Grades 1–6: Trust and Obey God — Session 1: Rahab Hid the Spies in Jericho (September 3)

Grades 1-3

Introductory Activity – Jericho Maze

Materials: paper, pencil

Give every child a piece of paper and a pencil. Instruct them to draw a large circle on their paper. Tell them to draw one “stick man” on top of the circle and a group of “stick men” on the bottom, representing a spy that must make it from Jericho to the Israelites. Instruct them to create a maze inside the circle to return the spy to his people. Have children trade their mazes to attempt to solve them. Afterward, tell your children they will learn how the Israelites followed God’s directions to defeat Jericho, so God fought for them. Have everyone say the Life Point together. 

Live It Out

Game – Find Rahab

Materials: no materials needed

Take your children outside or to a large indoor area. Choose one child to be Rahab and everyone else to be Israelite Spies. Instruct the Spies to close their eyes so Rahab can hide. Next, instruct the Spies to find Rahab. Once they find Rahab, they will hide with her. After everyone has found Rahab, the first person to find her will take her place in the next round. Play several rounds. Afterward, tell your children that the Israelite Spies had to find a hiding place when they were scouting out Jericho, and Rahab hid them from the authorities and helped them escape. Repeat the Life Point together.

Craft – Jericho Wall

Materials: large sheet of paper, markers, tape

Tape a large sheet of paper to a wall in your meeting space. Draw an outline of the wall of Jericho on the paper. In class, instruct your children to each write the Weekly Verse on the wall of Jericho and then decorate a portion of the wall. Leave the wall up for several weeks to remind your children that no one is as powerful as God. 

Grades 4-6

Introductory Activity – Code Breakers

Materials: paper, pencils

Before class, create a simple code using numbers to represent letters. (For example—A = 25, B = 12, etc.) Write the code on the board and then write the Life Point using the code. Give each child a piece of paper and a pencil, and instruct her to solve the code. Once the children are finished, choose one child read aloud the Life Point. 

Live It Out

Game – Spy Tag

Materials: no materials needed

Take your children outside or to a large indoor room. Choose one child to be Rahab, three children to be Jericho soldiers, and everyone else to be Israelite spies. Place Rahab on one side of the area and spread everyone else out. Instruct the spies to reach Rahab before being tagged by a soldier. If a soldier tags them, then they are out. If they reach Rahab, they are to hold hands, creating a chain of people. The game is finished when all of the spies have either reached Rahab or been caught by a soldier. Play several rounds, allowing children to take different roles. Afterward, explain to your children that Rahab trusted God by caring for the Israelite spies when they came to Jericho. Lead everyone in saying the Life Point. 

Craft – Wall of Providence

Materials: brown construction paper, markers, tape

Give each child a piece of brown construction paper and markers. Instruct them to write down one way God provided for the Israelites in Joshua 2 and 6. Next, tell them to decorate their papers to look like stone or brick. After everyone has finished, tape everyone’s stones on the wall to make it look like the wall of Jericho. Remind your children that God is more powerful than any impossible situation they will ever face. Have everyone say the Weekly Verse together.