Parable of the Sower

PARABLE OF THE SOWER

Objectives:

Children should be able to tell the story of the parable in their own words.
Children should know the word, “parable”, and be able to say that it is a story with a hidden meaning.
Children should know the “hidden meaning” of the seeds and the sower.

Possible Lesson Plan:

Read the story of the sower in the Golden Children’s Bible, pages 392-393, and the really fun Arch book, “Seeds that Grew”. Tell the children that Jesus is telling a story. It is a special kind of story. It is called a parable. Repeat the word until the children know it. What is a parable? In this parable, who is the sower? What are the seeds? What is the soil?

True False

A parable is a story with a hidden meaning. A parable is a comic strip.

The sower is Jesus or God. The sower is the devil.

The seeds are God’s words or teachings. We are the seeds.

We are the soil. God is the soil.

Try to understand the parable a bit: What kind of people are hard, rocky ground? Would seeds grow well there? What kind of people are easily dried out by the hot sun? Would seeds grow well there? What kind of people are so shallow the birds can eat the seeds? What kind of things might be thorns that take over our lives? What kind of people are rich soil? What kind of people are each of us? This will be hard with smaller children; they may remain totally concrete, unable to see people as dirt and teachings as seeds. That’s OK; talk about seeds and dirt and later understanding will come.

Make a Seed Starter Station: Take an egg carton, preferably paper. Fill with soil. Plant various seeds in the different pockets, or try to do an experiment based on the parable – two pockets with only rocks, two with almost no soil, another 2 with lots of weed seeds (e.g. grass), and the rest with deep soil and pretty flower seeds. Have the children take their “science experiment” home, water it, and watch the growth.

Close with prayer, asking Jesus to make us good soil to learn and obey His teachings.