Note: This set of five mini-lessons touches on aspects of cooperation already covered in other activities in this lesson. It works well as a framework for a week-long study or as a lesson recap. Before beginning these mini-lessons, watch a flock of geese flying in formation.

This lesson set is based on an article written in 1972 by Dr. Robert McNeish and entitled Lessons From the Geese. Dr. McNeish, who spent many years teaching science, first wrote this object lesson as part of a sermon he presented in his church. It is now used worldwide, both in churches and in the business community, as a helpful illustration of good leadership. Sue Widemark’s research (see Suewidemark.com/lessonsgeese.htm) helped establish the validity of Dr. McNeish’s authorship and the scientific accuracy of his premises.

The facts and principles presented below in italics are quoted from Dr. McNeish’s original article.

Teamwork

Fact: As each goose flaps its wings it creates an “uplift” for the birds that follow. By flying in a V formation, the whole flock adds 71 per cent greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.

Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense a community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are travelling on the thrust of one another.

Key concept: We accomplish more when we work together cooperatively.

Activity options: Try the “fun with teamwork” exercises in the hands-on options part of this lesson, or listen to the song Lean on Me.

Harmony

Fact: When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird in front of it.

Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose, we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept their help and give our help to others.

Key concept: To succeed, everyone needs to work toward the same goal because even one person can make or break the unity of a group effort.

Activity options:

• Play “the power of unity” game from the hands-on options section.
• Read the “harmonious relationships in nature” hands-on option from the harmony lesson.
• Listen to the song We Are One in the Spirit and talk about how sharing God’s love with each other makes a difference in the way we live and work together.
• Read 1 John 4:10-11 and 1 Peter 4:8 and talk about ways that “love covers over sin” when we readily offer each other grace and forgiveness.

Sharing the lead

Fact: When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position.

Lesson: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership. As with geese, people are interdependent on each other’s skills, capabilities and unique arrangements of gifts, talents or resources.

Key concept: “Leading” means using your God-given gifts and talents to serve God and others. Being willing to follow another person’s lead is as important as being willing to take a turn leading.

Activity options:

• Give everyone a chance to both lead and follow by doing the “cooperating in the kitchen” activity described in the hands-on options section of this lesson.
• Read Romans 12:4-8 and / or 1 Peter 4:10-11 and write a song or poem about using the gifts God has given each of you.
• Listen to I Will Follow by Chris Tomlin and talk about ways you can follow and serve Jesus.

Encouragement

Fact: The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Lesson: We need to make sure our honking is encouraging. In groups where there is encouragement, the production is much greater. The power of encouragement is the quality of honking we seek.

Key concept: Saying positive things is like giving others a “turbo boost” of energy. It helps others around us feel strong and productive and helps to keep everyone motivated.

Activity options:

• Do the “garbage busters” activity outlined in the hands-on options section of the courtesy lesson.
• Listen to a song about encouraging others and talk about how we can encourage others through what we say. You Raise Me Up is a good choice.

Faithfulness

Fact: When a goose gets sick, wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then they launch out with another formation or catch up with the flock.

Lesson: If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.

Key concept: An important aspect of being part of a group or a family is watching out for the well-being of other group members.

Activity options:

• Read the story about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. (See “standing strong together” in the Bible stories section of this lesson.)
• Listen to the song I’ll Stand by You – or another song of your choice on faithfulness – and talk about what it means to “stand by” family members.
• Do the “faithfulness can mean sacrifice” activity found in the hands-on options section of the faithfulness lesson.

Note: This practical suggestion works well in conjunction with the Bible story “Building together.”

The idea here is to build a city wall out of blocks to help your children understand what a cooperative effort looks and feels like. You will need building blocks of some sort, plus pictures or objects to represent the different gates in the wall that surrounded ancient Jerusalem.

• First, explain to your children that you will be pretending to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Your wall will need to include structures that mimic these parts of the Jerusalem wall: the Sheep Gate, the Fish Gate, the “Old” Gate, the Tower of Ovens, the Valley Gate, the Dung Gate (have fun with this one), the Fountain Gate, the Water Gate, the projecting tower, the Horse Gate, the East Gate and the Inspection Gate.
• Encourage your children to use their math skills in planning and designing the project. For example, there are a total of twelve gates. Ask your children how many to put on each side to ensure each side has the same number of gates.
• Invite your children to search around your home to find objects to identify each part of the city wall. For example, for the Sheep Gate, one child might find a cotton ball while another finds a toy sheep. Place these objects near the Sheep Gate in your city wall.
• Some children may prefer to stay on-site as builders while the others go off to find objects to identify the gates. The key is to work together toward a common goal and complete the large project together. Read some of the Bible verses provided to help your children understand the importance of encouraging each other and working in unity.
• Afterward, help your children share their thoughts and experiences using the discussion questions below.

Questions for discussion

• How do you feel after you’ve finished a long job or project?
• How do you think the Israelites felt after they completed the wall around Jerusalem?
• Where did we get our building materials?
• Where do you think the Israelites got their building materials?
• Do you think the Israelites ever argued about who got to do the easy work (standing around “on guard” while the others carried rocks and wood)?
• Did you feel better when we were cooperating or when we were arguing?
• When we were building together, did anyone encourage you? Did you ever feel discouraged?
• Did you ever feel like quitting? If so, why did you keep building?

Key concepts

Now that we’ve built a small-scale model of the walls of Jerusalem, you’ll be able to understand, at least a little, what the real-life task was like for the Israelites! We built our model with materials readily available in our home, but the Israelites had to find real wood and stone and make mortar to complete their project. Can you imagine how tired they got and how relieved and satisfied they must have felt once the project was completed? Did you notice that arguing and complaining can make a hard job seem harder? It’s easier to keep working if we encourage each other and work cooperatively.

Relevant Scripture

Romans 15:5 “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus . . .”

1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

You will need a safe, open space where each child can stand (and perhaps fall) without bumping into others, and also a backpack for each child that’s filled with a heavy load of books, rocks or cans.

You can do this activity at home in your yard, or indoors. Another ideal location for this activity is an outdoor park. As you drive home afterwards, you’ll have a captive audience for your discussion.

See the end note for an indoor alternative using building blocks.

When you’re ready to begin, your role is to call out instructions for various balancing challenges. Some will be difficult, and the children are likely to fail.

(If your kids are the type to fall over on purpose during the balance challenges, create a simple reward system. For example, one extra minute of storytime or one candy for each successful balance challenge.)

Begin by having your children stand on both legs. Call out the following instructions:

1. Can you raise your arms over your head?
2. Okay, now clap your hands together.
3. Can you put one arm out to the side?
4. Now lean forward and flap your arms as if you are a bird!
5. Fly faster! There is a bigger bird chasing you now!
6. Next, can I see you jump up and down?
7. Can you jump up and down and flap?
8. Can you jump up and down and flap and lean forward?
9. For your next challenge, pick up your backpack. Can you hold it directly out in front of you with your arms straight?
10. Now try to hold your backpack out to the side, using only one arm.
11. See if you can keep holding your backpack there after you close your eyes.

If you wish to up the ante, here are more ideas to make the balance challenges even more difficult. (Choose only those that are appropriate for your children’s ages and abilities.)

• Repeat the instructions with your children standing only on one leg.
• Repeat the instructions with the children standing on tip-toes (on two legs or just one leg.)
• Repeat the instructions with your children standing on a ground-level balance beam (for example, a wooden railway sleeper bordering a sand box).

For extra fun, let your children try to push you over while you’re:

• down on “all fours” on the ground
• standing on both feet
• balancing on one leg
• standing on your tippy toes.

Questions for discussion

1. Was it harder to balance on two feet, or on one foot?
2. Was it harder to balance on flat feet or on tippy toes?
3. Was it harder to push me over when I was on “four feet,” two feet, or on my tippy toes?
4. If you were standing in a windstorm, which position would be most stable?
5. Why do you think that is?
6. How big is God?
7. How strong is God?
8. How big are we?
9. How strong are we?

Key concepts

God is big and He provides a firm foundation, just like a wide base of support does. In comparison, we are tiny, like a small base of support that can easily be toppled. If we base our confidence on ourselves, we are likely to “topple and fail” time and time again. However, when we place our confidence in God, we have a much firmer foundation to build our lives on and we will be much less easily swayed by forces around us.

Indoor alternative: Have your children experiment by building towers from blocks – towers with both wide and narrow bases. Once the towers have been built, test them to see how well they withstand various forces: wind (blow air), vibrations (shake the table) and even a “wrecking ball” (a tennis ball tied to the end of a string or slid down into the toe of a stocking).

Relevant Scripture

Psalm 59:16-17 “But I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love; for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. You are my strength, I sing praise to You; You, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.”

Jeremiah 17:7-8 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Isaiah 31:1 “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the Lord.”

To prepare for this activity, arrange for time alone with each of your children for a private chat. (Bedtime may be a good opportunity.) Ask your child to list all the good things about themselves. Then ask them to list all the things they would like to change.

Listening carefully to your child’s answers will reveal whether they view themselves positively, overly positively or overly negatively. You’ll use what you have learned to guide your discussion as your family completes the remainder of this exercise.

To continue, you will need to gather books about animals, or animal facts found on the Internet (try Cwf-fcf.org), plus paper and felt markers or crayons.

Have your children each draw a picture of an animal they like (or find pictures). Talk about how God has given each of those animals special features to help them function according to His grand design. Do some research together to discover the special features God gave these creatures. For example, birds have very light bones and feathers that make them light enough to fly. They also have an aerodynamic body shape. Birds of prey are equipped with strong beaks and claws (talons) to help them catch their food.

Discuss how each part of the animal is essential for its survival. Use these discussion questions, or make up your own based on each child’s animal of interest.

Questions for discussion

1. Would a dog be able to eat if it decided, “I get in trouble for barking all the time; I don’t want to have a mouth anymore so I’ll ask my owner to tape it shut”?
2. Could a bird still fly if it decided to get rid of its tail saying, “I don’t need a tail since I never get to wag it like my friend the dog”?
3. What if a cow said, “I don’t need a tongue; it’s pink and rubbery, and people laugh when I stick it in my nose because they think it’s gross”?
4. Could you ride a horse who said, “I don’t need my legs; I’d rather be a crawler like my buddy the worm”?
5. If a grizzly bear wanted to get rid of his claws because he wanted to be cuddly like a teddy bear, could he still feed himself?
6. What would happen to a giraffe if it had a short neck? Why does a giraffe need a long neck?
7. What if an elephant said, “I must get rid of my trunk; it’s just a long, funny-looking nose and I don’t like it”? Would that elephant be able to move big things anymore?
8. Can you think of other things animals might not like about themselves?
9. Do people ever complain about how God made them? Do you think we should complain about that?

Note: Gertrude McFuzz by Dr. Seuss is a great book for encouraging children to be content with the way they were designed.

Some good concepts to cover with your children include the idea that sin makes our hearts sick, much like germs make our bodies sick. We can use soap and water to wash away germs, but we need Jesus to wash the sin out of hearts. Germs can hide, and so can sin! Just as Glo Germ illuminates germs, the Holy Spirit shows us our sin.

Relevant Scripture

Psalm 51:1-2 “Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your unfailing love; according to Your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”

Psalm 51:10-11 “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me.”

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”