Free Sunday School Lessons for Children

Elijah and the Birds (3 years old through first grade)

 

 

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Memory Verse and Scripture References:

Philippians 4:19 and 1 Kings 17:1-6

Printable Bible Verse Card: 

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

Teaching Concepts:

God gives us everything we need. Children learn how God took care of Elijah; and that he takes care of us.

 

Opening Activities

 

 

 

What to do:

1. Before class cut the top 1/3 off of one large paper plate. Glue it to another large paper plate so that it forms a pocket.

2. Glue two small paper plates together, top to top, for the head. Glue the head to the large paper plates as shown.

3. Cut out some wings from another paper plate or black construction paper and glue them to the body.

4. In class have the children paint or color the body of the bird, cut out a beak and eyes, and glue them to the body.

5. They can also glue some feathers to the top of the head and make legs from black construction paper.

6. You can also punch a hole in the top and tie a piece of yarn in the hole so they can hang their birds.

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If you have very young children use flour and water paste or icing for glue instead of real glue. Just mix a little water with the flour to make a paste. It works great!

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How to Make the Paper Bird Puppets:

1. Before class print out the patterns and make copies.

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2. In class have your children color the patterns and then cut them out. If you have younger children, cut them out before class.

3. Instruct your children to color the birds beak and head and color the side of the bird without the word "glue" pink for the mouth.

4. When they are done coloring fold the pattern in half down the center of the beak on both the top and bottom pattern. Then fold the sides back.

5. Place glue on the side indicated on both patterns and match them up to the opposite sides pressing the sides together.

6. Fold down the tab on the head pattern and glue it to the bottom of the head pattern. Reinforce it with tape.

7. To finish tape a feather to the top of the head.

Tip: Add a small piece of double-sided tape to the inside of the puppet to help young children keep the puppet on their fingers when playing with it.

Watch a "View it and Do it!" Craft video on how to make this craft:

Here is a cute origami folding bird that you can make for your students. Young children will love playing with them. You can teach older children to make their own. Place candy in the beak and have your children fly around the room with the birds feeding their classmates. Or tell your children to share the bird and treat with a friend and tell their friends about the Elijah.

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The Lesson

Preparation: This lesson is presented with a bird puppet. The teacher can use the puppet herself, or use a helper to work the puppet. You will need a bird puppet with a beak that opens and closes, clock or watch, picture of Elijah, crown, spray bottle, statue (idol), food, and the Bible verse written on a piece of paper. If you are using a helper, you will need something for the helper to hide behind. (I just used a piece of cardboard.)

*Note: (My seven year old worked the puppet for me and did a wonderful job. Since she doesn't read that well yet, I used hand signals so she would know what to do next. I kept my hand that was closest to the puppet hidden behind the cardboard. When it was time to bring out another object I would spread out my finger with my palm up. When I wanted her to move the bird's mouth, I put my thumb and other fingers together like a bird talking. The Large Crow Puppet from "The Puppet Company" works great. It makes a great squawking noise that sounds like a real crow.

Teacher: Good morning class. I have a very special friend I would like you to meet today. Everybody say "hi" to my friend Polly.

Bird: (Says hello in bird talk depending on the type of bird he is: cheep, caw, squawk, etc.)

Teacher: I just found out that Polly is related to one of the ravens in our Bible story today. Isn't that right Polly?

Bird: (shakes his head yes)

Teacher: Polly's great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather is the second cousin of one of the raven's in our story. Isn't that right?

Bird: (shakes his head yes)

Teacher: So this story has been handed down from generation to generation. I have asked Polly to come in today and tell you the story. I will have to help Polly because he doesn't speak human language. Okay, Polly, you may begin.

Bird: (brings out a clock or watch in his beak)

Teacher: A clock? Oh, Polly says that this story happened a long time ago. (Have the bird turn his head around counter clockwise.) . . . a long, long time ago. (Have the bird do it again.) . . . a long, long, long time ago. (and again). . . a long, long, long, long time ago, (Have the bird do it again.) Okay, Polly, I think we get the picture. This story happened in Bible times, way before Jesus was even born.

Bird: (brings out a picture of Elijah)

Teacher: A picture of Elijah the great prophet. (Take the picture from the bird and show the class.)

Bird: (says something in bird talk.)

Teacher: Polly says that one day Elijah showed up at the Kerith Brook in the middle of the wilderness where his great, great, great, great . . . grandfather's second cousin lived.

Bird: (pants like he is tired)

Teacher: Elijah was very tired because he had been running all day long.

Bird: (brings out a crown.)

Teacher: Crown? Elijah had been running away from a King . . . King Ahab.

Bird: (tries to hide under your arm)

Teacher: Elijah was hiding from King Ahab. Elijah was afraid because King Ahab was mad at him.

Bird: (Brings out a spray bottle and gives it to the teacher.)

Teacher: Spray bottle? (Squirt the bottle.) Oh, rain.

Bird: (Makes some bird sounds.)

Teacher: Oh, Elijah told King Ahab that it would not rain again until he said so. That made King Ahab was very mad. Elijah was afraid that King Ahab would try to hurt him so he went to hide in the wilderness at the Kerith brook.

But why did Elijah tell King Ahab that it wouldn't rain until he said so?

Bird: (bird looks up towards heaven and says something in bird language.)

Teacher: Oh, God told Elijah to tell King Ahab that. But why would God tell Elijah to say that? People have to have rain. If it doesn't rain, nothing will grow and there will be no food.

Bird: (bird talk)

Teacher: God was mad.

Bird: (brings out a statue)

Teacher: The people were praying to idols?

Bird: (shakes head yes)

Teacher: Oh, that is a bad thing. God gets very angry when people pray to anyone or anything but him. So they were trusting idols to bring them rain instead of God. So God told Elijah to tell King Ahab that it wouldn't rain until he said so. He wanted to prove (or show) to King Ahab that he is the one who makes it rain. That is why King Ahab was so mad at Elijah. And that is why he had to run away and hide from King Ahab at the Kerith brook where your great, great, great . . . grandfather's second cousin lived.

Bird: (shakes head yes and then brings out some food, places it in front of the teacher, and says something in bird language)

Teacher: Polly said that God didn't forget about Elijah while he was hiding. God told Elijah to do something that was very scary and dangerous but he took good care of him. He told Polly's great, great, great, great . . . grandfather's second cousin to take care of Elijah and they did. They brought him food in the morning and again in the evening.

Bird: (brings out a paper with the Bible verse written on it)

Teacher: Oh, Polly has a Bible verse he would like to share with us. "My God shall supply all your needs".

Bird: (more bird talk)

Teacher: Polly says that God may have us do some hard things, but he promises us that he will take care of us. Thanks you, Polly, for coming to tell us that story. I hope you can come back again sometime. Bye, bye.

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Prayer

Father, we thank you for every thing that you have given us and for taking care of us. Help us to trust you even when things seem hard. Amen.

 

Activities

 

1. Review the Lesson

Place all the objects that were used in the lesson on a table in front of the class in random order. Ask one the children to come up and pick the first object that was used in the story and tell what it represented or reminds us of in the story. Keep going until all the objects are picked in order.

 

 

2. Bible Verse Review

In this activity the children pretend to be ravens and bring food to Elijah. Before class draw some pictures of food, color them, and cut them out, and write one word of the verse on each food. Hide the food pictures around the room. Pick a child to pretend to be a raven and fly around the room until he finds some food. When he finds something, he should bring it back to you. Take the food from the raven. Ask another child to come up and tape it to the wall. Then have another child pretend to be a raven and do the same thing. Pick another children to tape the food to the wall in the correct order of the verse. Keep going until all the food is found and the verse is complete.

 

 

3. Pretend to be Ravens and Feed the Class

Have your bird puppet bring a snack to each child. Have the children put some of the snack in a Baggie and place in the paper plate birds they made earlier. Also make copies of the Bible verse for each child and staple it to the outside of the Baggie. Tell the children to take their birds home and have him deliver the food and verse to someone they know and to tell that person about Elijah and how God cared for him.

You could also put snacks in plastic bags and hide them around the room. (You may have to use another room that isn't being used.) Have the children use their bird puppets and go into the other room to look for food. When they find some food, they should bring it back to the room and give it to another student.

 

 

4. Help the Raven Find Food for Elijah

Send one child out of the room and pick another child to hide some food. You can use pictures of food or plastic food. Call the child in or have your Crow Puppet caw. As the child searches for the food make your puppet caw when he is going towards the hidden food. If he turns the wrong way have the puppet shake his head no. If he needs to look higher, have the puppet point up with his beak. When the child is really close have the puppet caw very fast. Keep playing until all the children have had a turn to find the food.

 

 

1. Print and cut out the spinner patterns and food cards onto card stock (Heavy Paper).

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2. Cut the wheel patterns out and glue them together to make a circle.

3. Use a brass fastener to attach it to the wheel.

4. Write one word of the Bible verse on the back of each card.

In class place the cards in a bag or display them on the table with the words facing down. Also have some kind of snack available, such as crackers or cereal. Each child takes a turn spinning the spinner and doing what it says on the wheel. If the bird's beak lands on "Pick a card" that child should pick up one of the cards. If a child lands on "Pick a card from another player, he can take a card from any of the other players. (You may want to skip this one, or change it to something else. Very young children might have a hard time with this one.) Keep playing until all the cards have been picked up.

Write the Bible verse on the board. Ask the children to look at the words on their cards. Point to the words on the board one at a time and ask the child who has that card to come up to the board and tape the card underneath that word. Go over the previous words each time you add a new word. When all the words have been taped to the board, have the children say the whole verse.

 

 

6. Bible Verse Review Relay Game

Great game for Older Children!

1. Before class print out the Bird Puppet Patterns and make copies. Have your children color the birds or use the colored patterns. Prepare one puppet for each child or have your children make them.

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2. Print out the Bible verse cards. Use a sharp object to score the dotted lines and then cut out the cards. Fold them up and tape them together so they stand up.

3. In class give each child a bird puppet and break your children up into teams.

4. Review the verse several times. Write it on a board so the children can see it.

5. Place the Bible verse cards at one end of the room with the teams. On the word go children take turns picking up a Bible verse cards with the bird puppet, running across the room, and placing the card in order of the verse relay style. The team that completes the verse first wins.

 

Two little ravens sitting in a tree,
One flew off to see what he could see.
He found his friends sharing their food
with Elijah. He chewed and chewed.

One little raven sitting in a tree,
He flew off to find the other three
He flew around. He look and he looked
Until he found them at the Kerith Brook.
©2007, Carolyn Warvel

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Songs and Rhymes

 

Three black ravens
Three black ravens
See how they fly
See how they fly
Elijah prays for food today
The ravens bring without delay
Three black ravens
Three black ravens

2. Raven Black
by Nancy Foss

There was a little raven black
He lived in a tree
Flying through the clouds and back.
He answered Elijah's plea
Flying over the seas,
Bringing food to please.

3. Black Ravens
by Nancy Foss

Five black ravens sitting in a tree
The first one said, "Elijah needs me."
The second one said, "Let's go, lets go."
The third one said, "You're moving to slow."
The fourth one said, "Let's bring Elijah bread."
The fifth one said, "He'd like toast instead."
Then swoosh went their wings and down, down, down from the tree they came
Five black ravens Elijah did see.

4. Elijah was a Prophet of God
by Carolyn Warvel
(Sing to the tune of "Zacchaeus was a Wee Little Man".)

Elijah was a prophet of God; a prophet of God was he.
He told King Ahab it would not rain, no, no more rain he'd see.
And then he ran to hide away, with the birds and the bees.
And God said, "Ravens, you take care of him.
For I have something for him to do, for I have something for him to do.

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Crafts

 

This craft cost only pennies to make!

 

What you will need:

Yellow, Orange, or White Card stock

Crayons (Optional)

Tape

Scissors

Stapler

Small Wiggle Eyes

 

How to Make the Elijah and the Raven Craft Kit:

1. If you would like your children to color the patterns, print out the patterns onto white card stock making one for each student.

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If you would rather just have your children glue the craft together you can print out the raven body parts onto white cards stock and use the patterns as templates to cut the shapes from black card stock.

Print out the beak and leg patterns onto yellow or orange cards stock.

Print out the Note Paper Pattern that says, "God will Take Care of You!" onto any color of card stock.

2. In class have the children color the pattern pieces and then cut them out. Pre-cut the pieces you have pre-school children.

3. Tape or glue the body piece together to form a cone shape. Glue the wings on the back where the sides of the cone come together.

4. Tape the head to the top front of the cone. You can glue on wiggly eyes if you would like.

5. Tape the tail feather to the bottom back of the cone to the inside of the cone.

6. You can fan fold the legs folding the feet up at the end and then taping them to the body. Some children will not like the fan fold. They can cut the legs shorter and just tape them on or you can use pipe cleaners to form the legs and tape them on.

7. Tape the "God will take Care of You!" message to the underside of the bird's beak.

As you work ask your children how God takes care of them.

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1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup milk
4 cups sugar
2 sticks of butter (1 cup)
1 cup of peanut butter (optional)
6 cups of old fashioned oatmeal

Nilla Chocolate Wafers
Candy corn
3D's Doritos
Blue or green icing in a
tube with a decorating
tip with a small hole

 

Before Class Make the Dough for the Raven's Body:

1. Mix cocoa, sugar, and milk stirring well in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the margarine. Bring to a boil. Boil 2 to 3 minutes until the mixture reaches the softball stage. (Drop a small amount of the hot mixture into a cold cup of water. If the mixture sticks together slightly when you push it together with your fingers, it is in a softball stage.) Do not over cook because they will be too dry and fall apart.

2. Remove from heat and add the peanut butter and oats. Scoop onto waxed paper that has been placed on a cookie sheet.

 

In Class Have the Children Complete the Ravens:

Raven 1 - Add candy corn or 3D's Doritos for a beak. Use icing to make the eyes.

 

 

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Copyright

Copyright 2002, Digital by Design, Inc.
Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities

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

 

Free Sunday School Lessons

For more free Sunday school lessons go to the Free Sunday School Lessons Page.

This is the first lesson in the series of six lessons about Elijah. See information about other Elijah Lessons.

 

Comments

I taught the first Elijah lesson to my preschool Sunday school class this week. I have a couple of children who are afraid of puppets, so I rewrote the lesson without the puppet.
We began the lesson by discussing things that are really hard for us to do and things that we would not want to do. I told them that our lesson was about a person who was told to do something really hard by God, that he didn't really want to do it and that it would make King Ahab really angry with him. Next, I showed them a black feather, which lead into our discussion about birds. I ended the discussion by telling the children that there would be ravens in our lesson. Then I told the story using the objects, without the bird puppet. My children really love object lessons, so this part of the lesson went well.
For our craft, we made the "Sitting Raven Holding A Sign". This was great!! It was easy for the children to do and googly eyes are their favorite craft item. I look forward to the next lesson in this series. Thank you for such wonderful ideas!! Theresa Bostick

I just did the Elijah and the Raven's lesson for children's church (ages 2 - 13). It was great; everybody loved Polly (I used your instructions for making a raven out of a paper bag). Instead of having the actual props, (ie, the clock, squirt bottle, etc) I printed them out with my graphics program and put tape on the back of them, that way "Polly" could easily pick them up with her construction paper beak. We also made the raven cookies which were a huge hit. The kids said that whenever they saw a bird, or ate some food, it would remind them that God supplies all their needs. Thanks for the great lessons! Natalie

Thank you so much for the wonderful lesson on Elijah and the ravens! We copied the bird and hand pattern and enlarged it so that the children could color it and glue birdseeds and raisins in the hand (as if the bird delivered it to Elijah). The children, ages 2 to 4, loved the picture and were able to visualize God sending the birds to feed Elijah. Angela Sipes

I did this lesson with my class at church (ages 4 - 6) It went great. I had extra time at the end of class so I had the kids act out the story. They took turns being different parts: God, the king, Elijah, and the raven. We used under the table for Elijah's hiding place. It was great, and it really helped the kids remember the lesson.

My 2 - 3's class made the black raven out of paper plates. Boy did they get the concept. It has now been four weeks that we have studied Elijah and they remember that God sent birds to feed Elijah crackers. It was a great lesson. We put Cheerios in the pocket and sent them home. The parents thought it was great. Thanks, Christy B.

Hi, we did the first lesson on Elijah, and it was a lot of fun. We did not use a puppet. I had an older girl in the class just act out the puppet part like she was a bird and it did turn out to be fun. We did the picture of the raven feeding Elijah and put food in his hand. Thanks for all your wonderful lessons. Christina Penley

Wow, great stuff. I teach Sunday School to 4 - 5 year olds. I just taught the lessons about Elijah and the ravens. I made a raven puppet using your sock puppet directions (Turned out great) and used your lesson script for the story. The kids loved the "rain". We also did two of your rhymes. We changed your blackbird rhyme to ravens and it fit the lesson well. We talked about how Jill felt when Jack flew away. (We were trying to teach that God is always with us.) Your ideas are wonderful and I plan to use The Resource Room a lot. Thanks.

I'm doing " Elijah and the Ravens" tomorrow.  I'm going to have them make the sitting raven.  A quick tip, I used a black marker to color in the raven parts that were to be black, then copied them off on yellow card stock.  I am cutting out all the parts myself since my kids are not that great at cutting yet.  Sylvia

This last Sunday I taught your Elijah and the Ravens lesson to my Wee Worship class (2 - 5 yrs.). They loved it! And the adults had fun too! We started with the Two Little Blackbirds rhyme and then I told them that today we were going to talk about a black bird called a raven. I brought out a black bird puppet that squawks when you open his beak and did a slightly different version of your lesson. It is hard to keep them seated with one prop, so I figured that many things would be hard to keep them sitting. They tend to want to come and touch things. They were fascinated with the puppet and the lesson went well. I made it interactive and the puppet went and gave them pretend food during the lesson. Then we did our memory verse. And then repeated the Two Little Blackbirds rhyme, but said ravens this time. Then we said a prayer for our snack and the puppet dropped their snack, in baggies, to them. As they got their snack, they went to the table. When they were finished I stamped their hands with a bird stamp in black ink. I told them that when they see this stamp today, they can remember that God gives us all we need. With their stamp of a blackbird on each hand, we did the rhyme again, and then again and again. That was a big hit. By then, the other helpers had the table cleaned off and we did the craft page with the bird feeding Elijah. The kids loved gluing Cherrios on, but one little boy kept eating them. Then, when finally on his page, he tried to eat those too. So, had to take his paper and leave him a pile of Cheerios. Funny as we just had snack and he had three helpings! The Sunday school teacher reinforced the lesson again by telling the story as she cut out ravens. When the story was done she opened up the raven and he looked like he was flying. The kids loved that too! Thanks for all the wonderful ideas! Lara

My husband and I  teach a Sunday School of 25 pre-schoolers. We love it when you include puppet shows! We used this one and nothing gets every single child's attention like a puppet show. Thank you for taking the time to write those scripts. We found it easy to take one of my husbands black socks and just glue on construction paper eyes and an orange beak to make a puppet that slipped over his hand and forearm.  Of course, it could be improved upon, but it did work well for us. Shari

I taught the Elijah and the Ravens lessons to my 2 - 3's Sunday school class and it was a blast! We used the black bird puppet that squeaks to tell the story. Since my children are so young, I had them repeat certain things in the story as I told it and when they did, the bird spoke to them! They loved it! We did the black bird stamper on hand and sang the Two Little Ravens rhyme. We went to the table later for craft time and they colored the raven picture with the hand, but instead of using the hand in your picture, we traced their hand stretching out. Then they glued Cheerios on. One of the songs we did was the Hokey Pokey, but we used bird names for parts of the body (put your beak in, put your bird legs in, put your wings in . . .). It was a fun lesson and the kids loved it! Thanks for your great ideas! Lara

I used the raven craft with the note in his mouth to do a praise lesson. We colored and cut out a picture of a scarecrow (enlarged on a copy machine) and glued it to a cardboard paper towel roll (painted brown to resemble wood). Then after assembling the crow, we glued it on top of the paper towel roll (pole). The words on the note were changed to "We're crowing about God". Janet McKay

Our children's church ranges from three years old up to 6th grade, so I usually use the younger lesson and go up or down depending on the average age I used the sitting raven craft with my 2-3 yr old class. Our lesson was God told Adam to name all the animals. I used the Raven holding a sign "God told Adam to name all the animals". We put it on a short dowel rod. When our lesson was over the kids could remember what it was about. They would look at the raven and tell me that God told Adam to name all the animals in the air, water, and on land. We had a party after because it was end of our year. All these kids move into another class next week. I invited the ones that were going to move into this class in for the party. They didn't want anything but the ravens. So guess what we had to make them. They loved it. The smallest was 18 months old and he wouldn't give his up to no one. Still had it when Church was over outside. Thanks again for all the crafts and lessons on your site! Love it, Muyrl of the children. I always use the craft because the younger children love it and usually the older ones do, too. The older ones will even help the younger ones and that is a blessing to see and a wonderful character trait to instill in them.

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