Proverbs

Introduction

This section has lesson plans to teach chapters 1-31 of Proverbs for 4-12yr. olds in a Sunday school or Children’s Church setting. Each lesson is about 45-60 minutes long and includes a craft to reinforce the key verse discussed. All Scripture is from the New King James Bible except where I refer to another website. I will include the outline I prepared for each chapter, but feel free to use it as a sounding board from which you create a lesson for your class. At this time I have just completed Chapter 23, so will add lessons as they are taught/ updated. The format of each lesson varies, but we always begin with worship and prayer then the lesson. At the end of the lesson the teacher prays and we move to a table area where the children spend about 15 minutes on a craft which reinforces the main concept of the lesson. Whenever possible the Scripture verse is on the craft.

When I began teaching Proverbs, I quickly realized I needed to dig into the background and history of Proverbs using a good study Bible and websites. When possible, I use this website to study the chapter I will be teaching. https://www.spiritualgrowthbiblestudies.com/proverbs/ She has done an amazing job of creating a Bible study for every chapter of Proverbs.

The book of Proverbs is divided into sections and my lessons changed from section to section. Chapters 1-9 is where wisdom is defined and is a father( Solomon) speaking to his son, instructing him how to live a godly life. During these lessons we focused on defining wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and learning about the many characters in Proverbs. These include the righteous man, wicked, simple, wisdom, scoffer, and more.

Proverbs 10-22 contain Solomon’s proverbs and many times there are several unrelated themes in the chapter. I began praying for wisdom for which verses should be covered for the week. Sometimes I cover a subject for several weeks, such as in the lazy man verses which are prevalent in many chapters. Beginning with Chapter 10 we recited James 1:19-20 with hand motions and found that those verses tie in with so many Proverbs. I never knew that James in many ways is the New Testament version of Proverbs!

The remainder of Proverbs includes sayings of the wise, more proverbs from Solomon copied by the men of Hezekiah, wisdom of Agur and king Lemuel, and ends with the virtuous wife. I have not covered these chapters yet so am not sure how they will be taught.

Two major changes in our church have happened since I began teaching Proverbs that I need to note. The first is that our Childrens Church changed the age for the class from 4-12yr. olds to 4-9yr. olds with 4-6 yr. olds the main age group. This caused me to reevaluate the best way to reach this age group, especially since most of the children are not yet reading. The second was our Pastor died unexpectedly in his sleep at 43yrs. old, leaving behind his lovely wife and 7 children. Dealing with his sudden passing and grief has deeply impacted every aspect of our church, even how I teach class to the children.