The Prodigals Son - Luke 15:11-23

Here are some good videos

Saddleback Kids

Crossroads Kids Club

Idea 1

Let the kids watch the video and give them a check list

  • Before you watch the video go through the check list so the kids know what to watch for.

  • Once you finish the video ask the kids how many things they were able to check off.

  • Talk about how hard it would have been for the father, older brother and how hard it was for the son to return home.


Idea 2

Let the kids figure out the story.  Who was the prodigal son?  Why did he run away?  

  • Give each of your leaders a different character to represent in the story. Here is an outline of the different characters.

  • Set up the room with a house, and a farm and different things from the story so the kids can look at the set and see what happened.

  • Once the kids figure it out, sit down and have a conversation with with. Ask them what they found out. Who was the prodigal son? Why did he run away? (maybe he was tricked, he thought that life would be better without his dad, but he was wrong)


Idea 3 

Read “Running Away” in the Jesus Storybook bible on page 272

  • Ask the kids questions

  • How many kids did the dad have?

  • What did the younger son ask the dad?

  • What did the younger son do with all the money?

  • What did the younger son do once he didn’t have any more money?


Idea 4

Talk about kids growing up in the church and then leaving.

  • Tell the kids that when they grow up at some point they are going to get tricked into thinking that they don’t need Jesus any more or they have done something so bad that they can’t go back to Jesus. All of these things are lies, you can always to back to Jesus.

  • Hand out the “Can I still go back to Jesus if I...” pieces of paper. Ask the kids to read what is on their sheet ex. Can I still go back to Jesus if I am mean to my mom and dad? and have all the other kids answer really loudly “yes, you can! “

  • Take some time to pray for some of the people who have left the church.


Idea 5

Talk about your two hands

  • One the one hand God doesn’t want us to leave him. God doesn’t want us to do things that will hurt ourselves or other people.

  • One the other hand, if and when we do these things, God still loves us and will have a party when we come back to him.