Genesis 6 – 9

Lesson Aim

To understand that God punishes sin.

Hook 1: Jigsaw

Who do you think that this jigsaw is about?

Get a children’s jigsaw depicting Noah and the ark. These can be found in many Christian homes or parent and toddler groups. Fix part of the jigsaw onto a large board with BluTack. Jumble up the other pieces and fix to another board with BluTack. By carefully questioning the children they will be able to tell you most of this well-known story. For each of the questions answered correctly, the children fix one of the jigsaw pieces into the puzzle.

Story tips

WARNING Do not have too many pieces to fix. It may take a lot more time than you have available and you might not have enough questions. 10 – 12 pieces is the ideal number.

Hook 2: Objects  – There are so many!

The story of Noah and the ark is depicted in countless different ways. These can be used to illustrate the story: e.g. my children had a placemat with a picture of Noah; there is a frieze in my church depicting the animals entering the ark; I bought a model of the ark during a trip to Africa; the Toddler group in my church has more books about Noah than any other story and each book has a different picture on the front.

Use a collection of the above to illustrate the story. The greater the variety of objects the better.

The youngest children will enjoy naming the different types of animals entering the ark; illustrate these with some plastic animals. For fun, ask them to imitate the noise which each animal makes!

A large rainbow can be added to any picture of the story as part of the conclusion. Alternatively an outline of a rainbow can be coloured in by the children.

Hook 3: Prism

Who knows what this is called? Who knows what you can make with a prism?

When telling the story to older children I have borrowed a prism from a local school. The children have then made rainbows on the wall using a projector (can’t you remember some pupil doing this with a mirror in class). This is a good way of creating interest with older children so the story of Noah doesn’t seem babyish.

Hook 4: Question

Have you ever been punished for doing something wrong?

Today’s story tells us how God punished people because they kept on sinning – doing wrong.

Application

The application should be based upon three points

1. God decided to punish people for the things which they had done wrong.

2. God saved Noah and his family.

3. The rainbow is a sign of God’s promise never to destroy the whole world by a flood again.

Language

Sacrifice means a gift to God.

Sinning means doing wrong.