Preschool Instant Lesson: Tower of Babel

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Let's Get the Word Out!

LESSON 3: The Tower of Babel

Activity: Build a Tower
Materials:
o Large Blocks
Tell the Children that you are going to build a large tower with the blocks. Ask them how tall they think you can make it. Then tell them that you will all work together to build the tallest tower you can… Use the blocks to build a tower, along with the children. When the tower is finished, tell the children that you need their help taking the tower back down. As you work together to disassemble the tower, tell the children that you know a story from the Bible about a very tall building. Instruct the children to be seated in a semicircle on the floor for the story.
Lesson: A Very Tall Building

Materials:

o Bible Story Page
o Large Blocks from last activity

Read the story, and when you get to the part that is highlighted, have the children start helping you build the tower again, one child and one block at a time. When you get to the part that says, But God was not happy, have the children all sit back down. Read the rest of the story. Talk about how people from different countries speak different languages. Ask the children if they know how to say any words in another language. Teach them some words you may know in a different language.

Here are some examples from the French language:

Bonjour greetings

Oui sounds like we~ means yes

mes amis sounds like may’s ah me~ means my friends

T’adore! sounds like tah door ~ means I love you.

Activity: Music

Teach the children to sing the chorus of Jesus Loves Me in Spanish:

Cristo Me Ama (Jesus Loves Me)

Si, Cristo Me Ama (See, Kree-stoh-may-AH-ma)

La Biblia dice asi. (La-BEEB-lee-ah DEE-say ah-see)

Afterward, ask the children how it felt to sing in another language, and how they think the people at the Tower of Babel must have felt!

Activity: Knock Down the Tower

Materials:

o Styrofoam or Paper Cups (3 per child)
o One beanbag or small ball per child

Show children how to use their cups to build a tower. The first cup will be upside down, the next cup will be right side up, and the last cup will be upside down. The kids will use their beanbags or balls to knock down their own towers…allow them to play, tearing down and rebuilding their towers, until they lose interest.

Activity: Pitching Tents

Materials:

o Bed Sheets
o Clothespins
o Chairs

Use bed sheets for the children to create tents.

Game: Surprise Boulder Basketball

Materials:

o Paper Bag Boulder (How to make: fill ziploc bags with goodies. Place the goody bags in a paper grocery bag. Roll the bag up like a ball and tape all around with masking tape. Color brown with crayons. The kids don’t know the contents!)

o The Kit Box

Tell the kids that that the paper bag ball is a boulder. Let them play basketball with it (use the kit box as the hoop). Then let them TEAR OPEN the boulder and share its surprise contents.

by Angela Simmons