Free Sunday School Lessons for Children

The following Sunday school lesson for children is a free sample Sunday school lesson.
There are many more Sunday school lessons for children available on The Resource Room.

Joseph - A Very Colorful Story

Bible Verses: "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 onto card stock, cut apart, and send home with each child.

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

1. Color a Picture of Joseph - Joseph And His Colorful Coat.

2. Play with Buttons - Bring in a collection of large buttons. (This activity is for children five and older. Buttons can be dangerous for small children because they might swallow them or choke on them.) Have the children count them, sort them according to colors or size, or make patterns with them by putting them into rows according to their size or color. For example you can start a pattern of blue, red, green, and yellow buttons and then have a child copy your pattern.

3. Fabric Fun - If you have younger children, they will enjoy playing with fabric scraps. Cut fabric scraps into small squares. (You can pick these up at used stores or garage sales or cut up old clothes into scraps.) Let your children play with the squares. They may want to sort them according to colors or patterns. You can ask them which ones they like or which pattern they would pick if their Mom was going to make them a coat. You can also let the children pick their favorite swatches and then staple them together to make a swatch book.

How to Print or Copy these Instructions

The Lesson

I am about to tell you a very colorful story. Listen closely and see how many colors you can pick out in this story.

There once was a man named Jacob who had twelve sons. (You may want to draw twelve stick figures on the board and have the children count them as you draw or have them drawn already and just have the children count them with you.) But of all his sons, Joseph was his favorite. (Circle one of the stick figures to indicate that that 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 would be green with envy. (Color part of the coat green.) They didn't think that it was fair that he 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 even madder. Their hearts began to turn black with envy and 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 David's life.

God was watching over Joseph. Joseph wasn't the perfect child. He was probably spoiled and conceded (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.

How to Print or Copy these Instructions

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.

Talk about the story. Ask the children what colors they heard in the story. Discuss each color and how they are used to describe emotions.

Crafts

1. Make Joseph's Coat of Many Colors to Wear. Cut a neck hole at the bottom of a brown grocery bag. 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. 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.

2. Make a Colorful Coat - Bring in scraps of fabric or felt, buttons, ribbon, rick rack, lace and anything else you think the children will enjoy using to decorate their coats. (If you would like to tie the story into the lesson a little more, you can just use the colors in the story.) Tell the children that as they make the coat they will be reminded of the story by thinking about the colors in the story.) As the children work, talk about the colors. For example, if a child is using red, tell them that red can remind them of the red blood that Joseph's brothers smeared on his coat.

What To Do:

Before class cut coat shapes from card stock. If your children are not very skilled at cutting fabric or felt, use the coat shapes to cut coats from fabric or felt pieces.
In class have the glue the felt or material to the coat shapes and then decorate them with pieces of felt, rick rack, buttons, etc.

How to Print or Copy these Instructions

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 the 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.

2. Work on "Joseph - A Very Colorful Story" Review Sheet. This is a great worksheet for the children to learn how to read their colors and review the story at the same time.

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.

How to Print or Copy these Instructions

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 from Subscribers

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 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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