Jacob, Leah and Rachel - Genesis 29
Here are some good videos
Idea 1
Read “The Girl No One Wanted” on page 70 of the Jesus Storybook bible.
Idea 2
Read through this story together.
Let the kids colour in the pictures.
As they are colouring go around and ask them questions.
Who did Jacob marry?
Who was the favourite?
How many kids did Leah have?
How many kids did Rebekah have?
How many sons did Jacob have all together?
Idea 3
Play some harmless tricks on the kids.
open a container of chips (have a fake snake pop out)
Put out some fake bugs on the floor or in and around where they are sitting.
Whoopie cushion
Tape the light switch.
Have a conversation with the kids. Did they like the tricks you pulled on them? What made them funny? Are there any tricks that aren’t funny?
Say something like “today we are going to learn about someone who got tricked, but it wasn’t a very nice trick.
Idea 4
Show the value of people using a $5 dollar bill.
Pull out a $5 bill and ask the kids how much the money is worth.
Then, take that $5, hand it to one of the kids and ask them to scrunch it up. Once it is scrunched up, ask them how much it’s worth? They should say $5. Then say something like “that’s right the value of the bill doesn’t chance even when we don’t treat it well.
Then give the $5 bill to someone else and ask them to call the money a name. Once it has been called a name or two, ask the kids how much the money is worth. They should still say $5. Then say something like, “that’s right, the value of the bill doesn’t change even when we call it names”.
Then give the $5 bill to someone else and ask them to stomp on it. Pick the $5 bill up and ask them how much it is worth? They should still say $5. Then say something like, “that’s right, the value of the bill doesn’t change even when we stomp on it.
Keep repeating this process until the kids get tired of it. Ask them to kick the $5, punch it, make fun of it and anything else that comes to mind.
Then relate it back to the story. There were two women in the story, one was treated well, and one wasn’t.
Then hold up the $5 bill and ask how much was Leah worth? How much was Rebekah worth? (even though they will say $5, you might need to explain that people are worth so much more than money).
Say something like “even though the two women were treated very differently, they were still worth the same to God. Some times people aren’t treated well. Some times people are mean to us, and some times we are mean to other people, but here’s the thing, God loves us all, and God created us all and we are all equally valuable.”
Then hold up the $5 bill and ask the kids “how much am I worth?, and how much are you worth?”.
Idea 5
Play “Guess Who?” with the kids.
Choose a few leaders to play the parts of Rachel, Leah, Jacob, and Leban. Give them an outline of their character.
Ask the kids to try to figure out who you are either by asking questions if they are old enough. Or if the kids are younger just start talking about your character and see if they can guess.