Baby Moses in the Basket

This week's lesson begins the saga of Moses. After reading the story of Baby Moses in The Young Learner's Bible Storybook we used the Baby Moses poem found at the end of the story to draw pictures to correspond with each phrase. You can find the activity sheet for free on my TpT Store.

Dream, Dream, What Does it Mean?

This week's lesson is from Genesis 40, 41 where Jospeh interprets dreams. After reading the story from The Young Learner's Bible Storybook kiddos will imagine something wonderful of their own. We'll discuss how everyone dreams but they're often confusing and it can be hard to tell what's real and what's not. We'll learn that only God understands everything, and whenever we have questions we can ask God to help us understand. I also included a fun puzzle/word search for students to complete. Answers are below! Here's the bundle to download pages 4-5.



1. daydreaming
2. sleep
3. nightmares
4. imagine
5. remember
6. beyond
7. king
8. Joseph

Ladder to Heaven

Our lesson this week is called "Ladder to Heaven," or "Jacob's Ladder."

The first time reading the story in The Young Learner's Bible Storybook we will stand up/crouch down each time the words "up" and "down" are used.

Then, we'll make a web on the board of where God was in Jacob's dream and story, and then we'll brainstorm where we know God is today.

I created an activity sheet you can find in my free OT bundle where my kiddos will draw or write place we know God is today. I suspect the list will include "my heart," "hospitals," "at home," "at church," "at school," etc.

The Woman Said, "I Will Go"

The Young Learner's Bible Storybook had a great idea for this lesson using the words "come" and "go." First, we practiced moving from one side of the room to the other when I used the key words "come" and "go." Then, while reading the story, the kids will move when they hear a key word. After reading and moving around, we'll sit and I'll reread the story and we'll discuss in a group.

God's Promise in the Night

We started off this lesson of the promise God made to Abraham by using a white crayon to draw stars in the night sky on the activity sheet I created. While reading the story, the kids watercolored the night sky over the picture. We talked a little about shadows and why purples and blues are good choices for night pictures.

Up and Down Tower

For this fun lesson kids got into partners to create the tallest tower using gum drops and toothpicks. I set the timer for 10 minutes, and they begged and pleaded for more time! I read the story and asked questions aloud to reinforce understanding.

A fun alternative would be that group members are not allowed to speak to each other while building the tower. Talk about hard!

Our tallest tower ended up being 8.5 inches tall.

Two by Two

We started the lesson by taking a pop-quiz of "What Pair Do You Wear?" from The Young Learner's Bible Storybook.

1. When it's snowy outside, what pair do you wear on your feet?

2. When you want to protect your eyes from the sun, what pair do you wear on your nose?

3. Before you put on your shoes, what pair do you wear?

4. When you want to make a snowball, what pair do you wear on your hands?

5. When you walk on a hot, sunny beach, what pair do you wear on your feet?

After reading the story, I made copies of Noah's page from the Bible Doodle Book where students had to draw a second copy of each animal in the boat, and then add their own. All of the kids, up to 5th grade, really enjoyed this activity! 

The First Seven Days

For "The First Seven Days" we read the story of how God created our universe. I used The Young Learner's Bible Storybook to retell the story, but there are a lot of great choices. (Genesis 1:1-2:3).

The storybook suggests going on a number hunt and singing "He's God the Whole World in His Hands," but we didn't have time due to weather.

Here is the link to the free sequencing activity I created for my kids to cut and glue.

The Young Learner's Bible Storybook

One of my favorite Children's Bibles is The Young Learner's Bible Storybook by Dr. Mary Manz Simon. I've been using it since 2005 for lessons with young children. We are going through the Bible again this year, January-June focusing on the Old Testament and July-December the New Testament. I'm going to be using this early Bible as a guideline of which story to focus on each week, as I have a tendency to reteach personal favorites more often (and oddly enough I skip commonly-known ones, which really isn't great for kids who are enjoying their first taste of the Bible in my lessons! They need to know about Noah's ark, too!)