This is lesson 8 of 33 in a series of lessons called “Praise God Through the Psalms.”
Lesson focus: Through the book of Psalms and the worship of the people of Israel, we get a glimpse into the character of God and how we should rightly respond to Him in worship. In Psalm 8 we are reminded that God is the Creator of the universe and His majestic rule over all. As we study this Psalm, kids will be reminded that man was created to worship God, but sin destroyed the connection between God and man and it can only be restored through Jesus’ sacrificial death in our place.
Passage: Psalm 8
Target Audience: Kindergarten-4th Grade (can be adapted for older or younger children)
Teaching Time: 45 minutes – 1 hour
Materials Needed: paper cut vertically in thirds, markers, tape
Optional Materials: if you want to be able to send the kids home with something each week, you can print the text of the Psalm on one side of a piece of paper and on the back print “I should praise God because He is ____________” (leave the rest of the page blank for drawing.
Early Arriver/ Opening 10 minutes- have a few board games out and play with kids as they arrive. Don’t underestimate the conversations that happen while playing “Jenga” or “Uno” with a group of kids.
Intro. – – play a round of “creation charades”. Have kids one at a time act out something that God made and have the rest of the group try and figure out which part of creation they are pretending to be.
Read the Text. . .Psalm 8 ….
Have one of the kids in the group read Psalm 8, or have the whole group read it from their handout.
As you go through the Psalm, have a signal for the kids in the group to make (like a time-out signal- – a T with your hands) every time they hear another truth about who God is and/ what God is like/ or what God has done. Each time you take a time-out, briefly talk about that characteristic of God. As you go through the Psalm focus on these questions/ thoughts… (1) What has God done?, (2) Who does God want to praise Him?, and (3) Why should we praise God? After talking through the Psalm and these questions, have one of the kids read Revelation 4:11 as a reminder of why God deserves all our praise.
Discuss the Passage – Talk about what this Psalm reminds us about how we were created and what we were created to do… we were made in the image of God and we were made to rule over the earth. Have one of the kids in the group look back at Genesis 1:26-30 & 2:15-17.
Cross- Connection– – Help kids to see that our purpose at creation was to praise God and rule the world that He had made. Then ask then, what happened and why we don’t do what we were made to do. Take a minute to talk about how sin came into the world (Genesis 3) and how everything changed from that moment on. Use this as a chance to remind the kids in the group of the truth of the gospel and how Jesus is the only one who can restore the broken relationship between God and His people and the one who will restore the world back to the way it was created at the end of time.
Make Majestic God Crowns – If you think the group will need something to help them focus, consider making “majestic God” crowns with the kids in the group. Give each kid a couple of strips of paper. Encourage them to write or draw things along the paper that will help them remember that God alone deserves our praise. They may even want to write out Psalm 8:9 on their crown. Once they’ve finished decorating the paper strips, help them cut them to size and tape them around their heads.
Worship Time- After discussing the passage, distribute the paper and markers or pages printed with the text for the week. Explain that each week you want them to do three things in response to the Psalm…
write a verse from the passage that they want to remember
write a reason to praise God that they see in the Psalm
draw of something from the passage that they think is important.
Give kids time to work on their pages and then have them share what they have drawn or written with the rest of the group.
OPTION FOR OLDER KIDS – (while younger kids are working on their book) – have the older kids create a skit that explains the truth they see of who God is in this Psalm. Suggest that they create the skit as a mime where they are acting out the truths while one person (or you) read the Psalm.
Prayer- Have one of the kids in the group read verse 9. Read the verse and then point at a kid to name one thing we can praise God for. Then read the verse again and point to another kid, etc. Give kids a chance to share what they wrote on their “Praise God because He is…” line. Spend a few minutes as a group praising God for who He is and what He has done and then close by singing, “Praise Him Praise Him all you little children…God made the world… or God made me.”
Extra Time – If you have any extra time at the end, play the name game again, or play Old Testament /New Testament– – Have all the kids stand up in the middle of the room. Call out a book of the Bible. If it’s in the OT they have to go to your left side and if it’s NT they have to go to your right side. To make it even more challenging, you could call out names that aren’t books of the Bible and have them freeze for those.
Appreciate greatly the advice, lessons, etc. Have been very useful in my Sunday School. However, must temporarily unsubscribe due to huge backlog that I would love to individually read,select and study for future use. God’s continued guidance and blessings as you empower us, children workers.
Stephanie from Trinidad W.I.