This is a (4-6) week lesson plan
written and designed by Dianne Richards of Somerville, AL. It is
designed for preschool-elementary aged children for Sunday School or
Children’s church settings. Each lesson is wrapped around one theme,
in this case Circus Days. It was designed with the intention of
helping smaller churches with financial limitations. They can be
adapted for all sizes of churches. May God richly bless in your
endeavors to teach his Word. D.A.R.
Preparation of Room
Make a circus tent by gathering
several foundation bricks: paint them colorful and line them in a semi
circle at the front of your room. This will represent the circus ring.
Gather 3-5 carpet roll tubes painting them white with stripes. Instead
of the carpet tubes you could use PVC piping, however these may cost a
little more. Secure these tubes upright by placing them into the holes
of the cement foundation bricks then stuffing paper or wads of cloth
around the posts to hold them securely. Use red and blue or other
colors of crepe paper streamers attached from ceiling (centered above
your circus ring) and twisted out to meet the top of each roll. This
will be the tent top. Helium balloons at the corners of the tent are
colorful and can be given as prizes for good behavior. A ticket booth
could set to the side (use refrigerator box painted and cut out).
Ticket booth can be used to pass out tickets (points) at the end of
the service for attendance, bringing Bible or friends, learning memory
scripture, etc. these points could be used to buy prizes such as small
toys, peanuts, popcorn, etc. at the end of the four weeks. You could
finish this series off by allowing the children to have a “clown”
Sunday. They can all come dressed as clowns and have a hotdog roast
with games after church….
The four weeks are designed as follows:
1) The Strong Man Act-Samson
2) The Lion Tamer-Daniel
3) The Man Who Was Swallowed by a Fish
and Lived to Tell About
It-Jonah
4) The Great Mind Reader-Jesus
Week number one-The Strong Man
Objectives:
To help us understand that physical strength can not get us to heaven. Although it is important to be healthy and strong our spiritual strength is far more important. To help us understand how important it is to follow God’s instructions.
Bible verse: Psalm 28:8
“The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed”
Song: “God is So Good”
Preparation of object lesson:
If you can have some exercise equipment brought in that would be great. Also a set of bar bells or weights that are very heavy. You can make a set of bar bells by using a piece of PVC piping and two brown paper bags, stuffed with paper then taped to each end of the pipe. Spray paint it black. You will act as if it is heavy.
Other items might be a large rubber snake hidden in a paper bag or a clown nose to wear while telling lesson. If you can find a poster with a picture of strong men on it to hang that would be good….learn the names of the different muscles and point them out to the kids, Biceps, Triceps, etc.
Lesson:
Have any of you ever been to a circus or seen one on television? (responses) So have I. I went to one not too long ago. It wasn’t a real big one but it sure was fun. I liked the clowns best. They can be so funny. Don’t you think? A circus is a lot like a carnival in some ways. You buy tickets to see all kinds of things. I remember one time going into this small tent. I saw a lady with a big, huge, giant snake wrapped around her…(pull snake out of bag quickly)
…eweeeee. I didn’t like that too much. Then there are kissing booths and side shows like the fortune teller, and games to play like trying to break balloons by throwing darts at them and all kinds of other things to do. You can walk around for a while before the circus acts begin and look at the lions and tigers in their cages and maybe even feed an elephant some peanuts. If you’re not careful, a clown might come up to you and squeeze your ear….A circus can be a lot of fun.
What are some other circus acts we might see at a circus? (allow for several responses-strong man, lion act, elephant riders, horse riders, clowns, trapeze artists, etc) That’s right. And of course there are many more that we don’t remember right now.
Well, I am going to tell you about one circus act that I think is amazing. (point to the weights or bar bells) Do any of you know what these are? Yes, that’s right. They are barbells (weights) Would anyone like to try and pick them up? Well, let me see your muscles. I want each of you to tighten up your bicep muscles. Those are your upper arm muscles. I want to feel them and see which one of you children might be able to pick up those weights. (Go around feeling the muscles then pick one or two children to come up and attempt to lift the barbells or weights-don’t let them hurt themselves) That’s pretty hard isn’t it? You may go back to your seats. Can you imagine anyone being able to pick them up and lifting them way up over their head? Some very strong people can do that. Not me, that’s for sure.
You know, boys and girls, strength is an important skill to have. Without our strength there are a lot of things we couldn’t do. Such as open a jar of mayonnaise or hit a base ball with a bat.
Learning to be a weight lifter takes a lot of practice, it takes a lot of training, and physical growth. It doesn’t happen overnight. Sometimes it takes years before someone can pick up this much weight without hurting themselves. You must gradually build your muscles. You must grow because a 60 pound boy or girl can not lift a 300 pound weight. Did you know this person (show poster) used to be little like you at one time? It took a lot of discipline and work to get to where he is in this picture…
The Bible tells us about a man who was very strong. Can any of you tell me what his name was? (responses) That’s right, Samson. Samson was a very strong servant of God as long as he followed God’s instructions. God’s instruction was that Samson was not to cut his hair and He was not to tell anyone how he obtained his strength. It was to remain a secret. If he cut his hair he would become weak. Those seemed like silly instructions but not to God. I think God was testing Samson to see if he would obey him.
One day Samson met a very beautiful lady named Delilah. He fell in love with her. He trusted her. He decided to tell her the secret that made him so strong. Later, while he was sleeping, she carefully and quietly cut off his hair. Then she began to yell out telling him that the enemy was coming. And they were, for you see, she did not love Samson. She only pretended to love him so he could be captured. She was not a nice lady. The enemy came and Samson jumped up thinking he still had his strength, but realized it was gone. He had been tricked. He was captured and had his eyes destroyed. They blinded him. Then they threw him into prison. How sad for Samson. He now was blind and his heart was broken by the lady he loved. His strength was gone. I don’t know just how long he was there but it must have been quite a long time because his hair began to grow again. One day the enemies brought him out before a large crowd of people so they could make fun of him. He was still blind, but his strength had gradually returned and they did not know it. He was placed beside some great pillars that held up the roof of the arena everyone was in. He began to push them with all his strength. They finally fell crushing and killing many, many people including Samson. How sad that was for Samson. If he would have only listened to God in the first place and obeyed him he would not have gotten himself in the mess he was in. He would not have lost his life in that terrible crushing accident.
Did you know your Christian life is a lot like weight lifting? First, God is the source of your strength. Second, he trains you in His Word so you will be prepared for situations in life. Third, you must practice and live your life to honor God. Fourth, you must grow in God so you can face each problem. As you grow bigger many times the problems we have grow bigger too, therefore having God beside you and strengthening you daily is a must. Remember, just as Samson, you are strengthened through the power of God. Follow his guidelines and instructions and you won’t go wrong.
Craft time- barbell suckers
Give each child two dum-dum suckers and a piece of masking tape about two inches long. Have them place the dum-dum sticks end to end and then slide them together side by side. Tape around them. They now have a set of barbells to eat later.
Week number two-The Lion Tamer
Objectives:
To help us understand how important it is to follow God no-matter-what! We will have to make choices that are sometimes difficult. If we know what is right from wrong and we want to follow God no-matter-what, those decisions will come easier.
Bible Verse: Joshua 23:10
“…the Lord your God fights for you, just as he has promised”
Song: “Dare to be a Daniel”
Object Lesson Preparation:
If you can have a set of oars from a boat, that would be great. If you have one of those blow up boats made for one person that would be even better. If you are unable to get either, you can make oars or even a small boat using a refrigerator box, painted.
Lesson:
Have you ever heard this song? (Sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”) Let’s sing it together. (sing) That was great. Did you catch the words the song was saying? It says to row gently down the stream. But, did you know that isn’t always possible? Sometimes you have to row upstream against the current to get to that secret fishing spot. Have any of you ever had a chance to row a boat? Now a days most boats have small motors on them making it much easier to move around in the water. But not too long ago (show oars) these items, called oars, were the source of power needed to get the boat to go where you wanted it to go. It took a lot more work to use these than the motor. It required more strength and muscles by the person rowing in order to go upstream in the opposite direction of the water flow. Sometimes they would get tired and would have to drop their anchor and rest for awhile before continuing.
Living a Christian life in today’s world is a lot like rowing upstream in a row boat. We have to be different and act different, too, so people will know we are kind, loving, and true to God’s Word. Some people will try to give us a hard time (just like the water current), but God says, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” As we stand up for Jesus, we are blessed. That’s what that verse means. Don’t ever get discouraged; Jesus is always with you. We may have to stop and pause and pray for a moment when the going gets tough (dropping their anchor) but then He gives us more strength and power to keep going.
There was a man in the Bible that had to make a difficult choice which nearly cost him his life. He was going in the opposite direction than everyone else. Daniel was a servant for the King Nebuchadnezzar. He liked the king and the king liked Daniel. But like so many important people the king wanted everyone to notice him. A ruling was made, actually it was a law written, that ordered everyone to bow down to him at certain times of the day. No one was allowed to bow down to any other leader or god. If they were caught doing so they would be punished severely by being thrown into the lions den. Now these lions had not eaten for days. They would only feed them just enough to keep them alive. They would eat anything thrown into their den. How sad that was for someone who did not obey one of the king’s laws.
There were a few other guys who were servants of the king. They did not like Daniel. I think they were jealous of his friendship with the king. They knew Daniel prayed to his God everyday, three times a day. They were the ones who tricked the king into making the new law. He had forgotten about Daniel praying to his God. But they didn’t. They knew exactly when to stand outside Daniel’s window and look in to see him praying. For you see, Daniel knew that no-matter-what, his God came first in his life. He knew that the law made by the king was a man-made law and it did not follow God’s law. Therefore Daniel had to make a choice. And of course, he choose God’s law even if it meant being punished.
The “bad” guys stood outside Daniel’s room and waited. Sure enough, just as they suspected, he began to pray to his God. They immediately went to the king with their findings. Or how sad the king was. As soon as he realized he had been tricked he tried desperately to change the law and the punishment, but wasn’t able to. For you see, he knew if he changed the law now in order to save Daniel, the rest of the people would not respect him as a king any longer. They would think he was weak and not strong enough emotionally to be king. So, he sadly had Daniel taken to the lion’s den. He may have taken time to talk with Daniel, I’m not sure. But sadly the king watched as Daniel was thrown in.
The poor king could not sleep that night. He tossed and turned thinking about his friend. He knew he would have to change that law as soon as possible. As soon as the sun rose the next morning, the king ran to the lion’s den. He sadly called out, hoping to hear Daniel’s voice, but being sure he probably would not.
“Daniel?” called the king. “Daniel? My friend. Are your there?”
“Oh, my King!” called out Daniel
What a surprised looked came across the king’s face, I’m sure. I’m sure everyone else was surprised too. He immediately had Daniel pulled out of the den.
“Why are you still here? How did you survive the night?” asked the king.
“My God sent his angel to close the mouths of the lions. They did not harm me.” said Daniel.
The king immediately praised Daniel’s God. He ordered the men who had tricked him into making the new law to be thrown into the lion’s den. It didn’t take long for the lions to finish their lunch. What a sad ending for those men.
The king commanded everyone to worship and honor the God of Daniel.
Someday, boys and girls, we may have to make a decision to follow God’s law or man’s law. Our country has many laws and some of them do not follow what God wants us to do. So far we are not punished like the Bible day people were, but there may come a time when we will be. It is important for us to know ahead of time what we will decide to do. Will you follow man? Or will you follow God? The choice is yours.
Craft time: Lion’s mask
Each child will need a paper plate, one sheet of yellow or orange construction paper, a tongue depressor, a dark magic marker, one q-tip, scissors and a little glue and one two-inch piece of masking tape.
Have the children cut their construction paper into length strips (about three) then cut along the edges to make them look like fringe. This will be the main of the lion. They should draw the eyes, nose and mouth of the lion onto the back side of the plate. Cut out the eyes, making sure they can see out of them. Glue the yellow/orange fringe around the outside edge of the plate. At the chin of the lion they should glue or tape the tongue depressor so they can hold it up to their face. Have them practice their roars!
Week number three-The Man Who as Swallowed by a Fish and Lived to Tell About It.
Objectives:
To help us understand that God has given us all a specific job to do. We must listen for his call on our life and follow his guidance. We should never run from God. If God gives us a job to do, he will be there to help us do it.
Bible verse: Ephesians 6: 14 & 15
“Stand firm with the belt of truth around your waist, the breastplate of righteousness in place and your feet fitted with readiness from the gospel…”
Song: “Who Did? Who Did? Who Did? Who Did? Who did Swallow Jo-Jo-Jonah?”
Object lesson preparation:
Have a gold fish bowl with one goldfish in it.
Lesson:
Have any of you ever owned a fish tank? (responses) What kind of fish did you have in it? I had a fish tank once. But I didn’t take real good care of it and all my little fishy died. Shame on me…It takes a lot of care to keep it clean and the fish healthy. Do you see this fish bowl? Now this one should be easy to care for. It’s small and there is only one fish in it. Fish can be fun to watch. They can be relaxing to watch too.
Did you know there are thousands of different kinds of fish in the rivers, the ponds, the seas, and the oceans of the world? That’s a lot of kinds of fish isn’t it? This is a very small fish compared to some fish I’ve seen. Why did you know there are fish in the world that are bigger than this room? There is one fish that the scientists say is not really a fish at all, but it is very, very big, and it looks like a fish. That is the Great Blue Whale. I read in a book recently that the Great Blue Whale can be as long as 95 feet!! It can weigh over 100 tons!! Do you know how many pounds that is? That’s 200,000 pounds Its heart can weigh ½ ton by itself. That’s 1,000 pounds….Wow! Now that’s a big fish with a big heart!.
The Bible tells us of an incident that happened a long time ago about a man who was swallowed by a large fish. Can anyone tell me what his name was? (responses) That’s right. It was Jonah. Jonah loved the Lord. He told people about the Lord. Every thing seemed to be going fine for Jonah until one day God asked him to do something that was pretty scary for Jonah. God had asked him to go to a very evil town called
Ninevah. He was to go there to tell the people about God. Jonah did not want to go. He was afraid of the king and the people. They did not believe in God. They did many terrible things. It was just plain awful. But God told Jonah to go. Jonah should have known that God was in control and he was already working to make it easy for Jonah. But Jonah did not want to do this for God. Instead, he packed his bags and ran. He ran all the way to a ship yard and when no one was looking he climbed onto one of the ships and hid himself way down deep inside the ship. After a while the ship began to move, and out into the ocean it went. It wasn’t long before a great storm arose on the ocean. It tossed and tilted the ship. The men became frightened. They tossed over some of their belongings hoping to lighten the ship so it would not tip over. This did not help. Someone spotted Jonah and Jonah explained that the Lord God must be angry with him because of what he had done. It was his fault the storm was so bad. The men decided to throw Jonah over into the ocean. Maybe this would calm the Lord down and the storm would stop. So that is what they did. Over the side went Jonah. Almost as soon as he was in the water he was swallowed by a large fish. We don’t know if it was a whale but it probably was. God had placed that fish right there in the right place just at the right time to swallow Jonah. As soon as Jonah was in the water guess what happened to the storm? Yep, your right. It stopped. I’m sure the men on the ship were happy about that. But what about poor Jonah? Inside the belly of a stinky old fish.
Peeee-ewwwwww There he sat for three long days with nothing to do but think…and think some more. He didn’t have a television to watch, or a radio to listen to, or even a window to look out. It must have been dark in there, wet, slimy, and maybe cold too. What could he do but think about what he had done. He decided if he got out of this mess he put himself into he would go to Ninevah and preach the gospel to those evil people, even if it meant he would be killed. Well, what do you know. As soon as he decided that God caused the big fish to get an upset stomach and guess what he did? He threw him up!!! Out onto the beach flew Jonah. He probably didn’t smell very good. He may have had seaweed all over him. But it didn’t matter to Jonah now. He was ready to go to
Ninevah. And to Ninevah he went. Do you know what happened when he got there? Why, like I said before, God had been working, and the people were ready to hear about God. They listened to Jonah and believed him. Even the king believed him. The king ordered everyone to believe in the God of Jonah.
What a great story. You see, boys and girls, God has a plan for each one of us. He knows just the right job for us. He is preparing us and those we come in contact with so when we do what God asks us to do it will turn out right.
If you listen to God, he will guide you on the right path. He will not let you down. There’s no point in hiding from him because somehow, someway, somewhere, he will get your attention, just like he did with Jonah. It would have been a lot easier on Jonah if he would have done what God asked him to do in the first place. And the same is true for us. Listen when God speaks and follow his call.
Craft time- fishing game
Give each child an envelope, two half sheets of colored construction paper that you have drawn or printed several simple fish on, some paper clips, a new pencil (not sharpened), a magic marker, a pair of scissors, a round disc magnet with a hole in the center, and about 15” of yarn or string.
Have the children cut out the fish and put one paper clip on the nose of each one. Tie the string to the pencil (eraser end-it won’t slip off this way) and the other end of the string to the magnet. They may add eyes and scales to their fish or you may run off small copies of the Bible verse for them to glue onto their fish. Time them for 20 seconds to see how many fish they can catch. They can take their game home in the envelope.
Week number four-The Great
Mind Reader
(I am very careful concerning
fortune tellers. My "fortune teller" is very mild and silly. I ALWAYS show my students how the fortune teller knows her
tricks...and explain how dangerous these types of people can be. I have opted to remove
this lesson on occasion depending on the group. I use my " Acrobat" lesson instead:
the story of Lot and his wife and how important it is to remain focused on God; just as an acrobat must remain focused on
his or her footing ...Mrs. Lot lost her focus...and turned away from God...she lost her balance, you might
say.)
Objections:
Jesus knows us. He knew us before we were born. He knows our future.
He knows what we think and what we do. Nothing we do is hidden from
him.
Bible verse: Hebrews 4:13
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight”
Song: “Trust in the Lord With all Your Heart”
Object lesson preparation:
Have the toy “The Eight Ball” on hand. Have several questions
prepared to ask it. Ask another adult to come in as a guest fortune
teller. Dress them like a gypsy and have them come in with a crystal
ball (old light globe). It should be someone who can act well. You be
the person talking to the gypsy. Don’t let it last too long. Either
one of these object lessons should be done right at the beginning of
story time.
Lesson: This is a very short lesson so the object lesson could go a
little longer than normal
(After the Eight ball or fortune teller)
That was fun wasn’t it? You do know, boys and girls, that this was
not real. No one knows the future. A little black ball toy does not
know the answers to life’s questions. Some people really believe
this stuff. They live by it. They read their horoscope and try to make
their day go along with it. But there is not a single person on this
planet that can tell me what is going to happen to me tomorrow. There
are a lot of people out in the world that think they can do that but
they can’t. They make a lot of money pretending to help people.
There are people on television, on the phones, off the highways, in
the papers, and in books who all try to make us believe they know what
will happen in the future. If that is so then why are most of the palm
readers and so called physics living is such run down houses? If they
know the future than why don’t they bet on a winning horse or
winning dog race? They could have all the money in the
world….strange isn’t it?
There is one person who did live on the earth one time who does know
the future of each and every one of us. Can anyone tell me who that
is? Yes, that’s right. Jesus. Now Jesus does not live right here on
the earth, but he does live in the hearts of every Christian. Did you
know the Bible says the Jesus knew us before we were even born? While
we were still developing inside our mothers tummy he already knew what
color eyes and hair we would have. He knew how big we were going to be
when we were born, he knew just the day we were going to be born on
and where. He knew the names of the nurses who were in the room with
your mother when she had you. He knew even before your parents did
what they would call you. He knows just what kind of a person you are.
He knows what will make you smile and what will make you sad. He knows
what will make you excited and what will make you angry. He knows
whether you try hard at things or not. He knows what you are thinking
even now as I speak. He knows what foods you like and what foods you
don’t like. He knows who will be your very best friend next year. He
knows what you are going to be when you grow up. He knows who you will
marry and even how many children you will have some day. He even knows
what you will call your children. Wow. Now that is pretty cool.
There is nothing hidden from him. He is all knowing and all powerful.
He cares for us.
Craft time: Make a fortune teller toy
Make a “cootie catcher” by using origami folding art. Give each
child a square paper of 10”. Fold it in half. Open and fold in half
the other direction. Open it back up-there will be four squares. Fold
each point to the center where the folds cross. Turn paper over and
fold points to center again. You should have a small square divided
into 8 triangles. Turn over. You should have four squares. Put your
pointing finger into one of the squares and place your thumb in the
one next to it. Do the same with your other hand. Carefully pull the
points of the squares out away from the rest of the folded paper. You
should be able to move your fingers around so the “cootie catcher”
opens and closes in several directions. Place numbers on the out side
squares and colors on the inside triangles. Open up under the colors
and put the following words, each on a different section, “yes”,
“no”, “maybe”, and “never”. Once this is done your fortune
teller toy is complete and ready to use. Ask someone to choose one of
the numbers, move the catcher open and closed that many times, then
have them choose one of the colors that are visible at that time, move
the catcher the number of times it takes to spell the color. Have them
ask a simple question such as, “Will I get married someday?” Now
have them choose another color that is visible. Open up and read the
answer that is under the color.
