Joseph's Coat

Categories: Forgiveness, Joseph

Age:
Young children

This is a fun activity to complement the adventures and trials of Joseph. Before you begin this project, be sure you spend ample time reading and discussing the story of Joseph. As you talk about the story, emphasize and ask questions about the qualities that Joseph expressed; for example, the qualities of trust and forgiveness. Joseph expressed trust when he was put in the pit. He trusted God and knew that God was going to take care of him, no matter how deep and dark the pit seemed; and Joseph definitely expressed forgiveness and love towards his brothers, even after they tried to hurt him. This is a fun activity for children to learn to recognize how we reflect and express God's qualities.

Materials:

• A picture or cutout of a 6-8 inch biblical man. (This can be found in many
  Christian activity workbooks at Christian bookstores.)
• Colored glitter glue sticks or magic markers. (Colored glitter glue gives a wonderful texture and shimmer, but plain markers will work.)
• Construction paper

Preparations

1. Cut out a Joseph (biblical man) for each child.
2. Cut out a coat that will fit on top of Joseph.

Directions

1. Glue Joseph on a piece of colored construction paper and have the children color Joseph. (Put Joseph on the left hand side of the paper so there is room to write next to Joseph.)
2. Glue Joseph's coat on top of Joseph.
3. Decorate the coat by having the children draw stripes of 5 different colors on the coat. Each color will represent a quality Joseph expressed. As a group, decide what quality will be assigned to each color. For example, red might be for trust, blue might be for forgiveness, etc.
4. As the children are decorating their coats, ask each child to share how he/she expressed one of Joseph's qualities. (Maybe a child expressed forgiveness when a brother took one of his toys.) They may need a little help in this part, but it is important for the children to see that they express the same God-like qualities as Joseph did.
5. Next to Joseph, make a key to the colors and qualities. For example, put a red stripe and then write the word trust next to it.
   By the end, you will not only have a coat of many colors but you will also have a coat of wonderful God-like qualities that we all can wear.

Submitted by Sally S. Johnston Charlottesville, VA