Jacob, Rachel and Leah Sunday School Lesson for Kids

This free Jacob, Rachel and Leah Sunday school lesson teaches kids that love serves. Jacob came to a well, rolled the great stone away and watered the sheep that Rachel kept (Genesis 29:9–10). He served her father Laban seven years for her, "and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her" (29:20). When Laban tricked him with Leah, Jacob kept his word and served seven more years (29:25–30). 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 little-sheep game, a short story with hand motions and repeat-after-me lines, three simple questions, the memory verse with motions, and a drawing activity.
• Kindergarten to 2nd grade, 45 minutes, 3 pages: the Gather the Flocks game, the story in simple words, five recall questions with answers, a seven-claps memory verse game, and a Helping Hands acting game.
• 3rd to 5th grade, 45–60 minutes, 3 pages: a feels-long, feels-short game, kids look up verses in their own Bibles during a fuller story ("a great stone," "seven years," "beguiled," "Jacob did so"), five thinking questions and three recall questions, and a Bible look-up race.
• Preteens (ages 11–12), 45–60 minutes, 3 pages: students read Genesis 29 out loud themselves, then look closer at the stone (29:8–10), seven years like a few days (29:20), the trickster tricked (27:19 and 29:26) and Jacob keeping his word (29:28–30). Six discussion questions, a journal page, and two memory verses (Genesis 29:20 and 1 John 3:18).

Lesson at a glance

• Bible passage: Genesis 29:1–30
• Main point: Love that serves.
• Memory verse: Genesis 29:20 (KJV), with 1 John 3:18 added for preteens
• Ages: preschool to preteen, in four versions

Lesson outline (the same in every version)

1. Opening game: a short game about gathering the flocks at the well, or how long time feels.
2. Bible story: the well and the great stone (Genesis 29:2–3), Rachel and her father's sheep (29:9), Jacob rolling the stone away (29:10), seven years for Rachel (29:18–20), Laban's feast and trick (29:22–25), and "yet seven other years" (29:27–30). 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 Genesis 29:20.
5. What this means for us: God's love for us in Jesus, the gospel (Acts 2:38), and showing love by serving and telling the truth this week.
6. Activity: the word search, crossword, maze, worksheet, the Jacob, Rachel and Leah craft, a helping-hands acting game, a Bible look-up race or a journal page, depending on the age.
7. Prayer.

Tips for teaching Jacob, Rachel and Leah

• Read Genesis 29:20 straight from your Bible. It is the heart of the story: love made seven years seem short.
• Tell Laban's trick plainly and simply. The lessons leave out the wedding-night wording and the two handmaids, with a teacher note.
• The Bible tells that Jacob had two wives the way it happened. If a child asks, God's way from the beginning is one husband and one wife (Genesis 2:24).
• God is not named in Genesis 29:1–30, so the lessons don't say what God did here; they point to God's love in Jesus in the gospel part.
• Short on time? Do the story, three questions and the memory verse. That is a solid 25-minute lesson.