The Sunday School Zone Blog
The Sunday School Zone Blog contains insights on children’s spiritual formation as well as tips, ideas, and suggestions to help Christian parents and leaders as they work with kids of all abilities (and even adults with special needs) at home, church, and school. If you would like to contribute to the blog, please visit our Writer Inquiries page and then send us an explanatory email at [email protected] describing the kind of writing you’d like to do. We welcome those who have something of substance to say to Christian parents and teachers of children. You already know that Sunday School Zone offers tons of free, printable Bible activities for kids. If you think you’d like to contribute, please read more…
Teaching Gratitude in the Month of November
If you’re like many Christian parents and teachers, you’re wondering how to help your children rise above the hype and think about more eternal things during this season. Here are some ideas to help you get a head start on the season by getting kids to ponder some things for which they should be grateful. Idea…
Bible Verses About Thanksgiving
Whatever else you may do to underscore the value of gratitude during the Thanksgiving season, one of best things you can do now or at any time of the year is to take your kids to the Bible and let them hear what God Himself has to say about thanksgiving. Keep in mind that God…
Five Keys to Storytelling
Good stories have inherent value, even if you don’t consider yourself to be a great storyteller. A teacher or parent can read a good story in a monotone drone and the child will often still enjoy it and learn from it. So don’t be afraid to tell stories in your teaching. But, you can enhance…
Seven Subtle Insights From the Life of Joseph
Lessons abound in the story of Joseph from Genesis 37; 39–50, and many of these are obvious. Numerous insights, however, are fairly subtle and can be easily overlooked. Here are seven often overlooked principles from Joseph’s life that will benefit both kids and adults. 1. It’s important to speak up and to challenge others—even family…
God Is in Control: Part 2
Unlocking the Mystery of God’s Sovereignty What Joseph’s Life Teaches Us About an All-Powerful God Part 2: Principles We Can Apply In Part 1, we noted seven principles evident in Joseph’s life that relate to the teaching that God is sovereign over, or in control of, all things. Now we will consider how these principles…
God Is in Control: Part 1
Unlocking the Mystery of God’s Sovereignty What Joseph’s Life Teaches Us About an All-Powerful God Part 1: Principles We Can Observe When Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, he spoke with sincerity and eloquence about God’s role in bringing him to the position where he now served. He “said to his brothers, ‘Please, come…
Preserving Life (Gen. 45:5)
When he revealed to his brothers who he was, Joseph said, “And now don’t be worried or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life” (Gen. 45:5). One can marvel at Joseph’s perspective, yet here the ordinary-Hebrew-turned-second-in-command-in-Egypt models even for New Testament believers how they should…
Dreams in Genesis
Divine Communication Through Dreams in Genesis In the Bible, God occasionally used dreams to communicate the messages He had for one or more persons. The following examples took place in Genesis. As early as Genesis 20:3, we read that “God came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him, ‘You are about…
Making the Message Stick: Part 2
Part 2—Bible Teaching Tailored to Kids Jesus, the master teacher, used direct teaching at times, object lessons occasionally, and parables (stories) frequently to make His points. We can learn from and teach from these great stories. We should note that we find powerful stories not just in Jesus’ parables, but also in events from the…