Caution Signs
Caution Signs
This activity translates various warning signs that you see around town or on the roads into faith reminders. Download the flashcard PDF that contains several signs. The faith interpretations are listed below. Go through each flash card and ask what the sign is warning against. Then provide them with an alternate reminder related to being a faithful Christian. If the children are older, you may first ask them what they think and only provide this explanation if they don’t think of it. Then ask them to agree on a short phrase that reminds them of this alternate warning. Once you have been through them once, shuffle and go through them again to see if they remember the alternate explanation and/or the short memory phrase. Afterwards, as you see these signs when you are driving around, point them out and ask if they remember. You may want to write the memory phrase on the back of the card and keep them in the car as a reminder.
Slippery when wet – Have you ever heard of a slippery slope? It means that sometimes you can do a bad thing, but it is only a little bad. But the next time you are tempted, it is easier to do. Then the next time you might do something that is a little more bad. Then you keep doing things that are a little more bad than the last one until you are doing REALLY bad things. Once you start on the slippery slope, you might slide all the way down! So when we see this sign, we need to remember to avoid even little sins.
Yield – A Yield sign on a road means that you need to let other drivers in front of you. This sign needs to remind us to yield to God by following him.
No Parking – This sign indicates that you cannot park here. This should remind us that we can’t park our faith. There is no taking time off from being a Christian.
Stop – We all know what a Stop sign means. When you see one, let it remind you to stop doing bad things. You may want to pick a problem behavior that you want to stop and be specific in your reminder to yourself.
One way – Signs like this one tell us we can only go one way. As Christians, we know the one way to heaven is to follow Jesus.
No U-turn – U-turns mean we turn around and go back the way we came from. Seeing one of these signs reminds us not to turn away from God.
Narrow bridge – This is not a very common sign, but it means that a narrow bridge is ahead and there is only room for one car at a time. Let narrow bridges remind you that there isn’t room for the devil on the narrow path to salvation.
Speed bump – Sometimes there are bumps in the road, and these slow us down. Use this sign to remind you that when you hit a bump in the road of your faith life (we can call this a sin) that we need to ask for forgiveness.
Curvy road – Curvy roads can be dangerous to drive on. When you see this sign, let it remind you to make straight the path of your feet and let God’s will guide your choices.
Tunnel ahead – Tunnels are dark, so warning signs tell you when one is coming up. Let the darkness in tunnels remind you that when you are in the dark that you need to use the light of Christ to light your way.
After you finish the activity, process it with these or similar questions:
- Did you like that activity? Was it fun to come up with different explanations of what signs could mean?
- Were any of these signs new to you?
- What sign do you see most often?
- Do you like the idea of using worldly things to remind you of your faith?
- Will you use these signs to remind you of your faith?
- If you see other road signs, do you think you could come up with an alternate faith reminder for those?
After you finish the activity, process it with these or similar questions:
- Did you like the warm fuzzies?
- How did it make you feel when someone gave you one?
- How did you feel when you gave one away?
- Can you see how giving a warm fuzzy is like sharing the love of God with others?
- Are there other ways you can share the love of God?