Five Senses Bible Lessons - Touch

Lesson 2: Touch

Bible Story: Woman Touches Jesus’ Garment
Theme: Turn to Jesus with problems
Verse: Luke 8:48 And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."

Introduction:

What are the 5 senses?  Which one did we talk about last week?  Today we're going to talk about touch.

Touch Test

Supplies: paper bags and small objects like paper clip, pencil, coins, rubber band, spoon …

You can make a paper bag for each child with each bag having identical objects or pass one bag around the room.  Have the kids put their hands in the paper bags (without looking), feel the objects, and write down what they think is in the bag.  Tell them how many objects there are.  When they have a guess written down for that many objects, empty the contents of the bag and see how many they got correct.

Tell the story of the woman who touched Jesus’ garment: Mark 5:24-34

Jesus and woman puppets

Supplies: printouts, craft sticks or pipe cleaners, glue stick, fabric scraps, crayons, tape

Use this website or this website to print out a boy and girl puppet for each child: Depending on age, cut them out ahead of time.  Have them color the puppets and glue fabric on their clothes to make the woman and Jesus.  Then glue or tape them to the craft sticks.  Use them to reenact the story.

Play “Who Touched Me?”

Blindfold one child and have the others stand on the other side of the room in a line.  Point to a child and have them touch the blindfolded one.  Have the blindfolded child guess who touched him.  If they guess correctly, that child gets blindfolded.  Discuss how it is hard to know who touched you.  Ask how Jesus could have known.

Or for an older group, play “Heads Up, 7 up”

Pick a few of the children to be “it.”  Have the others sit down.  The teacher says, “Heads down, thumbs up.”  Each of the children who are “it” walk around the room quietly and touch one persons thumb.  Then, they return to the front of the room.  When they have all returned to the front, the teacher says, “Heads up.”  Those who thumbs were pressed stand up.  They have to guess who pressed their thumbs.  If they guess correctly, they switch spots with the one who pressed their thumb.  Discuss how it is hard to know who touched you.  Ask how Jesus could have known.

Discussion:*

Why did the woman touch Jesus' garment and not His hand or arm or face? Read Numbers 15:37-38 to see what the Jews put on their hem or corner of their garment. The LORD also spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel, and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a cord of blue.  Read Malachi 4:2 to see what would be special about the Messiah's hem of his garment. "But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall." The verse could also read "healing in its borders/hem" because the word is originally the same as "corners" in Numbers.  So if the woman had read the book of Malachi she would know that the Messiah would have healing in the hem of his garment.

Tassel bookmarks

Supplies: cardstock cut in 2 inch strips across, hole punch, yarn, cardboard (3 inch x 3 inch), scissors

Tape a piece of yarn to one edge of the cardboard.  Have the kids wrap the yarn tightly around the cardboard until they’ve used all you gave them (4 feet).  Take the tape off the yarn at the top of the cardboard and tie it around the loops of yarn.  Cut the yarn loops at the other end of the cardboard.  Tie a piece of yarn around the top of the tassel to hold it together.  Tie it to the hole in the bookmark.  Have the students write the bible verse on the bookmark.  Here is a helpful tutorial on making tassels.  Remind them that when they use the bookmark they can remember the woman who turned to Jesus with her problem.  They should remember to turn to Jesus, too.

Discussion:  Who did this woman turn to with her problems first?  Who was able to help her?  Where can we turn when we have a problem?  Is any problem too big for Jesus?


Here are links to all the lessons in the Five Senses Bible Lesson Unit:
1 - Taste
2 - Touch
3 - Sight
4 - Smell
5 - Hearing
6 - Wrap-up (uses all senses)

Print the full unit of lessons.

I want to hear your thoughts

What would you have done differently?  Would anything not work well with your kids?  What could you do instead?  Would you have used a different story or verse?  Do you have any ideas for a craft or activity that would go well with this story?  There may be simpler ways to explain things (I was a high school teacher, not elementary school).  If so, please let me know of changes I can make.

* The information for this discussion was found in the July-August 2011 issue of the "Words of Truth"publication available from Christian Literature, Inc.  It was found in the article "Touching the Hem" by Philip Johnson.

Click here for all of my Bible Lessons Unit: