Abraham and Lot

The LORD told Abraham to go to a land that the LORD would show him, and so Abraham took his wife Sarah, and his nephew Lot with him. And the LORD promised Abraham that He would give the land to his children. But there was a famine in the land and so Abraham went down to Egypt, instead of staying where the LORD had sent him. And Lot went with them. And after a time Abraham left Egypt with his wife and all that he had, and Lot went with them.

They traveled to a place called Bethel, where there was an altar that Abraham had built before, and there Abraham called on the name of the LORD. Lot also had flocks of sheep, and herds of cattle and tents, and Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver and in gold. But the land was not large enough for all of them to live together because Abraham and Lot had so much, and so quarreling began between the Abraham's herdsmen and Lot's herdsmen. So Abraham said to Lot, "Let there be no quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and my herdsmen." So they each took their belongings and separated. Abraham gave Lot the choice to go where he wanted and Abraham went in the other direction. Lot chose the best lands in the cities of the plain, and put his tent up towards the city of Sodom.

And the LORD said to Abraham after Lot was separated from him "Lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and to the west. For all this land that you see, I will give to you, and to your children forever. And I will make your children as many as the dust of the earth.
And Abraham built an altar to the Lord.

For activities you could make any number of sheep crafts using paper plates, cardboard cutouts, etc. and gluing on cotton balls.
You could make sheep mobiles.
You could demonstrate what it is like to live in tents.
Use cardboard boxes of different sizes and help the children build an altar and demonstrate how Abraham gave thanks to the Lord.

Sing “Father Abraham” with the children.

The story of Abraham shows how important it is to place your trust in the Lord. He will always keep his promise and will take care of you. We are very blessed.

Psalm 78:4-7
We will not hide these truths from our children but will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD. We will tell of his power and the mighty miracles he did ... so the next generation might know them -- even the children not yet born -- that they in turn might teach their children. So each generation can set its hope anew on God, remembering his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.

Abraham and Sarah

In October we learned about Abraham and Sarah. God told Abraham that one day he and Sarah would be parents, even though they were old and had no children.
God wasn't sure that Abraham understood, so He took him outside. The whole night sky was full of stars, so many in fact that he would never be able to count them. Then God said, "That is how many children you will have".
One day three visitors came to Abraham's house. One of the men spoke and said, "I will come back to see you at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son."
She and Abraham did have a son and named him Isaac.

There are many activities that will go with this lesson. You could have color sheets of the stars in the sky; of Abraham and Sarah; of the three visitors; and of the new baby Isaac.
You can make a mobile of stars.

You could lead the class in the song “Father Abraham” to go with the lesson.

Pharaoh has a Dream

Pharaoh dreamed he was standing by the Nile River, when out of the river there came up seven fat cows. And after them, seven skinny cows came up out of the river and stood beside those on the riverbank. And the skinny cows ate up the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.
He fell asleep again and had a second dream: Seven healthy heads of grain were growing on a single stalk. Then seven thin heads of grain sprouted—and the thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy heads of grain. Then Pharaoh woke up; it had been a dream.

The next morning he sent for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt and told them his dreams, but no one could tell him what the dreams meant.
Then the chief cupbearer told Pharaoh how Joseph had told him and the baker what their dreams meant when they were in jail, and that he had been correct. So Pharaoh sent for Joseph from the jail. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream, and no one can tell me what it means. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it." Joseph told Pharaoh that he could not do it, but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires. So Pharaoh told Joseph about the dreams.
Then Joseph told Pharaoh, "Both of your dreams are the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows and the seven good heads of grain are seven good years. The seven skinny cows and the seven thin heads of grain are seven years of famine. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the good years in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ruin the land.”
Joseph told Pharaoh to look for a wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. He said they should collect all the food from these good years that are coming and store up the grain to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine.

The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "You shall be in charge of my palace, and all my people are to obey to your orders. Only I will be greater than you."
So Joseph was put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed him in fine linen robes and put a gold chain around his neck. He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command. So Joseph was put him in charge of the whole land of Egypt.

During the seven good years the land produced plentifully. Joseph collected all the food produced in those seven good years in Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he put the food grown in the fields surrounding it. Joseph stored up huge quantities of grain; it was so much that he stopped keeping records.
The seven good years in Egypt came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the other lands, but in the whole land of Egypt there was food. When all Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph and do what he tells you."
When the famine had spread over the whole country, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, because the famine was so bad all through Egypt. And all the countries came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was so bad.

Next time we will find out what happened to Joseph’s family during the famine.

We have color pages of Joseph overseeing the storage of the grain during the good years.
Pictures of grain and cows can be brought to help illustrate the dreams. If you have access to real grain, you might bring some to show those who have never seen grain before.

You could have cookies or cakes and tell how they are made from wheat flour.

During prayer time you can thank God for watching over us during good times and bad times.

Joseph Goes to Jail

After Joseph was sold by his brothers to the Ishmaelites, he was taken to Egypt where he was put in charge of the house of Potiphar, who was one of Pharaoh's officials. Potiphar trusted Joseph.
But one day Potiphar’s wife told a lie about Joseph. Does this sound familiar? Remember Joseph’s brothers told a lie about him also.
Joseph was put in jail. But while Joseph was in jail, the Lord was with him and he was favored by the warden. The warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.
Sometime later the Pharaoh became angry with his cupbearer and his baker and they were both put in the same jail where Joseph was being held.
One night the cupbearer had a dream and the baker also had a dream. Joseph saw that they were sad and asked them what was wrong. They told Joseph that they had both had dreams and there was no one to tell them what the dreams meant. Joseph asked them “Does not the telling of the meanings of the dreams belong to God?” Then he asked them to tell him their dreams.
So the cupbearer told Joseph his dream and Joseph told him the meaning of the dream. Then he asked him to remember him when the dream was shown to be true, and to mention him to Pharaoh so he would be released from the jail. When the baker saw the favorable meaning of the cupbearer’s dream, he asked for the meaning of his dream to be told to him also. Joseph told him, but his dream did not have a good meaning.
The dream of the cupbearer came true and he was put in the position he held before he was sent to jail, but he did not tell the Pharaoh about Joseph. The baker’s dream also came true and he was killed, just as in his dream.

We learned that several times people told lies about Joseph, and through it all Joseph is faithful to God. He does not understand why the things are happening to him.
We have people that we know that tell lies about people and sometimes it seems like God does not even notice, but God always knows what is happening to his children. And what the people who tell the lies don’t understand is that God takes these bad times and uses them in His own special way for good.
I know about people who had people tell lies about them, and even though we may think that God has forgotten about us, He has special things in mind. He knows all about our situation and he has plans for us. We just need to stay faithful to God and wait for Him to work things out in His own time. And we must also remember that His time is not always our timing, but He will work things out.

For activities we had pages to color of the story. We sang songs and had snacks. I always send the color sheets home with the children and they can tell the story to their parents.

Suggestions for snacks: Someone could be the “Cupbearer” and pass out cups of juice or Kool-aid. Someone else could be the “Baker” and serve cookies or cupcakes.

Other suggestions: Have the children play the parts of the characters and act out the story.
Talk about dreams and have the children tell about dreams that they have had.

Joseph and his Coat of Many Colors

Joseph was the story for this week. We learned about Joseph and his brothers and how he was loved so much by his father and envied by his brothers. We learned of the coat that Joseph’s father gave him. We learned how the brothers sold him and put blood on his coat and gave the coat to their father and told their father that Joseph was killed, and this made their father very sad.

The kids remembered the story very well and were able to tell me what happened to Joseph and what the brothers did to Joseph, what they did with the coat, what they told their dad had happened, and how it made him feel.

Discuss how it is wrong to tease others and that teasing makes others feel bad and mad and want to hurt other people. Let them know that it is not right to do like the brothers and hurt others even if they have made you feel bad.

We could all learn from this. This world is not fair! Bad things happen to good people. But when we take matters into our own hands as the brothers did, we take away from God the chance to take care of us and work out our problems so they can be used for His glory. We should always trust in God and let Him handle things His way, for His way is always the best way. Joseph trusted in God and God used him in a special way. Next lesson will show us how.

To help illustrate the story as I told it, I used a worksheet that I pre-colored that used colors to describe the feelings of the people in the lesson. I also gave each child a copy so they could color along with the story. I also used another color sheet of Joseph and his brothers at the well.

For crafts I have taken paper dolls in the shape of a young boy and printed out one for each child and cut them out. Then the kids glued them onto construction paper. I made a template for a coat for Joseph and then cut out the coats from scraps of material I had using the template I made. (A quilter always has leftover scraps.) The kids glued the coats onto the Joseph doll. If you don’t have material scraps, you could use leftover brightly colored wrapping paper. You could also cut out a head-covering for your “Joseph” out of the fabric or paper.

You can also make cards for memory verses by writing the verse on construction paper that has been cut into pieces about the size of large index cards. Then let the child glue a coat onto the card next to the verse.
Another idea is to cut cards out in the shape of a coat and write the memory verse on the card.

“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”
- Romans 8:28

“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” – Proverbs 1:10

David and Goliath…

is the lesson I will be teaching on this week.
I like to have a short story and a craft and a game each week. Since most of the little ones are between 2 to 5 years old, they have a really short attention span. We also sing little songs. Sometimes I use tunes that they recognize and make up new lyrics for the song that tells the story. This is fun and easy for them to understand.

The craft I have for them is small booklets that I made with the story inside and 3 or 4 pictures to color. Then we staple the pages together and put their names on the back of the book.

A couple of weeks ago I told the story of “The Lost Sheep” and I made copies of sheep and glued them to small cards. Then I labeled one of them “Lost Sheep” and added to the cards. I mixed them up and laid them out on the table. One at a time the kids turned the cards over to try to find the “Lost Sheep”. They had fun trying to find the “Lost Sheep”.

I thought about using the same idea with David and Goliath. I will put Goliath on several cards and David on one and see if they can find David. Or, I will make two pictures of several things in the story (David, Goliath, stones, lunches, a sling, etc. and put on cards for a game of “Concentration”.

I have a great group of kids. Just when I think I’m not getting anything through to them, they surprise me by telling me the story. They always remember more than I thought. I love working with the kids.

Remember this:
"Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way."~ Unknown ~