Joseph & His Brothers (Ages 3-6)

Story Time:

Joseph and His Brothers, Genesis 37:12-26 

Note to parents: For more background information you can also see Genesis 37:1-11  

Jacob (Israel) had 12 sons and his son Joseph was very special to him so he gave him a colorful coat which made his brothers very jealous. Joseph had powerful dreams that he told his brothers about. These dreams were telling him that one day his family would be bowing down to him and this made his brothers even more upset. His brothers then came up with a plan to sell Joseph and then they lied to their dad about it.  

Now this isn’t the end of the story, God has big plans for Joseph but we are only going to look at this part of the story this week.  

Words to learn: 

Conflict: a disagreement or something you might think differently about than someone else 

Reconciliation: coming together after a disagreement or making up with someone 

Things to think about: 

• Have you ever had a fight or disagreement with anyone?  
• What did you do? 
• How did you make up or reconcile the disagreement?  

Sometimes when we reconcile or make up, we still might not agree with each other and that’s okay. We don’t always have to agree with everything everyone says but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be nice to one another! Jesus tells us to always love one another.  

Activity Ideas:  

1. Items needed: 2 magnets 
   Hold magnets so that they push apart from each other – this is showing what it’s like when two people might be in conflict with each other. When we fight with someone we are pushed apart. Now flip one of the magnets over so they stick together. This shows what it’s like we when reconcile with someone, when we reconcile or make up, we come back together.  
   
   
2. Share your favorite toy with a brother, sister, cousin or friend this week!  
   
3. Color Joseph’s coat!  

Prayer:

Dear God, thank you for always loving me. Help me remember to be nice even when I disagree with someone else and forgive me when I forget. Amen.