Bible Class Josiah

Last week, we studied Josiah in my kindergarten Bible class.  I like teaching this story to little ones because they are always amazed that there was a king who was 8 years old!   Most of the time at least one of my class members has an older brother or sister who is 8 or 9, and they find it so amusing that a kid that age could be king!  They are also always impressed when he tears his clothes because he's so sad.  (We DO remind them not to try that when THEY are sad!). 

This week, we introduce the memory verse 2 Tim 3:16.  We only use the first part, though.  ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD.  Starting out, I give them about a month to do a memory verse. Our focus for this lesson is that the Bible is God's word and we should listen to what it says.

Before class, I hide small pictures of Bibles around the room.  When we get to the part where Josiah's friends find the Law, I let the kids run around the room and find the paper Bibles.

We start the lesson with me telling the story using some cheesy popsicle puppets I made.  

When we get to the part about the men finding God's law, we point out the scroll that Shaphan is holding and talk about how they didn't all used to have their own copies of God's word, which made it even more special!  We also talk about how silly it was that God's law was in the house of the Lord and no one knew it. We talk about Josiah tearing his clothes and reading the law to the people and everyone being sad when they realized they were not following God.   I try to make application the best I can to 5 year olds that, anytime we realize we aren't doing what the Bible says, we should be sad and try to fix it.

Following the story, the kids make crowns.   I just made a basic crown template.

The kids decorate it however they want, with markers, crayons, rhinestones, and sometimes glitter if I have a calm bunch. :)  Then, I cut a strip of posterboard and make the part that goes around their heads and staple it to the crown.  Instant kings!

And here is the scrapbook page for Josiah!

Josiah Scrapbook Page