Human Responses
Week 74
We respond to many sounds
A precious part of our humanity is that we become aware, we recognize (or are affected) and we respond to the world around us. Through our senses, we touch, smell, taste, hear, and move responding to what’s around us in a variety of ways. God has endowed us with the ability to respond in ways that are well beyond any animal. Animals typically do not exhibit any responses to what they see, hear, touch, and taste outside the realm of their survival. We, of course, have many responses to the world around us.
Point to emphasize
Some sounds are so pleasant to us. It is always pleasant to hear children singing songs about God and His creation.
Sample verse
Ephesians 5:19 “Speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.”
Sample content and conversation with children
We have been discovering how God made us so differently than the animals. Now we will discover that God made us so that we have different responses to the sounds we hear.
- Today, we are going to talk about how God made us so that we have different responses to the sounds we hear.
- [Play audio #1 (baby laughing).] How do you feel when you hear this? [Let the children respond.] I feel happy when I hear this baby laughing. We all love to hear a baby laugh. It makes us happy even if we don’t know the baby. If we are waiting in an office and there is someone with a baby, we smile if the baby laughs and coos.
- [Play audio #2 (pleasant sound of birds).] What are we listening to? [Let them answer.] How does it make you feel? [Let them answer.] Do you like it? Doesn’t it make you want to look for the bird that is making such a nice sound? [Let the children respond.]
- [Play audio #3 (sound of cawing of crows)]. What is causing all that noise? [Let the children respond.] How does this make you feel? [Let the children respond.] How would you feel if this woke you up in the morning? Would you plug your ears and say, “STOP”? Some birds make pleasant sounds that we enjoy hearing while other birds may make sounds that are not pleasant at all.
- This is one of my favorite sounds. [Play video #1 (children singing hymns).] Hearing children singing in children’s meetings or at home is so pleasant and makes us happy. Who sings these kind of songs at home? [Let them talk about singing in the car or at home.]
- Many animals hear far better than us, but their hearing is used for hunting food or to warn them when an enemy is close by. [Show picture #1 (owl).] Did you know that owls can hear very well, even better than us? An owl that is high up in the tree can even hear a tiny mouse that is rustling two feet below the snow [show picture #2]. When the owl hears a sound, it doesn’t think about whether the sound makes it happy or sad, it just listens so that it can get food.
- Most animals in the wild would be scared away if they heard people singing. Other animals might be curious about it, but animals do not have the joy of singing as we do.
- I am so glad that God made me in this way! We react to different sounds. We can talk about how we like certain sounds and don’t like other sounds. We especially love singing to our God. Hearing songs about God and the Bible makes us happy.
Songs
Singing, Praying, Praising, Thanking
Suggested activity
Can play “Guess the Sound”: Play short clips of a variety of sounds and see if the children can guess what it is (e.g. animal sounds, paper crinkling, water, clapping, rain, cooking sounds, etc.)
Audios
#1: Baby Laughing (download audio)
#2: Pleasant sound of birds (download audio)
#3: Cawing of crows (download audio)
Video
#1: Children singing hymns
(https://www.youtube.com/embed/aXEaLrtiVKA?rel=0)
Pictures
#1: Owl (1)
#2: Owl (2)
