Gideon Bible Lessons, Crafts and Activities for Sunday School

Gideon - Brave and Mighty

How to Make Crafts and Activities Relating To Gideon Including: Where's Gideon Craft Paper, Find Gideon, Wheat Bible Verse Picture, Songs, Gideons Trumpet, Torch and Jar, Pass the Bread Game

The following Sunday School lessons come from The Resource Room. The complete lessons are available to members.

Bible Verse: 1 Corinthians 16:13

Bible Reference: Judges 6:1-35

Printable Bible Verse Card: Print out onto card stock, cut apart, and send home with each child. (Available to Members Only)

Teaching Concept: Children learn that you don't have to be big and strong to serve the Lord. God will give you the strength and power you need to serve him.

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Early Arrivals Activity

1. Look at Wheat and Learn About Threshing and Winnowing. Bring in some sheaves of wheat. (You can buy these at craft stores. You will find them in the dried flower section. They are used in flower arrangements.) Tell the children that people in Bible times made flour for bread from wheat. First they had to separate the seed from the chaff (outer part of the grain). To do this they laid the wheat out on a cloth on the floor and beat it with sticks or had their animals walk over them. This was called threshing the wheat.

Once the chaff was knocked off, they had to separate it from the seed. To do this they would place a blanket on the ground and then throw the seed and chaff straight up in the air on a windy day. The wind would blow the chaff away while the heavier seed would fall to the ground. This was call winnowing the wheat. They would then pick up the seeds and grind them into flour.

Spread out a clean tablecloth on the floor or on a table. (You may want to do this outside on the ground.) Show the children the wheat. Show them how you can rub the seed cases (chaff) in your hand and the seed will fall out. Let the children try. (If you have very little children, you may want to give them a cloth to put over the wheat and then have them rub the cloth over the wheat on a paper plate. The wheat can be a little prickly.) Once the children have removed all the seed from the chaff, tell them to remove the long stems from the table. Show the children that if you blow lightly over the top of the plate the chaff will blow away leaving the heavier seeds. Once the seeds are separated, the seeds would be ground between two rocks to make flour. Tell them that in our story today a man was threshing and winnowing his wheat.

2. Work on "How many Israelites Can You Find?" color sheet or "Where's Gideon?" craft sheet (below).

3. Color a Bible Verse Picture - Older children will enjoy coloring a Bible verse picture. (Available to members only)

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The Lesson

Preparation: Before class hang some blankets over a table or place some chairs in a circle and cover them with blankets. To set the mood for the story, tell the children that all of you are going to pretend you are hiding in a cave or behind some rocks. Have them all get in the cave or enclosure, look around outside before you start, and then whisper the story as if you don't want anyone else to hear. Look outside the cave every couple of minutes to see if anyone is coming.

Ask the children if they ever tried to hide from someone. You have to be very quiet and sneaky when you hide from someone, don't you? When you're playing a game like "Hide and Seek" it can be fun to hide, but the man in our story today wasn't playing a game. He was hiding because he was afraid. Here is how the story goes. Open your Bible to Judges 6 and tell the story in your own words.

A good guy named Gideon was working hard. He was hot and tired. He was threshing his wheat so that he could make flour for his family. But his job was extra hard today because he had to thresh it in a big underground pit.

He was threshing his wheat in a pit because he didn't want the mean men of Midian to find out what he was doing. He was hiding out from the mean men of Midian. Everyone was afraid of the mean men of Midian. They were big, bad bullies. They would come by the thousands into their land and take whatever they wanted. And this good guy named Gideon knew that if they saw him threshing his wheat, they would take it from him, and he wouldn't have anything to feed his family.

His heart raced every time he raised his stick and pounded it down on the wheat. He was afraid the mean men of Midian would hear the noise, but he had to separate the seed from the chaff and this was the only way he knew how to do it. But the hardest part was getting rid of the chaff from the seeds after they were separated. Normally he would do this outside in the wind. He would just throw it up in the air and the wind would blow away the lighter chaff. But he was too afraid that the mean men of Midian would see him so he had to just blow it away with his mouth one handful at a time.

Good guy Gideon was hard at work threshing his wheat and trying to be as quiet as he could, when all of a sudden he heard a voice. It said, "The Lord is with you, brave and mighty man." Gideon almost jumped out of his sandals. He thought he was alone. He looked around and saw something that looked like an angel. He couldn't believe his eyes or his ears.

Good guy Gideon thought to himself, "Is this really an angel and why would an angel come and talk to me? And why would he say the Lord is with me? Me, a brave and mighty man? He has to be kidding."

Good guy Gideon asked the angel. "If God is with me, why has all this stuff happened to me and my family? God saved my people from Pharaoh and brought them to the Promised Land, but now he has left us. Why isn't God helping us now? We have to hide out in caves and live like animals. Where is God now?"

The angel said. "God wants you to go and save your people from the mean men of Midian."

Good guy Gideon was shocked. He said, "Who, me? Couldn't be. Why would God send me? My family is the weakest in all the land and I am the weakest in my whole family."

Then the angel said, "Yes, you. God will be with you and you will win against the mean men of Midian."

Gideon wasn't so sure about that, but he obeyed God and did everything he told him to do even when he knew people would be mad at him.

Not long after that the mean men of Midian camped out in a Valley not too far from where Gideon lived. The power of God came on Gideon. He knew it was time to drive out all the mean men of Midian. Gideon blew his trumpet and called all the people together to fight against them.

Over thirty-two thousand men showed up to help good guy Gideon drive out the mean men of Midian. God gave Gideon the strength and power to fight against the mean men of Midian. Through God's power Gideon became a brave and mighty man.

Next week we will hear more about good guy Gideon and how he became a great warrior.

Do you ever feel like Gideon? Do you ever feel scared or like you just want to go and hide and never come out? Do you feel like you are too little or weak to do anything for God?

We all feel like Gideon sometimes, but our story today shows us that we can be brave and mighty with God's power. We don't have to face our problems alone, God is with us and he will give us the strength we need to face our problems.

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Prayer

Father, forgive us when we are weak and scared. Help us to remember that you are with us and will help us. Help us to be brave and stand up for what is right and good. Amen

Crafts and Activities

1. "Where's Gideon?" Craft Paper

Before class print out and make copies of the landscape picture and the bottom sheet. Cut out the flaps on the solid lines and use paper glue to glue the bottom sheet behind the landscape picture making sure not to glue down the flaps. In class have the children color the picture. (Available to Members Only.)

2. Play "Find Gideon"

Before class print out the two pattern sheets, color them, and cut the squares apart. Tape them to a wall or use thumbtacks to attach them to a bulletin board. Cut the picture of Gideon out smaller and tape the picture of Gideon behind one of the pictures. In class have the children take turns trying to find Gideon. Let each child pick a card until someone picks the one Gideon is hiding under. Play again if all your children have not had a chance to play. If you don't want to use the cards, you can just hide a "Gideon doll" or a picture of Gideon in the room. See who can find Gideon first. (Available to Members Only.)

3. Make a Wheat and Bible Verse Picture

Print out the pattern and cut out around the edges. In class have your children color the picture and then glue it to a piece of construction paper. After you have demonstrated how to thresh and winnow wheat have your children glue some of the wheat seeds onto their pictures. (Available to Members Only.)

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Songs

Comments

We would love to hear your comments about this lesson. If you taught this lesson, 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 others teach this lesson are welcome.

I just wanted to let you know I used this lesson today on my Junior Church kids. I have a group of kids from 2-9 years of age. Sometimes it is difficult to say the least. But we made a cave from our chairs and a big blanket, and they loved it. Told them the story, the little ones were a little scared but they all enjoyed it. We also did the wheat, which was fun, but messy! Thank you for the wonderful lesson. Berni King

For my 2-6 year old Sunday school class today, I used the lesson "Gideon - Brave & Mighty". I covered a table with a blanket, and we used our imaginations to pretend that we were hiding inside a cave. I brought a flashlight, just in case someone was a little afraid. The lesson went very well. Since we were inside the "cave" the children listened very closely. They didn't want to miss anything.

For our craft, we made puppets using patterns from www.makingfriends.com and we glued them to craft sticks. The children really enjoyed reenacting the story with the puppets.

I made up a song that I think goes very well with this lesson.

Good Guy Gideon
Sing to the Tune of Michael Finnegan

There was a good guy
His name was Gideon
Hiding from the mean men of Midian
An angel came from God and said to him
"The Lord is with you, brave and mighty man"

Gideon loved God and obeyed him
Sending home thousands of men
Only three hundred was God plan
The Lord was with this brave and mighty man.

Thank you for another wonderful lesson! Theresa Bostick

I did the Gideon lesson last night with my kids (2-4 year olds) and they loved it. We built a cave using a table and some blankets and we crawled in to tell the story. I have a suggestion. We made torches using brown construction paper and orange tissue paper. I rolled the brown construction paper in to a cone shape and taped down the edges (You may have to fold down some corners of the page that stick up.). I rolled up a few pieces of tape and stuck them on the inside. Next, I crinkled a whole sheet of orange tissue paper and stuck it inside the cone. I wrote "Gideon's Torch" on the outside and the kids loved it. Thanks for all your hard work! Katherine Welch

My preschool Sunday school class recently did the lesson "Gideon-Brave & Mighty". The children colored the "How many Israelites can you find? (coloring sheet provided on your website). The children then made a "God is Love" pin that I had ordered from Oriental Trading. We talked about how God's love helps to protect Gideon from the mean and might men of Midian. The children really enjoyed the lesson. Thanks for all of your wonderful ideas! Ella

I used this lesson with my boys. I used little figurines to show how Gideon thrashed his wheat. We would thrash, be silent to listen for any Midianites, and then thrash again, and then listen again. They really enjoyed it. Plus, to show how God used only a few men, I used colored buttons and put them on a pile on the floor. Some of more colors than others. We would take out certain colors until we only had a few of one color left. This helped make real how only a few men were used by God to defeat the foe. Thanks for your site!

Gideon Fights the Mean Men of Midian

(This lesson should follow "Gideon - Brave and Mighty")

Bible Reference:  Judges 7:1-23

Bible Verse: Zechariah 4:6

Teaching Concept: You don't have to be big and strong to serve the Lord. God will give you the strength and power you need to serve him.

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Early Arrivals Activity

1. Make Gideon's Trumpet

 

What you will need: Paper towel rolls, paper or Styrofoam bowls, hot melt glue gun, and aluminum foil.

How to make:

1. Use a pencil to trace the end of a paper towel roll onto the bottom of the paper bowl. Make a slit all the way across the circle cutting the circle in half. Make another slit the opposite way cutting it in half again. Keep doing this until you have little wedge shapes all the way around the circle.

2. Bend the little wedge shapes out as shown in the picture.

3. Slide a paper towel tube inside the hole, through the inside of the bowl, until it is almost all the way down to the end of the tube. Place a line of glue all the way around the end of the tube and slide the paper bowl the rest of the way down to the end. Press the wedges to the tube to secure.

4. Cut pieces of aluminum foil to fit around the long part of the trumpet. Cut a square piece of aluminum foil for the bowl part of the trumpet. Cut a small circle in the middle. Place the end of the trumpet through the hole in the aluminum and bring the foil all the way up to the bowl and then press the aluminum foil down around the bowl into the inside. Wind a piece of aluminum foil around the handle and secure with tape. Use another piece of aluminum foil to roll up and form a handle. Tape the handle onto the long part or the trumpet.

How to Print or Copy these Instructions.

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2. Make a Torch and Jar

What you will need: An aluminum can (Make sure there are no sharp edges.), brown construction paper, red and yellow crepe, and tape.

How to make:

1. Give each child an aluminum can, a piece of brown construction paper, some red and yellow crepe paper, and some tape.

2. Show the children how to roll up their paper and tape it closed to make the bottom of the torch. Show them how to cut their crepe paper to make a jagged edge and tape it to bottom of the torch. You may want to have the children decorate their cans with stickers.

3. Color a picture of Gideon and his men. (Available to Members Only.)

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The Lesson

Last week we learned about a good guy name Gideon and the mean men of Midian. Gideon and his people were hiding out from the mean men of Midian. The Midians were bullies and would come into the Israelites land and take whatever they could find.

One day an angel appeared to Gideon while he was hiding out in a big pit threshing his wheat. The angel told Gideon that God had picked him to lead an army to attack the mean men of Midian and chase them out of their land. Gideon couldn't believe that God would pick him. He was from one of the weakest family groups and he was the weakest in his family. But God picked Gideon because he was a good guy and knew that he would obey him. He gave Gideon the power to overcome his fears.

One day the mean men of Midian were camped out in the valley not too far from where Gideon lived. God told Gideon it was time to fight.

Gideon blew his trumpet to let everyone know that it was time to stand up to the mean men of median. (If you made the trumpet craft above, you can have the children blow their trumpets like Gideon.) He sent messengers all over the country telling them to tell everyone to come help him drive the mean men of Midian out of their land for good.

Gideon was so glad to see all the men that came to fight. There were over 32 thousand men.

But God had another plan. He told Gideon he had too many men.

Gideon didn't understand. Didn't God want them to win? Too many men? "How could I have too many men?" He thought, "The more men the better, especially when fighting the mean men of Midian."

But that's not what God thought. He told Gideon that he should tell the men that if they were afraid to fight they should go back home. Twenty-two thousand of the men turned around and left. Gideon was a little upset to see all those men leave, but at least he still had ten thousand of them left.

But then God told Gideon, "There are still too many men." Gideon thought to himself. "How can this be too many men? I only have ten thousand and there must be a zillion mean men of Midian down there. How will we ever win if I send more men home?

But God told Gideon to take all the men down to the water to get a drink. He told them to separate the men according to how they drank the water. The men who got down on their knees and lapped the water with their tongues like a dog were told to stand in one group and the men who scooped up the water with their hands where told to stand in another group. When they were all done drinking, God told Gideon to send the men who lapped up the water with their tongues to their tents. Gideon really didn't want to send the men way, but he obeyed God.

Now there were only 300 men left to fight against thousands and thousands of mean men. Gideon must have thought that he was crazy for sending all those men away. But God had another plan. He wanted the people of Israel to know that they weren't beating the mean men of Midian by their own strength, but that the men were able to win against the Midians through God's power.

It was getting dark and Gideon and his men were scared. God told Gideon, "Gideon, if you are afraid, sneak down to the mean men of Midian's camp and listen to what they are saying. This will help you to believe that I will be with you and help you win.

Gideon took his servant and went down to the camp. They snuck up to a tent where he could hear two men talking inside. One man said to the other, "Hey, Joe, wake up. I just had the scariest dream. I dreamed a giant loaf of bread came tumbling down the mountain and knocked over all our tents!" The other man said, "Oh, no, that can only mean that Gideon and his army are coming down that mountain and God is going help them win this fight."

When Gideon had heard what the men said he praised God. When he returned to his camp he divided the men into groups and gave each man a trumpet and a jar with a torch inside.

Gideon told his men, "Watch me and do whatever I do. When we get to the mean men of Midian's camp I will blow my trumpet and you should too. Then shout, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon."

When all the men surrounded the camp Gideon blew his trumpet. The men blew their trumpets and smashed the jars holding the torches. They all shouted, "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!"

They just stood there and watched as the mean men of Midian came stumbling out of their tents. The men were so scared and confused that they started fighting each other and running away. God had helped Gideon and his tiny army win the battle against the army of the mean men of Midian! Gideon and his men trusted God and he helped them win.

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Prayer

Father, you are powerful and kind. Help us to remember to ask you for your strength when we are afraid. We know that if we obey you, you will help us to face our problems. Amen

Crafts and Activities

1. Play "Who Stole the Snack?" - This is a fun way to give out snacks at snack time and reinforce the part of the lesson where the Midianites stole from Israelites. Have your children form a circle. Pick one child to be Gideon and to sit in the middle of a circle. Gideon should close his eyes. Place a bag or box of cookies or other snack in front of Gideon. Pick a child to be the Midianite and sneak up and "steal" the snack and then go back and sit down in his seat with the snacks hidden behind his back. When the child is sitting and ready, all the children should chant, "Gideon, Gideon, where's your snack? A man from Midian took it and won't bring it back." Gideon then guesses who "stole" the snack. If he guesses right he gets to take the place of the child who "stole' the snack. If he guesses wrong, he is still Gideon and another child pretends to be the Midianite. ©2002, Digital by Design - See Copyright Information

2. Play "Pass the Bread" Hot Potato Like game - Remind the children about the part of the story where the Midianites had a dream about a huge loaf of bread rolling down into their camp. Play some music. Tell the children that in this game they are the Midianites and a huge loaf of bread is rolling around. They should pass the bread around in a circle trying not to be the person holding the bread when the music stops. The child who is holding the bread when the music stops has to say the memory verse. ©2002, Digital by Design - See Copyright Information

3. Act Out the Story - Put some chairs at one end of the room. Tell the children that the chairs are the camp of the mean men of Gideon. Tell them that you are going to pretend to be Gideon and they are your army. Tell them to follow you and do exactly as you do. "When I blow my trumpet, you should blow your trumpets and shout, "a sword for the Lord and for Gideon." Lead the children over to the camp. Walk very slowly and on your tiptoes like you are trying to sneak up on the camp. Tell the children to walk very quietly. Direct them with your hands to stand around the camp. Blow your horn and have the children blow theirs. Have the children follow you as you pull your torch out from the can and drop the can on the floor. Hold up your torch and shout, "a sword for the Lord and for Gideon." ©2002, Digital by Design - See Copyright Information

4. Play "Separate the Soldiers" - Use this game to review the Bible verse or hand out snacks. Tell the child that God had Gideon separate his soldiers by watching to see how they drank water. Today I am going to separate you to see who says the Bible verse (or who gets a snack first). Here are some ideas of what you can use to separate the children. Once you have them separated into two groups, you can say, "There are still too many of you. I will have to separate you again. Come up with another criteria to separate them. Once you get a small group have them say the Bible verse or give them a snack. If you are giving out snack make sure you let the children know that they will all receive snacks

Separate Them By:

1. If they raise their right hand or left hand,
2. Different colors of clothes they are wearing,
3. Color of eyes,
4. Boy or girl,
5. How many brothers and sister they have,
6. If they like broccoli or any other food,
7. If they go to public school or home school,
8. If they walk to school or ride the bus,
9. If they ate eggs for breakfast or they didn't,
10. If they watched television before coming to church or didn't,
11. If they have a dog or cat,
12. Tell them to sit on the floor. Separate the children that cross their legs from the ones that don't,
13. Color of hair,
14. If they can whistle or not whistle.

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Songs

Gideon's Torch Craft

We constructed Gideon's torch in a pot using a small flashlight, a paper lunch bag, a toilet paper tube, a small strip of tag board and some tissue paper. (Make sure flashlight will fit in the TP tube!) Also need, tacky glue, rubber band.

1. Cut the top off the paper lunch bag about 1 inch higher than the tube. (about 3 inches) Save the top.

2. Cut the top to form a long strip. cut the strip in half to form two shorter strips. Cut one on these in half. Fold all strips in half lengthwise. Fold again.

3. Place the tube in the lunch bag. If needed add part of a crumpled newspaper around the tube to give the bag a rounded shape. put glue on the top 1/2 inch of the tube - then press the top of the bag around the tube. Use a rubber band to hold. Once glue has set, take the longest strip made from the bag top and glue this around to cover the raw bag edges. Use rubber band to hold.

4. Take the shorter strips and form in "C" shapes. Glue to either side of bag for "pot" handles. Hold to set.

5. Take a 1/2 inch strip of tag board and wrap around top of flashlight. allow enough overlap to glue easily. Don't glue yet.

6. Choose at least 3 colors - yellow, red, orange - to represent fire. Cut large and small flame shapes from all three colors of tissue and glue onto the strip of tag board. Layer and overlap some for a full effect. Allow to dry.

7. Glue the flame strip around the top of the flashlight. use the rubber band to hold.

Remind students to wait until all glue is dry before putting their "torch" in the pot.

This had a dramatic effect that evening when we turned down the lights and had all the children "light" their torches.

The youngest children were able to help cut and glue their flames. Older children are able to do most of the craft without too much help. Cutting the tops off the bags would streamline the craft as well as having the small tag board strips already cut. Be sure to do a practice one. Sent in by Loretta Wright

How to Print or Copy these Instructions.

 

Comments

We would love to hear your comments about this lesson. If you taught this lesson, 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 others teach this lesson are welcome.

I used the lesson "Gideon Fights the Men of Midian" for my 2-6 year old Sunday school class today. It was a great lesson! The children listened well and remembered the first part of the lesson from last week in the "cave".

For the craft, we made Gideon's trumpet. I used birthday party hats to make the bell of the trumpet, instead of the foam bowls. Remove the elastic string from the hat and make four cuts from the point of the hat to just over half-way up the hat. Push the paper towel tube in through the inside of the hat and secure the ends of the hat with masking tape. I wrapped the tape around several times. In class, I used the extra wide aluminum foil and the children only had to use one sheet of it to cover their trumpets. We used and second piece to make the handle. They turned out great!!

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