Jonah

JONAH

Objectives:

Children should be able to tell the story of Jonah.
Children should identify another reason for disobedience – dislike of the command.

Possible Lesson Plan:

Open with prayer.
Read the story of Jonah in the Beginner’s Bible, pages 257-264, the Children’s Bible Reader, pages 148-151, or the the Read with Me Bible, pages 244-249. Remember that Ninevah was the capital of the Assyrians, who were poised to conquer the entire land of Israel.

True False

Jonah was a prophet of God. Jonah was a king of Israel.

God told Jonah to go to Ninevah. God told Jonah to go to Egypt.

God sent a storm to Jonah’s ship. Jonah’s ship had clear, blue sky.

Jonah was swallowed by a big fish. Jonah was eaten by a lion.

Discuss disobedience again: Why did Jonah disobey God? Did he think the command was silly? Did he have trouble hearing God? Or did he dislike the command? Are you ever asked to do something you dislike? What? What were the consequences to Jonah for disobedience? What happens to you?

Game: Big Mouth Paper Plate Fish – Make the fish ahead of time and bring to class: Paint the eating side of two paper plates pink. This will be the inside of the fish’s mouth. Cut the tail and fins from card stock or poster board. Turn the plates over and place one on top of the other. This one will be the top of the fish. Cut a slit at the edge of the paper plate just behind both side fins and glue in side fins. Glue the paper plate with the fins on it to the other paper plate starting at the back of one side fin and ending at the back of the other side fin. Bring the top paper plate over top of the bottom paper plate at the slit at the side fins. Glue it together at the overlapping area. This will make the mouth open. Fold the bottom part of the top fin over about a 1/4" from the bottom. Glue it to the top of the fish. Stuff the fish with some crinkled up scrap paper and paint the outside with gray/blue/green paint. Let dry. When it is dry remove the stuffing. Glue on some googly eyes. Fill the fish with some things he might have swallowed, along with a tiny picture of Jonah below. Things might include a bone, paper clip, shell, feather – all kinds of things. Have children take turns removing one thing from the fish – winner is the one who removes Jonah!

Make a Fish Vomiting Out Jonah: Cut a large fish (even bigger than pictured) with a wide mouth out of gray foam board (or cardboard). Children can add eyes, fins, etc. Then, take a party blower – the kind that unwinds like a long tongue when you blow and rolls back up when you stop blowing – and attach behind the whale just inside the mouth with heavy tape. Cut out the figure of Jonah, color, glue to cardboard, and tape or staple a string to his head with the other end attached to the end of the “tongue”. Place Jonah in the middle of the blow-toy. Blow on the toy and Jonah will be spit out of the mouth of the fish; the string will keep him from getting lost.