Kids Devo Idea: Controlling Your Anger

Last Sunday night, we were excited to host the K-6 devotional for 9th Avenue. We always enjoy having these young people and their families in our home.

I found an idea for a devotional on anger, adapted it quite a lot, and taught it to the precious children. I thought you might find it a helpful idea to have for a family devotional or a children’s devo. It combines a pretty standard science project with (hopefully) a much-needed Biblical thought.

Items Needed

In the picture above, you see what you need. But in case you can’t see the picture clearly, here’s a list.

Vinegar

Baking soda

Food coloring (not required, but it helps)

Spoon

Large pan

Large-mouth jar

The Devotional

Start by talking about how emotions are given to us by God. He created us with the range of emotions we all feel, such as happiness and sadness. Then, talk about how one of those emotions we all have is anger.

Ask: “Is it okay to be angry?” Of course, the answer is “yes!” We took the time to talk about when it is actually a good thing to be angry, such as when we see sin, or when we see someone hurting someone else.

Then ask, “Have you ever struggled to control your anger?” It’s good at this point to admit that we have all done that. But then talk about how, when we do not control our anger, it can lead to all sorts of messy problems. We say things we should not say, and we can even harm other people.

This is when you bring out the “science experiment” (I had it hidden behind a chair up to this point).

Put the jar in the middle of the pan and talk about how the pan is going to play a very important role in just a minute.

Next, fill the jar about 3/4 up with vinegar. If you have it available, add some food coloring, just so the kids can see it better. Take a moment and talk about how the vinegar represents our anger. It is okay to have it, but notice that it is controlled.

Now for the fun part. Talk about how we can easily let our anger get out of control. Take a heaping spoonful of baking soda and put it in the vinegar. Of course, most of the kids have seen this before, but they still love watching it “boil” over the jar and filling the pan.

Here’s the point: talk about the pan. I asked what would have happened if we had not had the pan there. The kids talked about how the rug would have been messed up, or how the “stuff” would have just gone everywhere.

Encourage them with these answers, then talk about how the pan represents this one fact: God has given us anger, but He has given us many ways to control our anger. It might be prayer. It might be talking with others. There are a lot of these controls He has given to us, but it is up to us to use them.

Once you’ve made that point, teach them Ephesians 4:26: “Be ye angry and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” (If you are familiar with “Hannah’s Hundred,” you might want to memorize the little song that goes with this verse and teach it to the kids.)

So, there you go. It takes almost no preparation time, but I believe seeing this experiment and you leading a good discussion will encourage the kids that anger is okay, but that uncontrolled anger is not.

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AUTHOR: Adam Faughn