February 2/3rd 4.2 Kinder Lesson Plan Joseph Explained Dreams Bible Passage: Genesis 39-41 Story Point: God was with Joseph. Key Passage: You shall acknowledge no God but me, no saviour except for me. Hosea 13:4 (NIV) Big Picture Question: Is there anything God cannot do? God can do all things. INTRODUCE THE STORY TEACH THE STORY EXPERIENCE THE STORY (15-20 Minutes) (10-15 Minutes) (20-25 Minutes)
The BIBLE Story Joseph Explained Dreams Genesis 39-41 The travelers who took Joseph to Egypt sold him to an important man named Potiphar (PAHT ih fuhr). God was with Joseph. Potiphar put Joseph in charge of everything he owned. One day, Potiphar s wife told a lie about Joseph, and Potiphar put Joseph in jail. But God was still with Joseph, even in jail. The prison guard put Joseph in charge of the other prisoners. Two prisoners the king s cupbearer and baker each had a dream. Nobody knew what their dreams meant. Joseph said, God tells me what dreams mean. What did you dream? The men told their dreams. The cupbearer dreamed about a vine with three branches. Grapes grew on the vine, and the cupbearer squeezed them into a cup and gave it to Pharaoh, the king. The baker dreamed that he had three baskets of bread on his head. The top basket had baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating them out of the basket. Joseph told them what the dreams meant. When your dream happens, tell Pharaoh I don t belong in jail, Joseph told the cupbearer. The dreams came true and the cupbearer went back to work for Pharaoh, but he forgot about Joseph. Two years later, Pharaoh had two dreams. In the first dream, seven fat cows were eating beside the Nile River. Seven thin, sick cows came and ate up the fat cows. In the second dream, a thin stalk of wheat with seven small heads of grain swallowed a stalk that was growing seven good, ripe heads of grain. Nobody knew what the dreams meant. At last, the cupbearer remembered Joseph. Pharaoh sent for Joseph and told him about the dream. Joseph said, God has shown you what will happen. There will be seven years of good harvests. For seven years after that, not much grain will grow. People will be hungry. Joseph said, Find a man to collect part of the grain during the seven good years and store it in cities. Then, during the seven bad years, there will be food enough for people to eat. The people in Egypt will be saved. Pharaoh said, I want you to be in charge of collecting and storing the grain. You will be the most important man in the land except for me. Joseph did his job well, and God was with Him. Christ Connection: God was with Joseph in Egypt, and Joseph was given a big job and lots of authority. God used Joseph s position to help many people. When Jesus left heaven to come to earth, He gave up His position of honor so He could save people from sin. 2
INTRODUCE the Story WELCOME TIME: Greet each kid as he or she arrives. Have one leader stand by the door with the clipboard to greet children by name and welcome their parents as they arrive. Use this time to collect the offering, fill out attendance sheets, and help new kids connect to your group. Prompt kids to talk about dreams or nightmares they remember well. Ask them if they remember all their dreams. Say Dreams are usually quite strange when we can remember them. Sometimes God chooses to use dreams to communicate with people. In our story today, we will learn about a time Joseph helped two men understand what their dreams meant. ACTIVITY PAGE Invite kids to complete the Tools of the Trade activity page. Instruct kids to draw lines from the different tools and ingredients to the person who might need them for his job. SAY Baker and cupbearer are two very different jobs. The tools required to do each job well are not very similar. Today we will hear about two men, a baker and a cupbearer, who ended up having similar dreams. Who do you think has the power to understand dreams? We ll find out! ACTIVITY: Remember me game Instruct the kids to sit in a circle. Select one kid to go first by saying an adjective that describes her followed by her name. Encourage fun alliterations or rhymes. The next kid will say an adjective for himself and his own name and then repeat the adjective and name of the previous player. Play passes in this way until each kid has a turn. See if the first kid can say each other person s title when it gets back to her. SAY That game was tough! It can be hard to remember something about another person, especially if you are busy thinking about what you will say when it s your turn. In our story today, we will hear about a time Joseph asked another man to remember him. Do you think that man remembered Joseph? WORSHIP: While the children finish playing or coloring, get the worship DVD ready. Choose 3 or 4 songs to sing today. SAY It s large group time! Come sit on the rug with us! We re going to sing some fun songs together that worship God! Why do we sing to God? (Answer: To honor Him with our worship!) 3
TEACH the Story TRANSITION TO THE STORY: To gain the attention of all the kids to move them to Bible study, flip off the lights or clap a simple rhythm for the children to copy. Place a bookmark at Genesis 39-41 in your Bible. Invite a kid to open it and reverently display the open Bible. SAY Today s Bible story is from the Old Testament Book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible. The words in the Bible are God s words. Men wrote the words that God told them to write. Let s hear today s true story about how God used Joseph in His plan. TELL THE BIBLE STORY: Show the Bible Story Video and then recap the Bible story by reading the words below. SAY God was with Joseph even though Joseph was far away from his home and sad things happened to him. God used Joseph to help many people by sending him to Egypt and giving him an important job. Jesus left His home in heaven so He could save many people. Jesus came to earth so He could save people from sin. PRACTICE THE KEY PASSAGE: Cut out the key passage marker and place it at Hosea 13:4. Invite a volunteer to come up and open your Bible to the key passage. Read the key passage aloud. Create motions for preschoolers to use as they say the key passage. Use the key passage song video for inspiration. SAY God is a powerful Savior! He sent Joseph to Egypt to help many people, and He sent His own Son, Jesus, from heaven to earth to save people from sin. MISSIONS MOMENT: Print the South Asia Color Map printable in color. Distribute the individual country cutouts to seven volunteers. Point to the labeled map and share that there are seven countries in South Asia. Review the name of each country by matching their colors to the labeled map. Say God wants each person in each of these South Asian countries to know Jesus left His home in heaven to come to earth to save them from sin. 4
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION: Break into smaller groups with one leader in each group. Ask the question and open up for discussion. Display the Bible story picture as you ask the following questions. Retell portions of the Bible story as needed. -Who helped the cupbearer, baker, and Pharaoh know what their dreams meant? (Joseph) -What did Pharaoh see in his dreams? (thin and fat cows; thin and full stalks of grain) -After the seven years of good harvest, what did Joseph say would happen? (Not much grain would grow and people would be hungry.) -Whom did Pharaoh put in charge of storing the grain for everyone? (Joseph) - Is there anything God cannot do? God can do all things. PRAY TO CLOSE: SAY Why do we pray? (Answer: To open our hearts to God and talk to Him!) Ask the group if anyone has any prayer requests and pray together as a group. If there are a lot of children, break into smaller groups and have leaders pray for the children s requests. SNACK: Gather preschoolers for snack time and have them wipe their hands with a sanitizing wipe. Pray, thanking God for the snack. Pray, thanking God for the snack. Remind children that God can do all things. EXPERIENCE the Story ACTIVITY 1: Cup stack relay Form two teams of kids and provide each team with 11 cups, 10 red and one blue. Invite each team of kids to gather around their stack of cups and take turns removing the top cup and placing it on the bottom of the stack. Kids will continue removing the top cup and placing it on bottom until the blue cup gets back to the top. Say God gave Joseph power to understand dreams. The cupbearer was excited to get his job back, just as Joseph said he would, but he forgot to tell Pharaoh about Joseph. Two years later, when the cupbearer remembered Joseph, God used Joseph to explain Pharaoh s dreams and prepare Egypt for a great famine. In that way, God was preparing to use Joseph to save his family. From Jacob s family, Jesus would eventually be born. Jesus came to save us from sin. ACTIVITY 2: Nighttime art Provide dark construction paper, chalk, and star stickers for toddlers to make a nighttime scene. Retell the Bible story. SAY: Joseph s dreams about his brothers got him sent to Egypt. But God helped Joseph tell people about their dreams. God used Joseph to rescue many people. GOD CAN DO ALL THINGS. Later, God sent Jesus to rescue us. Jesus left heaven so He could rescue us. 5
TRANSITION AND DISMISSAL: For the remainder of the time, kids may color the Bible story coloring page, play a simple game to practice the key passage, or sing another song together. CHECKOUT PROCEDURE: As parents begin to arrive, open the door and have one leader stand just outside the classroom door with the attendance sheet. Take the parent s security sticker and call loudly for the child to come. While you wait for the child to come, tell the parents something that their child enjoyed doing or did well during the service and distribute the preschool big picture cards for families. Before you let the child leave the classroom, look to see that the parent and child security codes match and remove the sticker from the child s shirt as they leave. Note: If a parent lost their security sticker, send them to the check-in desk for approval; never allow a child to go to a parent unless they have the security sticker. 6