How to Plan a Bible Class:
- Step-by-Step Instructions
- Printable Lesson Plan Templates
- Quick List of Bible Stories and Suggested Themes
- Learn a Song for Bible Class
- Teaching Ideas to Use in Your Bible Classes
Plan One Lesson or Develop a Series of Lessons:
May God bless you in your desire to share his word with children. I hope you find some help on this website. I add information or links to Bible story lessons often so check back again now and again.
Happy teaching!
Mary
Hello! am a student of religious studies in the university as undergraduate. I need some tips from you as well. Mary, right now am in 300 level about to finish by next year by GOD’S will. NB ADASHU GARBA AHMADU FROM TARABA STATE UNIVERSITY P.M.B.1167, JALINGO.
Hi. Thanks for dropping by the website. I hope you can find something that is useful to you.
THANK YOU SO MUCH MARY i just sall your email i like your idea thank you
hi,am winnie yator in kenya and would like to start bible classes for children in my church and laiter expand to other areas but how to start it and the materials is what i luck ,please advice me because its a call i hav had it and it burdens me that i have not started.
Hi Winnie
This is a wonderful thing God has put on your heart. Remember, if he has given you a task, he will supply what you need (Philippians 4:19).
If your church has never had Bible classes for children then I would start by praying about this. Talk to the leaders of your church and others interested in the spiritual lives of children to join you in prayer.
This website has many Bible stories and lessons you can use for free. I would suggest that you choose one Bible story and then spend one or more lessons on it before moving to the next. I like to teach the stories in chronological order instead of skipping around but that is up to you. Click here for a list of stories and themes that you might like to teach.
You can read my step-by-step instructions for preparing for a class. But when it comes to setting up a program I would suggest the following:
Ask Others to Join You: Start thinking about others who can help you share God’s word with children. You will need the encouragement and help of others. The parents of the children will probably be interested in what you are doing. Are there other adults or teenagers in your church who love children? Think about people who might have gifts and talents like story-telling, singing, playing games, drawing, artwork, crafts or perhaps there are people who just seem to relate to children well and know how to keep their attention.
Learn from others: You will want to learn games and activities that will help you teach. Click here for some on my website. It is nice to have supplies and materials but you don’t actually have to spend a lot of money to teach children about God. There are many resources free to everyone (like this website). Talk to teachers at schools. Ask the children what kind of things they like to do. Go to the library. Visit other churches and find out what they do. You will begin with a few ideas but every time you teach you will learn something new.
Start Small: You don’t have to have a big program to begin with. At first you may wish to just gather the children together and tell them a Bible Story. You could ask them to share what they found interesting about the story and what they think God would like them to know about it. You don’t need to be formal but you could allow them the opportunity to hear about God and learn to love him like you do. Teach them to pray.
Set a time and Place: Many churches have “Sunday School” just before the Sunday worship assembly but you can choose a time that works for you. You might choose Sunday afternoon or Saturday or even one day after school. It might work best weekly or monthly. As for a place…if you are blessed with a church building, tables and chairs that is wonderful. But you can teach children in your home, in a park or at the beach. I’ve seen teachers roll out a mat or blanket and ask all the children to sit with them. This works fine.
I hope this helps you get started. May God bless you in this effort! I would love to hear how it goes.
Hi Mary,
I am currently teaching a bible class of 4-5 year olds using the Heritage of Faith curriculum here in Melbourne, Australia. Our term is divided into three units, each with its own memory verse. This coming Sunday is the final week of our first unit, and we have been working on John 1:3. Some of the children know the verse, but some don’t. Do you think it would be better to keep working on the same verse until all the children know it rather than jumping ahead as per the curriculum?
Hope you and the family are well.
Love and blessings,
Laura
Hi Laura
I’m happy to hear you are helping the children in Melbourne memorise Scripture. God’s word will be a part of them for their entire lives.
I don’t think there is one right answer to your question. You’ll probably just have to weigh some factors and come to your own conclusion on this one. Here are some thoughts that come to my mind:
Desire and Ability: If the children who have not memorised the verse are still determined to do so then I think I would allow them more time. On the other hand, if their interest has waned, they are not as able as the others, or if they are not getting help at home then I would probably move on.
Keep a “Challenge Balance”: If those that learn the verse quickly are held back too long they will get bored and might even resent the children that take longer. If you are determined that all students memorise the verse then you might need to spend extra time with some children outside of class.
Focus and Time: What is the topic and memory verse(s) in the next unit? If the units are quite different and the next unit is something you know the children are going to benefit from then it won’t hurt to wrap up this one and move on so they will have time to learn the next one.
Make the Transition Easy: If you decide to move on then review the meaning of the verse together and perhaps display it somewhere in the room for later reference. Tell the class you are happy that everyone has learned the verse. You are proud of those who learned how to say it from memory and you are proud of those who learned about God and how he made everything.
Hope that helps.
I notice you were able to add the translation button to your blog. I have been puzzling about how to add one to my blog and was wondering if you could give me a very “dumbed-down” version of how to accomplish this? I appreciate your time. Bibleauntie
Hi there
My skills are very basic so I just used Google to find some instructions to use on my wordpress.com blog. Here are the instructions I found.
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2011/02/14/translation-widget-for-wordpress-com-blogs/
I hope that helps. Good luck!
I just recently started teaching Sunday school for 3rd graders at my church. I’ve never taught kids let a lone a class before and don’t really have the patience for them, but it felt like I had a calling to do it. Anyways, I managed to stumble upon this page and just want to let you know this has been a great help to me. I appreciate the work you put into this to help us. God bless!
Hi there. Good on you for giving teaching a try. And pray about your patience because you will need a lot of it! Thanks for your kind words.
Mary, your site has blessed me in many ways. I live in Brazil, and attend a small Baptist church at Ananindeua city. Here we struggle with every kind of difficulties regarding study material. Your site as a whole, and the links section, particularly, provided me access to life changing content. May God continue to bless you and your family, and keep encouraged to maintain and expand this site, to His honor. Thank you.
Jayr, Thank you for your encouragement! It is wonderful to know you are finding the website useful. Keep blessing those children!
Mary,
The past year has seemed so crazy and I haven’t had a lot of time to really go through the website, but I sat down tonight and looked through it and I REALLY like it! I think I’ve glanced a little before but it seems even more built up now. I do like the way it is set-up and I think it’s pretty user-friendly, which is great! I’m so glad that all of you wonderful ideas and resources are coming to life and use for anyone around the world! It’s very exciting! I also really like the templates and info. about planning a lesson and the basics on how to do it. I think that will be REALLY helpful for many teachers and those that are new to teaching. Great work so far!
Thanks Ashtin. That means a lot coming from a great “ideas person” like yourself!
This year, I am supposed to be more involved in teaching Sunday school for the toddlers and little children. I’ve been looking for easy worship songs, especially action songs, and thanks God I found you and your crew. Thanks a bunch. God bless you.
Thank you so much! Best wishes for your class.
Mary, I am definitely going to be putting this to use here in Florida! So helpful! Brent, Isaiah and I send our love
If you ever come to Florida, come see us!
Love,
Rachel
Thanks Rachel! Glad you find the website useful. I wish we could just sit and catch up. Be sure and add some of your own great teaching ideas to the stories on the site! Give little Isaiah a hug for me.
a great help for us……thank you Mary for the insight….I find it so helpful in compiling my materials together for the class…..many thanks and peace and blessing…
Thank you Va. God bless you as you teach children in Fiji.
I’m glad I stumbled on to your site. I must keep it handy for future reference.
I’m glad you can see uses for it. You have a wonderful blog too. I linked to your pop-up book (Salvation) idea for four stories on my site (A Jailor Becomes a Christian, Lydia Becomes a Christian, Philip and the Ethiopian and Sermon at Pentecost). Whenever you have a related idea I would love it if you were to use the comment section at the bottom of any story on my website and link it to your site. Feel free to link my to yours if you find something useful. God Bless!
Thank you for your wonderful website.
-from New Jersey-
Thank you Abby! Your encouragement means a lot to me.
Cool!!This site is so helpful! Just knew it today, while looking for some children songs.Now it won’t be difficult for me preparing for our sunday school everyday.
God bless!!
That’s great!
hi,
Please show me the way to work with you in our country, Myanmar.
Michael
Thank you for your comment and your email. God bless you in the difficult work in Myanmar. I’m sorry but I am only able to use ‘Google Translate’ on my webpage and there is no Burmese translation.
Hi Mary, God bless u!
I am a new teacher at my church, teaching between 11-14. I was looking through this site, and is very nice what you have here. I will be applying some of these techniques to my class. Thanks and God bless u.
Ana Patricia
Hi Ana
Thank you for the blessing. I’m so glad you find the site useful. All the best as you learn to teach! Sometimes it may seem difficult but don’t give up. Knowing you are making a difference in your students’ journey of faith is so worth the effort.
Mary
Mary, you’re right! I love the new photo for this site! Thanks!
love it
Hello Mary,
Just wanted to say, Hello. Marcus is on this mission trip to Pharr Texas. I fly out tomorrow and Micah is going on a soccer camp for this week. Trying to get everyone together in there place. Your website is great. I’m so proud of you. You have outstanding talent and it shines bright. Love you dearly….
Deborah
Mary, This is great. We are working on VBS for our Mission Trip & Deborah told me about your site.
Thanks Jana!
I have a lot of work to do on it but I decided to publish it “as is” and add as I go along. I hope to advertise it more next year once I feel the “skeleton” is a bit stronger.
Feel free to add any ideas to it. That is how the site will really grow in the future.
God Bless,
Mary