The story of David his victory of Goliath is one of the most popular in the Old Testament. This free Children’s Church lesson plan will help you teach it to your children. It was originally written for elementary aged students. It would be ideal in your children’s church or Sunday School class.
Be sure to consider your own ministry context and modify it as needed. We’ve tried to include enough activities to allow some choice in your lesson planning. You can also browse all our children’s Bible lessons. There is also a preschool version of this lesson plan.
Bible Story: David and Goliath
Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:2-11, 16, 40, 45-50
Target Age Group: Kindergarten – 5th grade
Learning Context: Children’s Church
Target Time Frame: 40 minutes
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Items Needed:
- Bible: 1 Samuel 17:2-11, 16, 40, 45-50. There is a detailed explanation below to help bring out some of the important parts of the story.
- 6 lunch bags, 6 items with different textures (cotton balls, yarns, etc.) for bravery bags
- A drawing of a person 9 feet tall on a large piece of paper (or just put a picture of a giant head 9 feet up on a wall), markers . You could also mark this out with masking tape on the floor.
- Cotton balls, tape, marker, blindfold
- Paper, markers/crayons
Additional Downloads:
- David Songs (PDF)
- David and Goliath Booklet (PDF)
- Optional “David the Shepherd Boy” coloring page
Worship: Use David Songs (extra print out) to lead the children to sing before the Bible lesson.
Teaching Plan: David and Goliath
Welcome Activity: Welcome activities are things to have out for the children to do as they are arriving for class. These activities will get them engaged as soon as they arrive and will help the transition from their parents.
Bravery Bags – Have different lunch bags with items hidden in them. Put things with different textures like: cotton balls, yarn, paper, etc. Have the children put their hand in the bags, without looking, and guess what is in the bags.
Worship: David Songs
Bible Lesson Introduction: Talk with them about being brave putting their hand in the bags with out knowing what’s in there.
Bible Lesson
- What part of the Bible is 1 Samuel in? The Old Testament
- What book of the Old Testament is 1 Samuel? #9
Read 1 Samuel 17:2-11, 16, 40, 45-50 (NIRV) aloud to the children.
2 Saul and the army of Israel gathered together. They camped in the Valley of Elah. They lined up their men to fight against the Philistines. 3 The Philistine army was camped on one hill. Israel’s army was on another. The valley was between them.
4 A mighty hero named Goliath came out of the Philistine camp. He was from Gath. He was more than nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a coat of bronze armor. It weighed 125 pounds. 6 On his legs he wore bronze guards. He carried a bronze javelin on his back. 7 His spear was as big as a weaver’s rod. Its iron point weighed 15 pounds. The man who carried his shield walked along in front of him.
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the soldiers of Israel. He said, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? I’m a Philistine. You are servants of Saul. Choose one of your men. Have him come down and face me. 9 If he’s able to fight and kill me, we’ll become your slaves. But if I win and kill him, you will become our slaves and serve us.” 10 Goliath continued, “This very day I dare the soldiers of Israel to send a man down to fight against me.”
11 Saul and the whole army of Israel heard what the Philistine said. They were terrified.
16 Every morning and evening Goliath came forward and stood there. He did it for 40 days.
40 Then David picked up his wooden staff. He went down to a stream and chose five smooth stones. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag. Then he took his sling in his hand and approached Goliath.
45 David said to Goliath, “You are coming to fight against me with a sword, a spear and a javelin. But I’m coming against you in the name of the Lord who rules over all. He is the God of the armies of Israel. He’s the one you have dared to fight against.
46 “This very day the Lord will hand you over to me. I’ll strike you down. I’ll cut your head off. This very day I’ll feed the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air. I’ll feed them to the wild animals. Then the whole world will know there is a God in Israel.
47 “The Lord doesn’t save by using a sword or a spear. And everyone who is here will know it. The battle belongs to the Lord. He will hand all of you over to us.”
48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet him. 49 He reached into his bag. He took out a stone. He put it in his sling. He slung it at Goliath. The stone hit him on the forehead and sank into it. He fell to the ground on his face.
50 So David won the fight against Goliath with a sling and a stone. He struck the Philistine down and killed him. He did it without even using a sword.
Discuss Bible Lesson
2 Saul and the army of Israel gathered together. They camped in the Valley of Elah. They lined up their men to fight against the Philistines. 3 The Philistine army was camped on one hill. Israel’s army was on another. The valley was between them.
- Saul and the Israelites were set up to fight the Philistines.
- They are on either side of a valley – 1 army on each side.
4 A mighty hero named Goliath came out of the Philistine camp. He was from Gath. He was more than nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a coat of bronze armor. It weighed 125 pounds. 6 On his legs he wore bronze guards. He carried a bronze javelin on his back. 7 His spear was as big as a weaver’s rod. Its iron point weighed 15 pounds. The man who carried his shield walked along in front of him.
- This guy was a giant! He was over 9 feet tall!
- He wore armor that weighed 125 pounds – that’s like a small woman!
- His sword weighed 15 pounds – that’s a small baby.
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the soldiers of Israel. He said, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? I’m a Philistine. You are servants of Saul. Choose one of your men. Have him come down and face me. 9 If he’s able to fight and kill me, we’ll become your slaves. But if I win and kill him, you will become our slaves and serve us.” 10 Goliath continued, “This very day I dare the soldiers of Israel to send a man down to fight against me.”
11 Saul and the whole army of Israel heard what the Philistine said. They were terrified.
16 Every morning and evening Goliath came forward and stood there. He did it for 40 days.
- Goliath came and shouted at the Israelites for 40 days.
- Back then, sometimes battles were fought 1 man to 1 man – not army to army.
- No one wanted to fight Goliath.
40 Then David picked up his wooden staff. He went down to a stream and chose five smooth stones. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag. Then he took his sling in his hand and approached Goliath.
- David tells Saul (17-39) that he will go out and fight Goliath.
- He is armed with a wooden staff, 5 stones and a slingshot!
45 David said to Goliath, “You are coming to fight against me with a sword, a spear and a javelin. But I’m coming against you in the name of the Lord who rules over all. He is the God of the armies of Israel. He’s the one you have dared to fight against.
46 “This very day the Lord will hand you over to me. I’ll strike you down. I’ll cut your head off. This very day I’ll feed the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air. I’ll feed them to the wild animals. Then the whole world will know there is a God in Israel.
47 “The Lord doesn’t save by using a sword or a spear. And everyone who is here will know it. The battle belongs to the Lord. He will hand all of you over to us.”
48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet him. 49 He reached into his bag. He took out a stone. He put it in his sling. He slung it at Goliath. The stone hit him on the forehead and sank into it. He fell to the ground on his face.
50 So David won the fight against Goliath with a sling and a stone. He struck the Philistine down and killed him. He did it without even using a sword.
- David wins!
- Notice how he had 5 stones, but it only took 1 stone. With God on your side – you always win!
Bible Lesson Activities
Activity: Giants
“Goliath was a giant – literally! He was 9 feet tall! Let’s see how tall that is. (pull out the paper and tape it on the wall)
David was only a boy and a shepherd. He was so small compared to Goliath. He looked at Goliath and probably got a little scared. But, David had one thing that Goliath didn’t. He had God on his side. When we have God on our side, we can face any giant.
We all have giants in our lives. Now we don’t have 9 foot tall men with armor and a sword, but we do face giants. A giant is something that seems too big for us to handle by ourselves. It may be a math test, a friend that is mad at us, or trouble at home. I want you all to think about a giant that you have in your life. Then you’ll all be able to write that giant on our Goliath poster.”
- Give the children a little time to think
- Let the children walk up and write their “giant” on Goliath
“How does God help us with our problems? (allow for responses – probably like, pray, reading the Bible, sending friends/family to help) Now let’s go through these “giants” and see how God can help us.”
- Go through the list, reading them and then write over them “GOD”
Activity: Bible Verse Memorization
“So David won the fight against Goliath with a sling and a stone.” 1 Samuel 17:50a
So David: put hand out showing someone who isn’t very tall
Won the fight: raise arms above head as though you won something
Against Goliath: put hand out showing someone who is very tall
With a sling: act like you are pulling a sling back
And a stone: hold up 1 finger
1 Samuel 17: hold up ten fingers and then seven fingers
50: hold up five fingers on one hand and make a “0” with the other hand
Do this a few times with the children. Make it fun for them to do the motions and say the words. Involving them in active learning is essential for memorization.
Evaluation: Have the children draw a picture of the Bible story.
we need some crafty things at the end of the class
One idea I have is to get garden rocks from the Dollar Tree or 99 Cent store and have the kids either paint it or decoupage it with decorated tissue paper and use it as a reminder of God’s faithfulness to David, helping him win against Goliath with just a small rock.