CFF Kindergarten, Lesson #7: Jesus Tells Stories (Parables)

Opening Prayer – Make the Sign of the Cross and pray the Our Father.

9:35 Introduce the LessonTell the children that for the lesson today you are going to listen to one of Jesus’ parables. Explain that Jesus often used stories or parables to teach people lessons. Jesus told these parables to help people understand God better.

Can you all say that word with me? Parable (Have children repeat it a few times). Who can tell me again what a parable is? (story that teaches a lesson)Great!

BIBLE BAG – Hold up the Bible Bag (It is a cloth bag with a toy sheep inside)Sing the Bible Bag song: “What is in the Bible Bag, the Bible Bag, the Bible Bag. What is in the Bible bag to tell us about the Bible.”Give everyone a chance to guess what is inside and them show them the sheep.

The parable we are going to hear today is called The Good Shepherd.Who knows what a shepherd is? (Accept any reasonable response.) A shepherd is a person who takes care of a flock or group of sheep. What do you think are some of the things they do to care for the sheep? (Accept any reasonable responses.) Do you think that a shepherd stops caring about his sheep if a sheep runs away or does something wrong? (The shepherd might get upset, but they still love and care for their sheep). Let’s listen to the parable (story) Jesus told about “The Good Shepherd”.

You may print the figures from the website page or just read the story without using the figures.

Jesus’ Little Lambs (The Good Shepherd) Based on John 10:11-16In Jesus’ time on earth, many people knew all about sheep. They saw them every day. So Jesus told them a sheep story to explain how he loves and watches over us, even if we do something wrong (like run away!). Let’s listen to our Bible story.

Optional craft project: Fluffy Lamb (print lamb picture off webpage or simply draw one)Have children get out their glue stick and a green crayonGive each child a lamb paper and some cotton balls or tissue paper.Have them color green grass under the lambNext, have them glue the cotton balls or tissue onto their sheep to make it fluffy.

Tell children that Jesus told many stories during his life. He used them to teach people lessons.

*Watch the brief videos on the Kindergarten webpage or use your own Bible to read some of Jesus’ parables.

Closing Prayer – Sign of the CrossDear Jesus, thank you for telling us stories to help us learn more about the Kingdom of God. Thank you for loving us so much.Sign of the Cross – Amen.