INFANT SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSONS
YEAR 2
LESSONS 1 – 20
Infant Syllabus
General Teaching Notes
Bibles
Have an open Bible, even if you are telling the story or using a book so that the children understand everything we teach is based on the Bible. The NIV has been used unless otherwise stated.
Encourage the children to bring Bibles to Sunday School. A good incentive is to use stickers or points, with a small prize when an agreed number has been collected.
Worksheets
There is a worksheet to go with each lesson. This need not always be done at the end, but can sometimes be partly used during the lesson to consolidate what has been taught, and give children a break from listening. You are the judge of when and how to use the worksheet.
Please note that the lesson notes are guideline suggestions only – they are not prescriptive texts.
THERE ARE REVISION WORKSHEETS EVERY FEW WEEKS.
These can be used as revision lessons, which would be helpful especially of someone in the class had been absent or if the story was quite new to the class. There are no lesson notes for revision lessons as previous notes apply.
The group working on the junior syllabus suggests that these are used as lessons and that on the Sundays on which they are being used Compass could be given out and the children encouraged to ‘do’ the magazine with the help and encouragement of the teacher. Alternatively, revision lessons can be given to the children to do at home.
Lesson 1 Cain and Abel Genesis 4
Lesson Aim:To show the far-reaching consequences of sin - how sin changed life for Adam and Eve, for Cain and Abel and for the world.
Visual Aids: Photos or newspaper cut-outs of facial expressions e.g. joy, anger, disappointment.
Point 1Remind the children of creation and the fall - Adam and Eve had not kept the law that God had given them. Explain that Adam and Eve's disobedience to God was such an important matter that it had very serious consequences, not only for themselves, but also for their sons Cain and Abel and for everybody following them.
Point 2Tell the story of Cain and Abel. Talk about their work. Move on to tell of them bringing their sacrifices to God. Talk a little about sacrifices and what they mean. Discuss what Cain brought – he brought some fruits.
Point 3Talk about what Abel brought – he brought the choice portions of the firstborn of his flock.
Point 4Tell the children very simply how God responded.
Point 5Discuss Cain’s reaction and God’s message about doing what is right. Discuss jealousy and where it can lead. Relate the feeling to the children’s own situations.
Point 6Explain that Cain murdered Abel and thought he could hide his body. But God saw what Cain had done and He spoke to him. Tell of how God punished Cain, of Cain’s fear and of God’s mercy.
Conclusion:When Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden and obeyed God and were His special friends, they knew only how to love and be happy. After they listened to Satan and obeyed him by doing what God had told them not to do, they learned how to be angry, jealous, selfish, afraid, quarrelsome and sad. Ever since then all the people born into the world have been like that.
Lesson 2 Before the Flood Genesis3: 17-24 6: 1-8
Lesson Aim: To show the effect of sin on everything in the world.
Visual Aids: Perhaps a picture ofa lovely garden. Newspaper or magazine pictures illustrating poverty, disease and pollution (these should not be too distressing).
Point 1By a question and answer method recall earlier lessons. God had made a perfect world and had put man in it to enjoy it. What were the things He had made? What responsibility had He given man? What privileges? Did man please God? Did he obey God's authority? How did God feel? Everywhere God looked He saw sin. Everything man was doing was evil.
Point 2Tell of the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Talk about gardens - the attention they need to stop them becoming overgrown - the problem of weeds - too much or too little water. Discuss the differences they would have known in their lives and work - the hard work needed to grow the food that was needed. Explain that this is the same today. Talk a little about the problems associated with producing food here and in other countries.
Point 3Remind the children of Cain and Abel, who were born after Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden.
Point 4Introduce Noah and his family. In all the sin and evil there was one man who pleased God. Noah was a good man who obeyed God.
Point 5Explain thatGod told Noah He was going to destroy the world by a flood. Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives were to be saved. God promised their safety. Talk about plans for buildings and how these were followed. Tell how God told Noah to build a huge ark. Describe the ark - 137m x 23m x 14m - large box shape – able to float - no sail - 3 storeys high, window, door, gopher wood - pitch to waterproof, etc.
Conclusion: Recall that Noah pleased God and obeyed Him. Remind the children of Jesus, the Saviour.
Lesson 3 Noah and the Flood Genesis 6:8-22, 7:1-23
Lesson Aim:To show how God will not allow His world to be spoiled by sin.
Visual Aids: If possible a simple plan of a church building which the children can
identify.
Point 1Go over what the children have learned about sin and its effects in the world.
Point 2Talk about Noah starting to build the huge ark on land - no water near him. What would people have thought about Noah building a boat so far from the sea? They would have been asking questions and they would have thought that Noah was mad. They did not listen when Noah told them what God was going to do.
Point 3 The work took 120 years. Noah did everything God commanded - the ark was completed exactly as God told him. Discuss who was to go into the ark and what Noah had to do about all the animals and everything they would need – the reason for the ark being so big.
Point 4 They were now ready to go into the ark. All the people and animals were safe in the Ark on dry land. God shut the door of the ark.
Point 5Talk about the flood. Discuss rain and what happens to the ground when there is heavy rain. Relate to flooding in this country and in other areas of the world. The rain went on for 40 days and nights. Puddles became ponds - and ponds became lochs - until the whole land was covered with water. What would happen to the ark? It would float. As the water got higher, covering even the tallest mountain, so the ark rose and floated. The water covered the earth for 150 days. Everything that was out of the ark was drowned.
Conclusion:Think of our obedience, God’s commands, His wisdom, His knowledge. How do we spoil God's world?
Lesson 4 After the Flood Genesis 7:24-8:22
Lesson Aim:To show the result of Noah's obedience and how God kept His promise to Noah.
Visual Aids: Simple pictures of a raven, a dove and a rainbow.
Point 1Recall what the children have learned about sin, about God, Noah, the ark and the flood.
Point 2God did not forget about Noah, his family and all the animals in the ark. God sent a wind to blow across the waters and the floods began to disappear.
Point 3Discuss what Noah might have wondered when he thought the water level was dropping. After many days Noah opened a window. He sent out a raven but there was nowhere for the raven to rest so it kept flying back and fore until the waters dried up. Later Noah sent out a dove to see if it could find dry land, but it came back. Noah put out his hand and the dove came into the ark again.
Point 4A week later, Noah sent out the dove again - this time the dove brought back an olive leaf, so Noah knew the flood was almost over. Another week later the dove went out once again and this time it did not return.
Point 5Explain that when everything was dry again, God told Noah to come out. Noah, his family and the animals all left the ark. Imagine what they found. Think about how they would be feeling and what it would be like to be free to move around again.
Point 6Noah built an altar and worshipped God to express their feelings of thankfulness to Him.
Point 7 God made a great promise to Noah. Talk about what God promised and about the rainbow as a sign of this promise.
Conclusion: Talk about the rainbow as a sign of this promise for us today too.
Lesson 5 The Tower of Babel Genesis 11:1-9
Lesson Aim: To show what happens when people forget God.
Visual Aids: Pictures of tall buildings.
Point 1Discuss languages with the children. Do any understand a language other than English? Talk about what it is like when we cannot understand what people are saying. Help them to imagine what it would be like to work together on a project if they all spoke in different languages.
Point 2 Tell the children about time passing and more and more people being born. The more people there were, the further they spread. God had told them to go and fill the whole earth. At that point they all spoke the same language, so they were able to communicate and to co-operate with each other.
Point 3 The people in today’s chapter settled in a plain and they decided they wanted to stay there together, instead of obeying God and spreading through the earth. They thought theywould like to make a name for themselves by doing that. They made up their minds to make themselves a great city and a very, very high tower. They were proud and they did not think about God and about obeying Him. They even thought they could build their tower so high that it would reach heaven.
Point 4 There were no quarries or stones in the flat area where they lived, so they had to make bricks from mud and then they had to make pitch to stick the bricks together. They had a great deal of work to do to fulfil their ambition.
Point 5 God saw what they were doing and it did not please Him. Tell of how He stopped them from going any further with their building by confusing their language so that they could not understand each other.
Point 6 Describe the confusion which would have followed. God scattered the people throughout the earth – the very thing they thought they could avoid by building their city and tower.
Conclusion:Discuss the importance of obeying God and doing what He requires.
LESSON 6 IS A REVISION LESSON
USING THE NOTES FOR LESSONS 1 - 5
Lesson 7 Mary and Martha Luke 10:38-42
Lesson Aim:To show the importance of spending time with Jesus, listening to Him and learning from Him.
Visual Aids: Cut-outs from magazines or drawings of a birthday cake, a picnic and a family dinner for the children to identify and speak about what happens when friends get together.
Point 1Introduce the lesson by talking about friends, about visiting friends and about what people do when they visit each other. Lead into discussion about all the preparations involved for meals and about the importance of spending time with each other.
Point 2Jesus had friends too. He had his disciples, but there were also other friends. Among them were Martha, her sister Mary and their brother, Lazarus. They lived in a village called Bethany, which was not far from the city of Jerusalem. Some of the children may know about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Jesus visited his friends in their home.
Point 3On this occasion, Jesus had spent time teaching the people. The earlier part of the chapter tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, which may be familiar to some of the children.
Point 4Describe the scene - Jesus and His disciples tired after travelling and teaching the people - their arrival in Bethany - Martha’s welcome to her home - her work in preparation for the meal - perhaps she did not know they were coming.
Point 5Tell of the way Jesus at once started to teach the people in the house and of how Mary sat at His feet to listen carefully to all He said.
Point 6Discuss Martha’s complaint about Mary not helping her and the answer Jesus gave to show how important it is to spend time with Him and listen to Him.
Conclusion:Talk about all the children do every day and discuss how they can spend time listening to Jesus.
Lesson 8 The Woman at the Well John 4:1-42
Lesson Aim: To help the children to understand that Jesus is the Saviour of sinners.
Visual Aids:A simple map showing Judea, Samaria and Galilee
Point 1Jesus was going to travel from Judea to Galilee. To get there He had to go through Samaria. Talk about the unfriendly relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans. (Lesson on the healing of the 10 lepers in Year 1)
Point 2Describe the scene - Jesus sitting by the well called Sychar - in the middle of the day –very hot - tired after the journey - very thirsty. Tell the children about the arrangements for families getting their water from the well each morning. Tell of the arrival of the woman much later than usual, and of her surprise when Jesus asked for a drink of water.
Point 3Explain very simply the conversation about living water which Jesus had with the woman.
Point 4Tell of the woman’s reaction as the conversation proceeded, showing that Jesus knew all about her home life - verse 19 ‘You are a prophet’. She knew the Old Testament and the promises of a coming Saviour.
Point 5Describe the disciples’ reaction when they returned with food for Jesus and tell how the woman left her water jar and ran home to tell all the people there about Jesus.
Point 6 She told the people all about her conversation with Jesus, explaining her surprise when he asked her for a drink of water and her amazement when she realised He knew all about her. Many Samaritans came out to see Jesus. When they heard His teaching many believed in Him and wanted Him to stay with them.
Conclusion:Talk about sharing the good news of Jesus with others.
Lesson 9John- Discipleship from Fisherman to a Fisher of Men
Mat 4:18-22, 5, 6:9-13, Mark 3:13-17, Mark 9:38-41, John 19:25-27
Lesson Aim: To show that we can be used by Jesus to spread His Word.
Visual Aids: Flannelgraphs or pictures.
Point 1Speak about life in Jesus’ time when families worked very much together in things like fishing and farming etc.
Point 2Describe the day that Simon Peter, Andrew, John and his brother James were called by Jesus to leave fishing and mending their nets and to follow Him. (Matthew 4:18-22). You can use the children to place the characters on the flannelgraph or to arrange pictures as you are telling the story.
Point 3Speak a bit about the teaching that John and the other disciples heard from Jesus very soon after He called them, and of the importance for them and for us all of listening and learning from Jesus. John and the others were used by Jesus to spread His Word. Maybe some reference could be made to the teaching of Jesus in the early part of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5,or to the examples of the city on the hill and the lamp which was not hidden when lit or to the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13.
Point 4John was chosen as one of the twelve apostles. It might be a good thing to describe some of the things that John and the other disciples did and to refer to the power that Jesus gave to them to heal people who were sick and to tell others the good news about Him. (Mark 3:13-17)
Point 5John had to learn the importance of realising that Jesus had many other followers and that it was not just the 12 disciples who were serving Him. John had to learn to be tolerant with other people.An example of this is found in Mark 9:38-41.