Daniel and the lion’s den activities

Last week we learned about Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams  in Sunday School and how Daniel gave Nebuchadnezzar some bad news.  Today we finish the life of Daniel with the story of Daniel and the lion’s den.

I have to admit I love this story the most of all of Daniel’s stories, I love the weird dreams, and the fiery furnace, but there’s so much fun to be had with Daniel and the lion’s den, that’s probably why I have so many Daniel and the lion’s den activities.

But before we can get to Daniel and the lion’s den, there’s a brief stop.

The writing on the wall

Before we get to the lion’s den, first Babylon has to fall, and it falls because Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson repeats his mistakes of pride.  He takes the treasures from the temple and uses them for a party.  Daniel has nothing but contempt for this upstart young king, and tells him, his kingdom will fall.  And it does.

If you’ve got older kids, this would be a great time to start looking at common sayings, “the writing on the wall,” has become a common saying for the end is near, your future is sealed and you are doomed.

I had planned to do a short lesson using invisible ink (were my kids really this young?) or secret messages written in white crayon, but the kids were too excited about Daniel and the lion’s den, so that will have to wait for another time.

My big takeaways from this part of the lesson were remembering the lessons of the past, and again to be careful of pride.  On to Daniel and the lion’s den!  ONWARD! (you’re laughing like a madman if you’re a Journeyquest fan)

Daniel and the Lion’s Den activities

After reading and discussing Daniel and the lion’s den we took some time to process what we thought about it by painting the story and our reactions.  Since it’s been a while since we painted the kids were pretty excited about all of this, and happily painted their interpretations of the story and everything that happened.  I also left out some craft supplies and the kids happily worked at making lions.

We made a couple of different versions of lions, I can’t quite decide if I like the cork Daniel and the lion’s den craft.

Or the popsicle stick Daniel and the lion’s den craft.  Which do you like better?

After that we played a rousing round of Christians and lions, a very silly version of “sharks and minnows,” this picture is from our New Mexico trip, because it’s much more fun to play with large numbers and the pictures are better in that case.

Daniel and the lion’s den resources

• Daniel and the lion’s den lesson printable
• WHERE’S GOD WHEN I’M SCARED(affiliate link)
• What’s in the Bible? Volume Nine – God Speaks! (Isaiah, Jeremiah & the Prophets) (affiliate link)
• Prophets Major and Minor pinterest board
• Bible prophets for kids

And next we are on to the story of Ezekiel.