The Spuds in The Bible Meets Potato Chip Science

Potato Chip Science is a great book by Allen Kurzweil and his son. With 29 great hands-on experiments for kids, it's a fun way to learn about electricity and osmosis. At Sycamore Tree Church it's become a great way to learn the Bible too! This book has experiments for the chip bags, the chip lids, the chip tubes, the potatoes and, of course, the potato chips! On top of that, there's some great information on how chips are made, how to use chips for survial and little known facts about some of the things in the experiments.

Here you'll find six lessons based on the Spud section of the book. But don't stop here, there are four other pages with more lessons to go with the Potato Chip Science Book. So, here we go - have a great time as the Bible Meets Potato Chip Science.

IT REALLY WORKS

You'll find this on Page 50

Materials:

• Several items from the Chip Bag
• 2 LARGE potatoes
• OPT: Chip Tube (short one), galvanized nails, shiny paper clips, pennies, tin foil

Method: see page 50-51

Meaning: see page 52

Munch on This: From the Bible:

1. Were you surprised that a potato could make a clock run or make a radio make noise?
2. Do you remember what's in the potatoes that makes them able to be a battery? (Electrolytes)
3. Today we're going to hear about a judge of Israel. He was born special. He never cut his hair and never drank any wine. His name was Samson.

Turn to Judges 14:1-15:15 Older children can read both chapters.

Questions for Older kids:

1. What did Samson do when the lion came roaring toward him?
   (he ripped it apart)
2. How did he do that?
   (the power of the Holy Spirit came on him)
   Explain that eating the honey out of the lion was a bad thing to do because Israelites were never supposed to touch anything dead.
3. What did Samson do when the Philistines figured out his riddle?
   (He killed 30 men)
4. How did he do that?
   (he had power of the Holy Spirit)
5. What happened when they tied Samson up?
   (the ropes fell off of him and he killed 1000 Philistines)
6. How did that happen?
   (because of the power of the Holy Spirit)

For Younger children: After Samson became an adult, he wanted to get married. He found a woman in a foreign country that he wanted to marry. His parents wanted him to marry someone from Israel, but Samson had to have his own way. While they were on their way to meet this girl, something pretty amazing happened, let's read a little bit of Judges 14

Read Judges 14:5-6

1. What did Samson do when the lion came roaring toward him?
   (he ripped it apart)
2. How did he do that?
   (the power of the Holy Spirit came on him) When Samson went back to get married, he found the lion he had killed. Bees had built a hive in the dead lion and there was honey in there. Samson ate some of the honey, something that Israelites should never do because Israelites weren't supposed to touch dead things. Then he created a riddle about the lion and the honey and told the men who were going to be in the wedding that if they figured out his riddle he would give them 30 new outfits. The men from his wedding figured out his riddle by getting his girlfriend to get the answer for them. This made Samson very mad. Let's see what happened.
   
   Read Judges 14:19-20
   
   
3. What did Samson do when the Philistines figured out his riddle?
   (He killed 30 men to get their clothes to give to the guys who figured out the riddle)
4. How did he do that?
   (he had power of the Holy Spirit) Later, Samson went down to get his wife, but her dad had let his friend marry her instead. Samson caught 300 foxes, tied their tails together then caught their tails on fire and let them loose in the Philistine's fields. The foxes destroyed the fields and the Philistines were really mad. The Philistines came to Israel to look for Samson. When they got there, they asked the Israelites to hand him over. So, they tied up Samson and took him to the Philistines. But let's read what happened:
   
   Read Judges 15:9-15
   
   
5. What happened when they tied Samson up?
   (the ropes fell off of him and he killed 1000 Philistines)
6. How did that happen?
   (because of the power of the Holy Spirit)

FOR EVERYONE

1. 1. Where did Samson get all of his power?
   (from the Holy Spirit)
2. Where did the potatoes get all of their power?
   (from the zinc and copper and wires)
3. Do the potatoes have any power without those things?
   (yes, but without the zinc, copper and wires, the potatoes are useless as a power source)
4. Did Samson have power without the Holy Spirit?
   (probably, he had strength like no one had ever seen before)
5. Do we have any power? If yes, What kind of power do we have?
   (Some of us have the power to teach others, some are very kind, some people have the power to help others and some have the power to make money)
6. Where do we get our power?
   (we have the power inside us, but when we ask for the Holy Spirit's help, we can have even more power - maybe not as much as Samson, but we can have the Spirit's power)

God wants to give us power, but we have to be willing to let the Holy Spirit lead us. Just like the potatoes need the "electrodes" (the zinc and copper), we need the Holy Spirit. When we have the Holy Spirit in us we can have great power.

Allen Kurzweil owns the copyright to all the experiments, so here you'll only find the lessons to go with them. You might find it in your local library, or you can purchase the kit. It's worth every penny!

Here's where the Osmosis comes in

This one is on Page 54

Materials: Knife, potato, 2 containers, 2 cups water, 3 T. salt

Method: see page 54 - You will want to do steps 1 & 2 prior to kids coming to class, since step 3 is "wait 30 minutes" - you may not have time to do the whole experiment if you wait until class begins. You could demonstrate what you did in steps one and two. Then move to step 4 in class and have them try to bend the potato. You might also want to have enough potato slices for each child to try to break one (either a salty one or a non-salty one)

Meaning: see page 55

Munch on This: What's Osmosis Got to do with being a Christian?

1. What did our "meaning" say "osmosis" is?
   (Water molecules move through something from one place to another in order to make the concentrations in the water equal)
   
   Let's Read Matthew 5:13
   
   
2. What does Jesus say we are?
   (We are the salt of the earth)
3. How are we like salt?
   (if they don't know, ask the questions below to help them understand)
   a. What happens when you put salt on fries or popcorn?
   (Salt makes things taste better and we should make life around us better)
   b. Have you ever gargled with salt water? How does that help a sore throat?
   (salt can heal things and we should be "healing" by creating peace when possible)
   c. Did you know there's a lot of salt in Beef Jerky and other things like that. Those kinds of foods seem to never go bad, why is it?
   (Salt is a preservative, makes things stay good longer, we should help people live forever)
   d. How did the salt change the potato?
   (Salt changes a potato and makes it more flexible, our attitude and actions should make those around us more pleasant and "flexible")
4. The Bible said if we lose our saltiness we're no good. How do you think we "lose saltiness"?
   (when we get too far away from Christ, we can't be salty. Jesus' love makes us salty and good for everything He needs us to do)
5. What happened to the potato in the water with no salt?
   (It got stiff and hard)
6. Did your actions without "salt" ever cause someone to get stubborn or mean?
   (no wrong answers)
7. How might another person's attitude change if we always remember to be "salt"? (People tend to be nicer when we are nicer. When we act more like Christ, people will usually -not always-respond more positively)
8. Osmosis is when water passes through something to get to another place in order to make the concentration equal. The Bible says that Jesus is the Living Water. (Jeremiah 2:13) What do you think Christian "Osmosis" would be?
   (Christ the Living Water moving through us to make a difference in the world)
9. What can you do to make sure Christ's "osmosis" is always at work in you?
   (be salt - read the Bible, pray, come to Sunday School, do everything to get closer to Christ)

Coming Soon!

It's On the List

Coming Soon

We used this for Easter Sunday

Found on Page 56

Materials:

• Knife
• Potato
• Pencil
• Spoon
• Lemon Juice
• Peat Pellet or Potting Soil
• Water
• Rye Grass Seed
• Decorating Supplies (make one for each child) You might to also have instructions for parents on the "care" of spuddy buddy (found in Kurzweil's book) as well as the potential to plant him and harvest a few potatoes

Method: Page 56 - You may want to do steps one and two prior to the kids coming depending on how much time you have.

Meaning: Page 57

Munch on This: Page 57 (be sure the kids know to water their Spuddy Buddy after they take it home and also that they can plant it outdoors if they want to after it grows eyes)

Read 1 Corinthians 15 (preferably from a Children's Bible or newer translation - with younger children you may only want to read verses 20-28 and 35-38 and 42-44a)

1. What holiday are we celebrating today?
   (Easter)
2. Tell me about it. What's Easter all about?
   (Jesus died on a cross, but after they buried Him, He rose from the dead - Easter is when we celebrate His rising from the dead)
3. What's going to happen to these seeds we planted in our Spuddy Buddy?
   (they'll turn into grass)
4. Will you be able to find the seed after the grass grows?
   (no)
5. Why not?
   (they may not know this - the seed turns into the grass - it's almost like the seed dies and comes alive again as grass)
6. What about our Spuddy Buddy? What will happen to him if we let him get eyes and then plant him?
   (He'll turn into a potato bush and have a lot of potatoes - it's almost like he'll come alive again)
7. Because Jesus died and rose again, what does Paul say will happen to people who believe in Christ and die?
   (Those who believe in Christ will be buried, but then they'll have a new body one that looks different, like the grass and the potato and they'll live with Jesus in heaven.)
8. What do we have to do to be sure that we'll have a place in heaven when we grow old and die?
   (we have to believe that Jesus died for our sins on the cross, we have to believe that His sacrifice paid for our sins and accept the fact that Jesus' death is the only way we can be good enough for heaven. We have to believe that Jesus really did raise up from the dead on that first Easter. )
9. Close today with a prayer for salvation. Let the kids repeat after you and encourage them to tell their parents or the pastor or another adult if they prayed with you.

I LOVE this experiment!

Watch for it to be loaded soon!