Step 3: Joseph’s four keys

What do you need:
- four large envelopes, each with a picture of a key on them
- four sheets of paper with the following words:
1 - ‘giving’
2 - ‘don’t take revenge’
3 - ‘show love’
4 - ‘see God’

What do you do:

Tell the children:  "This ladybird is a bit like Joseph. Just like the ladybird, Joseph had a dream. He dreamt that everyone would bow down to him one day. His brothers were like the bee – to start with they ignored him and treated him very badly. It seemed that there was no chance that his dream would come true – was there?"

Joseph discovered four keys to life that really helped him not to become bitter, but to touch his brothers’ hearts. Keys that eventually turned the situation completely around, and resulted in his whole family being reunited.

Let’s look at the four keys:

Show the children the four envelopes – open them one by one and talk with the children about the ‘key’ inside:

‘Generous’ – Joseph has a generous attitude towards his brothers – he gives them clothes, money, wagons, fertile land in Egypt, food.
* - Question for the children: how hard or easy do you find it to be generous to others?

‘Don’t take revenge’ – Joseph could have made life very difficult for his brothers because of his position of power. But he doesn’t take revenge.
* - Question for the children: have you ever taken revenge on someone?

‘Show love’ – Joseph chooses to love his brothers, not hate them.
* - Question for the children: How do you show love in your life?

‘See God’ – Joseph chooses to see God’s hand in all that has happened to him, and to be thankful for what God has done.
* - Question for the children: How was Joseph able to see God’s hand in his life, even during the hard times?

What do you do:

Preparation:

Beforehand, record the voices of a few people in the church/children’s club on your mobile phone.

What do you do:

Invite the children to come to the front (if you’re in a church service).

Tell the children – today we’re going to hear in the Bible story that Joseph’s brothers see him after twenty years have passed, and do you know what? They don’t recognise him. He looks completely different, and speaks a different language.

I wonder how good you are at recognising people. I’ve recorded the voices of a few people from the church (or club) – see if you can recognise who it is. If not, you can always ask the adults to help!

Play the recordings one by one and ask the children whose voice it it.

Tell the children: Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it’s really hard to recognise someone when you can only hear their voice. In the Bible story today Joseph recognises his brothers straight away. But even Benjamin, his favourite brother, doesn’t recognise him. Strange, isn’t it?

Let’s listen to the story.

What do you need:

- a pack of cards
- pen and paper

What do you do:

Lay out the following combination of cards on the table.

Ask a child to choose one of the cards and write the name of the card on a piece of paper. Ask them then to turn over the paper so that no one (and especially you) can’t see which of the five cards they chose. Then remove all five cards from the table.

Tell the children about the story you’re going to tell, about the baker, the cupbearer and the Pharaoh who all watch their dreams but don’t see the meaning of them. God gives to Joseph the insight to understand the meaning of the dreams.

Is there a difference between looking and seeing?

Put the following four cards on the table.

Ask the child who chose a card at the start to turn over the paper on which they wrote which card it was. Lo and behold, their card has vanished!

It’s all about looking and seeing.

The baker, the cupbearer and the Pharaoh watch/look at their dreams in their sleep, but Joseph needs Gods help to see the true meaning.

With this experiment you also need to look very carefully.

Which of the original five cards are the same as these four cards that are now on the table?

They are all different! Not a single card is the same as the first five.
This is why the card that the child chose will always have disappeared.

But how come we don’t see this?

The cards look so similar to each other that we don’t remember properly which cards we have seen. We look, but don’t see properly.
With God’s help Joseph learns to see the meaning of the dreams.

You can repeat this ‘trick/experiment’ so that the children learn how to do it at home.

What do you do:

Tell the children that Jacob loves Joseph so much that he gives him a coloured cloak. Just as Jacob loves Joseph so many Christians love the Lord God.
Shall we make a cloak of love for God?

Each child can choose a strip of paper in their favourite colour. Ask them to write or draw something on the paper – something that they are happy about, or something that they want to thank God for.
They can stick their strips of paper onto the cloak as a symbol of their prayer. In this way the group can give God a cloak of love.

What do you need:

- a transparent plastic bag
- washing up liquid
- shampoo
- green food colouring or green washing up liquid
- water

What do you do:

Do:
Make yourself a bag of green slime:  (see the instructions at the end of the idea).

Show the children your bag of green slime. Tell them that in the eighties children played with something they called ‘smurf snot’- a soft green slimy gel in a bag.

Ask:
- Ask the children who knows the saying ‘Green with jealousy’?
- Why does the colour green stand for jealousy?

Tell:
Joseph’s brothers were green with jealousy to see how their father put Joseph first. Joseph, who told on them time and time again, who was given a beautiful coat, and has now told them all his dreams. Yes, they were pretty jealous!!!!!

Ask:
- Have you ever been jealous? Why?
- What did it feel like?
- What can you do if you are really feeling jealous about something?

Tell:
We’re going to make our own green slime today.

How to make slime:
- Pour a bit of green washing up liquid in the bag (or normal washing up liquid with a few drops of green colouring).
- Add a few spoons of water
- Now add a little shampoo or conditioner - you can add as much as you want
- Make sure the bag is closed properly, and squish it between your hands.