Abraham and Isaac - Genesis 22

Videos

Lesson Ideas


Idea 1

God is 1st place -

  • Give the kids some magazines, crayons and pieces of paper and some glue.

  • Ask them to cut out pictures, or draw things that they really like, some of their favourite things in the world

  • Once everyone has finished, pull out some 1st place ribbons.

  • Ask the kids if there is anything on their page that would get a first place ribbon. What have they drawn or cut out that is really important to them?

  • Explain to them, that it is great to have things and people who are important to us. God wants to be number one in our lives. He wants us to put him first before everything.

  • Let the kids write the word God on the backs of their ribbons.

Idea 2

God will provide the Ram

  • Give the kids a colouring page of a Ram.

  • Let them colour in the picture.

  • Put some glue on the ram and let them put cotton balls on the ram’s body.

  • Have a conversation with the kids, talk about how God provides for us.

Idea 3

Read “The Sacrifice of Isaac” on page 46 in The Action Bible by Sergio Cariello

Questions:

  1. Why was Abraham willing to sacrifice Isaac, even though it seemed very hard?

  2. How did Isaac respond when he realized he might be the sacrifice?

  3. What did God provide to take Isaac’s place on the altar?

  4. How does this story show us that God always keeps His promises?

Idea 4

Give the kids an American coin.

  • What does it say on the coin? (In God We Trust)

  • Why do you think it says that?

  • What does it mean to trust in God? (It means we can do what He says because He will never let us down)

Idea 6

Read "The Present" on page 62 of The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Questions:

  1. Why did God call Isaac “the son of laughter,” and why was he such a special gift to Abraham and Sarah?

  2. How did Abraham feel when God asked him to give Isaac back, and why did he still obey?

  3. What did Abraham believe about God that helped him trust God, even though the test was hard?

  4. How does this story show us that God loves us and provides for us, just like He did for Abraham and Isaac?

Idea 5

Play a game of pictionary with the kids.

  • Have a large piece of paper and a marker ready and ask one person to come up at a time.

  • Let them pick a small piece of paper and try to draw the item on the paper. The others in the group can guess.

  • Once the person/people in the picture have been guessed ask the kids if that person/people can be trusted? Why or why not?

Idea 7

Look at the “Who Can We Trust?” pages.

  • Put the pages up in different places in the room.

  • Go and look at all the pictures and see if they can name them.

  • Talk with the kids about each of the pictures, can they trust those people, why or why not?

  • Once you have looked at all the pictures, talk about how Jesus is the only person we can fully trust all the time.

  • Then have all the kids start in the middle of the room. Can you a picture (ex. Mom and Dad), and have the kids run to the picture as fast as they can. Then call out a different picture and have the kids run there. Keep going until everyone is tired.

Idea 8

Read“God’s Big Test” on page 52 in Minno Laugh and Grow Bible for Kids by Phil Vischer

Questions:

  1. Why did God test Abraham by asking him to sacrifice Isaac, and how did Abraham respond?

  2. How did Isaac react when he realized there wasn’t a lamb for the sacrifice?

  3. What did God provide in place of Isaac, and how did that show His love and faithfulness to Abraham?

  4. What can we learn from Abraham’s faith about trusting God, even when we don’t know what will happen?

Idea 9

Read the story in the Bible.  

  • Ask the kids to say something or raise their hands when the story gets scary or weird.

  • When they say something or raise their hands ask them why they think this part of the story is weird or scary.

  • How do they think Abraham felt?

  • How did Isaac feel?

  • What do you think they talked about after Isaac was off the altar and they had sacrificed the ram?

Idea 10

Read through the story with the kids.  

  • Let them colour in the pictures.

  • As they are colour go around and ask kids individual questions.

  • Who did Abraham love?

  • Where the Abraham and Isaac go?

  • Why didn’t Abraham kill Isaac?

  • What is the most important thing to do?

Idea 11

Trust fall

  • Let any kids who would feel comfortable participate in the trust fall.

  • Kids can stand on a chair or table and fall backward into the hands of a group of people who will catch them.

  • The idea is to trust the people to catch you. (you believe the people who catch you will do what they say they will do)

Here are some formal lessons I used:

Kindergarten and grade 1

Grades 2,3

Grades 4,5