The Tiny Mustard Seed 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: “The tiny seed grew and grew.”
Jesus often told the people stories. They were called parables. Many people came to hear him. Jesus told stories they could understand. One day he asked, “What is God’s Kingdom like?” God’s Kingdom is wherever God is King. Then Jesus told them a story about a seed.
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed.” Mustard is a plant with little yellow flowers. Its seed is very, very tiny. It is smaller than all seeds. It is as small as a little dot.
Can you curl up small, like a tiny seed? Small, small, small.
A man took the tiny seed. He did not plant a big seed. He planted the smallest seed of all. He put it in the ground in his field. Pat, pat, pat. Then he waited. And waited. Day after day, and night after night, went by.
And the little seed began to grow. Tiny roots went down into the ground. A little green sprout came up. Then a stem. Then some leaves. The tiny seed grew and grew.
Can you grow up slowly, like the plant? Up, up, up! Now stretch your arms out wide, like big branches!
“When it is grown, it is greater than the herbs.” Herbs are the small plants in a garden. The mustard plant grew bigger than all of them. “It becomes a tree.” The tiny seed grew and grew.
A mustard tree can grow taller than a grown-up! Look up, up, up to the top! Its branches spread out wide. And it all began with one tiny seed.
Now it had great big branches. “The birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.” Lodge means to live and rest there. Birds came flying from all around. Maybe they built little nests. Tweet, tweet! Can you flap your wings like a little bird?
The birds could rest in the shade, under its big branches. Shade is the cool spot under a tree, where the sun does not shine. Ahh. It was a good place to rest. The tiny seed grew and grew.
God’s Kingdom is like that. It starts small, like the seed. But it grows very big. Many, many people would belong to God’s Kingdom.
Then Jesus told another little story. He said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast.” Yeast is a tiny bit of something that makes bread dough puff up. Have you seen bread dough puff up?
A woman took a little yeast. She hid it in a big bowl of flour. It was enough flour to make bread for very many people! You could not see the yeast. But it was there, working. The yeast worked and worked until all the dough was puffed up.
Just a little yeast, and all the dough grew big. Just a tiny seed, and it became a tree. Jesus told the people many stories like these.
God can make small things grow very big. His Kingdom grows and grows. The tiny seed grew and grew.
3. Talk together (3 min)
- What do you think the birds liked about the big tree?
- What other tiny things do you know that grow very big?
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)
Draw the big mustard tree with birds in its branches.
6. Verse and prayer (2 min)
“The birds of the air come and lodge in its branches” — Matthew 13:32 (the birds of the air → flap your arms like wings; come and lodge → fly down and sit; in its branches → hold your arms out wide like a tree)
Dear God, thank you that you make little things grow. Thank you that there is room for me in your Kingdom. Amen.
Lesson for older kids (ages 6–10)
Big idea: Small things grow big with God
Memory verse: “But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.” — Matthew 13:32 · WEB
The Bible story
Jesus sits by a sparkling lake and tells a crowd about the tiniest seed of all, and the surprising, enormous thing it quietly grows into.
Talk about it
- Why did Jesus climb into a little boat to teach? — The crowd was so big
- Who was Jesus telling this story to? — A big crowd
- What did Jesus say the kingdom of heaven is like? — A mustard seed
- How small is a mustard seed, Jesus said? — The smallest of all seeds
- What did the man do with the tiny seed? — He planted it in his field
- What did the mustard plant become, Jesus said? — A tree
Where is Jesus in this story?
Long before Jesus told this story, God promised through Ezekiel to plant a tiny twig that would grow into a great tree where birds of every kind would nest (Ezekiel 17:22–23). Jesus started his kingdom just as small, with a few friends in Galilee. Now people from every nation rest in its branches, and you can, too.
What God wants to tell us
Jesus showed us that God loves to do amazing things with tiny beginnings. You do not have to be big or important for God to use you. A small act of kindness, a little prayer, or a bit of faith can grow into something wonderful when you give it to God. Just like the tiny mustard seed became a tree full of birds, God can take the small things in your life and grow them into a beautiful home of love for others.
Prayer
Thank you, God, that you can do big things with small beginnings. Help me to plant little seeds of love and kindness every day. Grow my faith bigger and bigger, and use me to make a warm, safe place for others. I trust you with the small things. Amen.
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