing hands.
One of the convincing demonstrations of the fact that our hands carry germs is an
exercise using a culture medium into which children put their own fingerprints, then see
what ‘grows out’ in a few days time. In order for that activity to be effective, it is
necessary that you do the ‘planting’ of the germs on the first day of Bible School. So,
before beginning the Day 1 mission activity, have the students do the following:
Materials Needed:
one disposable blood agar culture plate for each student (your local hospital’s Clinical
Laboratory will probably supply these free; if not, they can be ordered online from
www.carolinabiological.com
for about $1.50 each); two sterile eye-droppers or syringes;
permanent marker. (Note: to save expense, several students can share one plate, using
only a thumb or index finger)
Teacher Instructions:
Have each student press fingertips lightly into the agar. Write student’s name on the ‘lid’
of the plate with marker. Put aside (agar side up!) in an area maintained at about 85+
degrees F. (a closed cardboard box with a 25 watt light bulb will create this). Also put a
few drops of water from an unclean source (e.g., toilet, puddle) and a few drops of bottled
water on two additional agar plates (use a separate, sterile eye-dropper or syringe for each
of these). On the third day, you will bring these agar plates back so that students can see
that their hands are full of ‘germs’. Then you will show them the growth on the plate of
the dirty water (yuk!) and (hopefully) the ‘no growth’ on the bottled water plate! Note:
Take great care with this – do NOT let students play with this material after bacterial
growth begins! Store the agar plates in a safe place.
Rev. 1/06
Your task is to provide a activities for the students that reinforce the day’s Bible story and
focus. On several of the days, there are two or more activities from which to choose. You may
decide to do one with older children, one with younger ones; or you may have time to do more
than one.
Be sure to have all materials ready before students arrive. Remember, you have only a few
minutes to ‘reset’ between groups of students, so be sure you can do so efficiently!
Your focus each day is:
Day 1: Imagining clean water
Day 2: Getting the facts about water
Day 3: Water for cleansing; clean hands
Day 4: Remembering your baptism
Day 5: “Good News” paper cups