Enjoy this free sample lesson from Parables for Kids, our 5-week Sunday School curriculum on the parables of Jesus. If you enjoy this teaching format, check out the complete five-week series.
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Week 1 Lesson: Hold On to God's Word (The Parable of the Sower, Luke 8:4–15)
- Bible Story: The Farmer and the Four Kinds of Ground (Luke 8:4–15)
- Key Discovery: God's Word is good seed, and God makes it grow in everyone who hears it and holds on to it.
- Takeaway: I can listen to God's Word and hold on to it.
- Memory Verse: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10) BSB
What's Inside the Free Parable of the Sower Lesson PDF
- The complete, teach-ready Week 1 lesson for kids ages 6 to 12 (print-ready PDF)
- "Where Did the Seed Land?" opening game and "Soak It Up" object lesson
- Scripted Bible story teaching with stage directions and two illustrated teaching visuals
- "Story Talk" discussion questions and a repeat-after-me prayer
- "Good Soil Cup" craft from paper cups, soil and dried beans
- Coloring page, word search puzzle (with answer key), and a Parent Take-Home page
- Memory verse poster, practice ideas, and supply lists for every activity
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Parable of the Sower Object Lesson for Kids: Soak It Up
This 5-minute object lesson comes straight from the free Week 1 lesson. Supplies: a plate, a soft, used kitchen sponge (dry), a cup of water, a spoon and a towel. Before class: set the plate, the dry sponge, the cup of water, the spoon and the towel on a table the whole class can gather close around.
(Gather the class in a horseshoe, smallest kids kneeling in front.) Here's a plate. Hard and smooth, like a path stomped flat by lots of feet. Watch what happens when water lands on it.
(Tilt the plate a little. Pour one spoonful of water on it.) It just sits on top. It can't soak in. Look, it's already sliding toward the edge.
(Swipe the water off the plate with your hand, onto the towel.) One swipe, and it's gone. Nothing stayed.
Now here's a dry kitchen sponge. Same spoon. Same water. Watch close.
(Pour one spoonful onto the sponge. Hold it up high.) Where did it go? It soaked right in. Now I'll squeeze it, gently.
(Squeeze gently over the plate. Hold the sponge up high.) Still wet inside. The sponge held on to it.
The sponge didn't make that water. It just took it in and held on. Today Jesus tells a story about seed. Some lands on a hard path, and some lands in good soil.
Let's say it together: God's Word is good seed, and God makes it grow in everyone who hears it and holds on to it.
Jesus is the good news we hold on to.
Parable of the Sower Discussion Questions for Kids (Week 1)
After the Bible story, circle up and ask the three "Story Talk" questions from the lesson:
- The farmer's seed landed in four places. Where did it land, and what happened to it? (The path, the rocks, the thorns, the good soil. Only the good soil grew a crop, a hundredfold.)
- The seed landed everywhere, even on the hard path. What does that tell us about God? (God sends His Word to everyone, and He is the one who makes it grow.)
- Jesus is the good news in God's Word. The Holy Spirit helps us hold on to it. When will you hear God's Word this week?
The full lesson adds the "Where Did the Seed Land?" game, the scripted Bible story, a repeat-after-me prayer, the Good Soil Cup craft, a coloring page, a word search and a Parent Take-Home page.
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About the Parables for Kids Series
Parables for Kids is a five-week Sunday School curriculum for children's ministry on the parables of Jesus. Jesus taught with stories, and kids remember stories. Over five weeks kids hear the parable of the sower, as a farmer scatters seed on four kinds of ground (Luke 8); the Good Samaritan, who stops to help a hurt man on the road (Luke 10); the Pharisee and the tax collector, two men who go up to the temple to pray (Luke 18); the lost sheep and the lost coin, and the joy when each one is found (Luke 15); and the prodigal son, as a father runs to welcome his younger son home and goes out to plead with the older one (Luke 15). One truth runs through all five: Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.
The full series ships in two tracks, Kids (ages 6 to 12) and Preschool (ages 3 to 5). See the full series →
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