Children’s Sunday school lesson / object lesson on the earthquake in Haiti
Children’s Sermon / Sunday school lesson idea: 
Object lesson idea:
Display two “houses” made of small blocks of wood or perhaps marshmallows. Have one house represent a typical house in Canada or United States. This “house” could be glued together if made by wood and if made with marshmallows it could be sewed together or held together with nails or toothpicks. The other “house” would look the same but have nothing binding the blocks together. Shake the structure like an earthquake and let the children observe what happens. Explain how poor countries like Haiti can’t afford to build houses with expensive reinforcing and other safety features. Pray for the people of Haiti and involve the children in some relief or development project.
Objects: Two small houses made with building blocks or marshmallows (see above). Reinforce one of the structures with tape, thread, toothpicks etc. (You could also drive reinforcing nail up through the piece of plywood and place marshmallows over the nails. Place the “houses” on a tray ready for an “earthquake.” A small world map or globe.
Full Children’s Sermon: Good morning Children. In our church this morning we are praying for the people who live in a country called Haiti. It is a small country and most of the people who live there are very poor. It’s this small country here on this map. Do you know what happened there recently? Yes. That’s right. There was a very big earthquake that destroyed many buildings and homes. It may be hard to understand how this happened. I want to show you one reason so many people were hurt or killed. Do you see this tray here? I made two little houses out of marshmallows. I’m pretending the marshmallows are like building blocks of cements. This house on the left will represent a typical house in the Canada / USA/ etc. I’m pretending that this house on the left is a house in the country of Haiti.
Let’s see what might happen if there was an earthquake. (Shake the try up a down, back and forth until the unsecured “building blocks” of the Haiti house fall down.) What happened here? Yes, this house that has a steel nail through the centre is standing strong. However, this house here fell completely down. This building was not nearly as strong as this building. This building is like many of the buildings in Haiti. The people are strong and hard working but they are very poor and they cannot afford to build houses as strong as our houses. When an earthquake shakes the country many of the houses fall down and many people are injured our killed. It’s very sad. As followers of Jesus we need to think of ways that we can help the people in Haiti as they try to recover from this tragedy. How could we possibly help out and support them in this time of need? (Let the children respond.) Those are all very good ideas. We can send doctors to help, we can send food and clothing, and we can send money so they can buy the things they don’t have. Later on we might be able to be involved in helping them rebuild some to the homes that have been destroyed. (Consider presenting a specific project that the church is involved with.
Children’s Prayer: Dear God. We know that there are many people who need help in the country of Haiti. Please send many doctors and other helpers to support the people. And show us what we can do to put the love of Jesus into action and help these people in need. In Jesus’ name – Amen!
