This Sunday School Lesson for children can be used in Sunday school or Children’s church. It is based on Luke 10:25-27 where Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. The point is that we must love our neighbors and the story hints at the mission of Jesus to rescue us too.
Need More Help? You can watch a video of the Good Samaritan Bible Story. You could show this to your class or learn a good approach for telling this story to children.
Luke 10:25-27 Sunday School Lesson: The Parable of The Good Samaritan (Love Your Neighbor)
Learning Objectives: After this lesson, children will demonstrate understanding of Parable of the Good Samaritan, by giving personal examples of how they could love their neighbors.
Target Age: Kindergarten – 5th
Teaching Setting: This lesson was first taught in our broadly graded children’s church on Sunday morning to about 35 children. Our kids begin in the sanctuary with their families and are dismissed to children’s church before the pastor’s sermon. Before the lesson the children participate in several songs and group Bible memory exercises. I aim for no longer than 15-25 minutes with each lesson plan depending on learning activities.
Items Needed:
- Marked Bible for this passage. Prepare the copy in advance by highlighting the significant points to emphasize. Underlining words or ideas that will need additional explanation. I typically make small notes in the margin.
- If you prefer, you can use visual aids to help tell the story.
- A marker board or piece of paper displaying the word “love” large enough for the class to see.
Explanation: This text begins with Jesus’ conversation with a Jewish teacher of the Law. After Jesus taught the great commandments, the man was trying to justify himself. His questions were aimed to lower the ethic bar Jesus had presented him.
So, the Great Teacher tells a story to make the point stick. This is a wonderful story for creative expression. It speaks to our prejudice and hard hearts toward suffering. In the context, Jesus is showing the Kingdom of God consists in action – not just talk.
This is a great story to use creative teaching methods. Have fun!
One Page Teaching Plan
The Parable of the Good Samaritan – Love Your Neighbors
Luke 10:25 – 37
Hook
Write the word “love” on the board (or a piece of paper to display). Ask the children to close their eyes and imagine someone they love. Then, take volunteer answers. Try to restate the children’s answers into statements about who we should love.
- If a child says “mom” … you say “Good answer, we should love our moms – God wants us to love our moms.
- If a child says “friends” … you say “Good answer, we should love our friends – God wants us to love our friends.
Say: These are all good answers, but today we are going to learn that God wants us to love everyone in our lives. Even people that we normally wouldn’t like!
Book
Active Listening: In the story we are going to read from the Bible, Jesus tells a man what it really means to love your neighbor. In that story there are three characters. Listen carefully to see which person really showed love.
Read (and summarize) Luke 10:25-37. Be sure to engage the children with good story telling. Characters the children are listening for:
- Priest
- Levite
- Samaritan
Another Way To Say: Jesus said that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. Have volunteers suggest another way to say the same thing with different words.
Look/Took:
Agree or Disagree: Tell the children that you are going to read some statements that might be ways to love your neighbor. Ask them to stand if they agree. If they disagree they should sit down with arms crossed. Relate each example back to the idea of loving your neighbor.
- We don’t need to help people if we are watching our favorite TV show.
- We should be extra nice to kids at school who have trouble making friends.
- We should obey our parents right away.
Act It Out: Ask for volunteers to act out the story. For variation, assign several older students as ‘project leaders’ to coach a group of younger students to act out the parable.
Test: Ask for volunteers to suggest ways they can show love to people in their lives.
Prayer: Lead the children in a time of prayer.
Even More Children's Ministry Ideas
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Video: Good Samaritan Bible Story for Children
My friend Cullen from Cullen’s Abc’s posted this great video on YouTube and it would be a great help in teaching kids the story of the Good Samaritan. You could be use it in Sunday...
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a wonderful way to tell this story. I was actually look for crafts to use with the story I had. This gave me some creative and fresh idea. Thank you very much.
I was looking for an lesson that my children that I teach would enjoy. I started last week and they seemed bored. This lesson is great and I can’t wait to try this one out.
Thanks for providing this kind of information. God bless you and your team as u continue to work in His kingdom.
I’m going to try this Sunday, 7/13/08 as this will be my first Sunday to teach. We have approximately 30 mintues. It would be nice if you had a craft to do during this time or something the children could take with them. I’m not creative so all the help I can get is very helpful. I only have to teach every fifth week. Looking forward to hearing from you. Praying this will be beneficial to our kids. Thanks for this website.
I wanted to stop in and say thanks for the great lesson. Occasionally I teach class on Wednesday nights, at our church, and this week i had no clue on what to teach. I found this and fell in love with this site. If you search the web you can also find crafts or projects to do. Thanks again
Sheilla
@sheilla: Thanks for your encouraging comment. Sometime next month, I’ll start posting new lesson plans. I wasn’t sure if they were helpful, but I appreciate the positive feedback.
May God bless you and your church.
Thank you for the ideas. They are very helpful. It was such a blessing to come across your website.
I’ve been looking everywhere for help with teaching children’s church. I just started this month and my group ranges in age from 4 yrs to 9 yrs. What I’ve seen on your site so far looks great and I can’t wait to try it out this sunday. Our group meets anywhere from 30-45 minutes so it would be nice to have a craft to go along with the lessons. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks for your help
What an awesome site!!! I was looking for something on The Good Samaritan and googled it. ( for children) I kept looking and looking and was ready to give up and I said Lord help me find something soon or I am going to bed and forget about it. The very next site I looked was yours and it was great. thanks for all you do people like me who want to serve.
God bless!
In Him,
Kim
Thank you so much for the lesson on The Good Samaritan. I was in a crunch and I decided to try to find a lesson on the web. I ranned accross you site this lesson was truely a blessing. Thank you so much.
praise God, I learn from your lesson, to god be the glory.
I am looking for a lesson for adult ladies but i was able also to read your lesson thanks. keep up and God bless.
Tony,
Thank you for the time and effort you give in helping teachers like myself. I teach the three year olds at a Christian preschool five days a week and welcome everything you offer. Please don’t ever let satan make you think you are not appreciated. Thanks again for all you do!
looking for a craft for the kids to make while we are in Brazil on a mission trip. We will be V. B.S. Thanks you for any ideas on this in advance – I didn”t say what craft was for it is on the Good Samaritan . My mind goes faster than my hands sometimes. Thanks Glynda
While browsing for ideas for an upcoming vbs I ran across your site.
Excellent material that communicates well to children! Thanks for sharing your ideas.
oh im really greatful that i havae found your website. i am in a rush to pass my lesson plan then i decided to look for one. i am only a beginner and i dont know when i will started. thanks again for the idea but i need to follow what my prof needs.
Hi,
Thanks a lot I did prepare my lessson and even had charts or pics But the main n most important PRAYER was the missing link thanks n MAY GOD BLESS YOU for all u are doing, n making me realize that prayer is very important.
hi
i was looking for a lesson to adult women for my talk on loving thy neighbor bu i came across this lesson. Im reaaly thankful and greatful readit it. more power and
GOD BLESS