Lesson 21: Abraham and Isaac

Hi friends, I am so behind on posting this lesson and I only managed to plan this one lesson this week!  I'm hoping to get on a twice-a-week rhythm in the fall, but we'll see!  Once again, this is a lesson that is a little hard to explain to preschoolers.  I think it'll be years before Jenna really gets what happened in this story, but I hope that by teaching it now, she'll gain some initial exposure to the story, the names, the details and it will provide a basic framework for learning it again later. One of my storybook Bibles skips it altogether, but I thought it was valuable to teach.

1.  Verse - no new verse this week, but the lesson is from Genesis 22.

2.  Lesson -

• Pray with your child about the lesson.
• Review the names of the people in our last story - Abraham, Sarah, baby Isaac.
• Review the last lesson - God wants us to trust Him.  Trust in the Lord and do good. Psalm 37:3
• Today's story is about trusting God because He loves us so much.
• Baby Isaac grew every day and he became a big boy.
• This story is about Isaac when he was a big boy and his daddy, Abraham.
• Read the story from a storybook Bible.  I read "The Present" from The Jesus Storybook Bible. 
•  
• Summarize the story on a preschool level:  (This is how I did it!)  Before Jesus came, God's people would make sacrifices to Him.  Sacrifices were like presents for God to ask for His forgiveness and to show Him their love.  Usually a sacrifice was an animal.  They would put the animal on sticks, called an altar, and burn it with fire.  Smoke would go up to God.  But, on this day, God asked Abraham to give Him Isaac as a sacrifice.  This was sad and scary for Abraham because if he gave Isaac to God to God, then Abraham wouldn't have him anymore!  BUT Abraham trusted od and he obeyed God.  He gook Isaac up to the altar.  BUT God loved Abraham and he was happy that Abraham obeyed. So, He gave Abraham an animal to use instead of Isaac.  He gave him a ram!  
• So, from this story we need to remember that Abraham trusted and obeyed God and God loved Abraham and took care of him.

3. Craft -  Cotton ball ram.
I thought this craft was so cute and just perfect for the lesson so I was really happy to find it!  You can find the printable for it here at childrenschapel.org.  In order to get it to print as the right size, I had to download and open it. 

First, Jenna colored it.  Then I cut it out for her.  She glued it to construction paper and finished by gluing on the cotton balls.   I wrote "God gave Abraham a ram." on the top of the page to help her remember the story later. 

Even little sis had fun making one playing with glue!

Jenna started out going with true-to-life colors and then at the last minute decided the face should be blue!

It's still pretty cute!

4.  Song - "Praise Him, Praise Him"   #31 on Wee Sing Bible Songs

5.  End by reviewing that Abraham trusted God and God provided a ram for him.

Hope this helps you approach a difficult story for little ones!  Of course, I've read/heard this story many, many times, but this time I felt like I read it with fresh eyes, as a mom.  You really can only read it in awe.  In awe at Abraham's level of trust and awe of the ultimate sacrifice that God gave us...His only son!  I love when God speaks to my heart through studying for these lessons!