Day 1 Virtue Demo: COURAGE
You’ll need:
- A table
- Sand (approx. 1 cup)
- A nail
- A very strong magnet
Do a test first to make sure your magnet is strong enough to pull the nail out of the sand.
Ask:
Who can tell me what the word “courage” means? (to be brave; to face fear, danger or difficulties with strength in the Lord)
Explain:
Courage is about being strong and brave, even when we are afraid. The important thing is not to let our fears control us.
St. John Paul II often said: “Be not afraid!”
It takes a lot of courage to live out our Catholic faith. God wants us to practice courage because He needs bold disciples living out the faith.
Demonstrate:
These nails represent you and I. Show nails.
Sometimes we allow ourselves to get wrapped up in our fears and then we aren’t free to be ourselves.
Let’s imagine the sand represents our fears.
What are things we might be afraid of?
For every fear that you mention, sprinkle a bit of sand over the nail until it’s covered. (Thunderstorms, the dark, heights, spiders, mice, flying in a plane, etc.)
See what happened to the nail? We can’t even see it anymore. That’s what happens when we allow ourselves to be controlled by our fears.
It takes a lot of courage to overcome our fears! The best way is to call out to God for help. God is our magnet and He wants us to stick close to Him. Show magnet.
When we feel caught up in our fears, we can call out to God and He will come and help us.
Pass the magnet over the covered nails and show the kids the nails on the magnet.
Explain:
Isn’t that cool? Whenever we’re afraid, we need to remember to stay close to God, who is bigger, stronger and more powerful than anything that might scare us.
The more we stick with God, the more courage and strength we will have to do what is right when faced with difficult situations.
How can you be courageous in your faith? Share with others about Jesus, stand up for what is right, say a quiet prayer before lunch at school, invite your friends to Mass, etc
Many saints put themselves in danger in order to remain faithful to God, especially our saint of the day, St. John the Baptist! He preached the Good News about Jesus, even though he got thrown into prison. He didn’t let any fears keep him from speaking the truth.
(Opt.) Share a personal story of a time when you (the leader) had to conquer your fears and be courageous.
Day 2 Virtue Demonstration: GRATITUDE
You’ll need:
- 3 soft, chewable candies
- 6 small rocks
- VBS Music
Ask:
Who can tell me what gratitude means?
An attitude of thankfulness, showing appreciation, being grateful for what you have, etc.
I’m going to need 3 volunteers.
Demonstrate:
Give each volunteer two small pebbles/rocks to put in each shoe. Give them each a candy to enjoy and tell them to walk around the room for a minute. Play music while the other kids cheer them on.
Explain:
In life, we can either focus on the negative things, like the rocks in our shoes, or we can be grateful for the many blessings we have. You got to listen to great music, have your friends around you, and you even got a treat to eat. Even when we’re going through hard times, there is always something we can be grateful for.
Thank the volunteers and have them remove the rocks from their shoes and go back to their seats.
Ask:
How many of you like to be thanked when you take the time to do something nice for someone or give them a special gift?
Wait for show of hands.
How would you feel if you spent a long time making something for someone and when you gave it to them, they didn’t even say thank you? Answers will vary.
Do you think Jesus likes to be thanked for dying on the cross for us and for giving us His Body and His Blood in the Eucharist? Absolutely!
Explain:
The word Eucharist actually means thanksgiving. Every time we go to Mass, it’s important that we remember to say thank you to Jesus, for giving Himself to us in the beautiful sacrament of the Eucharist.
Day 3 Virtue Demonstration: PERSEVERANCE
You’ll need:
- 2 ice cubes
- Large towel (for clean-up)
- VBS music
Ask:
Who can tell me what perseverance means? Not giving up, trying again, determination, etc.
I’m going to need 2 volunteers.
Choose kids in 4th or 5th grade.
Explain:
In life, it takes hard work and perseverance to reach our goals. The goal right now is to melt the ice cube using only your hands. You have to keep it in your hands until the ice cube is completely melted. Try not to drop it.
Remember, it’s not a race. You just need to persevere until you get the job done. It’s going to get super cold, but try not to give up!
Demonstrate:
Give each of the volunteers a small ice cube and start playing the music.
Alright, I want everyone to cheer them on! “You can do it! Way to go! Good job! Awesome! Keep going! Don’t quit! You’re doing great! Keep working on it!”
While these two wonderful volunteers are working hard to melt their ice cubes, I want you to think of some ways you can practice perseverance each day.
Good job! Let’s give them a hand for demonstrating great perseverance.
(Opt.) Ask the volunteers a few questions:
How cold did your hands get? Did you ever feel like quitting or giving up? What helped you to keep going?
Thank the volunteers and ask them to go sit down.
Ask:
What are some ways you can practice perseverance every day?
Learn to play an instrument, practice a new sport or skill, study and work to improve your grades, do your daily chores without complaining, try something you’ve never done before, etc.
Can you name some people in history who have shown perseverance?
Michael Jordan couldn’t make it on his high-school basketball team, so for almost 10 years, he practiced making more than five hundred free throws everyday. He is one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
It took Thomas Edison thousands of tries until he invented the light bulb.
St. John Vianney struggled a lot in school when he was young. He persevered for many years just so he could finish his education and become a priest.
Explain:
God wants to help you work through your challenges and achieve your goals. As Christians, our main goal is to get to heaven! It takes a lot of perseverance to live out our faith and to pray everyday.
Day 4 Virtue Demonstration: Self-Control
You’ll need:
- 2L bottle of soda (Diet Coke works best)
- 1 package of mint Mentos
- Large wet towel (or mop) for clean-up
Explain:
Self-control is being able to control yourself so that you can act in a way that pleases God and others. There are many different ways we can practice self-control, and one way is by controlling our behavior.
The opposite of self-control is being out of control.When we don’t practice self-control in our lives, or when we sin, our hearts become somewhat like a pop bottle that is ready to explode.
Ask:
Can you give me some examples of sin that could get out of control in your life? Anger, disobedience, gluttony, lying, fighting, pride, stealing, cheating, etc.
Demonstrate:
This is what can happen when we don’t use self-control. Open up the Coke bottle and drop 5 Mentos in. Be sure to do it quickly because the pop will fly up fast. Use the wet towel or mop for easy clean up after the virtue demo is finished.
Explain:
See what happens when we don’t use self-control?
It makes a huge mess! We might not even realize
the effect it has on other people.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 9:25: “Every athlete exercises SELF-CONTROL in all things.”
One way we can practice self-control is with the food we eat. We can do that by making healthy food choices, eating one piece of cake instead of two, or just eating our food slowly and in small portions.
Ask:
What are some ways we can practice self-control with the words we speak?
Speaking only positive words, speaking kindly towards someone you may not like, being careful not to gossip about others, not complaining or arguing, not using bad language/swearing, etc.
How can we practice self-control with our actions?
We can avoid bugging or hitting our siblings, we can dress modestly, spend less money on candy and tithe some of our money instead, choose not to watch inappropriate movies, etc.
How can we practice self-control with our time?
Using your time wisely, playing 30 minutes a day on our electronics and video games instead of several hours, taking our time to open up our birthday gifts and being thankful for each one of them, etc.
Some challenging questions we can ask ourselves:
Do I spend as much time with God as I do on
the computer, watching TV or playing video games? Do I think about the words I’m speaking, and whether they bring life to others? Are we careful not to gossip about others or complain all the time?
Our words and actions are so important, and self-control can help us choose to do what’s right, even when it isn’t always easy.
Day 5 Virtue Demonstration: HOPE
You’ll need:
- 1 lemon (sliced in half)
- 1 tall clear glass (empty)
- 1 tall glass of water
- 1-2 tbsp. of sugar
- 1 spoon
Ask:
What is hope?
To expect something good will happen, a confident expectation of good things to come, etc.
Who can tell me what I’m holding? A lemon.
We all know that lemons, on their own, taste very sour. We often wonder if anything good or exciting can come out of a lemon?
Sometimes, this is how we view the world and all its problems. We ask ourselves, “Can we really change the sour things about this world or the people who live in darkness?”
What are some things in the world you’d like to change, but sometimes feel like there’s no hope? World hunger, sickness, cancer, fighting/war, crime, divorce, swearing, abortion, bad music/movies, etc.
Explain:
Often times, we don’t act or do anything because we lose hope! We think the problems are too big or impossible. We sit there like sour lemons and wait for someone else to make a change.
Guess what? The good news is that there is always hope! Who is our hope?
Jesus is our hope!
Jesus can help us change the most impossible situations into great possibilities! The Bible says, “All things are possible with God!” Mark 10:27
It also says: “ For I know well the plans I have for you, says the Lord, …plans to give you a future full of (pause) hope” Jeremiah 29:11
Ask:
What are some ways we can offer hope to a hurting world? We can donate clothes, money and food for the poor, we can smile and bring joy to people’s lives, we can visit people in the senior’s homes, we can pray for those that have lost hope, etc.
Together, with the help of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, we can make great changes in our world. Have you heard the saying: “When life hands you a lemon, make (pause) lemonade.” So, that’s what we’re going to do!
Demonstrate:
I’m going to need a volunteer to come up.
Give your volunteer 2 halves of a lemon and a clear glass/cup. Have them squeeze both halves of a lemon into the clear glass. Be sure they squeeze all the juice out of the lemon.
This lemon represents each one of us in this world. We can add some zing!
The sugar represents God the Father for He is our Source of Power. Dump 1-2 tbsp. of sugar in the glass. Do not mix it yet.
The water represents Jesus because He is the Living Water; He gives us life.
Hand the water to the volunteer and have him pour the water into the glass.
The spoon represents the Holy Spirit for He helps stir things up. Hand him the spoon to stir things up in the glass.
What a recipe for change!
Have the child taste and see how the Lord is good! Wow! It’s amazing how a sour lemon can help make something so sweet n’ good! God wants our hearts and hands to make great changes for the world. We can be the hands of hope!
