By Darcy Fluitt
This past Saturday, mysterious paper bags arrived at the doorsteps of our elementary kids who regularly attend Sunday Kids’ Church on Zoom. What could be in these puzzling bags? They didn’t rattle or make much noise at all.
Kids eagerly logged into the Zoom call anticipating the opening of the bags. Turns out, each bag contained two sandwich bags. Each bag had a few tortilla chips. Kids then discovered that they were going to taste test the tortilla chips.
With much formality in the air, kids were allowed to open the first sandwich bag and eat a chip. Shawna went to the Zoom white board and wrote down the kids’ evaluation of the chips. Younger kids thought the first chip tasted fine. One even gave it a rating of 5 out 5. But the older the kid, the more discriminating the palate. We began to get comments like, “taste bland,” “lacks flavor,” “needs salt.” On to the second bag…again younger kids liked the second chip as well as the first. But second graders were indeed able to taste the difference. Comments like “much better,” “has a lot more flavor,” were made. And our 3rd and 4th graders were able to identify the difference. The first chip had no salt and therefore was bland and without flavor. The second chip had salt and tasted so much better! Whew, the object lesson worked.
So what was the purpose of doing a taste test of tortilla chips in Kids’ Church? Matthew 5:13 is the answer. It says, “You are the salt of the earth.” If salt makes the chip taste better, then this verse says we can make the world better. How are we supposed to do that? After some thought, kids said: “be kind to others,” “share God’s love,” “tell others about Jesus,” “treat others the way you want to be treated.” The lesson ended with this reminder to the kids: “Each time you eat a delicious, salty tortilla chip, remember what Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.”
Here is another object lesson about salt that you can do at home. It is also a fun art project.
As your child adds watercolor to their design you might say: “Wow! That’s amazing! The salt soaked up the color and spread it! That reminds me of what Jesus said: You are the salt of the earth. Just like the salt soaked up the color, God wants us to soak up His love and spread it to the people around us.”