FAITH QUEST

This lesson plan is copyrighted and belongs to the Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian,

Cary North Carolina. It may be used for non-profit uses only.

DANIEL AND THE LIONS’ DEN

 

 

The book of Daniel in the Old Testament is divided into 2 different sections. The first half of the book (chapters 1-6) tells how Daniel and three of his friend from Judah are taken prisoner by the Babylonian army when Jerusalem was captured and became important officials in the government at Babylon. The second half of the book of Daniel is where Daniel reports several visions and their meaning.

 

The section of the Book of Daniel for this unit of study will focus on Daniel 6:1-28, the story of God rescuing Daniel from the pit of lions.

 

 

PRAISING PUPPETS

 

This workshop will begin at approximately 10 a.m. and you will need to begin working in your reflection journals by 10:35. Faith Quest concludes at 10:45

 

Scripture:      Daniel 6:4-23 with particular emphasis on verse 23“…And no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God.”

 

Concepts:           Daniel trusted God even when it was hard.                               

 

Objectives:     Children will focus on times in their lives when it might be difficult or unpopular to follow God.  They will see that being a follower of God is not always easy and it might involve more difficult choices than we sometimes expect.  Children will learn that Daniel is an example to us of faithful prayer and trust in God even when it is dangerous to do so. 

 

Procedure:

Welcome and Introductions:

  1. Greet the children and introduce yourself.  Remember you are interacting with a different group of students each week that may not know you. Explain this is the puppet workshop. 
  2. Tell the children that today they will use the puppets to see that following God may not always be easy.                                       

NOTE: Most children will have visited this workshop during the last rotation, but the first group (on week 1) did not rotate through puppets last time.  With this group, you will need to practice manipulating the puppets rather than doing as much with the Daniel story.  See below for excerpts from the last lesson in practicing with the puppets*.

Bible Story:

  1. Ask the children to think about this situation—A new law is effect that says if anyone prays to God they will go to jail.  Ask, “What would you do in this situation?”  Take several minutes to hear the children’s answers. Mention this was a choice Daniel had to make. 
  2. Ask the children to find Daniel 6:4-23 in their Bibles.  Take a few minutes to ask some questions about Daniel and to review this part of Daniel’s story.  “What choice did Daniel make?”  “What happened to Daniel because of the choice?”  “Do you think this was a hard choice for Daniel?”  “Do you think Daniel might have thought about not praying to God and just praying to the king instead?”  Focus on the choice that Daniel made to follow God even though it was dangerous. 
  3. For the first week or two of the rotation, the children may not be very familiar with the Daniel story.  In this case, you will have to guide them through this discussion or help them read the story so they can understand that Daniel chose to follow God even though it could have severe consequences for him.   Hopefully as the rotation continues and the children know more about the Daniel story, they will not need as much assistance from you.

 

Application:

  1. After you feel the children have a basic understanding of the choice that Daniel made, ask them to divide into groups of threes. 
  2. Tell them you will be giving them a modern day situation that involves a choice that might have to make.  Prepare index cards ahead of time with a particular situation on each card.  You will need enough situations/cards so that each group of three has their own situation.  Examples of situations are:                                                                   
    1. Your soccer team is scheduled to play a game on Sunday morning.  Will you go to the game or to church? 
    2. There is a new student at school who does not have many friends yet.  Your friends tease you for being nice to the new student.  Will you stick with your old friends or try to make friends with the new student?
    3. Your mom asks you to give money to Pennies for Hunger but you had planned to spend it on something for yourself.  Which choice will you make?
    4. You really want to do well in school but you did not study for a test. You sit next to the smartest kid in the class.  Will you do your own work or will you look over at the other student’s work for a little extra help?
    5. Your parents are spending the night at the homeless shelter at our church (Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network) but you were asked to a friend’s house for a sleepover. Where will you choose to spend the night?
    6. Your family always says grace before a meal.  You are having a friend for supper.  Will you say grace as usual or will you ask your mom to forget it this time?
    7. Feel free to write other situations that seem better to you.         

 

  1. Tell each group to think and talk about their situation and how they might react to it.  Give them a few minutes discussion time.
  2. Pass out the puppets.  It does not matter which puppet goes to which child. Tell each group to use their puppets to demonstrate their situation and the choice they made.  Although they may write something down, they do not need to.  Everything can be done orally.
  3. Allow the children plenty of time to demonstrate their situation and their choice. 
  4. If time permits, allow a group or two to share their skit with the class. However, it is more important that the small groups have had time to understand the choices that following God sometimes requires rather than perfecting a skit to show to the whole class.  It may be better to only work in groups rather than for any group to perform for the class.  This is certainly the workshop leader’s choice.

 

Wrap-up:

  1. End the skits about 10:25 to allow time for discussion. Ask the children to return the puppets to their storage location and to sit down quietly. 
  2. Talk about making choices that are consistent with our faith and that support God.  Sometimes it is dangerous or unpopular to show our love of God.  Remind them that when we are tempted to make the easy choice rather than the choice God would have us make, we can remember Daniel and how he chose the right thing.  Remind them that we can learn from Daniel and that he serves an example to us.
  3. See “Life Application for Kids”** below for additional discussion questions and comments. 

 

Reflection Time:

  1. Ask the shepherds to pass out the journals and pencils/markers.  Ask younger children to draw a picture of Daniel or of themselves doing something God would want them to do—praying, helping others, etc.  Ask older children to copy the sentence ”Daniel trusted God even when it was hard” and then to write any words, thoughts, pictures, ideas they have related to this.
  2. Ask the students to close their journals and sit quietly for prayer.

 

Closing:

Prayer: End with a simple prayer thanking God for Daniel’s example.  Also ask God to help us do what is right in our lives even if it is difficult or unpopular.

 

Tidy and Dismissal: Ask children to help clean up as they wait for their parents to arrive.  Put pillows behind stage area. Put away boom box, workshop bin, etc.

 

*Puppet practice for group that has not attended puppet workshop before and/or warm-up exercises:

  1. Tell the children that they will each receive a puppet and will practice moving their puppet in ways that help the audience understand what the puppet is doing.  You will give them guidance on what to do with their puppets. 
  2. Ask the children to divide into pairs. If there is an odd number, a group of three will be fine. 
  3. Pass out the puppets to one child in each pair.  It does not matter which puppet goes to which child.
  4. Have one of the pair do the action or emotion that you suggest and the other person watch.  Instruct the “watchers” to make any needed suggestions such as, “make bigger movements with the puppet” “do not turn the puppet’s head so much” etc. Examples of things you can practice with the puppets are:                                                    

·        “Show how your puppet looks when it is speaking quietly.”                        

·        “Show how your puppet looks when it is speaking loudly”                          

·        “Show what your puppet does when it is listening.”                                     

·        “Show your puppet praying.”                                                                     

·        “Show how Daniel might have felt in the lion’s den”                                                

·        “Show your puppet being happy when he was safe from the lions”                          

  1. After one child has had a turn, trade parts and let the other child try.  Spend as much time as you think the children need to feel comfortable manipulating the puppets.  This may be enough for one lesson.  If you have additional time, you may “pick and choose” activities from the Daniel lesson above. You will need to put the puppets away at 10:35. 

 

**The Life Application for Kids:--from Hilliard Presbyterian Church Summer Sunday School

It takes strength and guts to believe in God and obey God's commands and be a role model to others. Believing one thing and doing another is wrong. Being two-faced or hypocritical is wrong. Saying you love God but not obeying God is wrong.

I'm sure Daniel thought about giving-in and hiding the fact that he was a follower of God. But Daniel decided to stand up for his belief in God, even if it meant death. There are times when even kids have to stand up for their beliefs--when they see someone treating another badly-- when they hear gossip--when they have the tough choice of sleeping in or going to church--when it's time to pray and they'd rather play--when others speak negatively about church--when there are things distracting them away from worshipping God.  Distractions and lion's come in all shapes and sizes!

 

Questions:

·        Is it possible to say you love God but not obey God? How do you show that you love God?  How can you say you love God and believe in God's commandments but not follow them?

·        Is prayer worth it to end up in prison or being killed? Can you be faithful to God without praying or talking to God? Can you love someone and never talk to them?

·        Why didn't Daniel 'fake it' and act like he was praying to King Darius? 

·        What's so important about praying only to God? (Possible answers: Daniel knew he was an example to others. Daniel felt his faith in God was too important to lie about it.)

Teacher preparation in advance:

1.      Prepare an opening/closing prayer in case nobody volunteers to pray.

2.      Write your key scripture verse on the white board.

3.      Prepare index cards with your situations that the children will act out in their groups.

4.      Check out the room before your first Sunday workshop so that you know where everything is located. Bring a CD or tapes music for background music while you are gathering, meditative music for reflection time.