Gideon the Unlikely Warrior

Preschool Bible Lesson Ideas, Crafts, and Games

Jul 5, 2007 Denise Oliveri

Gideon was not so sure that God really wanted him to be a warrior. God said, "I am sending you." Use these ideas to help your preschoolers understand God's power.

The ideas below may help you when teaching a lesson on Gideon and how God is in control and helps us when we need Him. Feel free to use these ideas to supplement your current curriculum or to make your own lesson.

Story Suggestion

Judges 6-8 - The entire writings about Gideon

Game Ideas

The Memory Verse Maze

Directions: Beginning at one end of the room, lay yarn down on the floor in a way that makes a maze that children have to walk on. Create wavy and zig-zag lines with the yarn all the way to the other end of the room. Make the maze wide as, children will be walking on the yarn to find their way from one end to the other. Tie three separate bows into the yarn at different intervals apart from one another. Every time the children come to a bow they have to repeat the memory verse. The children will learn the memory from you, however you decide to teach it. Once you think most of the children know it, have them begin at the start of the yarn maze. Let them walk on the yarn following it wherever it leads. When they come to a bow in the yarn, they must stop and repeat the memory verse before continuing on. Children may play as often as time allows. Make different mazes for different Bible stories.

Musical Chairs

Directions: Play this familiar childhood game with your class to reinforce how God kept taking away soldiers in Gideon's Army. To play, line up chairs so they are back to back for as many children as you have in class, minus one chair. The children will circle around the chairs while music is playing. Once you stop the music, the children must find a chair to sit in. The child who does not have a chair will sit out. Keep taking one chair away at the start of each round until there are two children left and one chair to sit in. The child who sits last is the winner!

Snacks

A trail mix would be a good snack for this lesson. Combine peanuts, raisins, Cheerios, M&Ms or Reese's Pieces, apple chips, and shredded coconut in snack size zip-lock baggies to give one to each child. Be aware of any children that may have peanut allergies to exclude them from their bag.

Another good snack for this lesson would be fruit roll-ups or other fruit snacks with juice.

Art Center Ideas

Bow and Arrow

Materials:

• Elastic string
• Dowel (about 4 inches long)
• Air-drying clay
• Tree stick
• Scissors
• Paints

Directions:

1. Bend the stick in the form of an arc making sure it does not break.
2. Tie elastic from one end to the other.
3. For the arrow, use a 4-inch dowel and make an arrowhead out of air-drying clay.
4. Stick the arrow on one end of the dowel.
5. Let the children know that this is not a toy, but something they can put on display in their house maybe.

Sitting Sheep Craft

Materials:

• Craft marshmallow, white (craft store)
• White pom-pom, 1 inch
• Black yarn
• Small wiggly eyes
• Glue
• Black felt
• Red felt

Directions:

Preparation: Cut black string in lengths of 2 inches and 3 inches. These will be the sheep's arms and legs. Cut small triangles out of black felt for the sheep's face and little oval circles for the sheep's ears. Make tiny circles out of red felt for the sheep's nose. Lastly, cut a black circle out of the black felt that is just smaller than the size of the marshmallow. This cirlce will be used to hold the sheep's legs in place.

1. First have the children drape the 3-inch piece of black string over the marshmallow, so it drapes down each side equally. This will become the sheep's arms.
2. Have the children glue the 1-inch pom-pom on top of the craft marshmallow and on top of the black string you just placed. The pom-pom is the sheep's head.
3. Now the children can place a small dot of glue on the black triangle and let it lie on the white pom-pom. Next, have them glue the wiggly eyes on the face. Lastly, have them glue the red circle for the nose.
4. The children can now glue to two oval pieces of felt to the sides of the pom-pom for the ears.
5. Lastly, have the children glue the 2-inch pieces of black string to the circle made from black felt. Glue the circle to the bottom of the marshmallow. The sheep now has legs! (See the sample picture below.)

Suggested Prayer (or use your own)

Thank you God for helping us when we need you. Help us to remember to help others when we can. Be with us always. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See the full list of Sunday School lesson ideas on both the Old Testament and the New Testament!

The copyright of the article Gideon the Unlikely Warrior in Protestantism is owned by Denise Oliveri. Permission to republish Gideon the Unlikely Warrior in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Gideon the warrior

Sample of sheep craft