Read the Bible story here or in a children’s Bible that is age-appropriate for your children.
You can also re-tell the story in an age-appropriate manner for the age of children you are teaching.
More and more people lived on the earth, and the Lord saw that they were very wicked. They only thought about bad things all the time. God was sorry that he had made people. So the Lord decided to destroy all the human beings on the earth, and every animal on the earth because he was so sorry he had made them. But there was one man who pleased the Lord.
(Place Noah figure on table.)
Noah was a good man, and he walked with God. Do you know what that means? Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. God said, “People have made the earth full of violence. So I will destroy all people from the earth.” He told Noah to build a boat, and he told him exactly how to do it. He told him what kind of wood to use, to make rooms in it, to make an opening around the top of the boat, and to put a door in it. It would also have 3 decks (like 3 stories).
(Put toy ark on table.)
God also told him how big to make it. (Hold up a ruler). This is 1 foot. Noah’s ark was to be 450 feet long! 75 feet wide! and 45 feet high! It was very big!
He told Noah that he would send a flood and everything on the earth would die. BUT, he would make an agreement with Noah’s family, and they would live. Noah did everything that God commanded him.
When it was almost time for the flood, God told Noah to gather two of each kind of some animals—a male and a female, and seven pairs of other kinds of animals so that after the flood there would be animals on the earth. And Noah obeyed.
Then, the flood started. Noah, his wife, his sons, and their wives all went into the boat with the animals. (put everyone in the boat) The springs from underground opened up and poured out water and the clouds in the sky poured out rain. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The water got higher and higher. The boat began to float. The water got so high that even the highest mountains were covered up. It rained until the water was more than 20 feet above the mountains.
All living things on the earth died. God destroyed all the living things on land. All that was left was Noah and those in the boat with him. The water covered the earth for 150 days.
Then God made a wind blow over the earth, and the water went down. Finally, the boat touched land again. It came to rest on a mountain. Sometime later, Noah sent a raven out, but it couldn’t find anywhere dry to land, so it came back to the boat. The next week, Noah sent a dove out. It came back with a fresh olive leaf in its beak! So Noah knew that the trees were growing again! The next time Noah sent the dove out, it didn’t come back at all.
Then God told Noah to take his family and go out of the boat with all the animals. Then Noah made an altar to the Lord, and God promised never again to flood the whole earth. He put a rainbow in the sky as a sign of the agreement.
Downloads & Links:
article: Noah and the Flood
Ideas for Bible Story Bags:
Word Find (different levels of difficulty)
Media:
Draw a Dove with Olive Branch (for older kids)
Draw a Rainbow (for younger kids)
Other Activities:
Find the Olive Branch: Hide a small tree branch with leaves on it somewhere in the room. Have your child pretend to be the dove and look for the branch to bring back to you. Repeat as long as interest holds.
Build the Ark: Noah and his sons had to work hard building the ark. Allow your child to work to hammer nails into wood (if age appropriate). If very young, they can pretend with a toy hammer.
Boat Play: Float toy boats in the bathtub or sink. Pretend Noah’s boat is floating on the water. Always supervise children around water.
Stuffed Animal Play: Gather stuffed animals and a cardboard box to make your own ark. Older kids can be given supplies and set loose to design their own ark, younger kids can help and play with the creation. Idea here.
Paint a Paper Plate Rainbow: simply cut a paper plate in half and let your child paint it with the colors of the rainbow. Older children can learn the acronym ROY G. BIV (for red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet), the order of the rainbow colors. Here is a way to make this simple craft easier for little ones.
Make a Rain Stick: Directions here.
Embroider a Rainbow: (older kids) Give older children a bit of light-colored fabric and various colors of embroidery thread and have them stitch a rainbow.
Products:
Giant Noah’s Ark Sticker Scenes--Oriental Trading
Foam Craft--Hobby Lobby
Paint Your Own Rainbow--Target
Noah’s Ark Toys—Amazon*
*Amazon has too many toys for Noah’s Ark to list! Of course, it’s hard to find one that is biblically accurate in the number of people on board, two of some animals and seven of others, etc. Still, playing with a Noah’s ark toy is a great way to re-enforce the story with little ones. As they get older, they will likely notice that some things are different from the Bible story, which opens up a great discussion. Choose your favorite for years of play.