Leader Guide
Game
- Joseph’s Brothers Pattern
- Scissors
- Cardstock or paper
- Optional: children’s scissors
- Optional: The downloadable song, “The Sons of Jacob”
Make copies of the Joseph’s Brothers Pattern, on cardstock or paper, one copy for each team of three or four children.
Cut apart the 12 name cards on each page.
Optional for older grades: hand out scissors for the children to cut the cards apart.
Shuffle all cards for all sets together.
Mark or tape a starting line at one end of the room, long enough for all teams of children to stand behind.
Place the cards face-down in random order across a table or the floor about 15 feet from the starting line.
Optional: Download the song, “The Sons of Jacob,” and/or print the sheet music.
Who can tell me what our SuperTruth is for today? “God’s plans for me are good.”
Great! Does that mean that we will never have any problems and everything will always go smoothly for us?
No, but if we trust God and allow Him to work His plan in our lives, it will be for our good! Things looked bad when Joseph was thrown into a pit and sold as a slave, far from his family; yet God worked everything together for good—for Joseph, for his family, and for the nation of Egypt. And eventually, God brought Joseph and his brothers back together again.
How many brothers were there in Joseph’s family? Twelve.
Yes, their father, Jacob, had twelve sons. How many can you name? Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher.
Optional: If you have extra time, you may teach the song, “The Sons of Jacob,” listing Joseph’s brothers, which is downloadable from the website. A PDF is also included in the Additional Activities for this lesson.
Divide the class into teams of 3 or 4 children each, depending on class size. Teams do not need to be even. Have teams form single-file lines behind the starting mark, leaving a few feet between the teams. Begin the game. All teams send one player to the pile to choose a card that is face-down in the pile, look at it, quickly walk back to their team, and place the card face-up on a table or the floor. The next player then goes to the pile, chooses a card and looks at it to decide if the team has it or not. If the team already has that card, the player should put it back in the pile, face-down, then choose a different card and quickly go back to the team. Once every person on the team has gone, the first player takes another turn, etc., until all 12 cards have been collected. Each team should work together to put the cards in order, from 1 to 12, as quickly as possible while they are being collected. The first team to assemble all 12 cards wins. Continue playing until all teams have collected all 12 cards.