How to Create a Sunday School Lesson from Scratch

Many individuals are unhappy with many of the quality of "pre-packaged" generic Sunday school lessons that are generated by companies that are attempting to please every type of Christian sect at the same time. The alternative is to create your own tailor made lessons that cover the specific ideas and morals that your church want to impress on its youth. Here are a few tips that can help you create a set of Sunday school lessons that are both fun and informative.

Things You'll Need

• Bible
• Great ideas

Instructions

1. Keep the age of your class in mind. The age of your students greatly affects what they can comprehend (or misunderstand), and the length of their attention span. Try not to over burden the minds of young children with too much detail, and on the second hand, if the students are older do not bore them with materials that are infantile.

2. Choose exciting passages from the Bible. The first thing you must to is to "hook" your audience. Nothing is worse than beginning a Sunday school lesson with a boring passage or quotation. The Bible is full of classic stories and parables that are exciting and catch the readers or listeners attention. Stories such as Moses freeing the Hebrew slaves; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace; Daniel in the Lion's den are all stories that reach a Sunday school child's imagination no matter what the age.

3. Do not be afraid to use the Miracles of Jesus. The Bible is full of miraculous events. Do not be afraid to talk about them. Jesus feeds the multitudes with just a few loaves of bread and 2 fish; Jesus walking on water; helping the blind to see, and raising Lazarus from the dead are all miracles that contain lessons in faith, belief, and redemption that children need to hear.

4. Use testimonials. Rely on your experiences and those of others to create a Sunday school lesson on faith or generosity or love. If possible, allow others in the church or even in the classroom to share their experiences and feelings about God. Having older children in the class talk to younger ones about what they have experienced is an excellent method for children to both learn and think about their lessons.

5. Organize the lesson. Try not to do the same thing for every lesson. Mix up your presentation a bit. Sometimes you can read a Bible passage and then have it as the theme of your lessons (remember to re-tell the story in language that is age appropriate). Other times you can introduce your lesson with a song or puppet show.

6. Use props. When you tell a story use visual props or vocal sound effects to help tell the story. When telling the story of Moses you can use a wooden staff to help emphasize all that he had to do, and how the staff actually took part in how the story unfolded. Bring in small plastic grasshoppers when talking about the plagues of Egypt. Be creative and the story and moral will be remembered.

7. Create your own crafts. Find pictures and illustrations to have the children copy and reproduce. Bring modeling clay and have a group make the pottery of the time period or recreate the tablets of the Ten Commandments. Bring wire and coat hangers to make mobiles using paper and pictures of fish, lambs or doves. Find more great craft ideas in the Resources section below.

Tips & Warnings

• Remember you need not be an expert in either the Bible or in educating children to create a fun learning Sunday school environment. All it takes is a little imagination (and prayer) and you can create a great series of Sunday school lessons.

Resources

• Bible Craft Ideas for Sunday School
• Sunday School Lesson Ideas to Use