Hi Friends! Thanksgiving is right around the corner and with that in mind, I wanted to share a fun lesson that connects easily with Thanksgiving. It’s the story of the ten lepers Jesus healed and how only one returned to say, “thank you”. This is a simple Bible story to connect to Thanksgiving and how we can be thankful to God for all we have. Enjoy! (this 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

Prayer

Bible Story Transition Song

Bible Story (Luke 17:11-19)

If teaching this story with a large group, choose ten children to stand on stage to be the “lepers” and then send all of them away. Then have one child return to you, in order to help children visualize the “one” that came back to Jesus to say, “thank you”.

• Can anyone tell me what holiday is coming up next week? It’s the one where we get to eat turkey and gravy and lots of yummy food! Thanksgiving Day! Do you know what thanksgiving means? It means to give thanks, to be thankful for all the things we have. And there is a Bible story about just that! In the book of Luke.
• Jesus was traveling to a city and on his way ten men came up to him. They had leprosy, which was a disease that made them very sick—no one could get close to them. They stood a little ways from Jesus and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” They wanted Jesus to help them.
• When Jesus saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. The Leprosy went away and they were all better! Do you think all of them ran back to thank Jesus? No! Only one came back and thanked Jesus for healing him. Only one man came back and said thank you!
• Sometimes we forget to say thank you. We forget to thank our mom and dad, our teachers, or our friends. We just take something and do not say thank you for what they have given us or what they have done.
• We especially forget to say thank you to God for all he has given us. We can say thank you to God. Remember that this Thanksgiving, remember to thank God for all the food he has given you and all of your family.
• That’s what we learned today, I can say thank you to God. One more time, I can say Thank you to God! Let’s pray!

Closing Songs

Thank You Lord 

Lord, I Thank You 

Story Reinforcers

Thank You Note: Have children think about someone who did something for them recently. Then instruct and assist each child in drawing and/or writing a thank you note to that person. Encourage children to give their thank you note to that person or you can help them mail the note.

Hope really liked making a thank you note, but we did have to discuss what “thank you” means. She says it often, but doesn’t always understand why. She decided to thank her Mimi for having a party with cupcakes, pizza and brownies.

Thank You God Mural: Get a piece of poster board or butcher paper and write, “Thank You God” at the top of the paper. Talk to the children about what they can thank God for in their own lives. Ask children to draw what they are thankful to God for. After everyone has drawn on the mural, talk as a group about what they drew.

This activity can be done just as easy at home with construction paper. Even mommy and daddy can join in and draw what they are thankful for!

Thanksgiving Playdough Meal: Talk to the children about how Thanksgiving is a holiday where we eat lots of yummy food. Ask them what their favorite food is. Explain that we can thank God for the food He gives us. Then allow children to create their favorite foods on their playdough plate.

For this activity I used my playdough mat from my “David Helped His Family” lesson. It works perfectly with this lesson as well. The printable playdough mat is shared at the bottom of this post.

Turkey Creation Station: Provide shapes and supplies for children to create their own turkeys. This is a process driven activity, so not all turkeys will look like a turkey. Allow children to get creative with this activity.

I found this activity on Pinterest from Cutting Tiny Bites and just loved it. What a fun invitation to create! This is not a Biblically-based activity, but it’s a fun Thanksgiving activity to do with your classroom children or your own kiddos.

Thanksgiving Placemat: Allow children to share what they are thankful for and decorate their placemat for Thanksgiving. After each child completes their mat, they can share what they are thankful for with the group. Laminate or use contact paper as a holiday keepsake.

I loved talking with Hope about what she was thankful for and explaining more about Thanksgiving. I found this printable placemat from Mama Papa Bubba’s Blog. I laminated hers using my Scotch Laminator, which I use all the time (I’m the church name tag lady-haha). This is a great tradition to do every year and see how the things your child is thankful for changes.

Printable Resources

The Man Who Said Thank You Printable Lesson

Playdough Plate Mat

Thanks for letting me share,