Encounter Christianity: To Change the World lesson plan 2

Lesson two - pages 4-5 Changing hands

Text from the book

What can these hands make?
What can these hands do?
How can these hands change the world?

The work of many hands brings about change, through action, as symbols and in helping us to say what we feel.

Learning objectives

To enable pupils to understand how the use of hands can express different emotions.
To recognize that hands can be used to express positive values.

Bible reference

Psalm 16.1-11

Background

Hands, and their dexterity which separates the human from the rest of the animal world, are frequently used in Christian art and symbolism. The hand of God is raised in judgement, the hands of Jesus heal and are impaled on the cross. Hands are creative and used for good or ill. We all use them to express our feelings and they have the power to affect change.

Ways of using the pictures

How do the pupils use their hands to change things?
Look at the pictures. There are old hands, young hands and hands that say so much. How could they have changed the world?
Discuss how we often use our hands to try to express what is in our minds.
Look at the ways in which hands are used, in Christian images, to make changes.

Key words

Creation
Interference
Manipulation
Gesture
Manual Dexterity
Compassion.

Activity

Pupils trace around their hands and write positive things their hands can do either in the outline or around the line of the fingers and thumb. Read out the results and make a display of their work.

Learning outcomes

Pupils will have:

reflected on the power of hands in expressing feelings;
identified hands as being as, if not more, expressive than speech.

Extension work

Pupils write a poem with the title: ‘With my hands I can…’

Web sites

http://www.ifyoulovetoread.com/book/chten_cats.htm
One fun activity the children can do with their hands is making a ‘cat’s cradle’. At this web page you can find detailed instructions on how two people can create this (or tie each other in unbelievable knots!).

http://www.moytura.com/reflections/prayinghands.htm
One of the best known images of hands is Albrecht Durer's famous 'praying hands'. This site has an image of the hands and a moving account of how Albrecht's brother, Albert, worked in the mines for four years to pay for Albrecht to become an artist. As a result Albert’s own hands, the ones featured in this image, were destroyed by the manual labour and he could no longer pursue his own dream of becoming an artist.

A larger version of the image can be found at http://www.ftmagic.com/prayinghands.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk
A brief description of our hands, including the facts that each hand contains 22 bones and the palm consists of five metacarpal bones.

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