The Year of Jubilee — Everything Set Free 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: “Everyone could go home again!”
God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai. He told him about the new land he would give his people. In that land, they would plant fields and grow grapes.
God had a plan for rest. Six years the people would plant their fields and care for their grapevines. But in the seventh year, the land would rest. No planting! No picking! Can you lie down and rest, like the land?
God said, “It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.” Solemn rest means a quiet, holy rest. Whatever grew by itself was food for everyone. It was for the family, the helpers, and the visitors. It was even for the animals!
Then the people would count the years. Seven years, seven times over. That makes forty-nine years! That is a very long time.
Then came the fiftieth year. On the Day of Atonement, the loud trumpet sounded all through the land. Toot, toot, toooot! Can you blow a pretend trumpet?
God said, “You shall make the fiftieth year holy. Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee to you.” Liberty means being free. Inhabitants are the people who live there. A jubilee is a big, joyful year.
In the Year of Jubilee, people who had sold their land got it back. God said, “Each of you shall return to his own property. Each of you shall return to his family.” Property is what belongs to you, like your land and your house. Everyone could go home again!
In that year, nobody planted either. They ate what grew in the fields by itself.
God said, “You shall not wrong one another.” When people bought and sold things, they had to be fair. To wrong someone means to be unfair to them.
Maybe the people would ask, “What shall we eat in the seventh year?” But God had an answer! He said, “I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year. It shall bear fruit for the three years.” In the sixth year, there would be enough food for three whole years!
Then God said, “The land is mine.” The land really belonged to God. The people lived on it as his guests.
Sometimes a person would become poor. He might have to sell his land. Then someone in his family could buy it back for him. And if nobody could, he would get it back in the Year of Jubilee! Everyone could go home again!
Sometimes a person became so poor that he had to work for another family. But he must not be treated like a slave. In the Year of Jubilee he could go free. God said, “He shall go out from you, he and his children with him.” They could all go back to their own family.
God said, “They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt.” God had set his people free from Egypt. And he wanted them to stay free. Everyone could go home again!
When the trumpet sounded, families could pack up and go home. Home to their own land. Home to their family!
God cares for the poor and sets people free. Everyone could go home again!
3. Talk together (3 min)
- How do you think a family felt when they could go back home?
- What does it feel like to rest after working hard?
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 6 years of planting and the 1 year when the land rested.
6. Verse and prayer (2 min)
“Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants” — Leviticus 25:10 (proclaim → hands around your mouth; liberty → fling your arms out wide; throughout the land → turn all the way around)
Dear God, thank you that you care for people who are poor. Thank you that you love to set people free. Amen.
Lesson for older kids (ages 6–10)
Big idea: God Loves to Set Us Free
Memory verse: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.” — Leviticus 25:10 · WEB
The Bible story
Once every fifty years, a trumpet blew across the land and something amazing happened — servants went free, families came home, and everyone got a fresh new start!
Talk about it
- Where did God share His special plan with Moses? — On Mount Sinai
- What did God want the land to do every seventh year? — Rest and take a break
- How many years did the people count before the special year? — Forty-nine years
- What was the fiftieth special year called? — The Year of Jubilee
- What instrument was blown to announce the year? — A ram's horn trumpet
- What message did the trumpet bring to the people? — Freedom for everyone
Where is Jesus in this story?
The Year of Jubilee was like a beautiful promise pointing ahead to Jesus. When Jesus began His work, He stood up and said He had come to set prisoners free and to bring good news to those who were hurting. Just as the trumpet once announced freedom across the land, Jesus brings the greatest freedom of all — freeing our hearts and welcoming us home into God's family, not for one year, but forever.
What God wants to tell us
The Year of Jubilee shows us that God's heart is full of kindness. He never wanted anyone to be stuck in sadness, hard work, or worry forever. So He made a special year to give tired people rest, to bring lost families home, and to give poor families a fresh start. God still cares about you in that very same way today — He sees when you feel weary or afraid, and He longs to give you peace, freedom, and a fresh new start.
Prayer
Dear Lord, thank You for loving me and wanting me to be free. Thank You that You always make a way home to You. Please help me to share Your kindness with others, and to trust You when I feel tired or worried. I am so glad that I belong to Your family. Amen.
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