The Story of Noah Isn’t all Cute and Fuzzy ~ Genesis 6-9 (Object Lesson)

** I chose to read scripture from the Bible for this story because I believe that this story has been “dumbed” down for kids. I want my Awana kids to know the Truth that God takes sin seriously and that the story of Noah was heart breaking for God. The story of Noah isn’t a beautiful poster of a man with cute animals. I’ve added the scripture here, so this post is a little longer than normal.**

Materials: 1 cup of water, choose 9 children to help

Objectives:

• to describe why God flooded the earth
• to explain how God saved Noah and why
• to explain that God always chooses a remnant

Background:

After Abel’s death, Cain left his parents to live in another part of the world. Adam and Eve had another son, Seth, and people began to spread across the land. As more and more people were born, they forgot about the God who had created them.

Main Events of Genesis 6-9:

(Hold up the cup of water. Choose a child to come to the front and hold the cup of water straight out in front of them. Have him stay there while you tell the story. Tell him that you’ll deal with him later. Read from Genesis 6.)

⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord…Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.

(Choose 4 boys to represent Noah and his sons. Have them stand along the front. Check on the water holder to be sure that the water is still in the air.) Here are Noah and his sons. God saw Noah as a righteous man among all of the others who lived sinful, violent lives. We don’t know much about his sons.

¹³ So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. ¹⁴ So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.”

Why was God going to destroy the people and the earth? [the people were evil all the time]

¹⁷ I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. ¹⁸ But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you. ¹⁹ You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you.

How is God going to destroy the earth? [with floodwaters] (Choose 4 girls to represent the wives.) What is Noah supposed to do? [build an ark] Who gets to be on it? [Noah, his wife and his sons and their wives] Do you see everyone else in this classroom, including me? Do we get to be on the ark? [No] What would happen to all of us? [We would be destroyed by the floodwaters] There is scripture in the New Testament that tells us that Noah preached about the coming flood, but that no one changed their hearts.

²⁰ Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. ²¹ You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” ²² Noah did everything just as God commanded him.

Did Noah go and find all of the animals? [No. They came to him.] How many? [two of each kind] What else was Noah to do, besides build the ark? [gather and store food] Was Noah obedient? [Yes]

Here’s something that most people don’t know. Listen to this! ² Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, ³ and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. ⁴ Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”

How many of each clean animal (sheep, cattle, goats, doves, etc) was Noah to take? [seven pairs of each – 14 of each] How many days are left until God destroys the earth? [7] (Go to the child with the water.) How’s your arm? It’s only been about 10 minutes. Your arm hurts? How long did God say He would send rain? [40 days and nights] Can water do some mighty things during that time period? [Yes] Hurricanes usually last 1-2 days as they travel over land leaving destruction in their path. Imagine how damaged and changed the earth would be after 40 days! And what would happen to all of the dead bodies of the people and the animals? It was a terrible time! It broke God’s heart to destroy what He had created.

If you read the scriptures you can figure out that Noah and his family were on the ark for about 9.5 months. Once the waters receded and God told Noah they could all come out, ²⁰ Then Noah built an altar to the Lord ^…  The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood…¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. ¹⁶ Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 

What is a covenant? [a promise] God speaks of a covenant three times, which means this is important. God will never destroy life with a flood again.

Life Application of the Story of Noah:

God takes sin seriously. (Point to the 8 people on the ark.) But God always has a remnant. This is an important Truth that is told all throughout the Old Testament. God will find those who are righteous. The story of Noah is a great picture of Jesus. Everyone born on this earth is born into sin and we are all supposed to be destroyed because God is holy and cannot have anything to do with sin. But God sent an ark: Jesus. And those who choose to believe in Him will not perish because God is a God of grace.

—> This object lesson worked well with 3rd-6th graders. For the K-2nd grades I chose to hold the water myself and just have 8 children stand and then sit down.

What Truth from this historical event can you apply to your life? Leave a comment below.

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***The lovely clip art is from Masaru at Christian Clip Arts.