Tea with Jesus: the story of Zacchaeus

The story of Zacchaeus is something that children (and adults) can identify with on many levels: Jesus knew Zacchaeus by name, meeting with Jesus changed Zacchaeus, some children will have even climbed trees! For this activity focused on a different aspect of the story - Jesus wanted to be Zacchaeus' friend and He went to his house for tea. Playing through a story can help children engage with in a different way that if they have just heard it.

Because we were talking about sharing a meal with friends we had a playdough tea party.

First of all we read the story from our children's bible. We talked about what we like to eat when our friends come to tea.

We used some orange scented playdough (a recipe for which can be found on our 'other blog' here) and used some simple 'baking props' to make cakes.

As we were playing we talked about Zacchaeus and that Jesus had tea with him at his house.