Bible Verses:

Romans 8:28

Bible Reference:

Genesis 37

Printable Bible Verse Card:

Print cards out onto card stock cut them apart, and send them home with each child.

Card Pattern

The children can also make file boxes for their cards.

File Box Pattern

Teaching Concept:

In this colorful story, your children will learn about Joseph and his brothers and how God can take a bad situation and turn it into something good. They will learn that God will never leave them no matter what happens or how they act. The lesson is reinforced by the crafts and activities that use the same colors mentioned in the story to describe the feelings and attitudes of the characters.

 

Opening Activities

 

Children use this craft to review the Bible lesson.

 

What you will need:

Paper Lunch Bags

Brown Bag Paper (Paper made from Lunch Bags) or Brown Paper to Match

Red, Blue, Green, and Black Crayons or Markers (The colors go with the lesson)

Scissors

Glue

Clear Tape

 

How to Make the Joseph Paper Bag Puppet:

1. Before class print out the puppet pattern onto brown bag paper or brown paper and cut out the pieces.

Puppet Pattern

2. In class show your children how to glue the head onto the bottom of the paper bag, the arms onto the back of the bag, and the feet onto the inside bottom of the bag. If you have very young children, glue the pieces together before class.

3. Provide green, red, black, and blue colored pencils or crayons for your children to color Joseph’s coat. (These are the colors that will be used in the story.)

4. As your children work talk about how colors can represent emotions. We say someone is green with envy, they are blue when they are sad, red when they are angry, and black when they are filled with sin.

 

Children of all ages will enjoy coloring this activity sheet.

What you will need:

Colored Pencils

Paper

 

What to do:

1. Before class print out the activity sheet and make copies.

Joseph’s Coat Coloring Sheet

2. As your students color the picture ask them to find the objects in Joseph’s dream – sun, moon, stars, and sheaves of wheat and discuss what the dream meant and how it affected the people in the story.

 

What you will need:

Tan or White Card Stock (Heavy Paper)

Crayons

Markers or Colored Pencils

Scissors

 

How to Make:

1. Before class print out the paper doll pattern and copy it onto heavy card stock.

Paper Doll Pattern

2. Cut out the patterns.

3. In class explain to your students that Joseph’s father gave him a very colorful coat and that they should color the paper doll’s coat so that it is colorful. When they are finished help your children place the paper dolls on the stands so they will stand up.

 

4. Fabric Fun

Younger children will enjoy playing with fabric scraps. Cut fabric scraps into small squares. (You can pick these up at used stores or garage sales or cut up old clothes into scraps.) Let the children play with the squares. They may want to sort them according to colors or patterns. You can ask them which ones they like or which pattern they would pick if their Moms were going to make them a coat. You can also let the children pick their favorite swatches and then staple them together to make a swatch book.

 

The Lesson

 

I am about to tell you a very colorful story.  Listen closely and see how many colors you can pick out in this story.

There once was a man named Jacob who had twelve sons.

(Draw twelve stick figures on the board and have your students count them as you draw, or draw them before class and have the children count them with you.)

But of all his sons, Joseph was his favorite.

(Circle one of the stick figures to indicate that it is Joseph.)

Jacob wanted to show Joseph how much he loved him so he had a very special coat made for him.

(Tape a white paper coat on top of the Joseph figure or draw one over the figure.)

This coat was very colorful, and whenever Joseph wore it all his brothers were green with envy. (Color part of the coat green.)

They didn’t think that it was fair that Joseph got such a beautiful coat and they got nothing.

Sometimes Joseph would see his brothers doing things that he knew his father wouldn’t like and he would run home and tell on them. This made his brothers more angry.  Their hearts began to turn black with bad feelings toward their little brother.

(Add some black stripes to the coat.)

One day Joseph was sent out into the fields to check up on his brothers who were watching the sheep. His brothers saw him coming from a long way away because of his very colorful coat and they began to talk bad about him and plan what they could do to him because they hated him so much. When Joseph got close they grabbed him and pulled off his beautiful coat. They threw him into a deep dark well. Joseph was very scared. All he could see was blackness all around.

(Add some more black stripes.)

Soon Joseph’s brothers saw a bunch of men passing by who were on their way to Egypt. The brothers pulled Joseph out of the deep dark well and sold him to the men who took him to Egypt as their slave.

The brothers couldn’t go back home without a plan. They decided to kill a goat and smeared the red blood all over Joseph’s beautiful coat.

(Add red to the coat.)

They took it home and told their father that Joseph had been attacked by a wild animal and his coat was all that was left. This made Joseph’s father blue. He thought his beloved son was gone forever.

(Add blue to the coat.)

He cried and grieved for his lost son for a very long time.

But this isn’t the end of our story. God was with Joseph and kept him safe. God had a plan for Joseph’s life. God was watching over him.  Joseph wasn’t the perfect child. He was probably spoiled and conceited (thought too highly of himself) and was a tattle tale. His brothers were jealous and did a very bad thing. But we will learn next week how God took a very bad situation and made something good out of it. We will see how God can make bad things good again.

Sometimes you have bad things happen in your life that you think just aren’t fair. Maybe you have people that pick on you or call you names. Or maybe someone is sick in your family or doesn’t have a job. God wants you to know that he is always with you no matter what happens. He is watching over you and your family. He is with you wherever you go, and no matter what you do. He can take something bad, and turn it into something good so when you have a problem, or bad things are happening, just remember that God is with you. When you pray to him, God is there to listen to your troubles.

Next week we will learn how God helped Joseph and his family with their problems and made a bad thing good.

(Go to Joseph and God’s Promise for the next lesson.)

 

Prayer

 

Dear God, Thank you that you are with me no matter what happens. Thank you that you can take something bad, and turn it into something good. Amen.

 

Review

 

Have your children use their Joseph puppets to review the story. Read each statement below and tell your children to have their Joseph puppet and shake his head up and down if the statement is true and move the puppet’s head side to side if the statement is not true.

 

Crafts

 

What you will need:

Grocery Bag

Crayons or Paint

 

How to make:

1. Cut a neck hole at the bottom of a brown grocery bag.

2. Open the bag up by cutting a line from the neck hole in the center of one side of the bag to the top of the bag.

3. Cut two armholes on both sides of the bag

4. Have the children color or paint their bags. When they are dry have the children model their beautiful coats.

 

Bring in scraps of fabric or felt, ribbon, rickrack, lace, and anything else you think the children will enjoy using to decorate their coats. (You can buy these very cheap at garage sales and overstock sales from craft stores.

 

What you will need:

Card Stock

Fabric or Felt

Glue

Ribbons, Pieces of Felt, Rickrack, etc.

 

How to make:

1. Before class cut coat shapes from card stock.

Coat Shapes Pattern

If your children are not very skilled at cutting fabric or felt, use the coat shapes to cut coats from fabric or felt pieces.

2. In class have them glue the ribbon, pieces of felt, rickrack, etc. onto the coat shapes.

 

Activities

 

1. Play a Color Elimination Game

As the children arrive in class write down on small pieces of paper the different things they are wearing and what color they are. For example, you can wear white socks, blue pants, a red dress, an orange hair clip, red flowers on a shirt, a pink shirt with blue stripes, brown shoes, etc. You can also use the color of their hair and eyes.

Put all the pieces of paper in a bag. Have all the children stand up. Give each child a turn to pick a piece of paper from the bag and then read what it says. If a child is wearing something that is picked from the bag, he or she has to sit down. Keep playing until only one child is standing up.

 

This is a great worksheet for the children to learn how to read their colors and review the story at the same time.

What you will need:

Paper

Crayons or Markers

 

How to make:

1. Before class print out the activity sheet.

“Joseph – A Very Colorful Story” Review Sheet Pattern

2. As your children work talk to them about the different emotions the characters in the story experienced. Ask them if they have ever felt that way, and how God might use the bad things in their lives for the good.

 

3. Work on Saying the Bible Verse

Have all the children sit in a circle. Tell all the children, “If you are wearing red today, stand up and say the verse.” Help the children who are wearing red say the verse. Keep going with different colors until all the children have had a chance to say the verse at least once.

 

4. Review the Bible Lesson Using Puppets

Have your children use their Joseph puppets to review the story. Ask yes and no questions about the Bible lesson. ell your children to shake the head of their puppets up and down if the answer is yes and move the puppet’s head side to side if the answer is no.

 

Songs

 

Joseph’s Coat of Many Colors
Written by Sherrie Cook
(To the tune of 1 little, 2 little, 3 little Indians)

Joseph had a coat of colors,
Dad loved him more than the others.
Sad this did make all his brothers,
Let’s go count those colors!
1 pretty, 2 pretty, 3 pretty colors,
4 pretty, 5 pretty, 6 pretty colors,
7 pretty, 8 pretty, 9 pretty colors
10 colors on Joseph’s coat!

 

Copyright

 

Copyright 2000 and 2015 – Digital by Design, Inc.
Danielle’s Place of Crafts and Activities
http://www.daniellesplace.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information or storage retrieval system, except for local church or school use only. This copyright notice must be included on all copies. Requests for permission to copy this material for any other uses should be addressed to Carolyn Warvel, 588 Duran Street, Henderson, NV 89015, or e-mail me at

Comments

 

I taught my Kindergarten class from your “Joseph – A Very Colorful Story” lesson plan last Sunday and was very successful. I only have 45 min. to teach every Sunday, so am limited as to how much material I can fit in and make sure that the children really “get” the lesson. Since the concept of the lesson and story related directly to the craft, it was very easy for the children to understand and they were very engaged. I used the Teaching Concept, the coloring page for the opening activity and then we made the coat . . . they loved it, and we added some multicolored yarn ties on either side at the top of the coat . . . everyone was excited to try their coat on when it was finished (some wanted to try them on before!). Since our time is limited, we discussed the story and people’s feelings while we were working on the craft project. Overall, I felt we had a very good session and that the kids were very involved on all levels.

My biggest problem is, as I mentioned, the period I have to teach in. It cannot be increased . . . that is my only window of opportunity. I need lessons that do exactly what this one did . . . combine the elements of the story somehow with the craft and activities so that the children get the lesson at the same time they are being instructed as to the elements of the craft they are going to do. I know that this is not possible all of the time, but it is very helpful when it can be accomplished! Thank you for your great site! Kind regards, Karen Winslow

Hi! Last Sunday we did Joseph- A colorful story in a class of two to six-year-olds. We made coats of many colors out of the brown grocery bags. They turned out really good. The kids loved them! They had them on when their parents came to get them because they were so proud of how good of a job they did. We also played the color elimination game. They got so excited waiting to see who was going to be picked next and waiting for their own to be picked. We didn’t have time to color the review sheet, so I sent them home with the kids. I always like to send something home along with the Bible verse cards so that the kids remember what our story was about during the next week. –Nikki Adrian

I did the lesson Joseph-A Very Colorful Story last Sunday in our Kid’s Alive (toddler church). They loved the lesson. They made a stand-up paper doll that I got from www.makingfriends.com. They have Bible friends paper dolls. We made Joseph and his coat of many colors. I cut small squares of construction paper that were the same colors as the ones mentioned in the lesson and they glued them onto the coat. They really liked the paper with the coats to color. This was a fun lesson to teach. Jamie Morrel

I used the story “Joseph a very colorful story” for the children’s church. We have a small number of children so we can do a little extra. I picked up vests at a used clothing store, took scrap fabric from home, and ironed on a webbing that allows you to iron one fabric to another. The children picked out colors and I ironed them onto the vests. They took the vest home. They really enjoyed this. Nancy

A couple of the other take-homes were a “coat” (we also studied Jacob and Joseph in conjunction with the family theme). I found some really ugly holey striped material in the $1 bin at Walmart and asked my daughter why anyone would ever buy it…then I realized that it would make a perfect coat of many colors. So I used about a yard to make 2 “coats.” First I cut the yard in half down the middle and then I cut holes for arms almost in the middle of the material (I folded it in half and cut both arms at once so they’d be even) so that when the child put on the coat, it had a lapel that fell over the armholes so it looked as though it had sleeves. We pinned them closed at the top in front. They took almost no time to do (The fabric didn’t need hemming) and the kids loved them. They wore them all through class and home even! This is a picture of my daughter wearing hers…somehow hers ended up smaller than the others. We also made trail mix one night to share with our families. I took white chocolate chips, raisins, peanuts, M&Ms, marshmallows, and Cheerios and had the kids spoon some of each into a Ziploc bag to take home. Several of them (my daughter included) told me they didn’t want any of the raisins or nuts or whatever because they didn’t like them. I told them they had to take some because we weren’t making it just for them and their mom, dad, brother, or sister might like it, so it turned out to be a lesson in a lesson! However, my daughter went around all night offering us raisins (luckily for her, I like them!).

“It was awesome.” The kids were begging for me to tell them the rest of the story. On Thursday, I taught a group of children ranging between the ages of 3-13. I taught them the lesson about the very colorful story. We played hot memory verse and “Joseph, Joseph, where’s your son?”. When I ended the lesson, the kids asked me if I would go ahead and tell them next week’s story. We usually do the crafts too, but because of their involvement in the story and the amount of time it took to play the games we did not have time for the
crafts. Next week, I plan to tell them the story of how God keeps his promises. Before class, I had one of the children make a Bible friend’s character and put a coat on it and color it blue, black, green, and red just like the colors in our story. I also had another child cut the faces out of the twelve children and instead of drawing stick figures, I used the work that they had done. I also made a heart and when we talked about how Jacob’s heart was filled with love for his son, I held up the red side of the heart and when I talked about how the boy’s heart was filled with envy and was darkened, I showed the other side of the heart which was black. I also made a Bible friend character and had him wearing a plain tan outfit and a black heart. On his face, he was wearing a frown. I used this to
represent the eleven sons whose hearts were filled with darkness. Overall, the lesson went very well and the kids say that they plan to come back next week so they can see how God made a good thing out of something wrong. Becky Strong

For our Bible lesson this week I used your lesson ideas for Joseph and his Coat of Many Colors. I used brown wrapping paper and made a pattern for the coat. I just slipped it over the child’s head and then we painted the different colors used in the story. This was a great visual for the children and they enjoyed participating and trying on the coat of many colors.

Then for our Art project, I used the pattern of Joseph in the coat and we cut small pieces of different colors of construction paper out and glued them to the coat and then I laminated their pictures. Then we had a new Bulletin Board too. Thanks for all the great ideas. Carol

Again another awesome lesson. This was such a simple craft for the children I used from the site you recommended (www.makingfriends.com). I used a clothespin and strip magnet on the back of Joseph so the children could clip the coloring pictures and lesson onto Joseph and hang it on the refrigerator. Pamela Holloway

I recently taught the lesson “Joseph: A Very Colorful Story” to my preschool Sunday school class. Just to add a little something I made visual aids for the children. Since the story mentioned four colors, red, green, blue, and black, I used a large circle hole punch and made a circle with each color mentioned in the story. I glued each colored circle to a different craft stick. Each child received four craft sticks. I told them that I needed help during the story and that when they heard me mention a color to please hold up their craft stick that had the correct color circle on it. The children loved this activity, and it helped them to participate in the story. The children colored a “Joseph and his coat of many colors” coloring sheet. Since this lesson was taught on Father’s Day, we didn’t do a craft. We did let the children make Father’s Day bookmarks and cards. I had made a little gift up as well for each child to give to their dad. It was a coffee mug filled with a handkerchief, Hershey kisses, chewing gum, peppermint candy, and miniature candy bars. Ella

I recently taught my 3 and 4-year-olds the story of “Joseph and His Dream Coat.” My group is on the young side and in love with stickers. I went to the local craft store and bought the large pieces of foam in white and cut them into little coats. I then bought a pack of foam with sticky on one side in very bright colors and cut it into stripes and shapes. My “little people” just loved making the boring white coats all striped and polka-dotted. Easy for little hands and easy for cleanup and easy to tell Mom and Dad, “Look, I did it myself!”

Before class cut adhesive-backed foam sheets into strips and other shapes. In class show your children how to pull of the backing and stick them to the coat shape.) Trish

We had the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. I used the idea on your website and had a sheet of paper with an outline of Joseph in a coat and as we read the story they listened for each color and the meaning. Then we colored a stripe using wide markers and they reminded the other children what the color represented. Then when they went back to their seats, I gave them a color sheet of this Bible story. They loved participating in “creating” a coat of many colors for Joseph. I love all the ideas you supply for us teachers. Keep up the great work. Carol Dalfonso