Lesson on Faith and Obedience - Noah's Ark

This story happened a long time ago, God became very sad about His world.  The people were bad and unkind.  The only good people left were Noah and his family.  God told Noah that a great flood was coming, so Noah and his three sons went to work building an enormous ark.  The cruel people laughed at Noah but he did not mind.

When the ark was finished, God told Noah to round up and take on board pairs of all animals that lived on earth.  Two elephants, two zebras, two lions - two of every kind.  "Hurry up!" Noah said.  "The rain is beginning to fall."  Then the rain began to fall harder and harder, pitter, patter, until the ark was afloat.

It rained for forty days and forty nights and the water of the flood covered the whole earth.  At last, the rain stopped.  Noah sent out a dove and it returned with a green leaf on its beak.  This told Noah that the flood was going down and there was some dry land.

The ark gently came to rest on a mountain top.  Then Noah opened the door and all the birds and animals came out.  Noah thanked God for keeping his family and the animals safe.  God made a rainbow in the sky as a sign of hope and promise that He will not destroy the earth again by water.

Read the whole story of Noah and the Ark:  Genesis 6:1-9:17

KIDS DISCUSSION:
1.  Why were Noah and his family saved when the great rains came? How about the other people, why were they not saved?
2.  How do you think Noah and his family felt when the rains kept coming down day after day? What would it have been like to have been shut up with so many animals for so long?
3.  Do you know why God gave the first rainbow?  Does God keep His promises?

MEMORY VERSE:  Hebrew 11:7
By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not seen prepared an ark for the saving of his household.

KIDS' ACTIVITY
Make a Noah and the Ark Story Book.  Color the pages that can be printed from this page then staple them together.  Use it in telling the story to the kids.

Play Animal Sounds.  Tell the name of animals that can be found in Noah's ark and the children will say the sound it makes or vice versa.

Color an Ark and a Rainbow.  Print out the template from this page.  This activity helps teach the kids about the different colors of the rainbow.

Make an Obedience Ark:  The complete instructions for this activity can be found on this page.  Print the template, ask the kids to cut out strips of brown paper, then glue the strips on the ark.  After the glue has dried, ask the kids to write about things they can do to show how they can obey God.

Lesson from the Trees

I have a short story to tell you kids.  While traveling on a train, I looked out of the window and saw an immense field wherein planted were hundreds, yes thousands, of little trees. I asked the man who sat beside me, "What are those little trees for?" He said, "They are growing those little trees to reforest the desolate, burned over regions of the Adirondacks." I said to myself, "That is just what we are doing in my church. We are growing girls and boys to reforest the needy places of the earth."

I asked, "How long do they keep those little trees there?" "Not very long," said he, "just long enough to give them a good start. Then they transplant them." Again I said to myself, "That is exactly what we do. We keep the girls and boys only a little while, then they are transplanted."

I had another question. "When they transplant these little trees how do they plant them, every-which-way?" "No, indeed," was his answer, "they are planted in rows, and close together." Exactly what we are doing in our church, I thought. We are growing our girls and boys, and we are keeping them close together, because they are such a help to one another, and there is great inspiration in numbers.

Looking out of the train window at those trees of future forests, I thought of the verse in Isaiah, "The mountains and the trees shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." I can hear the mountains and the hills of the Adirondacks singing because of the growing trees, and I hear the mountains and the hills of earth singing because of the millions of growing girls and boys who shall reforest the desolate places of earth.

Reflection:  How are little girls and boys like those little trees?  Why do little girls and boys need to go to church?  How can growing girls and boys reforest the earth?

MEMORY VERSE: Psalm 92:13

"Those planted in the house of the LORD will flourish in the courts of our God.


KIDS ACTIVITY: 
After the object lesson about trees, enjoy making this Tree Craft as demonstrated by Sarah of Sunfish Press.

Lesson on Sharing

One day, Jesus went up on a mountain with his disciples.  He looked down and saw that there were many, many people in the crowd.  Since it was already late,  Jesus said, "Give them something to eat."  The disciple Philip said, "Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough food for all of them."  The disciples thought Jesus would send them to buy food in the nearby villages.

But Jesus said, "How much food is there?  Go and see."  The disciple Andrew answered, "There is a boy with five loaves of bread and two small fishes.  But how can we feed so many people with so little food?"

Jesus said, "Make the people sit down."  The disciples told the people to sit down in the green grass.  There were about five thousand men in the crowd, and many women and children.  Jesus took the bread and fishes.  He looked up to heaven.  Then He blessed the loaves and broke them.  He handed the pieces to his disciples to give to the people.  The fishes, too, were broken and given to the people.

Though the food was only a little, and the crowd was huge, there was plenty for everyone after Jesus blessed the food.  When the people had eaten their fill, Jesus told his disciples to gather up the leftover pieces of bread and fish.  They filled 12 big baskets with the pieces that were left after everyone had eaten.

Story Reference:  John 6:1-14

REFLECTION WITH THE KIDS
1.  What would have happened if the boy brought the 5 loaves of bread and the 2 small fishes did not share his food with Jesus?
2.  What lessons can we learn from this story?  What will happen if share what we have?

MEMORY VERSE:  Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

KIDS' ACTIVITY:   
Butterfly Craft and Sharing Hands Booklet
As the kids do this Butterfly craft or Sharing Hands booklet, they will learn the concept of sharing.  Find the complete instructions for the Butterfly craft here and the Sharing Hands booklet here.  As an option, instead of using colored tissue paper for the butterfly craft, you can also use colored construction paper.