Genesis: Joseph's Dreams and His Colorful Coat

This is such a fun lesson!

Review: We studied about Jacob last week. He married Leah first after working 7 years, even though he wanted Rachel. He had to work another 7 years to marry Rachel. God told them to leave Laban’s, and, on the way, Jacob wrestled with an angel and God changed his name to Israel. He also saw his brother Esau and he forgave Jacob for everything. Jacob had 12 sons, which are also called the 12 tribes of Israel.

The lesson is found in Genesis 37. The 2 younger brothers were named Joseph and Benjamin. The next couple of weeks, we will discuss Joseph. Moses tells us about Joseph in the last 13 chapters of Genesis. Joseph is now 17 years old, and he is helping his brothers feed the animals. Jacob was rich in animals. He loved Joseph the most of any of his sons. **He was born when Jacob was old, and his mother was Rachel who Jacob loved. Jacob gave a Joseph a coat of many colors.

His brothers were so jealous when they saw that coat! They didn’t like it that their father loved Joseph the most. They were so angry at Joseph for that, and they couldn’t even talk to him!  

Joseph had a dream and when he told his brothers about it, they were even angrier! He told them, “In the dream, we were out in the field, and we were binding sheaves. My sheaf stood up and all of your sheaves bowed down to my sheaf.”

So, they asked him if he thought that meant that he would reign over them. And they really didn’t like that idea!

 

Joseph had another dream and told them that the sun, moon and 11 stars bowed down to him. Even his father asked him why he thought that people would come and bow down to him. 

His brothers went to feed the animals and Jacob called to Joseph and told him to go check on his brothers. His brothers saw Joseph coming from far away and decided to kill him. They said, “Here comes the dreamer.”

But Reuben saved Joseph by saying, “Let’s not kill him, let’s just throw him in this pit!”  So, when Joseph came to them, they grabbed his coat from him and threw him in the empty pit.

The brothers sat down to eat, and some Midianite traders came by and they decided to sell Joseph to them instead of killing him. They sold him for 20 pieces of silver.

The traders took Joseph into Egypt and sold him to Potiphar. He was an officer of Pharaoh’s and the captain of the guard.

When Reuben returned and saw Joseph was gone out of the pit, he ran to his brother’s to ask what happened to him. They said they sold him and they were happy they didn’t have to kill him. They killed a baby goat and dipped the coat into the blood and took the coat back to their father.

When Jacob saw the coat he knew that Joseph had been killed by an animal. Jacob wept for Joseph and said he would miss him for the rest of his life!

The next 2 weeks, we will talk about Joseph’s life while he lived in Egypt.

Today's project is a cut & glue, but I had the pit for Joseph ready for class. There is clipart for the pit, but I purchased 12x12 scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby. The paper is from The Paper Studio and is called dirt (item # 686279). I cut the 12x12 paper into 6" squares. Then, I folded over the 2 side edges about 1/4" and the bottom about 1/4". I cut the bottom corners and the bottom sides off to make it flatter to glue. Please see the above picture, they 4 pieces I cut looked like triangles.

The above picture shows how I glued the pit to the worksheet. The bottom is flat, and I pushed the top sides in a little to it would be rounded like a pit and not flat against the paper. There is also a colorful coat for Joseph, but can be removed before he is thrown into the pit!

This is what the project looks like finished. You can print it here.

Brenda Wagner left a comment below and stated that she used peat pots for the pit for Joseph... I love it! And, will use it next time I teach this lesson! Thanks, Brenda!

We did the above project during the lesson, then after the worksheet review, we played with this! I found the idea on Pinterest here.  

 Please see their blog post for different ideas on how to make it and use it! 

This is what I used to make the project! I cut the same 12x12 sheets of the dirt paper (see above) in half and stapled the ends together to make the round pit. I was looking for the smiley bendables, but since I couldn't find them, I used these parachute guys for Joseph. (Hobby Lobby, party section) I cut knit (non-fray) fabric and covered him, and added a head cloth. I used string (jute) as a belt to hold everything on. (I used glue dots on the head for the head cloth.) I used the fishing string and poked it through the fabric, through the holes for the parachute string and tied it up for the kids to hold and "Put Joseph in the hole!"

You can print today's worksheet here.

You can print all the Genesis worksheets here.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.

Used by permission.

Click here to download the visuals.

These updated visuals are all the visuals for Genesis 37 and include Joseph receiving his coat, his dreams and his brothers selling him. 

All are not shown.

Click here to download the pictures to color.
(These are the same as the visuals but are black & white.)

Here is the cut & glue lift-the-flap worksheet that can be used by itself, or with the lapbook printables.

 

Here are the lapbook printables:

Lapbook #1

Lapbook #2

See all the Genesis cut and paste worksheets and lapbook printables here.

If you are interested in a preschool match the colors for Joseph file folder game, you can print it here.