YEA Lesson Library
Mighty Waters
About This Lesson
This lesson teaches the student to trust and obey God, just as Noah did.
Scriptures
Genesis 7:11-12
Genesis 7:17-24
Genesis 8:1-13
Psalm 8:6-8
Psalm 29:3-4
Psalm 32:6-7
Psalm 55:6-8
Psalm 93:4
Psalm 106:2
Words to Know
MIGHTY- big and powerful
CAST - to throw out
The Lesson
The day had finally come. Chris was excited. He and dad were going fishing. They packed a lunch. Dad loaded the boat on the trailer. Off they went to the lake. They put the boat in the water. They went into deep water.
The day started out sunny and beautiful. Dad showed Chris how to cast out his line and how to reel it in. Dad caught three fish. Chris caught two. They were having a good time. They didn't see the clouds in the sky.
The storm came up quickly. The wind was blowing. Rain started falling. Waves splashed and tossed the little boat back and forth. Dad knew they had to get to shore fast. He prayed, "God please keep us safe from this storm." Dad told Chris God was more powerful than the waves and storm.
It was storming outside Noah's ark. But, he and his family were safe inside. The animals were safe, too. Everyone had a place to sleep. He gave each animal some food to eat. At first Noah didn't hear the rain.
The rain got louder and louder. "What is that noise?" someone asked. Everyone listened. Rain was coming down very hard. It pounded on the roof. Rain ran into the streams. Soon water was making lakes and rivers. Water was even coming up from the ground. There was water everywhere!
All of a sudden the ark started moving. It rocked back and forth. Noah heard waves splashing up on the sides of the ark. It started moving! The ark was floating on the water!
Things were not going well outside the ark. People were not laughing at Noah now. Water was in their houses. Roads turned into rivers. It was even covering the hills. People couldn't get into the ark now. God had closed the door. The people outside were not safe because they didn't obey God.
For 40 days and nights it rained. Soon water covered everything - even the mountain tops! But, the ark floated on the water. Noah and his family and animals were safe and dry inside. God rescued them because they obeyed Him. Then one day the ark stopped moving. It was resting on something.
Noah sent birds out to see if water still covered the land. First he sent out a raven. The raven flew around and found bits of food to eat. He didn’t come back to the ark. Next, Noah sent out a dove. At first the dove couldn’t find a place to land. It came back to the ark. The second time the dove came back with an olive leaf in its mouth. Noah knew the water must be drying up. The third time the dove didn't come back. Noah knew it had found a home in a tree.
It had been almost a year since Noah had seen the sky or land. How would you like to be cooped up for that long? You couldn't run and play. You couldn't climb trees or go swimming. Think about the animals. I wonder how it smelled inside the ark. No wonder everyone wanted to get out!
Noah and his sons opened a window in the ark and looked around. The ground was still wet. So they stayed on the ark a little longer. At last Noah, his family, and the animals came out.
The flood was very powerful. It covered everything on earth. Everyone who wouldn't obey God died. Even the animals, trees, and grass died. But God is greater than any flood. He is more powerful than the roar of the ocean. He is stronger than the waves of the sea. At His word the rain stopped. He told the wind to dry up the water. Then He covered the earth with new grass and trees. He led the dove to find a tree for its home. Noah trusted God to take care of him and his family. And God took care of them. You can trust Him, too.
Student Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for rescuing Noah and his family from the flood. Teach me to believe and obey you so that I can be saved and live with you in your Kingdom.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Daily Devotions
Sunday - Genesis 7:11-12
Monday - Genesis 8:1-2
Tuesday - Genesis 8:6-8
Wednesday - Psalm 29:3-4
Thursday - Psalm32:6-7
Friday - Psalm 55:6-8
Saturday - Psalm 106:2
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, children will be able to:
1. State how long Noah and his family were inside the ark.
2. Explain what happened to the people who didn't obey God.
3. Tell how deep the flood water was.
4. Describe the two birds Noah sent out to see if the water had dried up.
Topics & Themes
Ark (Noah’s)
Consequences of Sin
Dove
Flood
God’s Protection
Noah
Obedience
Raven
Materials Needed
Bible, YEA Students' and Teacher's books, attendance and memory verse charts, stickers, songbook, CD, music player, fabric pieces, construction paper, sound effect tape
Preparation
Developing a faith to live by is a lifelong process. Kids in your class may be at various stages of understanding. By using the example of God saving Noah and his family from the flood, which was God's judgement on a sinful world, you can then move to explain His provision for our salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Expect most children not to understand completely. This lesson is merely laying the foundation for their coming to trust Christ when the time comes. Stress their need for being obedient to God's commands.
For this lesson you will need a strip of brown fabric (approximately 18" wide and 4 yards long) and two strips of blue fabric (approximately 18" wide and 11⁄2 yards long). It would also add excitement to the lesson to have a sound effect tape of a rain storm (can be purchased at most music or Bible book stores).
Before class, copy the ark pattern onto white construction paper (see pattern page). Cut green and blue construction paper into 1" by 5"' strips (one for each child).
Background - The first bird Noah released was a raven - a bird that feeds on carrion. No explanation is given in the Genesis account about Noah’s reasoning. Be careful about speculating with children this age because they will long remember what is said. When the raven didn’t come back, Noah later sent out a dove. When sent out the first time, the dove flew around in search of vegetation on which to land. Finding none, it returned to the safety of the ark. The second time the dove was sent out, it returned with an olive leaf. This meant the flood waters were beginning to recede. On its third trip, the dove found a nesting place and did not return. This indicated to Noah that the waters had receded.
How to Teach This Lesson
This story will be dramatization involving at least eight students. If your class is small, you may want to divide it into two different acts so you can use the same students for both parts.
Review: God told Noah He was going to send a great flood to destroy all the earth. Ask: Why did God send the flood? Because people were doing bad things and didn't love God.) When God looked over the earth He found only one family who loved and obeyed Him. Ask: Whose family was it? God decided to save Noah and his family from the flood. He would also save some animals. Ask: What saved Noah’s family and the animals? (Ark.)
The Ark: Have at least four children represent Noah and his family, other children represent the animals. Stand close together. Ark: Have a child hold one end of the brown fabric, wrapping it loosely around the group. Give the other end of the fabric to another child to hold. Noah obeyed God’s command and built the ark. He had told his neighbors about the flood, but they didn’t believe him. Noah gathered the animals into the ark, just as God commanded. Now Noah, his wife, his three sons, their wives, and all the animals were safe inside the ark. The door was shut tight by God so that no one else could come inside.
The Storm: (Play sound effects tape of rain storm.) Listen! What's that noise? Something was hitting the roof of the ark. Ask: What is it? The rain fell harder and harder. Water was forming puddles, then streams, and finally rushing rivers. Water was getting into people's houses. It was getting deeper and deeper. Ask: How do you think the people outside the ark must have felt? (Encourage the children to think about how they would feel.)
Four children hold the ends of two pieces of blue fabric. Stoop down and make the fabric ripple like waves, slowly stand up as the water gets higher, moving around the room and "ark" as the flood lifts it. Water was coming from the sky and up out of the ground. Waves were splashing against the sides of the ark. The flood kept getting higher. First the ground was covered, then the bushes. The ark began to rock back and forth. (Children in ark rock back and forth.) People ran to higher ground, but they couldn't get away from the flood. Soon the tree tops were covered by water. The ark creaked and then started to move. It was floating! Finally water covered the whole earth, even the mountain tops!
Noah and his family were safe and dry inside the ark. They floated around for almost a whole year. (Children in ark "float" among the"waves.") But one day it stopped moving. (Children in "ark"stop moving, stop sound effects.) The rain stopped and the water started going down. (Wave" children lower fabric to the floor.) Noah sent out a bird to see if the water was all dried up. First he sent out a raven. (Black sheet of construction paper, folded in half, moving up and down as if flying.) The raven
flew from place to place, finding bits of food to eat. He never returned. Next, Noah sent out a dove. (White construction paper folded in half.) The first time the dove flew around and came back to the ark because it couldn’t find a place to land. The second time the dove brought back an olive leaf. This showed Noah that the water was going down and the tree tops were visible. The third time the dove found a place to rest and didn't return.
Noah and his sons took the roof off the ark. Now they could look around. Ask. How do you think they felt to be able to see sunshine again? God sent the wind to dry up the ground. (Extra children wave books or paper to make the wind.) Finally Noah, his family, and all the animals came out of the ark. Unwrap the brown fabric.) Ask: What do you think was the first thing they did? (Let children give their own examples.) Next week we will find out what Noah did.
God sent rain and a flood to destroy the whole world because they wouldn't obey Him. What a mighty God we have! Then in God's own time, He made the rain stop. He made the flood go down and dried up the land. Our God is mightier than the Mighty Waters because He made them. If the wind and the rain and the waves obey God, shouldn't you obey Him too?
Review Questions
1. How was God able to save Noah and his family?
2. How long were Noah and his family in the ark?
3. What happened to the people who didn’t believe and obey God?
4. How deep was the flood water?
5. What birds did Noah send out to see if the water was dried up?
Teacher-Directed Activity
Give each child a picture of the ark and a strip of green and blue construction paper. Tel them to color the picture. Make grass on the green strip and waves on the blue strip taping them together into one long strip. Have them carefully cut slits along the dotted lines beside the ark. Insert one end of the green strip through both slits so that the green grass is under the ark. They can review the Bible story by pulling the strip until the waves cover all the earth.
REACH Activity
Special Materials Needed: Plastic animals, calendar, stickers
Activities:
1. Find all of your plastic toy animals. Don’t use any stuffed animals. With mom’s help, put the animals in the bathtub. Then turn on the water. Watch what happens to the animals as the bathtub fills. Write what you saw and your reaction in your Bible notebook.
2. Pretend you are a newscaster, Part 2: Begin your newscast with “Last week we told you about the startling arrival of animals” . . . Continue the story. Make sure you go to the weather forecaster to tell about the incredible rain.
3. Do a sword drill. Use the Daily Devotional Scriptures in the YEA book, Color My World. Read out the Scripture reference. Then start the timer. When the child has found the verse, stop the timer. Read the verse and talk about how it relates to the lesson. Challenge the child to see how quickly he/she can find each of the verses in the Bible. The sword drill works well as a competition game if you have more than one child.
4. Sing: “Who Built the Ark” on page 107 of Kids Classics Collection. Write how you think you would have felt to be in the ark with all of those animals while it was storming outside.
5. Sequence cards: On ten index cards, write the events from each of the YEA lessons—one event on each card. Then mix the cards. Put them back in the correct order.
6. Journal: Pretend you are Noah or Noah’s wife. It has rained for 40 days and 40 nights. But God kept you safe in the ark. Write how you might have felt after being in the ark for a year!
7. Write about a time when you had to wait a long time for something special. How did you feel? Did you get impatient? Did you trust your parents would do what they said?
8. Sing: “I Will Sing of the Mercies of the Lord Forever” on page 17 of Kids Classics Collection.
9. Our God is mighty, big, and powerful. Write a 5Ws poem about the YEA lesson. The 5Ws are Who, What, When, Where, and Why. This poem does not have to rhyme.
10. Use a calendar to count ahead 40 days. Put a special sticker on that day. Check off each day, until 40 days have passed. How would you feel if it rained each of those days? How would your activities change? Talk about it with your family.
11. Were you afraid the last time it stormed? What made you feel better if you were afraid? Where were you? Who was with you during the storm? What did you do?
12. The next time it rains, not during a storm, find an adult to go outside with you. Just spend a few minutes outside and use your five senses: What do you see? Hear? Smell? Taste? Touch?
13. Noah obeyed and trusted God. Use a concordance to find each of these words. Read at least one Scripture that has obey and trust in it. Remember you can always trust God.
14. Learn the Ten Commandments. God gave us these commandments to teach us how to obey Him.
15. What kind of birds are a raven and dove? Make a Venn diagram to show how they are different and how they are alike.
Venn Diagram:
A Venn diagram is two circles which intersect, or overlap, each other. The part that overlaps is used to show how two objects or persons are alike; the parts of the circles that don’t overlap are the places to write where the objects or people are different.
16. Is there anything special about an olive leaf? Find information about the olive tree. Where do they grow? Share your information with others.
17. Sing: “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” on page 54 of Kids Classics Collection.
Song
"Rise and Shine (Arky, Arky)"is on page 28 of the Kids Classics Collection.
Closing Prayer
Ask an older child to lead in prayer, thanking God for saving Noah and his family. Ask God to help them to obey Him.
Printable Pages
