Daniel's Diet Sunday School Lesson for Kids

This free Daniel's diet Sunday school lesson teaches kids to make up their minds to obey God, like Daniel did. Daniel and his three friends were taken to the palace of the king of Babylon, and the king gave them his own food and wine. But "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself" (Daniel 1:8). He asked for "pulse to eat, and water to drink" for ten days (1:12), and God gave the four friends "knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom" (1:17). It comes in four age levels, each a separate printable teacher lesson, plus one take-home sheet for families. Everything is in the order you teach it.

Choose your age level

• Preschool (ages 3–5), 20–30 minutes, 2 pages: a Ten Days Hunt game, a short story with hand motions and repeat-after-me lines, three simple questions, a shortened memory verse ("Daniel purposed in his heart") with motions, and ten seeds to draw and count.
• Kindergarten to 2nd grade, 45 minutes, 3 pages: a Make Up Your Mind game, the story in simple words, five recall questions with answers, the Ten Days Count memory verse game, and My Heart Is Made Up.
• 3rd to 5th grade, 45–60 minutes, 3 pages: a Decide Before game, kids look up verses in their own Bibles during a fuller story (the king's portion, the ten-day test, the wisdom God gave), five thinking questions and three recall questions, and a Bible look-up race.
• Preteens (ages 11–12), 45–60 minutes, 3 pages: students read Daniel 1 out loud themselves, then discuss deciding before the pressure comes, standing firm with respect, and what God gave. Six discussion questions, a journal page, and two memory verses (Daniel 1:8 and Daniel 1:17).

Lesson at a glance

• Bible passage: Daniel 1:1–21
• Main point: Make up your mind to obey God, like Daniel did.
• Memory verse: Daniel 1:17 (KJV)
• Ages: preschool to preteen, in four versions

Lesson outline (the same in every version)

1. Opening game: a short game about making up your mind before the test comes.
2. Bible story: the king of Babylon brings Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah to his palace and gives them his meat and wine (Daniel 1:3–6), Daniel purposes in his heart not to defile himself (1:8), asks for pulse and water for ten days (1:12), and God gives them knowledge and wisdom (1:15–17). Every fact has its verse reference so you can check it.
3. Questions to ask: with answers, at the right level for each age.
4. Memory verse: a game or motion to help kids learn Daniel 1:17.
5. What this means for us: making up our minds to obey God, the gospel (Acts 2:38), and a challenge for the week.
6. Activity: the word search, crossword, maze, worksheet, the Daniel's diet craft, My Heart Is Made Up, a Bible look-up race or a journal page, depending on the age.
7. Prayer.

Tips for teaching Daniel's diet

• Explain the old words: in the KJV, meat means food of any kind, pulse means food grown from seeds, and purposed means made up his mind (Daniel 1:8, 1:12).
• Keep it about obeying God, not about which foods are good. Daniel 1 doesn't say exactly why the king's food would defile Daniel, so the lesson doesn't guess.
• Count the ten days with something kids can touch: ten circles, ten buttons or ten fingers.
• These are the same four friends as the fiery furnace in Daniel 3, where they are called by their new names, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego (Daniel 1:7).
• Short on time? Do the story, three questions and the memory verse. That is a solid 25-minute lesson.