Tell the Story!
Everything on this website is designed to help you tell children of all ages about God.
Never run out of ideas again. Click through the menus to find over 170 Bible lessons and games, activities, crafts and prayers to help engage children.
The Bible contains many stories and lessons but it is actually one big story, the Story of God. Use and adapt these free resources to teach any age group in all kinds of teaching situations.
A well-told Bible story is the most natural and intergenerational method of sharing the Word of God. God bless you as you tell the story!
Menu List:
- Old Testament (91 Bible Lessons)
- New Testament (81 Bible Lessons)
- Teaching (planning lessons, teaching tips)
- Methods, Tools and Songs (how to tell stories, games, crafts, prayers)
Additional Free Teaching Materials
Most of the teaching material on this website relates to children aged three and older, but infants and toddlers aged 0-2 years have specific learning needs. Click here for a free curriculum for infants and toddlers.
UPDATE COMING IN MAY!
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Hi Mary! Im from the Philippines, specifically in Davao. Me and my staff are youth so were having a hard time on making a lesson plan for our children here in our church. While i was searching for any lesson plan structure i was a bit discouraged, for i couldn’t find the right one.
Then i found your site it was really awesome, the lessons, way of teaching, activites and songs. All are complete and it fitted to the one i was searching for. I thank God for using people like you and if it is okay, may i have your permission to get some of our references here for our lesson plan?
Thank you Mary and God bless
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Hi Shaun
I’m so glad you found what you were looking for here. I’m not sure if I quite understand your question about references. Which references do you mean?
God Bless you and your staff as you teach there in Davao!
Mary
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Hi Shaun,
Take a look at Bible Pathway Adventures. They publish all their Bible Stories and Lesson Plans in Tagalog. And everything is free to download: http://www.biblepathwayadventures.com/foreignlanguages/tagalog/
Enjoy!
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This website is amazing! It is an answer to prayer as I have been searching for ways to improve as a teacher this new year. I would love any ideas for how to effectively teach an all-age sunday school. We rent the building so the space is not our but most importantly we are a small church. On average I will have about 10 kiddos ranging from 3 – 12. Any advice would be wonderfully appreciated! God bless you abundantly! Thank you!
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Hi there
Thank you for your comments and encouragement. Good on you for teaching an all-age Sunday School. You are not alone. Around the world people are facing this same challenge and it is probably one of the things I am asked about the most.
I’ve actually been thinking about how I might incorporate some ideas for this into my website so your comment has come at the perfect time.
Meanwhile, here are a few thoughts….
Firstly, be patient with yourself. Mixed-age groups are a challenge. It is impossible to fully relate to and teach every child every time even when they are with children their own age so don’t expect that to happen when you teach a mixed-age group. Just try your best.
The Positive Side of Teaching Mixed-Age Groups:
1. It is more like family than school. Families are mixed age groups so you can naturally re-create that atmosphere in your classroom.
2. It is great practice for how to be like Christ in the world. School is sort of a social “bubble” where you only hang out with people your same age. Life is not like that! Learning to relate to other ages better prepares children to understand and be patient with people who are different from them.
3. Mixed-age groups allow positive leadership to emerge. Under your supervision older children can teach parts of the lesson, explain concepts, lead games and give aid and comfort to younger children.
Helpful Practices:
1. Consider telling the main Bible Story with all of the children together and then dividing them into age groups for learning activities. Perhaps you can recruit some helpers to help in this.
2. When all of the children are together don’t be afraid to challenge older children with more in-depth information while younger children participate in helpful ways like drawing or copying Scripture. Don’t worry if they don’t understand everything, every time. This is the natural order of things. We all hear more than we understand. And they may pick up more than you think.
3. Plan some good interactive activities where age is not so important. Examples might include hunting for words or pictures you have hidden around the room, shaping Bible characters out of clay, acting, role playing, singing or leading in prayer.
4. When planning crafts prepare more difficult parts of the craft ahead of time for the younger children. Or assign more complex parts to the older children. You don’t have to have an individual craft every time. Group projects can be fun and encourage team-work.
5. Model patience and gentleness at all times.
6. Validate older children when they exhibit maturity. Encourage them in their patience with younger ones and let them know you understand and appreciate this. Older children do not like to be spoken to like “babies”.
7. Validate younger children for attempting activities even if they cannot accomplish them at the same level as the older children. Let them know that they are growing every day. Remind them of things they can do now that they could not do when they were younger.
8. Use classroom challenges as illustrations for Bible lessons. For example, when teaching about Ruth and Naomi and how they helped each other draw attention to how you have noticed children helping those who are younger or older than them in your class.
Hope this is a starting point!
God bless you,
Mary
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wonderful website i now have great lessons for the children in my ministry who are based in Kenya. thank you Mary God bless you
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Hi Jacob. I’m so glad you have found the website useful. May God bless you as you continue to work with the children there in Kenya!
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