FunFaith™ Moments for Families

Down Down Dominoes

Use this fun activity to help your family explore how the choices we make today affect our tomorrows.

Scripture: Genesis 3:1-19; Daniel 3:1-30
Equipment: A box of dominoes and a Bible

Before You Begin

Set a box of dominoes on a table or a tile/hardwood floor where you and your kids can play. Be aware that you'll be knocking dominoes over, so you'll want to make sure nothing breakable is nearby.

The FunFaith Moment

Show your family the box of dominoes, and remind them that when dominoes are set on end within a short distance of each other, knocking down one causes others to fall as well. Work together to set up your boxful of dominoes in long lines on a table or on the floor. Then knock down the first domino and watch as all others follow. Try this several times, making a circle, a spiral, and other fun formations around the room. Be creative and have fun!

Discovery

After making and destroying several domino formations, set the pieces aside. Say: Just like pushing one domino causes a chain reaction with all dominoes, the decisions we make today influences the opportunities and decisions that we have tomorrow. Let's look at a few examples of this in the Bible.

Have your family members form two groups. (It's OK if a "group" is one person, but make sure at least one reader is in each group. If that's not possible, then stay in one larger group, and simply explore each Scripture one at a time.)

Have one group read Genesis 3:1-19 and the other group read Daniel 3:1-30. When everyone has finished reading, have a representative from each group report what happened in the story they read. Then ask the following questions to all:

• After lining up the dominoes, we pushed one and all the others fell. Why?

• How is one domino knocking down another and another like the results of making a good or bad choice?

• What choices did the people in your Bible stories have to make? What "dominoes were knocked down" because of the choices they made? (Or, what were the results of the choices those people made?)

• What choices do you make each day that can bring good or bad results for you?

• What the most important choice a person can make? Why?

Prayer

Have each family member think of a choice he or she made in the past that has resulted in something good. For example, studying could have the good result of higher grades, or being kind to a new person at school could have the result of making a new friend. Take turns thanking God for the positive results of these choices, and ask for wisdom to make good choices in the future.

--Mike & Amy Nappa

Note: This FunFaith moment is adapted from 52 Fun Family Devotions by Mike and Amy Nappa copyright © 1994 Augsburg Books. Reproduced by special permission of Augsburg Fortress Publishers. No further reproduction permitted without the written consent of Augsburg Fortress.

52 Fun Family Devotions by Mike & Amy Nappa (Augsburg Books)