How to Use Object Lessons

1. Choose the idea you want to illustrate and find an object that can represent that idea.
2. Plan every step for using the object lesson carefully in advance.
---Make an outline of the required steps.
---Keep the demonstration simple.
---Do not digress from the main ideas.
3. Practice using the object to illustrate the truth until it is smooth.
4. Rehearse your demonstration with a “guinea pig” if possible. Try to find someone around the same age as the intended audience.
5. Tell a story the listener can relate to along with the object lesson. Stories have an emotional impact on the listener and provide a means by which younger children, who think in very concrete terms can identify with the truth.
6. Be sure every member of class can see demonstration.
7. Check frequently to make sure the demonstration is understood.
8. Keep summarizing as you go along.
9. Don’t hurry the lesson or drag out the lesson.
10. Keep the punch line to the very end and build the suspense if you can. Make sure your draw the connection between the object and the idea.
11. Resist the temptation to explain all the deep symbolism you've been able to uncover. The power of an object lesson is in its simplicity. One of the quickest ways to ruin an object lesson is try to make it more than it is. Make just one truth visible to your students - that's enough. Be sure that all details are authentic.
12. Remember that it's the Holy Spirit, not your object lesson, that instructs and changes students. Never use a visual aid because you are caught short. They must work for you, not instead of you. Remember: They are a means to an end, not an end in themselves