Week 927 · about 45 minutes
Jonah 4
Jonah 4 · Memory verse Jonah 4:7
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Queues the lesson plan, this story’s coloring page (Jonah 4), the matching word search and answer key (Jonah 4 word search), the memory-verse tracer, and a parent slip.
Five-minute object lesson
Prop: a folded cloth
Hold a folded cloth. Read Jonah 4 in about four minutes, stopping at Jonah 4:7: “But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.” Ask, “What does this prop have to do with Jonah 4?” Let two children answer, then say the memory verse together.
Story script
Jonah 4 is a real chapter from the Old Testament. It starts, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.” 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, “Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.” Jonah 4 opens with these words: “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.” The line to keep is Jonah 4:7: “But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.” Carry the word “prepared” from that verse into the rest of the day.
The line worth learning out loud is Jonah 4:7: “But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.” If the rest of the chapter feels crowded, hold that one sentence until the room is quiet.
What happens first in Jonah 4? Then try this: Read “But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.” 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 Jonah 4. Every time you freeze, a child says one word from Jonah 4:7. The last child says the whole verse.
Craft
On a US Letter sheet, draw one picture from Jonah 4 and write Jonah 4:7 under it. Send it home as tonight’s reminder, not as a decoration contest.
Memory verse
Jonah 4:7
“But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.”
Take-home prayer
Father, thank you for Jonah 4. Help us remember Jonah 4:7 when we wake up, and teach us to notice you in an ordinary night. Amen.