Peter and John in the Temple Children's Activities

Generations of children have learned the story of Peter and John in the temple through reenacting the healing of the lame beggar to music with the classic song, "Silver and Gold Have I None." You can supplement this with an object lesson on the physical disability of lameness. Follow up the music and object lesson by challenging the children with games that help them to recall details and key scripture from the story.

Provide each of your children with two long cloth strips. Tell the children you are going to read a story about a lame man. Ask them to imagine what it would be like to be unable to walk. Tell them they are going to pretend to be lame during the story. Tie each child's knees and ankles together with the cloth strips and let them try to get up or move around to feel how difficult it is. Seat your kids safely and read the story of Peter and John going to the temple in Acts 3. When the man is healed, help your little ones untie the leg binds and let them go "walking and leaping and praising God" like the healed beggar.

Write a set of trivia questions from the story such as, "What time of day did Peter and John go to the temple?" or "What was the name of the gate where they met the lame beggar?" Assign points or dollar amounts to each question by difficulty level. Have a trivia competition in game-show style.

To help the children memorize a key scripture verse, draw a hopscotch path and write each word of Acts 3:6 in successive boxes, "Peter said, 'I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene--walk!'" Let each child hop the path calling out each word as she lands on it.

Create a set of matching cards using story words or pictures. Arrange them in rows and columns on a flat surface and let the children play "Concentration," taking turns turning over two cards at a time to find the matches. When they have found all the matches, ask them to arrange the cards in chronological order and retell the story.