BIBLE LESSON FOR KIDS ON PATIENCE

Here’s a free Bible lesson for kids in 1st-5th grade on Patience, based on Ephesians 4:2.

Big idea: Patience means showing others the kind of love that God has for us.

Includes a fun opening game to set up the lesson.

Enjoy!

Looking for children’s ministry curriculum? Check out the…

ONE YEAR CHILDREN’S MINISTRY CURRICULUM, VOL 1 – Save 72% on one year of children’s ministry curriculum for 1st-5th grade helping kids fall in love with Jesus and discover what it means to follow him!

BIBLE LESSON FOR KIDS ON PATIENCE

Bible: Ephesians 4:2

Bottom Line: Patience means showing others the kind of love that God has for us.

GAME SUPPLIES:

• Upbeat Music

• 2 Potatoes

• Red Sharpie

GAME PREP:

Have upbeat music on hand and ready to be played throughout the game.

You will use two potatoes for this game.

On one potato, use a red Sharpie to draw a large smiley face.

On the other potato, use the red Sharpie to draw a large frowny face.

Have students stand in a circle and put their arms straight out beside them until they are spaced pretty far apart.

Then, have the students sit down.

HOW TO PLAY THE GAME: 

Say: Raise your hand if you have ever played the game “Hot Potato.”

The game we are about to play is a crazy, high-speed version of the game.

I have two potatoes—one is a happy potato, and the other one is sad.

When I say, “Go,” music will begin to play, and we will start passing one potato to the left and the other potato to the right.

Then, after a few seconds, the music will stop.

If you’re holding a potato when the music stops, you’ll look at the potato to see if it’s a smiley face potato or a sad potato. 

If you’re holding the smiley face potato, you will remain in the game.

If you’re holding the sad potato, then you are out of the game.

If you’re out, you will move to the middle of our circle, and now, you are a mashed potato. 

Even though people will be missing from our circle, we won’t make the circle smaller.

Everyone will stay where they are.

That means we will have gaps in our circle, but that’s okay!

If there is a large space between you and the person beside you, just roll the potato to them.

Make sure not to throw the potato at any point during the game.

The last two people that are left in the game will exchange the potatoes back and forth until the music stops and the person left holding the frowny face potato is out of the game and the other person is the winner.

TEACH

Say: I don’t know about you, but flies really annoy me.

Did you know there are 120,000 different types of flies? That’s a lot!

Here’s another really big number. For each one single person on Earth, there are 17 million flies.

There are trillions of flies all over the planet.

Ask: What do you think makes flies so annoying?

Allow a few responses from students.

All of the things you mentioned are true!

No one ever wants a fly to bother them, and sometimes it’s like as soon as you get rid of one, another one appears! They can really “bug” you.

But not only are flies annoying, sometimes people can be pretty aggravating too.

Here are some examples:

When your brother or sister takes something that belongs to you and doesn’t give it back.

When there is one cookie left, and everyone knows you want it, but someone eats it anyway.

When you have practiced really hard to get better at something—like playing a sport or an instrument—and someone picks on you when you make a mistake.

Not only can those situations be annoying, but they require you to show patience with others.

Patience means showing others the kind of love that God has for us. Let’s read a verse that tells us a little more about patience. 

Read Ephesians 4:2.

“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” 

Sometimes we need to be patient with others, but sometimes people have to be patient with us too!

Believe it or not, there are times when you might bug someone else, or say or do something that could bother them.

When you are patient with your friends, family, and even people you don’t know, you are showing the kind of love that you want others to show you.

The beginning of that Bible verse says that we should be “humble and gentle.”

When your family is bothering you, it’s easy to get back at them. The hard thing to do is to be gentle.

We have to humble ourselves and treat others the way we want to be treated.

The end of the Bible verse says, “making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.”

That means you realize people aren’t perfect. It would be great if we were, but none of us are.

Making allowance means that you know you will need to be patient with others.

So, it doesn’t come as a surprise when your little sister or brother draws in your favorite book because you already realize they are going to do things like that.

When you are patient with other people, you don’t let the way they act get on your nerves so much.

That might mean you have to step away from being around people from time to time.

It also means that when someone is annoying, you pray for them—not that they won’t be annoying, but that you can show love towards them.

And remember, God is patient with each of us because He loves us so much.

He never gives up on us, and He loves us no matter what.

We should pray that we can show others the kind of love that God has for us!

End Lesson

Looking for children’s ministry curriculum? Check out the…

ONE YEAR CHILDREN’S MINISTRY CURRICULUM, VOL 1 – Save 72% on one year of children’s ministry curriculum for 1st-5th grade helping kids fall in love with Jesus and discover what it means to follow him!

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