Free Bible illustrations by Richard Gunther contributed to freeBibleimages.org and licensed for non-commercial teaching use. https://www.freebibleimages.or...ns/rg-abraham-sarah/

To see all of his illustrations organized by Bible story go to https://www.freebibleimages.or...tors/richardgunther/

You can also see many of his Bible illustrations formatted by author Jill Kemp as FREE printable Bible story books for younger children and preschoolers at http://www.lambsongs.co.nz/One...0Bible%20Stories.htm (NEW Testament stories) and http://www.lambsongs.co.nz/one..._old%20testament.htm (OLD Testament stories).

A Creative Way to Read the Bible Story with Children

The following creative way to read the story of Abraham, Sarah and the Three Angelic Visitors comes 52 Interactive Bible Stories --a terrific Bible reading techniques resource published by Phyllis Wezeman, available via Amazon and from The Pastoral Center.

The Abraham and Sarah and the Visitors "rhythm story" seen below is a free sample from the publisher. You clap, or slap, or beat-in-time the story. You can include instruments and motions and sound effects. You can split into different groups and see what each comes up with.

Rhyming and timing creates focus and memories.

See more examples of Phyllis' techniques in our "creative ways to read the Bible with children" forum here at Rotation.org.

  Phyllis was Rotation.org's resource coordinator in the early 2000's.

Starry Sky Ideas

Moved here from a previous thread...

Original post by revshannan
I found this link online where you can get a star map of the sky for the date you log in and for a city close to where you live. I then printed out a map for the location closest to our church (NYC) for the kids to see and to talk with them about the idea of counting stars in the sky with reference to a science workshop for Abraham and Sarah. Thought this might be of help to others.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/cities.html

revshannan -:
I just wanted to write back and give an update of how we used stars in our Abraham Workshop.

1. We made a black room (put up black heavy duty paper over all the windows) so when we closed the door and turned out the lights, the room was dark, but they could see all the stars we put on the ceiling for the kids. They loved it!
2. We read the bible lesson by flashlight.
3. The kids tried to count the stars on the ceiling as a way of talking about the descendents of Abraham.
4. Our teacher (not me!) thought up the great idea of naming stars (like you can do online, buy a star for someone, etc.). Our kids wear sticker name tags that they get each week, so with the teacher's help, they each picked out a star and stuck their nametag on the ceiling next to it. This was done as a way of naming themselves as a descendent of Abraham. They loved it and we're going to name stars each week as we move through the rotation.

The feedback was very good on this rotation.

tferrey:

What we did:

1. We went to the website above and printed off a copy of the night sky above where we live.
2. Then we made a large map of the night sky. We used a large piece of black paper, made a circle about 2 ft. in diameter, and marked off eight equal sections, like pie pieces.
3. Then we marked off eight equal sections on the star map we had printed and copied the location of the stars from the small map onto the large map using glitter glue and small dabs of paint (glow-in-the-dark paint would be really effective).
4. We hung the map on the ceiling, turned off the lights (our classroom has no windows so was really dark) and shone flashlights on the "stars."
5. The kids had a great time doing this and we think it helped bring home the strength of God's promise to Abraham that he would have descendants as many as the stars in the sky.

Setting the scene for God’s Covenant with Abraham

Gather your students in a darkened room. Sit around the campfire, with glow-in-the-dark stars on your ceiling and night sounds playing quietly on a CD player. Then retell the story!

Pretend Campfire – Group Publishing has an electric one. Oriental Trading has an inexpensive inflatable one. Amazon has a variety of choices.

Glow in the Dark Stars – look in dollar stores, party stores, and educational Stores.

Note: we have drop ceilings so I put a magnet on the back of each star and then haphazardly put them around the cross bars, bunching them where the crossbars met and putting the odd one here and there along the bars and it looked great. The nice thing with the magnets they were a snap to put up and take down! If you don’t have a drop down ceiling, use putty to hang the stars so you can remove them and use them again.

Night Sounds – find a sound-effects CD, such as the one used for the Christmas Story in the book The Humongous Book of Bible Skits for Children’s Ministry by Group, 2005, 9780764430831 (track #24: crickets, wind, owl & wolf). Or search the internet for "night sounds sound effects" and you will find some free ones, such as these at Pixabay.

Story Books that tell the story of Abraham and Sarah

• Count the Stars! (God Loves Me Storybooks #7), Faith Alive, 1998. Preschool – includes additional teaching ideas at back of book.
• Abraham Trusts God (Happy Day Books), Standard Publishing, 2009. Ages 3-7.
• God Calls Abraham ...God Calls You! (Arch Books), Concordia, 2003, available on Amazon and used book distributors. Ages 5-9.
• Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac (Arch Books), by Joanne Bader, Concordia, 2011. Ages 5-9.
• Abraham's Big Test (Arch Books), Becky Lockhart Kearns, Concordia. (near-sacrifice of Isaac)
• Sarah & Abraham: The Wonderful Promise, by Carine MacKenzie, Christian Focus Publications, 1995.

from Jewish Publishers

• Sarah Laughs, by Jacqueline Jules, Kar Ben, 2008. Paperback.
• Abraham’s Search for God, by Jacqueline Jules, Kar Ben, 2008. “The author, Jacqueline Jules, bases her clearly and effortlessly told legend on several interpretations in the Midrash suggesting how the boy Abraham developed a belief in one unseen God.”  Ages 5-9
• Lech Lecha: The Journey of Abraham and Sarah (told in Hebrew & English) by Alison Greengard, ages 4-7, 2004.
• The Ten Tests of Avraham, by Shoshana Lepon, Judaica Press, 2000, Ages 4-7.

Other Books

• Abraham- God's Brave Explorer Discover 4 Yourself, Children's Inductive Bible Study Series: (Genesis Chapters 11-14) – Discover 4 Yourself Series , By: Kay Arthur, Janna Arndt; Harvest House Publishers, 2003, Ages 8-12.
  
  

PowerPoint presentation of story with pictures

• Bibleforchildren.org: 04 - God’s Promise to Abraham

There are many story colouring pages available online. Here are some uses for colouring pages:

• Visual timeline, hang it across your wall and use in your opening each week to retell the story; you could select a child each week to point to the corresponding picture as you go. Get one of those fun Hand Pointers by Learning Resources available in most educational stores.
• If the colouring book you have is reproducible, reduce pages to card size and create a matching game or a sequencing game (laminate for long time use).
• Create puzzles out of colouring pictures. Colour, then draw on puzzle lines, glue to fun foam, cut-out, store in zip-lock bags. You can find a blank jigsaw puzzle template on the Internet simply by searching for it on your browser and reprint picture with lines or use the patterns to draw your lines.