Each JWL lesson has a collectable card alongside high-quality character images and a colouring page that links to each lesson. Click on the images below to see a larger version. Save the images by right click + ‘save image as’ (computers) OR long press + ‘save image’ (mobile).
These images are NOT copyright free.
These resources are provided for personal/classroom use only. Use can use them for teaching, games, publicity, decor, big screen presentations, flannelgraphs, stickers, or any other non-commercial activity in your church, school, home, or organised group. You may not use them in products you are going to sell – both printed and digital, or to upload the original images online, on websites, social media or in YouTube videos. Any questions, please reach out to me using the contact page link at the end of the page.
Jacob and Esau may not be the best picture of brotherly love, but rash decisions, silly tricks and family promises make this story utterly believable. These games will work for one child or many. Use the key to identify the best game for your group.
Stick some pictures to the inside base of some bowls. Using dry goods like beans, corn, or flour to cover the picture. Have the child move the ‘stew’ around to guess what picture it hides.
Divide and share
All Ages
Any size group
No Setup time
Quiet game
Space needed
Give each child a piece of paper. Ask them to fold it in half as many times as they can. 8 is the limit. Talk about how small we managed to make the piece of paper by keeping it together. Now get them to open their piece of paper up and tear it in half, placing one half in the middle of the circle. Repeat this until you have just a tiny piece of paper. How many times did they tear their paper when they give it away?
Gifts
Under 7’s
Small group
Requires setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
Wrap 3 small gifts, one much better than the others. Have the children choose 1 to unwrap. How do they feel about their choice? Unwrap the other two. How do they feel now?
Stew relay
All Ages
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
This silly relay race ties into the idea of Jacob rushing to get food ready to taunt Esau with (completely apocryphal). Set out ingredients on one side of the room, these can be photographs/images or empty boxes and containers. Give each team a recipe and a large saucepan. Have them run one at a time to get the ingredients. They need to recreate the recipe, so you can include multiples of one item and ‘red herring’ items that nobody will need.
Unequal compensation
All Ages
Any size group
No Setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Split the group into sets. Explain to each set that they will have to complete a challenge to get a reward. Set each group the same challenge but offer then different rewards – i.e. one group gets a single sweet and one group gets 3 each. Have the challenge be something small, like a relay race round the room. Once everyone has completed the challenge, have a rewards’ session, so each group sees what the other group got. Talk about how they all got exactly what they had agreed to, but still, it wasn’t fair.
This story of Jacob and Esau, of the developing family of God, show that God’s plan already being shaped by more than just offspring and inheritance. The plan is being molded by the characters and traits of those who make up the successive generations. This stark encounter shows how seemingly insignificant moments can rewrite entire histories.
This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.
Isaac had Rebekah, and they built their lives together, but no children came. So Isaac prayed that God would keep the promise he had made to his father about Isaac becoming a great nation. God heard Isaac, and soon Rebekah’s tummy grew so huge, far too big for just one baby.
There must be two babies, Rebekah told Isaac, I can feel them fighting with each other. Rebekah was right, two baby boys were born. The first red and hairy, the second smaller and holding his brother’s heel. They named them Esau and Jacob.
Time passed, and the brothers grew so very differently. Jacob was like his mother, he liked to stay by the tents, he was patient and calm. His big brother, Esau, was much more like his father, his long hair always full of dirt and leaves, his time spent with the animals, he was impatient.
Isaac grew ever older and Jacob came to realise that one day Esau would own everything his father had because Esau was the oldest son. It was his birthright, by being born just a few seconds before his brother Esau got everything and Jacob would have nothing. It made Jacob mad, and he started to look for an opportunity to change it.
One day his brother left early and forgot to take his food bag. All-day, Jacob waited for his brother to return, but he didn’t come. As the sun started to go down, Jacob was sitting by the fire eating a huge bowl of red lentil stew when he spotted his brother slowly walking towards home. He looked exhausted.
“Give me some of that stew.” Esau said, as he got near.
“No” replied Jacob. “I’ve spent a long time on this food and this is the last bowl.”
“I’ve not eaten all day, please, I’m starving, I’ll die if I don’t eat soon.”
“What will you give me for it?” replied Jacob
“What do you want?” said Esau, getting annoyed
“Your birthright, sell it to me”
“What good is my birthright if I die from hunger right now? Take it”
“Promise me I can have it and the stew is yours”
“Fine, I promise, now give me that stew”
And so Jacob handed Esau the stew.
It wasn’t until Esau ate, that he realised what a huge mistake he’d made.
The star in this story is no so much either brother and their dim-wittedness or cruel bargain, but a lumpy bowl of red lentil stew. Make your own bowl of stew in this 3-dimensional papercraft. You could make it extra authentic by sticking some lentils inside.
To make this craft, you will need the 1-page template printout, scissors, and some paper glue. Once made, you may want some additional materials to place inside and represent the stew.
Cut out all the pieces.
Fold the tabs on the base of the bowl upwards.
Glue the rim of the bowl together.
Using the glue tabs, attach the base to the rim. Photographed this upside-down for clarity, get a better result working the other way around.
Glue the characters and small bowl of stew onto the base of the bowl.
Download your FREE TEMPLATE using the relevant link in this box. Help keep the free items on this site free by donating. This site supports my family as we live by God's great economy.
Jacob and Esau have this strange little passage in Genesis where the birth-right is sold for something as insignificant as a bowl of stew. It’s got all the hallmarks of a family ‘in-joke’ and yet, this odd little conversation of two young men handing over birth-rights like a candy bar will echo down thought Jacob and Esau’s story. This simple papercraft captures the moment it happens.
To make this craft, you will need the 1-page template printout, scissors, and a craft knife.
If you want a ‘neater’ looking craft, then you may want a piece of acetate too!
Cut out the two pieces and use a craft knife to remove the two small white rectangles.
If you are using acetate, trace the long thin piece with a bowl on it onto acetate, cut the bowl out and fix it onto in the middle.
Thread the bowl piece from the back though the hole in Jacob and back through the hole in Esau.
Slide the tab each way to hand the bowl of food back and forth.
Download your FREE TEMPLATE using the relevant link in this box. Help keep the free items on this site free by donating. This site supports my family as we live by God's great economy.
Each JWL lesson has a collectable card alongside high-quality character images and a colouring page that links to each lesson. Click on the images below to see a larger version. Save the images by right click + ‘save image as’ (computers) OR long press + ‘save image’ (mobile).
These images are NOT copyright free.
These resources are provided for personal/classroom use only. Use can use them for teaching, games, publicity, decor, big screen presentations, flannelgraphs, stickers, or any other non-commercial activity in your church, school, home, or organised group. You may not use them in products you are going to sell – both printed and digital, or to upload the original images online, on websites, social media or in YouTube videos. Any questions, please reach out to me using the contact page link at the end of the page.
The willingness of Rebekah to travel many days to a strange land to bind herself to a stranger, the notion of God providing and the love that flourished are all themes we draw out of this passage with these games.
The servant knew God had led him to Rebekah when she offered to water the camels. This simple relay race has the child moving ‘water’ from the well to the animals. Use a large bucket of water and a cup to move it. If you can’t get wet in your space, then use shredded blue paper.
Rebekah’s Shadow
All Ages
Small group
Requires setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
This adaptation of a board game, uses the basic idea of matching the people to their shadows. Print the two pages and cut out the cards. Place all the cards face down over the rectangles, leaving the top rectangle uncovered. The player will turn one card in the hope it matches the shadow in the uncovered box. If it does, then place it face up on the box. If it does not match, place face down in the box containing the shadow you were looking for. This way, the cards move around the board until they are all matched. At the end of the game, identify the final shadow. (Click on the image for the PDF download)
Obstacle course
All Ages
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Make a simple obstacle course to mimic the servants’ journey. Put a doll or a picture of Rebekah at the end and have the child bring it back.
Behind the veil
All Ages
Small group
Requires setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
This is a classic memory game using a tray full of objects and a towel (a veil for this story). The aim is to memorise the objects on the tray and then re-list them once the towel hides them. A good rule of thumb is to take the average age of the children for the number of objects. This game also works with snap cards.
Find Rebekah
All Ages
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
This story lends itself well to a treasure hunt. Make a list of 10 items that the kids can find in your space – have the 10th be Rebekah. You can use a doll or a picture from the heroes post. Talk about if there was any logic in where you looked? What clues did you use?
