Scripture: Acts 2: 1 – 17 and 40 – 47
Target Age Group: 1st through 6th grade
Welcome the children to the classroom and chat with them about their week as they gather around the table.
Pray and ask God to teach the children not just head knowledge, but also heart knowledge.
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Bible Lesson:
Have the children open their Bibles to Acts 2 or pages 462 – 463 in The Golden Children’s Bible.
(Read the story to the children because at this age some of the children do not read smoothly, which hinders comprehension for the whole class.)
Discussion:
- What 3 signs happened on the day of Pentecost? There was a loud sound of rushing wind. There were what looked like tongues of fire on their heads. The disciples began to speak in other languages.
- Can you think of other times in the Bible that God demonstrated Himself as a fire? The burning bush where God talked to Moses. A pillar of fire to guide the Israelites escaping Egypt. Fire on Mt. Sinai when Moses was given the ten commandments. Elijah called on God to bring fire to burn a bull on an alter.
- When the people in Jerusalem heard all the noise, what did they do? They gathered around the disciples.
- What did they hear? The disciples were speaking in foreign languages.
- Did they understand what they were saying? Yes. They understood their own language.
- When they heard that they were speaking in foreign languages so that every foreigner there could understand them, what two things did they say? “What does this mean?” and “They have had too much wine. Some people must have thought they were crazy. But, others could understand them and were amazed!
- Do you think that everybody that you tell the Gospel to will believe? No.
- Will some of them believe? Yes.
- Why do you think God made them speak in different languages that day? There were people there from all over the world because it was Pentecost. (They called it “The Festival of Weeks”.) They needed to hear the Gospel in their own language, but hey didn’t have electronic translators back then. They didn’t even have Spanish class at school! So, the Holy Spirit helped them communicate with each other so that the people could go back home and tell their families and friends there about Jesus. That’s how the Gospel began to be spread to the whole world!
- Who preached a sermon to the people? Peter
- What did he say in his sermon? The disciples weren’t drunk; they were filled with the Holy Spirit as God had promised. Though they had crucified Jesus, who was the Messiah, he rose from the dead.
- How did the people respond to his sermon? They were sorry and asked what they could do?
- What was Peter’s answer? Repent and be baptized.
- How many of the people believed the message, repented, and were baptized that day? 3,000
- What did they do after that? They met together every day for fellowship.
- What did God do? He added to their numbers every day.
- Let’s give thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit who helps us tell others about Jesus…
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During the remaining class time do activities that help to reinforce what the children have learned. Here are some suggestions…
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Memorize the verse.
John 14:26 “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
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Show a video of the story.
Pentecost for Kids: The Holy Spirit Comes by Sharefaith Kids
The Early Church by Crossroads Kids’ Club
What is the Holy Spirit? A Sunday School Lesson for Kids! by Douglas Talks
“Who is the Holy Spirit?: early Childhood Lesson” by CCC Kids
Pentecost Explained in 3 Minutes (with puppets!) by Luke Thomsen
Pentecost/Storytellers by Crossroads Kids’ Club
Pentecost Message by Kids on the Move
Understanding Pentecost and the Feast of Weeks by Messages of Christ (This one is for the teacher’s understanding, and it is excellent!)
Worship: John 3:16 in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, English, Korean and Persian by One For Israel. Teacher, you will love this!
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Show the children a glove or mitten. Talk about how it is unable to do anything unless you put your hand into it. It is the same with us. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can do things that we weren’t able to do by ourselves!
Here are some other great children’s sermon ideas from John Stevens.
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In some places in the world, Pentecost is celebrated with rose petals being thrown over the congregation, or origami doves being suspended over the congregation. Worshipers may wave red fans or handkerchiefs or red balloons to symbolize the tongues of fire. Incorporate some of these in a church birthday party. Make Pentecost spinners to toss up in your classroom.
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Have the children make tongues of fire party hats from Joyful Mama’s Place. Here is another similar idea with a flame template from Heather Haupt. And another one from Bible Fun For Kids.
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This is a cute craft from Flame Creative Kids.
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This is a craft page from Auntie’s Bible Lessons.
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Share this sermon from Sermons4kids. Then make child-safe pinwheels.
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Make wind socks. For this one, I would have the children put their Bible verse on it, instead of the cloud.
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Have the children use colors or pastels to draw their own vision of the story on a sketch pad page. Or have them color a color page related to the story. Color page #1 Color page #2 by Ministry-to-children. An excellent color page book is “Through-the-Bible Coloring Pages For Ages 4-8” by Janet Skiles. The pages are reproducible.
Lamb Songs has a coloring booklet that you can make for each child. This one is called Holy Spirit Comes. Scroll down past the links marked “Publisher” to the links marked “Download”. You can print them up in color or in black and white for coloring.
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Teach them how to say “Jesus Loves You” in a different language.
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Lesson # 77 – The Holy Spirit Comes by Free Sunday School Curriculum has worksheets and a color page.
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Sing “The Brave Ones” by Crossroads Kids’ Club.
Father I adore you
I lay my life before you
How I love you
Jesus I adore you
I lay my life before you
How I love you
Spirit I adore you
I lay my life before you
How I love you
For older kids, play the song “The Wind Came Singing” by Wendy and Mary. Discuss what the words mean.
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For snack time serve these flaming cupcakes or these Holy Spirit Crackers.
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Evaluate what the children have learned. While they are coloring or crafting ask each one what they learned today.
Send each child’s parent an e-mail (or a hard copy) of the Parents’ Page.
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