Gideon’s Three Hundred Preschool Lesson
Preschool lesson (ages 3–6, 20 minutes)
1. Welcome (3 min)
Sit in a circle, greet every child by name and show one thing from the story to touch.
2. The little story (5 min)
Teach the refrain first: “Just three hundred men, and God!”
The Midianites were back. Their army filled the whole valley, like a cloud of grasshoppers. Their camels were as many as the sand on the beach! Gideon had an army too. It had thirty-two thousand men. They camped by a spring of water.
But the LORD said, “The people who are with you are too many.” Too many? God did not want them to brag, “My own hand has saved me.” To brag means to say, “Look how great I am!”
So Gideon told the people that everyone who was afraid could go home. Twenty-two thousand men went home! Ten thousand men stayed.
Then the LORD said, “There are still too many people. Bring them down to the water.” Most men knelt down to drink. But some men scooped the water up in their hand and lapped it, like a dog. Lap, lap! Can you lap water from your hand?
Only three hundred men lapped like that. The LORD said, “I will save you by the three hundred men.” So all the others went home. Just three hundred men, and God!
That night the LORD said, “Arise, go down into the camp.” God said that if Gideon was afraid, he could take his helper Purah. They could go down and listen.
Quietly they crept close to the enemy tents. Gideon heard a man telling his friend a dream. “A cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian,” the man said. It rolled into a tent and knocked it flat! Roll, roll, bump!
His friend said, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon. God has delivered Midian into his hand.” When Gideon heard that, he worshiped God. Just three hundred men, and God!
Gideon went back. “Arise, for the LORD has delivered the army of Midian into your hand!” he said. He made three groups of one hundred men.
Gideon gave each man a trumpet. He gave each man an empty jar with a torch inside. A torch is a stick with fire on top. The jar hid the light.
Gideon said, “Watch me, and do likewise.” That means: do just what I do. In the middle of the night, they went quietly all around the enemy camp. Tiptoe, tiptoe.
Then Gideon blew his trumpet. All three hundred men blew their trumpets. Toot, toot! They broke their jars. Crash! The torches shone bright. They held the torches in their left hands. They held the trumpets in their right hands. They shouted, “The sword of the LORD and of Gideon!” Can you blow a trumpet and shout?
Each man stood still in his place around the camp. The enemy woke up. There were lights and trumpets all around them! The LORD made them all mixed up. And the whole enemy army ran away. Just three hundred men, and God!
After that, the enemies did not come back. The land had rest for forty years. Rest means peace and quiet, with no fighting.
The LORD saved his people, just as he had said. Just three hundred men, and God!
3. Talk together (3 min)
- Why do you think God sent so many men home?
- What do you think the enemy soldiers thought when they heard all the trumpets?
4. Move (3 min)
Refrain Freeze: move around the room; when you say the refrain, everyone freezes and says it together.
5. Make (4 min)
Color the 3 things each of Gideon’s men held: a trumpet, a jar and a torch.
6. Verse and prayer (2 min)
“I will save you by the three hundred men” — Judges 7:7 (I will save you → hug yourself; three hundred men → open and close your hands many times)
Dear God, you don’t need a big army to win. Thank you that you save your people. Amen.
Lesson for older kids (ages 6–10)
Big idea: God is bigger than any problem
Memory verse: “Be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9 · WEB
The Bible story
God asked Gideon to shrink his huge army down to just three hundred men, then win the battle with trumpets and torches. How could that ever work?
Talk about it
- Who did God choose to help His frightened people? — Gideon
- How many soldiers first came to stand with Gideon? — Thirty-two thousand
- Why did God say Gideon had too many soldiers? — So all would know God saved them
- What did Gideon tell the soldiers who felt afraid? — To go home
- How did God pick the last group at the stream? — By how they drank the water
- How many men did God keep for the battle? — Three hundred
Where is Jesus in this story?
Gideon's men hid burning torches inside clay jars, and when the jars broke, the light shone out (Judges 7:20). Paul used a picture like this about Jesus. God shines the light of Jesus into our hearts, and “we have this treasure in jars of clay” so everyone can see the power comes from God, not from us (2 Corinthians 4:6–7).
What God wants to tell us
Gideon learned that we do not need to be the biggest or the strongest to do great things, because God is the one who helps us win. When something feels far too big for you, you can remember that God is right beside you, just as He was with Gideon and his three hundred. He loves to take small, ordinary people and do wonderful things through them, so you never have to be brave all on your own.
Prayer
Father God, thank You that You are bigger than anything that scares me. When a problem feels too big, help me remember that You are with me, just like You were with Gideon. Please make me brave and fill my heart with Your light. Amen.
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