Saul Becomes King

Welcome back!

We took a few days off for illness, but we’re back to the kings of the old testament. This story comes from the book of 1 Samuel, in chapters 8-11.

Remember little Samuel who was living with Eli and learning all about God and how to serve Him?

As Samuel grew up, the people in Israel started complaining (again). This time they wanted a king. Samuel told them that was not a good idea. But the people didn’t want to follow God anymore, they wanted a king who was a man.

God told Samuel that He would let him know which man should be king.

Meanwhile, a man from the family of Benjamin (remember there were 12 big families in Israel) was out looking for some lost donkeys. His dad had lost some donkeys, so Saul, his son and Saul’s servant went out looking for the donkeys. They looked and looked and looked, but they couldn’t find them. Then they remembered that God sometimes talked to people through Samuel…so they decided to ask Samuel.

When they got to Samuel he said, “The donkeys are already back home. But you should come eat with me.”

Samuel told Saul that God had picked HIM to be king.

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“Me?! I’m just a regular guy, from the smallest tribe (family) of Benjamin?!”

Saul went home and Samuel announced that a king had been chosen. He called all the families together and they picked the family of Benjamin. Then from all the people in Benjamin he called for Saul. And do you know what Saul was doing?! He was hiding!

They brought Saul out and Samuel said he would be king. (But a lot of the people didn’t like that idea so they didn’t really call him king yet.)

Saul went back to his regular life until one day the Philistines came to attack the Israelites (AGAIN!).

God’s spirit came to Saul and he led the people against the Philistines and they won! THEN everyone really decided to follow Saul and make him king.

Once again, God didn’t pick the most important person to be in charge. And Saul didn’t become king by his own power or strength…it was all God.

We’ll learn more about Saul next time.

For our craft today, we cut out crowns and decorated them. (Today we used do-a-dot markers, but your could decorate them any way you want.)

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Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

Samuel Listens to God

Hi friends.

Today we are learning more about little Samuel. This story comes from the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 3.

Remember when Samuel was big enough, his mommy Hannah took him to the tabernacle to live with Eli the priest to learn about God and to serve God. Samuel was getting bigger, and one night he was asleep in the tabernacle when a voice woke him up.

“Samuel!”

“Eli?” said Samuel. He got up and went to Eli. “You called for me?”

“What?! No I didn’t!” replied Eli. “Go back to bed.”

Again, Samuel went to bed, but again he heard “Samuel!”

He got up and went to Eli. “Yes, Eli?”

“I didn’t call you!? Go back to bed.”

So a third time, Samuel laid down to sleep and again, he heard the voice. “Samuel! Samuel!”

This time when Samuel went to Eli, Eli knew it must be God trying to talk to young Samuel. “Go back and listen to what God has to tell you.”

So Samuel went back and laid down. When he heard his name, he said, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

God told Samuel that Eli’s sons had bad some bad choices, and Eli didn’t stop them. Because they had disobeyed God, they would have some bad consequences.

When Samuel got up the next morning, Eli demanded that Samuel tell him what God said. Even though the news wasn’t good for Eli, he knew if God said it, then it would happen.

God talked to Samuel a lot as he got older. The people in Israel believed and they listened to the words of God from Samuel. God gave him a lot of important jobs, because he was willing to serve God and to listen.

Isn’t it wonderful to know that God wants to talk to kids? Just like you! And He has big plans for you. When you pray (talk to God), be sure to listen too. God probably won’t talk out loud to you…but maybe. Sometimes God also uses His spirit to talk to our hearts, and He uses the Bible to tell us what He wants us to know.

*This lesson is also an important one for parents. Eli was punished for not stopping the evil of his sons. It wasn’t his choices, but rather his passive allowance of evil choices by his sons that brought destruction upon Eli. And it is worthy to note, that it took Eli three times to recognize it was God speaking to Samuel. It is easy to miss God, or to assume His voice from others. Spending time with God in prayer and in His word allows us to know His heart and to truly discern the words of God. (A quote I thoroughly enjoy is: Real discernment is not knowing right from wrong, but right from almost-right.) This will also help us lead our children to God. God chose the lesser, the small boy to be His servant and to speak His messages. We can not underestimate God’s love and plan for our children.*

For our craft today, we drew with white crayon on black paper, a sleeping Samuel.

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Thanks for joining us today! Love to you all!

Hannah

Hello again! Welcome to September…this month we’ll be learning stories from the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.

Today’s story comes from 1 Samuel, chapters 1-2.

There was once a woman named Hannah. Hannah wanted to be a mommy more than anything. Her husband loved her and he wished she could be happy, but Hannah was sad a lot, because she just wanted a baby.

Every year, Hannah and her husband would go to the tabernacle (the church where God was) and pray and worship. Hannah would ask God every year for a baby.

There was another mommy who was mean to Hannah and always laughed at her because she didn’t have any children. That made Hannah EVEN sadder!

One year, Hannah and her husband went to the tabernacle to give God their offerings (gifts) and to pray to God. There was a big feast and her husband gave Hannah an extra portion to help her feel better. But even though he was trying to help, what Hannah REALLY needed was to talk to God.

She prayed (talked to God) and said, “If You will give me a baby, I promise I will teach him about you, and he will serve You his whole life!”

She prayed and cried and prayed and cried so much, that Eli the priest (like a pastor or preacher) came over and said “Is she crazy?! Lady, what are you up to?!”

Hannah quickly said, “I haven’t been doing anything bad, only praying to God.”

Then God told Eli to say, “May God give you what you have asked of Him.”

Hannah believed the words of God and when she went home, God gave her a baby in her belly. She had a baby boy and named him Samuel. When Samuel was big enough, Hannah taught him about God, and how God had listened to her and what a wonderful God He is. When Samuel got even a little bigger, Hannah took him back to the tabernacle so he could live with Eli and learn how to serve God.

(God had big plans for Samuel, and God used his mommy, Hannah to prepare him for how God would use him.)

Because Hannah trusted God, God gave her even more babies after Samuel.

When we pray, we can always know that God is listening to us. He wants us to talk to Him. God talks to us in our hearts and through His words in the Bible. If you want to know what God has to say to you, you can read your Bible.

Also, God has big plans for you. Sometimes, we don’t understand God’s plan. Why He makes us wait for something, or why He doesn’t give us something we want. But we can always trust that God has GOOD plans for us and that He wants what is best for us. Hannah trusted God. We can trust God too.

For our craft today, we cut out 2 circles (one big, one small) and one oval. We drew faces on the circles. Then, we took a regular piece of construction paper and wrapped it around into a cone shape. We taped the big head onto the cone and taped the small head and oval (swaddling blanket) onto the mommy’s cone body.

Hannah and Baby Samuel
Hannah and Baby Samuel

We also found this video posted by “Teaching Kids about Jesus.”

Thanks for joining us, more tomorrow! Love to you all!

Ruth

Hi again!

Welcome to the last story of the month of August. This month we’ve been covering stories from the Bible books of Leviticus-Ruth. Today’s story: Ruth!

Ruth gets her own book in the Bible…one of only two books named for women.

(Side note, the month of September we’ll be learning stories about the Old Testament Kings with stories from 1/2 Samuel, 1/2 Chronicles, 1/2 Kings, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther.)

So, Ruth.

Next to the Israelites’ promised land, was a land called Moab. A woman from Israel, named Naomi had married a man from Moab. They had a son and he married a woman (from Moab) named Ruth. So Naomi’s husband had died and Ruth’s husband and his brother’s died…so it was just the two women left. Ruth and her mother in law.

Back then, women couldn’t just go get a job, so they knew they would be very very poor and have to beg for food and money to live. Naomi told Ruth to stay with her family so they could take care of her and she would go back to Israel.

But Ruth wouldn’t leave Naomi. “Where you go, i will go. Where you stay, i will stay. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God.”

So Ruth went with Naomi and they moved to Israel. They had no food or money, so Ruth went out each day and followed the workers in the field. (Naomi was too old to be out all day working, so Ruth took care of her.) She would take the leftovers and she and Naomi lived off the leftovers.

There was a very nice man, named Boaz who owned the field where Ruth picked her leftovers. He noticed her one day and invited her to lunch. He was very happy because he saw how much Ruth took care of Naomi. He told her she could always stay in his field and help herself to any of his leftovers. Before she left, he loaded her up with lots of food for her and Naomi. He told her God noticed what a caring and hardworking person she was and he knew God would bless, give good things, to her.

When Ruth went home, she told Naomi all about the nice man Boaz and how he had taken care of her.

“Boaz!?” said Naomi, “He is from our family!”

Naomi knew Boaz would take good care of Ruth and she thought it would be a good idea if they got married. So, one day, she told Ruth to dress really pretty and put on some smell good perfume and to go lay down next to Boaz at bedtime.

When Boaz woke up in the middle of the night, he saw Ruth laying there and he was happy to see her and said he wanted to marry her.

(**For older learners, you can discuss a kinsman-redeemer. This person is someone in the family who can claim property or to care for people. Boaz was a kinsman-redeemer for Naomi and Ruth. He bought some of the land owed to Naomi’s husband, and got to marry Ruth too! Jesus is like a kinsman-redeemer for us. He paid the price for our sins and made us into brothers and sisters in Him…sons and daughters of God)

So Boaz and Ruth got married. Later, they had a baby boy named Obed. When Obed grew up, he had a baby named Jesse and when Jesse grew up, he had a son named David (as in David and Goliath/King David). And way way way down the line from David comes Jesus!

The people in this story made good choices. Ruth stayed with Naomi and took good care of her. Even if things seem tough, we can do our best to take care of others. God saw how hard Ruth was working and how kind she saw and He provided for her. He gave her Boaz, who was kind and took care of both Ruth and Naomi. God wants us to love others the way HE loves us. He gave us His only son, to die for us and to save us. Like Jesus, we can serve others and help them.

God took good care of Ruth and He takes good care of us. We can also show His love to others, by helping take care of them.

For our craft today, we got some thistles from outside to be our wheat. I traced out forms to be Ruth, Naomi and Boaz and we taped it all together.

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We also watched these videos:

Jelly Telly/Buck Denver Ruth

Popsicle Stick Theater “What’s in the Bible? Volume 4: Battle for the Promised Land”

Thanks for joining us, we’ll be back in Sept with the Kings! Love to you all!

Samson

Hi all. Welcome back!

We are finishing up the month of August and our journey through Leviticus-Ruth.

Our story today comes from the book of Judges, in chapters 13-16.

As always, these stories are how i generally tell them to my children, who are preschoolers.

Recap: The Israelites had been living in the promised land…the land God had promised them long ago and through many miracles, had brought them to. He led them and provided for them. But, the Israelites (like all of us), would follow God, and then forget, then they’d follow Him, and then forget. So, God appointed judges (people who make decisions) to lead the Israelites. When they had a judge, they obeyed God and worshiped Him. When a judge would die, they would turn around and disobey God and forget everything He’d taught them. Then God would have to punish them, and then He would send another judge/leader. Last time, we learned about Gideon leading the people out of the hands of the Midianites.

This time, the Israelites had done it again. After Gideon died, they again made bad choices and forgot to follow God’s rules. He in turn, gave them to the Philistines, who didn’t like the Israelites, and they were mean to them.

One day, an angel from God came to an Israelite man named Manoah, and his wife. The angel told them they would have a baby. A special baby. This baby would save Israel from the Philistines who were controlling them. BUT, the baby boy could not drink wine, or eat food God said was yucky, or ever ever cut his hair.

The mommy and daddy had a boy and they named him Samson. He didn’t drink wine, he didn’t eat food God said was yucky, and he never cut his hair.

When Samson was a grown up, though, he made some bad choices. He married one of the Philistine women (even though God had said not to). They didn’t stay married though and Samson actually liked a lot of the Philistine women…this got him in a lot of trouble.

Now God had given Samson superhero strength. One day, a lion came to attack him, and he defeated the lion with just his hands…no sword, no bow and arrow, just his hands. Another time, the Philistines were mad at Samson and he defeated 1000 of them all by himself! (Because God gave him strength).

The Philistines knew they needed a way to get rid of Samson. They found a beautiful woman named Delilah and said they would give her a LOT of money if she would find out what made Samson so strong.

Samson though Delilah was very beautiful and he fell in love with her. She tried to get him to tell her what made him so strong, but he said, “If anyone ties me up with seven strings, then I will lose my strength.” So while he was sleeping, she tied him up and yelled “The Philistines are here!”…but he broke through the strings.

Delilah was mad and said, “No really! You made me look silly! Please tell me what makes you so strong?”

Samson answered, “If you tie my hair into the fabric you’re making and stick a pin in it, then I will lose my strength.”

So while he slept, Delilah wove his hair into the fabric and put a pin in it, then she yelled, “The Philistines are here!”…but he got up and broke away…he still had his strength.

Delilah was really VERY mad now and she whined and she cried and she whined and she cried. “How can you say you love me if you won’t tell me what makes you strong?! Pleeeeeease Samson! Pleeeeeease!” Well, she bugged him enough, he was finally so sick of it, he said, “Fine! My strength comes from my hair. As long as I obey God and don’t cut my hair, then I am strong.”

So while he slept, she cut his hair and she called the Philistine leaders. This time when she yelled, he had no strength left and the Philistines took him away to jail and beat him up.

He was there a long time, and they made him work hard…but his hair started growing back.

The Philistine leaders had gotten together to have a party for one of their pretend gods, and they called Samson to come put on a show for them. “Lift this heavy thing! Push this heavy thing! Hold all these heavy things!”

Then they put Samson next to the big pillars (like giant boards) that were holding up the building.

Samson prayed to God and asked Him for more strength. “Just one more time, please. Let me be strong again so I can defeat these Philistines.”

God gave him strength and Samson pushed and pulled on the pillars and the whole building came crashing down. The Philistines died, and so did Samson.

Samson didn’t always obey God. He loved the Philistine women, instead of the Israelite women. He chose to give his power to Delilah instead of keeping it for God. And he had a bad consequence…he was in jail and beaten up. But, God remembered Samson, and He still used him to do a great thing. The Bible says that Samson did more for God when he died than the whole time he was alive, because when he died, he saved the Israelites from the Philistines…but while he was alive…he really only made the choices HE wanted to make, instead of what God wanted him to do.

We can remember that God can always use us to do big things, even if we make mistakes. It is also important to remember to obey God…He always knows what is best for us. We can also know that our strength only comes from God.

“I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

For our craft today, we drew Samson’s face and then added a LOT of yarn hair.

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We also watched this video posted by Godcast.

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Gideon

Good day, friends!

Today’s Bible story comes from the book of Judges, chapters 6-8.

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This is the story of a man named Gideon. Gideon was a regular guy, one of the Israelites (God’s chosen people). He was living in the promised land with the other Israelites. Now since they had moved in, they had a bad habit of following God and then forgetting and making bad choices. Then God would punish them, send them a new leader and they would follow Him again. Over and over and over. God is very very patient.

Once again, they were making bad choices and God let the Midianites rule over them for seven years. The people were scared and had to hide because the Midianites were so mean to them.

One day, an angel came and told the people to straighten up! Then he appeared to Gideon, and said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior!”

Gideon couldn’t believe the angel was talking to him. He wasn’t a mighty warrior?!

But the angel answered, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you? I will be with you.”

The angel promised that GOD would defeat the Midianites.

Gideon asked for a sign that God had REALLY chosen him to lead the people against the Midianites. God told Gideon to cut down the idols (pretend gods) in his house and to make a sacrifice to God instead.

So during the night, Gideon cut down the pretend gods and the statues the people worshipped and instead made an altar (a place to worship) God. When the people got up, they were surprised and wanted to hurt Gideon. But Gideon’s dad said, “Isn’t it clear which God is more powerful? His altar is still here and the other statues and pretend gods have all fallen down. We need to follow the REAL God.”

Gideon still wasn’t quite sure God wanted HIM to lead the people against the Midianites, so he asked God for another sign. He said, “I will lay out a blanket of sheep’s hair. In the morning, let the sheep hair be wet and the ground be dry.”

And it was. But even that wasn’t enough and Gideon asked for one more sign. “I will lay the same sheep hair out tonight and this time let the sheep’s hair be dry and the ground be wet.” And the next morning, it was.

Gideon finally trusted! So he rounded up a big army and set out. But God said no. It was too many fighters. Everyone who was scared was allowed to go home. Then Gideon started off again, but God said no again. The army was still too big. He had Gideon send even more men home. (This way when the Israelites won, everyone would know it was God who had defeated the Midianites and not the army.)

So Gideon led his tiny army to the place where the GIANT Midianite army was camped. They split into three teams and surrounded the Midianites. They had breakable jars and trumpets. When Gideon told them to, everyone blew their trumpets and smashed the jars. The commotion scared the Midianites so much, that started killing each other?! Only a few got away and those guys the Israelites rounded up and they defeated every last one.

After Gideon and the men returned, the people wanted Gideon to be their king. But he said, “No. Let GOD be your king.”

Sometimes it can be hard to trust God, but we can remember that God always keeps His promises and that if He calls us to do something, He will always help us do it.

We didn’t do a craft today. Instead we watched the veggie tales Gideon the Tuba Warrior.

Thanks for joining us. Love to you all!

A Tale of Two Women

Hello again!

We have arrived at the book of Judges (Judges 4 specifically today).

So Joshua had been leading the people into the promised land and then he died. The Israelites (God’s chosen people) had not defeated EVERYONE like they were supposed to, and the people who were left got them to worship other statues and idols (fake Gods).

God was not happy that His people were disobeying and as a bad consequence, they now had to work HARD for the Canaanites that were left.

God put Judges in charge of His people. A judge is someone who makes decisions. That person would be in charge and would remind the people of how to follow God. They would also settle arguments if two people were fussing. When Israel had a judge, they would obey God…when that judge died, they would forget again and make bad choices, until God gave them a new judge.

One of the judges God gave the people was a woman named Deborah. During this time, she helped the people make good choices and she encouraged them (helped them feel better) because they were working so hard for the Canaanites. It was supposed to be a wonderful land God had given them, but since they made bad choices, they now had to work really hard there.

But God told Deborah to call Barak, a man who could lead the Israelites’ army and they could fight Jabin the king and Sisera, his army leader.

Barak came, but you know what? He was too scared to fight! And asked Deborah to come with him. Deborah said she would, but since he was too scared, that God would let another woman defeat the king, not Barak. But Deborah was a good leader, and when there was a dangerous job to do, she was willing to help.

So the army went to fight and they fought and fought and all the Canaanites ran away. Even the king ran away…to a house where he thought he’d be safe. The mommy there was named Jael. She invited him in, but she knew God wanted him defeated and after he laid down to hide, she killed him.

After that, the Israelites were able to defeat Jabin and the Canaanites. Because two women obeyed God, the Israelites were able to be free in the promised land once again.

For our craft today, I had each child draw a woman’s face, then we cut them in half and glued taped them together, to make two women. Deborah on one side, Jael on the other.

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Next time, we’ll learn about Gideon. Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Joshua 24

Hi friends. Welcome back! Today is our last day in the book of Joshua.

After Moses died, God had Joshua lead His people into the promised land, Canaan. They had to defeat all the people who lived there and they weren’t even done by the time Joshua died! Can you imagine?! It took a long time to get settled in the promised land!

But they got a lot of the land and defeated a lot of the people…as long as they obeyed God and did things His way.

The land was divided up so that each tribe (or big family…there were 12) got their own part.

When Joshua was very very old and about to die, he called the leaders together and reminded them of all God had done for them and had taught them.

He told them to be strong and not to be afraid. He reminded them to always love and obey God.

Lastly, in Joshua 24:15, he told the people they had to choose for themselves if they would serve God or not. “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” he said.

You know, your mom and dad can tell you about God and about Jesus’ love and how He died for your sins. You can sing songs and your family can go to church. But YOU, in your heart, have to choose to follow God. You don’t just love God because mommy and daddy do. You have to choose in your heart to love and obey God. As you grow up, you will learn more and more what it means to follow and love God and you’ll also understand more and more how much He loves you!

But just like Joshua told the people they had to have faith of their own, you have to choose too, if you want to follow and obey God.

For our craft today, we drew a house and ourselves. (Does the house building love God? No…it just means that everyone IN the house loves God).

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Thank you for joining us today. I hope today’s lesson can spark some good conversation with your kids about why you believe and maybe if/why they believe. Next time, we’ll start in to the book of Judges. Love to you all!

The sun stood still!

Hi again!

Welcome back to the book of Joshua. Today’s story is from chapter 10.

So Joshua was now leading God’s people, the Israelites, through the promised land. They had to defeat a bunch of different people before they could call it “their land.” When they obeyed God, they won. When they did things their own way, they didn’t win.

One day they had a big fight, with 5 different kings and their soldiers. The 5 kings all joined together to defeat Joshua, but God said, “Don’t be afraid. I will make sure you win.” So Joshua and the Israelites went ahead and they surprised the kings and other armies. It took a long time to defeat all those guys, so Joshua said, “Sun! Stand still!” (Because you can’t fight in the dark).

And do you know what?! God made the sun stand still. The sun usually comes up up up in the morning, and then goes back down until bedtime, when the moon comes up. But this day, the sun just stayed and stayed in the sky until the Israelites had defeated ALL the other guys.

And what do you think the other kings thought when they saw that God made the sun stand still for His people? Maybe some of them started to believe in God too.

God helped His people! He made sure they won, just like He said they would. God always keeps His promises. Joshua believed God could do anything and he asked God to make the sun stand still. It’s so important that we remember God can do ANYTHING and that when we love and obey Him, He can do amazing things through us and for us.

For our craft today, we drew the people fighting and then cut out suns. We used our scissors to make a slit in our paper and then threaded the sun (which we attached to more construction paper, but you could us a popsicle stick or pipe cleaner too) through the paper so we could move the sun up and then command it to stay!

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Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!

Joshua and the Battle at Jericho

Hello again! And welcome to the book of Joshua.

Today’s story is from the opening 5 chapters of the book of Joshua.

Moses had died and left Joshua in charge of the Israelites (God’s chosen people). They were completing their 40 years in the desert and getting ready to enter the land God had promised them.

The Israelites had to cross a river which God dried up for them so they could cross, and then once they were across, He let the waters flow again. (Just like how the left Egypt with the parting of the red sea, their journey ended with God parting the waters for them again!)

They came to a place called Jericho. Jericho was a strong city surrounded by a HUGE wall. The Israelites were supposed to take over this land, but they were once again scared. They talked about going back to Egypt, or finding a different way to go.

Joshua reminded the people that God had led them here and He would help them. Joshua prayed (talked) to God and God sent an angel who told him what to do.

He told Joshua and the people of Israel to march around the city one time for 6 days. The priests were to carry trumpets and the ark of the covenant and on the 7th day, all the people would march around the city 7 times and the priests would blow the trumpets. Then everyone would shout really loudly and the walls would fall down.

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Doesn’t that sound kind of silly?

The Israelites obeyed though. They marched around the city one time for 6 days and on the 7th day, they marched around 7 times. Then Joshua told the people “Shout! God has given us this land!” The people shouted and the walls fell down. The Israelites ran in and took over the city, defeating all the people who lived there.

It seems like a funny way for God to knock a big wall down. God didn’t tell them to use rocks, or sticks or to kick it down…He only told them to obey…and HE would knock the wall down. When they obeyed and shouted, HE knocked the wall down and gave the city to His people.

We watched the veggie tales episode “Josh and the Big Wall.”

There is also a Beginner Bible story on youtube found here. (This video does include the story of Rahab helping the Israelites which we didn’t include in our story today.)

Another great activity for this story is to act out the story with blocks and figurines. Duplos, magnet tiles, big cardboard blocks…and any little toys like happy meal toys, fisher price little people…any little characters you have at your house.

Thanks for joining us today. Love to you all!