LESSON 9: GOD KNOWS JONAH RAN AWAY
Dig In to the Bible
Read: Jonah
In This Passage: God tells Jonah to go warn the people of Nineveh of their destruction because of their evil ways. Jonah doesn’t want to go, so he tries to run away by getting on a boat. But God knows where Jonah is and sends a storm. Jonah ends up getting thrown overboard, where a big fish swallows him. After three days, the fish spits Jonah out, and he goes to Nineveh.
Bible Point: God is all-knowing.
Summary Verse: “No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Dig Deeper
You’ll Be Teaching: God is all-knowing. God knowing everything about us can feel either comforting or creepy to a child. God knowing the hairs on our heads seems sweet; God knowing that we’re running away might not feel so sweet. Emphasize God’s love—he knows everything about us and loves us completely.
Think About: What’s something everyone knows about you? What’s something no one but God knows about you?
Dig In to Prayer
Pray for kids to be comforted that God knows everything, loves them, and has good plans for them.
Quick Tip
Kids long to feel known, and when you struggle to remember their names, it can send a message that they’re not really known—by you or by God. Don’t make excuses like “I’m just not good with names.” Make a concerted effort to learn kids’ names by welcoming them by name, repeating their names often, and building relationships with them.
LESSON 9: Opening Music Videos!
Lesson 9: Step # 2
Core Bible Discovery
Supplies: Bibles * Books, blocks, or legos * Blankets
Lesson 9: Step #3 Talk about it with your family!
Bonus FUN!
CRAFT
Kids make fish that can spit Jonah out.
Supplies
16-ounce plastic cups (1 per child)
thumbtacks
string
scissors
rubber bands (2 per child)
stapler
construction paper (in a variety of colors)
transparent tape
googly eyes
ping-pong balls (1 per child)
permanent markers
dot stickers
"Urpity Fish Instructions" handout (download here)
Make Fish
Show kids the sample craft you made. Give each child a cup and a ping-pong ball. Set out the remaining supplies to share, and have kids follow the directions on the "Urpity Fish Instructions" handout to make Urpity Fish.
Use a thumbtack to poke a hole in the bottom of your cup. (Older kids can do this step for younger kids.)
Cut a piece of string to be roughly 2 feet long. (This is already done for preschoolers.)
Poke the string through the hole in the cup. (Older kids can help younger kids with this step.)
Cut four slits around the rim of the cup, evenly spaced. (Older kids can do this step for younger kids.)
Stretch rubber bands over the cup, sliding them through the slits to make a plus sign. (Older kids can do this step for younger kids.)
Tie the end of the string that’s inside the cup to the center of the rubber bands. (Older kids can do this step for younger kids.)
Staple the rim of the cup above the rubber bands to close up the top of the slits. (Older kids can do this step for younger kids.)
Decorate your cup to look like a fish. To make scales, you can cut small half-circles out of construction paper and tape them in rows around your cup. You can also add fins and a head with googly eyes. Younger kids can use dot stickers to decorate their cups and add the heads and fins you pre-cut.
Draw a Jonah figure on your ping-pong ball using a permanent marker. (Older kids can do this step for younger kids.)
Try It Out
When Jonah tried to run away, God knew where he was. God is all-knowing. God sent a fish to swallow Jonah and later had the fish spit Jonah back up onto the shore. Let’s see if you can get your fish to spit Jonah out.
Have kids follow these directions to get their fish to spit Jonah out. It may take a few tries to get Jonah to pop out, but working in pairs will help.
Hold the cup in one hand and use the other hand to pull the string down as far as you can.
Have a friend place your Jonah ping-pong ball right in the center of the rubber bands.
Release the string and watch your fish spit Jonah out!
Talk About It
• What do you think it would be like to live inside a fish for three days?
• What do you think it would feel like to get spit up by a fish?
• Why do you think God caused this very unusual thing to happen to Jonah?
God is all-knowing. Jonah couldn’t hide from him, because God knew where he was all along. But we don’t need to hide from God! He loves us, just like he loved Jonah even when Jonah disobeyed. He sent the fish to keep Jonah safe and to spit him back onto dry land.
HIGH-ENERGY GAME[10 min]
Scooter Tag
Supplies
trash bags (1 per child)
upbeat music (optional)
music player (optional)
Easy Prep
If you used the Music Video block, consider repeating the songs from today’s lesson during the game.
Tip
This game works best on tile floors.
Scoot on Trash Bags
Say: Today we’re exploring how God is all-knowing by looking at the life of Jonah. Let’s try to do what Jonah did with God: get away!
Give each kid a trash bag.
Choose a child to be “It.”
Kids will sit on their trash bags and scoot along the floor to move. “It” will scoot and attempt to tag everyone else.
If someone is tagged, that kid freezes and provides sound effects of rushing wind, storm-tossed oceans, and a thunderstorm until the next round.
If you’d like, play upbeat music while kids play
Play several rounds, switching up who’s It. Don’t let anyone stay “frozen” for long before starting a new round when everyone can join back in.
Talk About It
Ask: • What helped you avoid being tagged?
• What would have happened had the tagger known exactly where you were headed as you scooted along?
• God knew just where Jonah was because God is all-knowing. Is the truth that God knows everything about you comfortable…or uncomfortable? Why?
Say: God knows everything about us, and he loves us with his whole heart. That means he loves you for who you are, not who you just pretend to be. That’s good news!