Toothpaste (James 3:5)

Bible verse used:

James 3:5 – “The tongue is a small thing, but what enormous damage it can do.”

Lesson:

“If you can’t say something nice, don’t say it at all.” –Thumper (Bambi)

 

Equipment needed:

• Enough tubes of toothpaste or squeezable gel for each youth (or team of youths).
• A table for everyone to sit at (unless you wish to do it on the floor)
• Disposable table cloth (or one that’s easy to wash)
• Paper plates
• Paper towels (for cleanup)

(Note: If you prefer to keep it cleaner, you may replace toothpaste with flowers, and instead of squeezing out the toothpaste, instruct students to remove all the petals).

Setup:

• Give each student (or team) a tube of toothpaste and place it onto a paper plate.
• Have each student/team sit around their plate, but they can’t touch it until you say “go”.

Activity:

Say:

• “We’re going to have a race to see who can squeeze all the toothpaste out of the bottle the fastest. (And it all has to be out.)”
• “Ready, set, go!”

When everybody’s finished, they’ll think the race is over. But wait until everybody’s finished.
When they all finally squeeze it all out, then say, “Alright!  Great Job!  Now there’s a 2^nd part to this race…put it all back in.”
(The tube needs to look exactly like it did before the first race started).

Take note of (and often verbally reflect on):

• The mess they make
• Objects they may use to shove it back in
• Shortcuts they ask for
• How often/many they ask for new rules to make it easier for them
• Etc.
• (and especially, make sure to reflect on the mess they’re making)

Give everybody about 10-15 minutes (or as much time as you need to get enough material for your reflection), then stop everybody where they are.

Ask:

• Why was it so easy to squeeze it all out?
  • So then why couldn’t you get it all back in? What was the problem?
  • But you didn’t have any problems getting it out, so why did you have troubles putting it back in? (look confused)
• Help me understand…I don’t get what you’re saying.
  • (Bring in questions about the shortcuts that didn’t work, as well as the tools they tried using).
  • (Reflect on how messy it was and ask why it got that messy)
    • Can you think of any way that we could have kept it from getting all messy?
• Is there something else we could’ve done?
  (the answer you’re looking for is not to have squeezed it out in the first place)

Bible:

Have the students read James 3:5

“The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”

Discussion Questions:

• Have you ever said anything to or about somebody that wasn’t very nice, and ended up hurting their feelings, or making a mess of things?
• Knowing that you hurt them, how did that make you feel?
• Do you suppose somebody could ever say to or about somebody else that could become messy?
  • But couldn’t you just try to take it back? Maybe by making up excuses to them or something?
  • OK, so if you say something to or about somebody, and it hurt their feelings, and you can’t take it back, then what can you do?
• What could you have done differently, or to prevent hurting them?

Challenge the students to watch their what they say to one another. You may even challenge them to say nothing but encouraging words to one another for a full week, and to be ready to reflect on it the next week.

Close out in prayer