Wheat and the Tares Sunday School Lesson for Kids

This free Wheat and the Tares Sunday school lesson teaches kids that God keeps His wheat safe. In Jesus' parable an enemy sowed tares among a man's wheat while men slept, but the man would not let his servants pull them up, "lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them" (Matthew 13:29). At harvest the wheat was gathered into his barn (13:30). 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 short story with hand motions and repeat-after-me lines (tiptoe like the enemy, make a barn roof!), a seed-growing game, three simple questions, a shortened memory verse ("gather the wheat into my barn") with a motion, and a harvest sorting game.
• Kindergarten to 2nd grade, 45 minutes, 3 pages: the story in simple words, five recall questions with answers, the Rows of Wheat verse game with six cards, and a Harvest Time sorting game.
• 3rd to 5th grade, 45–60 minutes, 4 pages: kids look up every verse of Matthew 13:24–30 in their own Bibles, then talk through five thinking questions and three recall questions, and finish with a Bible look-up race.
• Preteens (ages 11–12), 45–60 minutes, 3 pages: students read Matthew 13:24–30 out loud themselves, then discuss the enemy who came while men slept, why the master said "Nay," and growing up next to tares. Six discussion questions and a journal page.

Lesson at a glance

• Bible passage: Matthew 13:24–30
• Main point: God keeps His wheat safe. We can trust Him and wait for His harvest.
• Memory verse: Matthew 13:30 (KJV)
• Ages: preschool to preteen, in four versions

Lesson outline (the same in every version)

1. Opening game: a seed-growing game, or a game about when to act and when to wait.
2. Bible story: the good seed, the enemy who sowed tares while men slept, the tares appearing, the servants' question, the master's "Nay," and the harvest. 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 Matthew 13:30.
5. What this means for us: God keeps His wheat safe, the gospel (Acts 2:38), and a challenge for the week.
6. Activity: the Wheat and the Tares word search, a harvest sorting game, a drawing, a Bible look-up race or a journal page, depending on the age.
7. Prayer.

Tips for teaching the Wheat and the Tares

• Use paper strips for the harvest game: yellow for wheat, green for tares, and a box for the barn.
• Keep the harvest gentle. The Bible says the tares were bound in bundles to burn them (Matthew 13:30); say it plainly and move on to the wheat gathered safe into the barn.
• This parable comes right after the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3–23). If your class learned that story, ask what they remember about seeds and ground.
• Jesus explained this parable to His disciples in Matthew 13:36–43. These lessons stay with the story in 13:24–30; read 13:37–38 and 13:43 with older kids if they ask.
• Short on time? Do the story, three questions and the memory verse. That is a solid 25-minute lesson.