Hello to my Preschool People! I’m sharing a lesson on friendship today through the story of David and Jonathan. This is a great lesson if you are a weekday preschool teacher to integrate with a “friendship” theme in your classroom. If you are a Sunday School teacher, there are lots of great songs and activities you can do with this as well. Have a great idea? Please share in the comments! (Printable Lesson at the bottom of the post & post contains affiliate links). 

Welcome

Welcome children and introduce or remind them of Bible story time rules.

Opening Song

Jesus Wants us to be Friends: https://youtu.be/8V39P3QxssY

Prayer

Bible Story Transition Song

It’s time to read our Bible, it’s time to read our Bible, it’s time to read our Bible to see what God’s Word says. https://youtu.be/anyoIQ8SX8o

Bible Story  (1 Samuel 14:49; 18:1-4; 20:4, 17)

Visual: three dolls—to represent Saul, David, and Jonathan or any sort of visual. 

• Back in the Old Testament there was a man named David and a man named Jonathan. David worked for a King named Saul. Jonathan was King Saul’s son. They all lived at the palace together.
• But King Saul had a problem…he would get very angry. He became very angry at David because people liked David more than they liked him.  David won lots of wars and battles for the King, but that just made King Saul angrier.
• Jonathan loved David very much and told David he needed to leave before King Saul got even more mad and hurt David. David and Jonathan promised they would always be friends.
• Jonathan was a good friend and wanted to help David because he loved him. If you have a good friend, touch your nose. If you are a good friend, touch your head.
• Think of a way you can be a good friend….You can share, you can give hugs, you can play with them, you can do what they want to do and you can protect them. Those are all ways you can love your friends. God wants us to have friends and love our friends!
• That’s what we learned today. “I can love my friends”. Let’s say it together….ok, one more time. I want you to show love to your friends in your class today—share with them and be kind to them.
• Let’s pray.

Memory Verse

Proverbs 17:17 “A Friend loves at all times”

Closing songs

Jesus is My Best Friend  https://youtu.be/tER4Jx6LyZk

Love One Another https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9diFwUly4M

Story Reinforcers

Friendship Bracelets: If you like crafts, making a simple friendship bracelet is a great way to work together on fine motor and pattern making. “Teach Preschool’s” Blog and “Clares Little Tots“ blog have some great ideas for bracelets. You can also use fruit loops and yarn. This is a great reminder to children as they wear their bracelet to be a good friend, just like Jonathan was to David.  

Draw a Picture for a friend: This is a simple activity where you just have a child draw a picture for a friend. Ask the child about their friend and why they love them. Explain as children draw, that we love others because Jesus loves us.

Friendship Tree: It’s always nice to do classroom collaboration with a class and this is a very easy one to do. Draw a tree on poster board or butcher paper and have each child place their handprint on the tree. I found this photo on Pinterest, but it’s a great example of a way to show how we all need to love and care for one another.

Printable Resources

Printable I Can Love My Friends

Thanks for letting me share,