Lost and Found: The Parable of the Lost Sheep

This week I had an abundance of resources to sift through to prepare for the parable. My only trouble was to find what was best.

So...I looked, and I looked, and I looked, much like the shepherd searching for his little lost sheep. I ended up stumbling upon this batch of ideas, and I am so glad I did!

Story
The method of telling a parable with simple words and objects is ingenius. Preschoolers really benefit from 3-D visuals/manipulatives. This is sort of what I did for the parable of the net and the hidden treasure, so I guess I was onto something.

I already have most of the supplies. I found some plastic sheep at a local thrift store (which was a miracle), and put everything together. The story script is one I found from a British Anglican church (though I can't get for the life of me find how I got to it now, so the link is for a copy off the resource I had saved). I love this presentation.

Script for Parable of the Lost Sheep

But I need to back up. Before I told the parable from the box, I used this preparation object lesson:

Object Lesson

• Have 99 pennies in a large jar. Ask the children to guess how many there are. Tell the children you have 100, and then let them help to count them, say that one is missing. Ask them if it really matters that one is missing when you have so many? Then ask them to find it for you.

It took a bit of prep work time to count them all out, but it worked great. Little children love looking for little things, especially coins. :)

Coloring
After the story, I used this activity sheet , and this coloring page (which was a hit). I like how the coloring page captures the other sheep left safely and the joy of the reunion.

Craft

We did a cute craft that I think the children enjoyed. They are clothespin sheep. (I found the idea here.) The body is cardboard and the legs are two wooden clothespins painted black (or not) and they are wound with yarn. This is an excellent preschool fine/gross motor skill craft, and it is so cute! 

I was happy to find a ball of curly white/gray yarn at our dollar store, so my lesson overall was very inexpensive. 

Snack

For the snack we had shepherd's staffs. I just took the end of the bread sticks and turned them over so they weren't straight. Yummy and well-received. The recipe is from here and it was super easy.

Video Extra

Then we watched this short video clip. I liked it so much, I just couldn't resist showing it. It does have a bit of peril, but of course the happy ending, and it is true to the parable without being too lengthy.

I hope you can enjoy something from this post in the plethora of "lost sheep" findings out there!