Week 279 · about 45 minutes
1 Samuel 2
1 Samuel 2 · Memory verse 1 Samuel 2:1
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (1 Samuel 2), the matching word search and answer key (1 Samuel 2 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a key
Hold a key. Read 1 Samuel 2 in about four minutes, stopping at 1 Samuel 2:1: “Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with 1 Samuel 2?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
1 Samuel 2 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.” That is not a motto invented for a poster. It is the first sentence a family hears when this page is opened at night.
Keep going a little further. The chapter also says, “Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.” 1 Samuel 2 opens with these words: “Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice…” The line to keep is 1 Samuel 2:1: “Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.” Carry the word “hannah” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is 1 Samuel 2:1: “Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in 1 Samuel 2? Then try this: Read “Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over…” once more. What does it show you about God? You do not have to finish every verse. You can close the book after the memory verse and still have read the Bible together.
Group game
Walk the room as if you are moving through 1 Samuel 2. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from 1 Samuel 2:1. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from 1 Samuel 2 and write 1 Samuel 2:1 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
1 Samuel 2:1
“Hannah prayed, and said: “My heart exults in Yahweh! My horn is exalted in Yahweh. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for 1 Samuel 2. Help us remember 1 Samuel 2:1 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.