Abraham and Isaac

Passage:

Familiarize yourself with this passage:

Genesis 21-22
Just as God promised, Abraham and Sarah had a baby boy in their old age. They named his Isaac, because he brought laugher to their life. As he grew, he was dearly loved by Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac remained their only son. When Isaac was young, God came to Abraham and tested him. God told Abraham to take Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. The next morning, Abraham set out to obey the command of God. He took Isaac up a mountain, set up and alter and piled it with wood. When Isaac asked his father where the lamb for the offering was, Abraham told Isaac that God would provide the lamb. Then, Abraham tied up his son and laid him on the altar. Just as Abraham raised a knife in the air to kill his son, God stopped him. Abraham had passed the test. Now God knew that Abraham truly loved God because he was willing to give God the most precious thing in his life. Just then God provide a ram in a bush as a sacrifice instead of Isaac. They sacrificed that ram and worshiped God together on the mountain.

Object Lesson:

Altar

Supplies Needed:
·         A bunch of small pillows or foam mats
·         A small bundle of flat sticks
·         Large bag or box
·         The smallest child from your class (you do not need to tell him/her before hand)
Direction:
1.       Put all of your pillows/mats and sticks in your large bag/box, with the sticks on the bottom.
2.       When you sit down for story time, make sure that the kids are far enough back from you that you have space to set up your altar.
3.       As you tell your story, take one pillow/mat out of your bag at a time, placing it on the floor in front of you and the children. Continue taking the pillows/mats out and pile them on top of each other until you have an altar.
4.       After you have you altar constructed, when you get to the part of the story when Isaac says, “We have the fire and the wood for the offering, but where is the lamb?”, then take out the bundle of sticks and place it on top of the altar.
5.       When you talk about Abraham placing Isaac onto the altar, take your smallest child and place them on top of the alter (You can arrange the sticks so that the child is not actually laying on the sticks, but the sticks are around the side of the child.)
6.       Take the child off when God stops Abraham in the story.

 Memory Verse:

Genesis 22:14
So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.

 Jesus Connection:

God still requires a sacrifice to take care of our issue of sin. We all have an issue with sin (Romans 3:23) and it has to be punished by death! (Romans 6:23a). The sin has to be covered with blood. (Hebrews 9:22) Just as God provided a ram for Abraham and Isaac, God has also provided the perfect sacrifice as a substitute for our sins. The blood sacrifice that God has provided for us is Jesus Christ. If we believe in Jesus, he becomes our sacrifice, his blood covers our sins, and we can have eternal life (Romans 6:23b)!

Songs:

“Father Abraham”

Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let’s all praise the Lord
Right arm!
….Left arm!
….Right foot!
….Left foot!
….Chin up!
….Turn around!
….Sit down!

“Jesus loves the little children”

Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world; Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in his sight; Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Jesus died for all the children,
All the children of the world; Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in his sight; Jesus died the little children of the world.

Jesus rose for all the children,
All the children of the world; Red and yellow, black and white,
They are precious in his sight; Jesus arose the little children of the world.

Jesus wants the little children,
To be careful what they do; Honor father, mother dear
Keep their hearts so full of cheer; Then he'll take them home to glory by and by.

Games and Activities:

Pictionary

Supplies Needed:
·         Paper
·         Pencils
Directions:
1.       Divide the children into 2 or more teams. Provide each team with paper and pencils.
2.       Have one volunteer from each team come to you and tell them an object or scene from the Bible stories about Abraham.
3.       The children run back to their group and try to draw a picture of the object or scene. (Assure the kids that stick figures are fine!)
4.       The first team to correctly guess the word or phrase wins that round.
Word/Phrase Bank:
·         Abraham
·         Sarah
·         Isaac
·         Sheep
·         Alter
·         Pillar of salt
·         Three visitors
·         Stars
·         Isaac on the alter
·         Ect…

Crafts:

Cotton Ball Sheep

Supplies Needed:
·         Toilet paper tubes
·         Cotton balls
·         Glue
·         Sheep head print out (see below)
·         Googly eyes
·         Pipe cleaners (cut into 1 inch segments; 4 per child)
·         Scissors
·         Masking tape
Directions:
1.       Give each child a toilet paper tube, some cotton balls, a sheep head, two googly eyes and 4 pipe cleaners.
2.       Give each child a piece of masking tape and have them cover one end of the toilet paper tube. Have the kids put glue all over the outside of the toilet paper tube, including on the masking tape. Then, taking cotton balls, apply them to the glue until the entire tube is covered. (If the kids pull the cotton balls apart just a little, their sheep will be fluffier!)
3.       Have each child cut out their sheep head. Glue the googly eyes to the sheep head. Glue the sheep head to the cotton balls on the open side of the toilet paper tube.
4.       Turn the sheep upside down. Put 4 dabs of glue into the cotton balls and insert the pipe cleaners into the glue. Squeeze the cotton balls around the pipe cleaners to make sure that the glue sticks. Allow several minutes for the glue to dry.

Coloring Page:

Sodom and Gomorrah

Passage:

Familiarize yourself with this passage:

Genesis 19:1-30
After God left Abraham, he sent two angels to Sodom and Gomorrah. When the angels arrived, they found Lot sitting at the gate of the city. When Lot saw the angels, he rushed to greet them and urged them to stay at his house, even though they wanted to stay in the center of the city. After the angels entered Lot’s house, the men of the city started pounding on the door, demanding that Lot send the visitors out so they could do evil things with them. After striking the men of the city with blindness, the angels took Lot, his wife, and his two daughters and fled the city. As they were leaving the city, the angels commanding Lot’s family not to look back. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by raining fire and brimstone down on the cities. Lot’s wife could not help herself and looked back. As she looked back she turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters escaped to the safety of the caves in the hills. Thus, God saved Abraham’s nephew from destruction.

Object Lesson:

Supplies needed:
• 50 of any small object (beads, pennies, marbles, etc…)
Directions:
When you start your story, spread your 50 items out on the floor in front of the kids. (Remind them not to touch, just watch.) Explain to them that last week we saw how Abraham asked God if he would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for 50 people, all the way down to 10 people. God was willing to save Sodom and Gomorrah if he found only 10 good people there. Separate 10 items from the pile of 50. When God’s angels showed up in Sodom and Gomorrah, they found Lot, Lot’s wife, and Lot’s two daughters. That is only 4 people! Separate 4 items from the pile. Explain how four is a lot less than 10, so God destroyed the cities.

Memory Verse:

John 10:28
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Jesus Connection:

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Just like the men of Sodom and Gomorrah, we are all full of sin. Fortunately for us, Jesus has reach down into our lives and is leading us, by the hand, out of that lifestyle of sin. And we should not look back! He wants us to keep our eyes fixed on him, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

Songs:

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

I Will Sing of the Mercies of the Lord
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever
I will sing, I will sing.
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever.
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord.

Games and Activities:

Erase the Verse (This game is best suited for confident readers)

Supplies needed:
• Dry erase board or chalk board
• Dry erase marker or chalk
• Paper towel or other eraser
Directions:
1. Write the memory verse on the board.
2. Reading it off the board, have the kids recite their memory verse together.
3. After you have read the verse through completely, erase on word. Repeat the verse, remembering to say the missing word.
4. Each time you complete the verse, erase another word and say the verse again. Do this until you have erased the entire verse and the kids have it memorized!

Follow the Leader

Directions:
1. Have the kids stand in one line. The person at the front of the line is the leader.
2. As the children walk around the room, following the leader, the leader can make motions/actions (clapping hands, hopping on one foot, waving hands in the air….). Whatever actions the leader makes, the other children in the line must also make.
3. After a short time, rotate the leader to give each child a chance to be the leader.

Crafts:

A Pillar of Salt

Supplies Needed:
• Toilet paper tubes
• Glue
• Cotton swabs
• Salt
• Googly eyes (the sticker ones will work best here!)
• Black, brown, red, and yellow pipe cleaners
• Push pins
Directions:
1. Poke holes in the top of toilet paper roll with push pins. (You may want to have this part pre done for younger kids.
2. Allow the kids to choose a color pipe cleaner. Push some pipe cleaners through the holes and twirl them to make curls for hair.
3. Add googly eyes.
4. Smear glue all over the toilet paper roll using a cotton swab.
5. Holing the toilet paper roll over a piece of paper, pour salt all over the glue.

Coloring Page:

God Visits Abraham

Passage:

Familiarize yourself with this passage:

Genesis 18:1-33
One day, while sitting under the shade of some great trees, Abraham received three very special visitors. (One of them was the Lord!) As Abraham served the visitors dinner, God told Abraham many things that were going to happen. One of those things was that Sarah was going to have a baby in one year. Sarah did not believe this could happen because both she and Abraham were so old, so she laughed to herself. But, God promised that it would be so. As he was leaving, God also told Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of all the wicked and evil that those people were doing. This greatly concerned Abraham because his nephew lot lived there. Several times Abraham questioned God about the number of good people that were in the cities. Finally God told Abraham that he would not destroy the cities if he found 10 good people in them, and then God left.

Object lesson:

Supplies needed:
• 50 of any small object (beads, pennies, marbles, etc…)
Directions:
When you start your story, spread your 50 items out on the floor in front of the kids. (Remind them not to touch, just watch.) When you get to the part of the story where Abraham asks if God will destroy the cities if he finds 50 righteous people, point out that you have 50 items on the floor. That is a lot! Continue through the story and as Abraham decreases the number, take away items from the floor. Finally you will have 10 items left. Ten is not very many, yet God was still willing to save Sodom and Gomorrah if he found only 10 good people there.

Memory Verse:

Genesis 18:13-14
Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Jesus Connection:

1. Second Peter 1:4 says that Jesus has “given us his very great and precious promises.” When Jesus gives us his promise, we can be sure that he will carry through with that promise, no matter how high the odds are stacked against it! (2 Corinthians 1:20)
2. Jesus does not wish that any should perish, but that all should come to a saving knowledge of him. (Matthew 18:14) Jesus seeks us, because he desperately wants a relationship with us. However, if we continue to live in our sin, our sin must be punished, and the punishment for that sin is death (Proverbs 10:16; Romans 6:23) Great news is that God promises us eternal life through Jesus Christ!

Songs

“Father Abraham”

Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let’s all praise the Lord
Right arm!
….Left arm!
….Right foot!
….Left foot!
….Chin up!
….Turn around!
….Sit down!

“God is so Good”

God is so good.
God is so good.
God is so good,
He’s so good to me.

He answers prayer.
He answers prayer.
He answers prayer,
He’s so good to me

He loves us so.
He loves us so.
He loves us so,
He’s so good to me.

Games and Activities

Hospitality

Supplies Needed:
• Paper plates, napkins, cups, and plastic ware (enough for each child to have one set)
• Your snack for the day (perhaps something special you have prepared just for them!)
Directions:
1. Explain to the children that in Abraham’s days, if you had unexpected visitors, you had to be hospitable to them, no matter what time of day, or how many guests there were. Abraham was hospitable to his visitors by preparing a meal for them, from scratch! (He had to go out and kill his goat or cow before he could cook it!) Today everyone is going to learn one way to by hospitable by preparing the dinner table for lots of guests.
2. Have all the children stand around a table. Pass out all your dishes to as many kids as possible. Tell the children that they have to work together to make sure that everyone has a full set of dishes in front of them. Encourage them to make everyone’s place look nice.
3. After everyone’s place has been set, tell the children that this is one simple way they can help their mom and dad be hospitable when guests come for a visit.
4. Another way they can help is by serving the food! One at a time, have the children come to you to be served a snack. After their plate has been filled, encourage the child to find one of the other kids to serve. When they bring the snack plate to the next child, that child will take the full plate, set it down in front of them, and then take the empty plate to be filled and serve someone else. Repeat this process until all the children have had a chance to serve one another and everyone has a plate of snack.

Crafts

Abraham’s Family Tree

*This is a group craft!! This craft is intended to be done together as a group, and hung on a wall in your class room so that you can add to in future story times.
Supplies Needed:
• Several precut, generic paper doll people (just the body shapes; the kids will fill in the rest)
• Small strips of paper, big enough to write the Bible character names on
• Colored pencils/markers/crayons
• Tape (or another adhesive)
Directions:
1. Give each child a blank paper doll. Explain to the children that you will be creating Abraham’s family using these paper dolls.
2. Have some of the children draw girls, and have some of the children draw boys.
3. If they finish quickly, allow them to make more than one.
4. When everyone has made at least one paper doll, collect them all and bring the children back to your story area.
5. Select one of the boy paper dolls. Tape it to the wall.
6. Using a small strip of paper, write Abraham’s name on it. Attach it to the wall under Abraham.
7. Explain to the children that God continued to promise Abraham that his family would grow. One day it would be so large that he would not even be able to count everyone! Tell the children that each week, when you meet a new Bible character, you will place a new paper doll on the wall and you will watch Abraham’s family grow together.
8. Store the remainder of your paper dolls in a safe place until next week.
9. If you run out of paper dolls, you can always have the children make more at the beginning of class time, as you are waiting for everyone to arrive, or at the end, when you are waiting for the parents to come!

Coloring Page

Abram and Lot

Passage:

Familiarize yourself with this passage:

Genesis 13:1-18
Abram left home, just like God told him to. He took his wife with him, and all of his personal belongings. Lot, his nephew, also went with him. They all traveled from place to place and along the way Abram became wealthy. Lot also gained a great deal of wealth.  After some time, there was not enough land for all of Abram’s and Lot’s herds to eat together. Lot’s herdsmen started arguing and fighting with Abram’s herdsmen. Abram proposed Lot a deal. Lot could choose which way he wanted to move next. If Lot chose one way, Abram would take the other. Lot chose a way that looked greener and nicer, toward Sodom and Gomorrah. After Lot left, God renewed his promise to Abram of many descendants and added that all the land that he saw before him would belong to his descendants forever.

Object Lesson:

Supplies Needed:
• Adult helpers
• Lots of balloons
Directions:
1. Before starting the story, divide your class into two groups. Name one group Abraham’s camp. Name the other group Lot’s camp.
2. 2.  As you are telling the story, have your adult helpers blow up as many balloons as fast as they can. When the balloons are blown up, hand them to the children and tell them to hold the balloons.
3. After a while, there are lots of balloons on each side. (Just like Abraham and Lot both had lots of animals.) Show the kids how quickly the balloons grew and how much more space each camp now takes up than it did before.
4. Ask the kids in Lot’s camp where they could go to find more space for all their balloons; have them move to that location.
5. Tell the kids in Abraham’s group that the rest of the space in the room is for them, just like God promised all the land to Abraham.

Memory verse:

Genesis 13:14b-15
“Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the lad that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.”

Jesus Connection:

In Joshua 1:5, God reminds his people Israel that he will never leave them or forsake them. Jesus reminds us, his children, of the same thing in Matthew 28:18-20 when he says “Go and make disciples of all nations….and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” If we obey Jesus when he tells us to go, he will be there with us the entire way. He will not let us travel by ourselves or to a place where he is not. He is always with us!

Songs

“Father Abraham”

Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let’s all praise the Lord
Right arm!
….Left arm!
….Right foot!
….Left foot!
….Chin up!
….Turn around!
….Sit down!

“God is so Good”

God is so good.
God is so good.
God is so good,
He’s so good to me.

He answers prayer.
He answers prayer.
He answers prayer,
He’s so good to me

He loves us so.
He loves us so.
He loves us so,
He’s so good to me.

Games and Activities:

Let Lot Choose

Supplies needed:
• Candy (enough for each child to have one)
• Small random items-rubber band bracelets, erasers, marbles, small toys (enough for each child to have one)
Directions:
1. Divide the kids evenly into two groups. Label one group “Abram” and the other group “Lot”. Have each group stand in a straight line.
2. Have the first Abram and the first Lot from each line comes forward. Show them that there are two options to choose from, candy or other items (whatever you brought). Instruct Abram to say to Lot, “You choose first. Whatever you choose, I will have the other.”
3. Let Lot choose between the two options. If Lot chooses candy, then he can have a piece of candy. If he chooses the other pile, he can have one item from the other pile. Abram gets one item from whichever pile Lot does not choose.
4. After everyone has gone, ask the Lots how they felt getting to choose which prize they wanted. Ask the Abrams how they felt letting the Lots choose first.
5. If you have time after all the children have had a chance to collect one item, line them back up and switch roles!

Crafts:

Passports:

Supplies Needed:
• Light colored construction paper
• Crayons or markers
• Scissors
• Staplers
• Stickers or stamps and stamp pads
Directions:
1. Explain to the children that today you will be making passports. Abram traveled a long way, through many countries. Today when we travel between countries, we have to have a passport.
2. Give each child a light colored piece of construction paper. Fold it in half the long way and cut along the fold.
3. Fold each of the halves in half again, this time the short way. Put the two pieces of paper together so one piece is inside the other.
4. Staple the pages together at the fold, making the binding for the passport. (Help younger children with this part!)
5. On the front cover, write the word “Passport” (Again, you may have to help younger children with this task. You can also write the word on the board for the children to copy in their own writing.)
6. On the first inside page have the children write their name and draw a picture of themselves.
7. Finally, let the children put stamps and/or stickers on the other pages in their book. Interact with the children and ask them what places their stamps represent. (If you make a sample passport in advance, you can share with the kids some of the places that you have been that are represented by your stamps!)

Coloring Page