Hannah and Samuel Sunday School Lesson for Kids

This free Hannah and Samuel Sunday school lesson teaches kids that God hears our prayers, so we can pour out our hearts to Him, keep our promises and thank Him when He answers. Hannah prayed at Shiloh, God gave her Samuel, and she said, "For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him" (1 Samuel 1:27). It comes in four age levels, each a separate printable teacher lesson, plus one take-home sheet for families. Pick the one that fits your class. Everything is in the order you teach it.

Choose your age level

• Preschool (ages 3–5), 20–30 minutes, 2 pages: a Quiet Lips guessing game, a short story with hand motions and repeat-after-me lines, a doll for baby Samuel, three simple questions, a shortened memory verse ("For this child I prayed") with a motion, and a draw-Samuel's-coat activity.
• Kindergarten to 2nd grade, 45 minutes, 3 pages: the Read My Lips game, the story in simple words, five recall questions with answers, the Heart Verse game with six paper hearts, and a Pass the Heart prayer game.
• 3rd to 5th grade, 45–60 minutes, 4 pages: an Ask or Thank? game, then kids look up verses in their own Bibles during a fuller story (Hannah's vow, Eli's mistake, "Because I have asked him of the LORD," Hannah's song, the little coat), five thinking questions and three recall questions, and a Bible look-up race.
• Preteens (ages 11–12), 45–60 minutes, 4 pages: an opening about where we take our hurts, students read 1 Samuel 1:1–20 and Hannah's song in 2:1–10 out loud themselves, then discuss honest prayer, being misjudged, keeping vows and serving God young. Six discussion questions, a journal page, and two memory verses (1 Samuel 1:27 and Philippians 4:6).

Lesson at a glance

• Bible passage: 1 Samuel 1:1–2:21 and 2:26
• Main point: God hears our prayers, so we can pour out our hearts to Him and thank Him when He answers.
• Memory verse: 1 Samuel 1:27 (KJV), with Philippians 4:6 added for preteens
• Ages: preschool to preteen, in four versions

Lesson outline (the same in every version)

1. Opening game: a lip-reading guessing game for younger kids, an ask-or-thank game, or an opening about where we take our hurts for preteens.
2. Bible story: Hannah's sorrow, her quiet prayer and vow at Shiloh, Eli thinking she was drunken, "Go in peace," Samuel's birth and name, Hannah keeping her promise, her song of thanks, and the little coat she brought "from year to year" (1 Samuel 2:19). 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 1 Samuel 1:27.
5. What this means for us: pray about everything and thank God, the gospel (Acts 2:38), and a challenge for the week.
6. Activity: the Hannah's prayer word search, the Hannah and Samuel crossword, the Hannah and Samuel maze, the Hannah and Samuel worksheet, the Hannah and Samuel craft, a pass-the-heart prayer game, a Bible look-up race or a journal page, depending on the age.
7. Prayer.

Tips for teaching Hannah and Samuel

• Let kids hear 1 Samuel 1:20 read straight from the Bible: "Because I have asked him of the LORD." Samuel's name is the story in one line.
• Tell Peninnah's part the way the Bible does, without calling her names, and point kids to Hannah's answer: she prayed.
• Each lesson has a short, gentle answer ready if a child asks why Elkanah had two wives or why Hannah left Samuel at the house of the LORD.
• Short on time? Do the story, three questions and the memory verse. That is a solid 25-minute lesson.