Preschool Lesson: Jonah

I do a lesson on the book of Jonah in my prek/elementary class once a year.  I have to.  The kids love the story.  Last week, much to the excitement of the kids, it was finally Jonah and the Whale Wednesday.  I don't have a nice neat order of service for the lesson, but I still wanted to share how we did the lesson this year.  Since changing from Rainbows Club to our new name SPARKS, I spend very little time sitting at a table with the kids.  We dance to praise and worship videos, the kids love to do messy art projects with paint and glue, and we act out all of our lessons calling on the incredible imaginative mind of a preschooler. 

For our Jonah lesson, we collected a bunch of stuffed animals and soft toys from the church nursery.  Then, we set up our chairs in a row.  Each kid got to hold as many stuffed animals as they could fit in their arms. 

We started on the opposite side of the room.  I said, "God asked Jonah to go to Nineveh and give the people a message.  Jonah was afraid and didn't want to go, so he....RAN FROM GOD!  He got on a boat headed to Tarshish!  Which was far away from Nineveh"

We all made a mad rush for the chairs.  We sit on the chairs.

"After the boat set sail, a bad storm came along.  The wind was blowing and the waves were slushing the boat from side to side!"

We all tilt in our chairs like the boat is actually in a storm and we're trying not to fall out of the boat.

"The sailors were very afraid.  Some one yelled, 'Hurry!  Throw all the cargo overboard!'  So they did!"

We all throw our armful of stuffed animals into the floor.

"But the storm just got worse.  They thought surely it was going to sink!  But Jonah came forward and said 'Throw me overboard!  This storm is my fault because I ran away from God and disobeyed him!'  The sailors didn't want to throw Jonah over but they finally agreed and they... THREW JONAH OVERBOARD!"

We all jump out of our chairs onto the floor.

"And before he knew it, a whale came along and GULPED Jonah up!"

The kids all made a gulping sound.

"When the whale swallowed Jonah, he went into the belly of the whale.  Jonah began to pray to God."

We all bow our head and say a prayer.

"And do you know what happened?  After three days, the whale threw Jonah up!"

We all stand up and act like we're brushing off the vomiit.  The kids love this part.  I don't know why but they think it's so cool that the whale threw Jonah up. 

"Jonah hurried to Nineveh like God told him to.  He gave the people the message, and lots and lots of people asked Jesus to come live in their hearts!"

We all dance around and celebrate because so many people gave their lives to Jesus.