Hi preschool-teaching friends! I’m happy to share another fun preschool lesson with you today that’s all about Joseph and his colorful coat. The story of Joseph is a great one for all ages because it shows the importance of trusting in God. Even our little friends need to understand that they can trust in God right now. There are a lot of great activities with this lesson and our puppet friend returns to help tell the story. A printable copy of the lesson will be provided at the end of the post and this post does contain affiliate links (they help fund this site). If you have any other ideas with this lesson, please share in the comments!

Welcome

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

Opening Song & Prayer

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

Bible Story (Genesis 37)

Teacher: Hi Friends! I’m so happy to be back with you today! I’ve got a wonderful  story to share with you today. But first, I want to ask you if you like to draw?  Do you like using lots of different colors?

Puppet: I love using colors!

Teacher: Well hello (Puppet’s Name). It’s so good to see you!

Puppet: Hi Everyone! (Teacher’s Name), do you like my shirt? It has lots of colors in it!

Teacher: Yes it does! Your shirt actually reminds me of our Bible story today. Let’s sing our bible story song (sing transition song).

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

Teacher: This story is about a man named Joseph who had a very colorful coat.

Puppet: Just like my shirt? My mom gave me this shirt!

Teacher: Joseph’s dad loved him a lot and gave him a special coat. This coat had many colors and was very beautiful. But it made his brothers really jealous. Especially after he told them about a dream he had where he would be his brothers’ boss. Some of his brothers got really mad and decided to get rid of him. Joseph had lots of brothers, he had 11!

Puppet: 11 brothers! Whoa! And they wanted to get rid of him? Well, that’s not very nice.  

Teacher: No it’s not! His brothers sold Joseph to some men who were going to Egypt, as a slave. There, Joseph had to work for no money and was just bossed around. It wasn’t nice like with his family and he had no special coat there. Yet Joseph didn’t complain. He trusted God. Even when he got in trouble for something he didn’t do.

Puppet: That doesn’t sound fun at all! I’m glad that God was right there with him.

Teacher: Me too! Then, a man named Potiphar, thought Joseph did a bad thing when he really didn’t. He ended up in jail. Joseph wasn’t angry though. He made friends with other prisoners and helped them understand their dreams. One man got out of jail and told Joseph he would remember him and help him get out. The man forgot for a long time, but when Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had a dream no one could figure out he remembered Joseph.

Puppet: Phew! I’m glad someone remembered Joseph. I bet jails are stinky! That would have been no fun at all!

Teacher: Pharaoh had Joseph tell him about his dream. Joseph explained his dream meant there would be no food in the land for a long time and that Pharaoh needed to start storing up food now. Pharaoh was so thankful for Joseph he made him in charge of all of Egypt.

Puppet: He was in charge of all of Egypt! Whoa! He went from the very bottom all the way to the top!

Teacher: He did, thanks to God! Then one day a few years later Joseph’s brothers came to get food because they were hungry. They didn’t know it was Joseph when they saw him, but after Joseph told him they were so scared because they thought he would be angry. Joseph wasn’t angry though, he knew God had a plan and forgave his brothers.

Puppet: What a story! Joseph had some hard times but God took care of him. I’ve forgiven my brother before, but that was for borrowing a toy without asking.

Teacher: Sometimes we might have things in our lives that don’t go as planned, but we know God will take care of us! We can trust in Him. Joseph did a great job of trusting in God and I think you can too.  Trust means that we know God will do what He says, and He says he’ll take care of us, so He will.

Puppet: I think I can trust God! He will take care of me!

Teacher: That’s right (Puppet’s name) He will! Let’s say that together. “I can trust God”, “I can trust God”.

Puppet: Thanks for sharing that great story with us (Teacher’s name)! I’ll see you next time friends!

Teacher: Bye (Puppet’s name)! Let’s say I can trust God, one more time. I can trust God.

Close in Prayer

Memory Verse

“Trust the Lord with all your heart.” Proverbs 3:5

Closing Song

Trust in the Lord https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN7Lwved3n8

Story Reinforcers

Dramatic Play: Provide your dramatic play center with a colorful coat and other Biblical costumes. Allow children to process the story through acting out the story in their own way. Children can take turns wearing the colorful coat and pretending to be Joseph. (They can also reread the story by reading it in the Jesus Storybook Bible). You can purchase a colorful coat through Amazon below or check out the DIY further down in this post.

Sensory Bin: A sensory bin can be an easy way to reinforce the Bible story. Making rainbow rice is a fairly simple process and directly links with the story through Joseph’s colorful coat. You can provide Little People or peg people to act as Joseph, his brothers or even Pharaoh. Click here for eHow’s Rainbow Rice tutorial. Don’t have time for rainbow rice? Throw play sand into your bin to represent the Egyptian desert.

Art Experience: There are lots and lots of Joseph crafts online, but very few of them are process-driven. Process driven art experiences are more about the process versus the product. The two experiences below are both process driven activities that are much better for preschool development than cut and paste crafts.

• Weaving: Use brightly colored ribbons and provide looms to allow children to “weave” their own Joseph coats. This helps with fine motor skills and allows children to create their own patterns. You can make a loom from popsicle sticks like this one from the Buggy and Buddy Blog or you can find drying racks, use iron fences or PVC pipe to turn many things into a weaving loom.

• Colorful Coats: An additional art experience is allowing children to make their own colorful coat using liquid watercolor and fabric. Creating and Educating’s Blog shows you how they did it with strips of fabric, but you can also use cheap, white t-shirts. (Use this tutorial for your dramatic play coat as well)

Snack: I never thought much about a snack to go with this story, but this one is pretty cute. Children use graham crackers, frosting and fruit roll ups to make a Graham Cracker Coat. This is from Riversedge Curriculum’s Blog, but I also saw a couple of other variations using sour belt candies and jelly beans. Basically, any colorful candy will work.

Printable Resources

Printable Joseph Lesson

Thanks for letting me share,