Sunday School Lessons for Children

Joseph - A Very Colorful Story

 

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Bible Verse:

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Romans 8:28

Printable Bible Verse Card:

Print out Cards onto card stock, cut apart, and send home with each child. The children can also make File Boxes for their cards.

Teaching Concept:

In this colorful story children learn about Joseph and his brothers, and how God can take a bad situation and turn it into something good. They will learn that God will never leave them no matter what happens or how they act. The lesson is reinforced by the crafts and activities that use the same colors mentioned in the story to describe the feelings and attitudes of the characters.

 

Opening Activities

Children use this craft to review the Bible lesson.

How to Make the Joseph Paper Bag Puppet:

1. Before class print out the puppet pattern onto to brown bag paper or brown paper and cut out the pieces.

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2. In class show your children how to glue the head onto to bottom of the paper bag, the arms onto the back of the bag, and the feet onto the inside bottom of the bag. If you have very young children, glue the pieces together before class.

3. Provide green, red, black, and blue colored pencils or crayons for your children to color Joseph's coat. (These are the colors that will be used in the story.)

4. As your children work talk about how colors can represent emotions. We say someone is green with envy, they are blue when they are sad, red when they are angry, and black when they are filled with sin.

 

 

Children of all ages will enjoy coloring this activity sheet. As your students color the picture ask them to find the objects in Joseph's dream - sun, moon, stars, and sheaves of wheat and discuss what the dream meant and how it affected the people in the story.

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How to Make:

1. Before class print out the paperdoll pattern and copy it onto heavy cardstock.

2. Cut out the patterns.

3. In class explain to your students that Joseph's father gave him a very colorful coat and that they should color the paper doll's coat so that it is colorful. When they are finished help your children place the paper dolls on the stands so they will stand up.

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The Lesson

 

(Circle one of the stick figures to indicate that it is Joseph.) 

Jacob wanted to show Joseph how much he loved him so he had a very special coat made for him.

(Tape a  white paper coat on top of the Joseph figure or draw one over the figure.) 

This coat was very colorful, and whenever Joseph wore it all his brothers were green with envy. (Color part of the coat green.)

They didn't think that it was fair that Joseph got such a beautiful coat and they got nothing.

Sometimes Joseph would see his brothers doing things that he knew his father wouldn't like and he would run home and tell on them. This made his brothers more angry.  Their hearts began to turn black with bad feelings toward their little brother. 

(Add some black stripes to the coat.) 

One day Joseph was sent out into the fields to go check up on his brothers who were watching the sheep. His brothers saw him coming from a long way away because of his very colorful coat and they began to talk bad about him and plan what they could do to him because they hated him so much. When Joseph got close they grabbed him and pulled off his beautiful coat. They threw him into a deep dark well. Joseph was very scared. All he could see was blackness all around.

(Add some more black stripes.)

Soon Joseph's brothers saw a bunch of men passing by who were on their way to Egypt. The brothers pulled Joseph out of the deep dark well and sold him to the men who took him to Egypt as their slave.

The brothers couldn't go back home without a plan. They decided to kill a goat and smeared the red blood all over Joseph's beautiful coat.

(Add red to the coat).

They took it home and told their father that Joseph had been attacked by a wild animal and his coat was all that was left. This made Joseph's father blue. He thought his beloved son was gone forever.

(Add blue to the coat.)

He cried and grieved for his lost son for a very long time. 

But this isn't the end of our story. God was with Joseph and kept him safe. God had a plan for Joseph's life. God was watching over him.  Joseph wasn't the perfect child. He was probably spoiled and conceited (thought too highly of himself) and was a tattle tale. His brothers were jealous and did a very bad thing. But we will learn next week how God took a very bad situation and made something good out of it. We will see how God can make bad things good again.

Sometimes you have bad things happen in your life that you think just aren't fair. Maybe you have people that pick on you or call you names. Or maybe someone is sick in your family or doesn't have a job. God wants you to know that he is always with you no matter what happens. He is watching over you and your family. He is with you wherever you go, and no matter what you do. He can take something bad, and turn it into something good so when you have a problem, or bad things are happening, just remember that God is with you. When you pray to him, God is there to listen to your troubles.

Next week we will learn how God helped Joseph and his family with their problems and made a bad thing good.

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Prayer

 

(Have the children fold their hands and close their eyes, and repeat each phrase after you.

Dear God,
Thank you that you are with me
No matter what happens
Thank you that you can
Take something bad,
And turn it into something good.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.

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Crafts

 

1. Cut a neck hole at the bottom of a brown grocery bag.

2. Open the bag up by cutting a line from the neck hole in the center of one side of the bag to the top of the bag.

3. Cut two arm holes on both sides of the bag. Have the children color or paint their bags.  When they are dry have the children model their beautiful coats.

 

 

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Activities

 

1. Play a Color Elimination Game

As the children arrive in class write down on small pieces of paper different things they are wearing and what color they are. For example, you can write white socks, blue pants, red dress, orange hair clip, red flowers on shirt, pink shirt with blue stripes, brown shoes, etc.  You can also use the color of their hair and eyes. Put all the pieces of paper in a bag.  Have all your children stand up. Give each child a turn to pick a piece of paper from the bag and then read what it says.  If a child is wearing something that is picked from the bag, he or she has to sit down. Keep playing until only one child is standing up.

 

 

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3. Work on Saying the Bible Verse

Have all the children sit in a circle.  Tell all the children, "If you are wearing red today, stand up and say the verse."  Help the children who are wearing red say the verse. Keep going with different colors until all the children have had a chance to say the verse at least once.

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4. Review the Bible Lesson using Puppets

Have your children use their Joseph puppets to review the story. Ask yes and no questions about the Bible lesson. ell your children to shake the head of their puppets up and down if the answer is yes and move the puppets head side to side if the answer is no.

 

Copyright

Copyright © 2000 and 20015, Digital by Design
Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities
https://www.daniellesplace.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information or storage retrieval system, except for local church or school use only.  This copyright notice must be included on all copies. Requests for permission to copy this material for any other uses should be addressed to Carolyn Warvel, 588 Duran Street, Henderson, NV  89015 or e-mail me at care@daniellesplace.com

 

Comments

We would love to hear your comments about this lesson. If you have done this lesson with your class we would love to hear how it went, if you changed anything, added anything, what age you taught and was it appropriate.  Any comments that would help other teachers would be greatly appreciated and posted here for everyone to read.

I found some really ugly holey striped material in the $1 bin at Walmart and asked my daughter why anyone would ever buy it...then I realized that it would make a perfect coat of many colors. So I used about a yard to make 2 "coats." First I cut the yard in half down the middle and then I cut holes for arms almost in the middle of the material (I folded it in half and cut both arms at once so they'd be even) so that when the child put on the coat, it had a lapel that fell over the armholes so it looked as though it had sleeves. We pinned them closed at the top in front. They took almost no time to do (The fabric didn't need hemming) and the kids loved them. Sent in by Beckye Mosher

I recently taught a lesson about Joseph and his coat of many colors. I used the "Coat of Many Colors" craft idea. I did modify it some. Using the pattern provided, I made the "coat" out of fabric samples that I picked up from a furniture store. Using my sewing machine, I stitched around the outside to prevent it from unraveling. I also stitched onto the tail of the coat my scripture for the lesson (my machine sews letters). Instead of having the children glue on the decorations, I gave them sticky Velcro. They stuck the soft side to buttons and other decorations and the rough side onto the coat itself. I thought this would be a great way that they could redecorate their coat when they go home with it. Although some of the younger children had to have a little extra help on part of the craft, they all seemed to really enjoy it. Theresa Bostick

I taught my Kindergarten class from your "Joseph - A Very Colorful Story" lesson plan last Sunday and was very successful. I only have 45 min. to teach every Sunday, so am limited as to how much material I can fit in and make sure that the children really "get" the lesson. Since the concept of the lesson and story related directly to the craft, it was very easy for the children to understand and they were very engaged. I used the Teaching Concept, the coloring page for the opening activity and then we made the coat . . . they loved it, and we added some multicolored yarn ties on either side at the top of the coat . . . everyone was excited to try their coat on when it was finished (some wanted to try them on before!). Since our time is limited, we discussed the story and people's feelings while we were working on the craft project. Overall, I felt we had a very good session and that the kids were very involved on all levels.

My biggest problem is, as I mentioned, the time period I have to teach in. It cannot be increased . . . that is my only window of opportunity. I need lessons that do exactly what this one did . . . combine the elements of the story somehow with the craft and activities so that the children get the lesson at the same time they are being instructed as to the elements of the craft they are going to do. I know that this is not possible all of the time, but it is very helpful when it can be accomplished! Thank you for your great site! Kind regards, Karen Winslow

Hi! Last Sunday we did Joseph- A colorful story in class of two to six year olds. We made the coat of many colors out of the brown grocery bags. They turned out really good. The kids loved them! They had them on when their parents came to get them, because they were so proud of how good of a job. They did. We also played the color elimination game. They got so excited waiting to see who was going to be picked next, and waiting for their own to be picked. We didn't have time to color the review sheet, so I sent them home with the kids. I always like to send something home along with the Bible verse cards so that the kids remember what our story was about during the next week. --Nikki Adrian

I did the lesson Joseph-A Very Colorful Story last Sunday in our Kid's Alive (toddler church). They loved the lesson. They made a stand up paper doll that I got from www.makingfriends.com. They have Bible friends paper dolls. We made Joseph and his coat of many colors. I cut small squares of construction paper that were the same colors as the ones mentioned in the lesson and they glued them on to the coat. They really liked the paper with the coats to color. This was a fun lesson to teach. Jamie Morrel

 

 

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