This Joshua Bible lesson unit for grades 4–8 is a comprehensive, interactive curriculum designed for Sunday school, Christian classrooms, and homeschool Bible studies. Covering Joshua chapters 1–4, this hands-on resource helps students understand God’s commission to Joshua, the faith of Rahab, the miracle of crossing the Jordan River, the purpose of memorial stones, and how Jesus is our ultimate Rest with Heaven as our Promised Land.
With engaging movement activities, storytelling, worksheets, and creative hands-on learning, this 46-page Bible curriculum builds biblical literacy, comprehension, and faith-based application for upper elementary and middle school students.
This 46-page Bible curriculum is divided into five-unit sections: each section takes between 45 minutes and one hour, making it perfect for multi-day teaching. Included is a 29-page detailed lesson plan and teacher script, along with 17 pages of printable worksheets, movement activities, hands-on storytelling and visuals that reinforce Scripture in memorable ways.
✴️Lesson Part A: God’s Commission to Joshua (Joshua 1:1–9)
Students begin by color-coding God’s commission to Joshua, highlighting key commands and promises in Joshua 1:1–9. The repeated words “strong” and “courageous” are also identified. Students then move by playing the Do Not Turn Right or Left based on Joshua 1:7 to reinforce the command to stay faithful to God as they participate in this obedience activity. A blindfolded student attempts to walk a straight path while classmates distract them from the right and left, demonstrating the importance of staying focused on God’s Word.
✴️Lesson Part B: Rahab and the Spies (Joshua 2)
Students braid a three-stranded red rope while listening to the story of Rahab. The teacher uses the words “LEFT” and “RIGHT” to cue the braiding process, with the bonus of reinforcing listening skills. At the same time, other students hold an ice cube with a heart inside, symbolizing the phrase “our hearts melted” from Rahab’s story.
✴️Lesson Part C: Crossing the Jordan River (Joshua 3)
Students create storyboards using provided illustrations, writing descriptions for each scene. This activity builds comprehension, sequencing skills, and biblical literacy as they retell the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River to fellow students or younger students.
✴️Lesson Part D: Memorial Stones (Joshua 4)
Students learn the biblical significance of memorial stones, focusing on the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River and set up at Gilgal.
Students arrange paper stones on a colorful landscape worksheet to visualize the memorial.
Students then paint real river rocks and write one meaningful word they want to remember about God.
Using the “River Rock Remembrances” worksheet, students explain their chosen word and share with the class.
The class gathers the rocks together to create a classroom memorial, reinforcing the importance of remembering God’s faithfulness.
✴️Lesson Part E: Jesus Is Our Rest: Connecting Joshua to the Gospel
Students learn that Jesus is our Rest and that Heaven is the Christian's Promised Land. Teachers create a large floor Venn diagram using hula hoops or rope to compare the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land with the Christian journey to Heaven. Students place 21 provided comparison strips into the correct sections, discovering the numerous similarities between the two journeys and how the Old Testament points to Christ.
☑️ What’s Included
46 total pages including:
29-page detailed lesson plan with clear DO/SAY teacher scripting
Color Coding worksheet and answer key
Color pictures and two storyboards (answer keys included)
Landscape worksheet
Rocks (colored – option A)
Rocks (B/W- option B)
River Rock Remembrance worksheet
One page of titles and four pages of comparison strips for Venn Diagram Activity
Jesus is our Rest Stepping Stone
⏰️Flexible Scheduling: This 5 hour lesson can be spread over multiple days with clearly labeled stopping points.
✝️ Perfect for Sunday school, homeschool or Christian school classrooms! Each lesson unit in our Walking Alongside Jesus series is divided into five sections, each section takes between 30 minutes to an hour. This allows homeschool and Christian school teachers to use it daily in the classroom (thereby completing an entire unit in aweek) OR in a Sunday School classroom or youth group once a week (thereby completing an entire unit in a month).
✔️Our goal with each lesson is to combine scholarly study in a fun, interactive way so that students not only experience the rich Biblical narrative but also to whet their appetite for more by learning how to study the Scriptures for themselves.
❓️FAQS❓️
What Christian perspective is used for these Bible lessons?
I am an evangelical Christian who writes Bible curriculum for older students, and I take this tremendous responsibility seriously. Each lesson has a clear focus on what God says in His Word and the lessons are presented age appropriately, thoughtfully and biblically.
What translation of the Bible is used? 99% of the time I use the ESV although on rare occasion I might use another translation such as the NIV.
How can this Bible curriculum be used? These lessons are flexible enough to be used in the following settings:
Children's Sunday School class
Youth Group
Private Christian school Bible class
Chapel for Christian schools
Children's Church
Homeschool Bible class
Family Bible time
Copyright ©️ Experience the Bible Creatively. Permission to copy for single classroom use only.
This Joshua Bible lesson unit for grades 4–8 is a comprehensive, interactive curriculum designed for Sunday school, Christian classrooms, and homeschool Bible studies. Covering Joshua chapters 1–4, this hands-on resource helps students understand God’s commission to Joshua, the faith of Rahab, the miracle of crossing the Jordan River, the purpose of memorial stones, and how Jesus is our ultimate Rest with Heaven as our Promised Land.
With engaging movement activities, storytelling, worksheets, and creative hands-on learning, this 46-page Bible curriculum builds biblical literacy, comprehension, and faith-based application for upper elementary and middle school students.
This 46-page Bible curriculum is divided into five-unit sections: each section takes between 45 minutes and one hour, making it perfect for multi-day teaching. Included is a 29-page detailed lesson plan and teacher script, along with 17 pages of printable worksheets, movement activities, hands-on storytelling and visuals that reinforce Scripture in memorable ways.
✴️Lesson Part A: God’s Commission to Joshua (Joshua 1:1–9)
Students begin by color-coding God’s commission to Joshua, highlighting key commands and promises in Joshua 1:1–9. The repeated words “strong” and “courageous” are also identified. Students then move by playing the Do Not Turn Right or Left based on Joshua 1:7 to reinforce the command to stay faithful to God as they participate in this obedience activity. A blindfolded student attempts to walk a straight path while classmates distract them from the right and left, demonstrating the importance of staying focused on God’s Word.
✴️Lesson Part B: Rahab and the Spies (Joshua 2)
Students braid a three-stranded red rope while listening to the story of Rahab. The teacher uses the words “LEFT” and “RIGHT” to cue the braiding process, with the bonus of reinforcing listening skills. At the same time, other students hold an ice cube with a heart inside, symbolizing the phrase “our hearts melted” from Rahab’s story.
✴️Lesson Part C: Crossing the Jordan River (Joshua 3)
Students create storyboards using provided illustrations, writing descriptions for each scene. This activity builds comprehension, sequencing skills, and biblical literacy as they retell the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River to fellow students or younger students.
✴️Lesson Part D: Memorial Stones (Joshua 4)
Students learn the biblical significance of memorial stones, focusing on the twelve stones taken from the Jordan River and set up at Gilgal.
Students arrange paper stones on a colorful landscape worksheet to visualize the memorial.
Students then paint real river rocks and write one meaningful word they want to remember about God.
Using the “River Rock Remembrances” worksheet, students explain their chosen word and share with the class.
The class gathers the rocks together to create a classroom memorial, reinforcing the importance of remembering God’s faithfulness.
✴️Lesson Part E: Jesus Is Our Rest: Connecting Joshua to the Gospel
Students learn that Jesus is our Rest and that Heaven is the Christian's Promised Land. Teachers create a large floor Venn diagram using hula hoops or rope to compare the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land with the Christian journey to Heaven. Students place 21 provided comparison strips into the correct sections, discovering the numerous similarities between the two journeys and how the Old Testament points to Christ.
☑️ What’s Included
46 total pages including:
29-page detailed lesson plan with clear DO/SAY teacher scripting
Color Coding worksheet and answer key
Color pictures and two storyboards (answer keys included)
Landscape worksheet
Rocks (colored – option A)
Rocks (B/W- option B)
River Rock Remembrance worksheet
One page of titles and four pages of comparison strips for Venn Diagram Activity
Jesus is our Rest Stepping Stone
⏰️Flexible Scheduling: This 5 hour lesson can be spread over multiple days with clearly labeled stopping points.
✝️ Perfect for Sunday school, homeschool or Christian school classrooms! Each lesson unit in our Walking Alongside Jesus series is divided into five sections, each section takes between 30 minutes to an hour. This allows homeschool and Christian school teachers to use it daily in the classroom (thereby completing an entire unit in aweek) OR in a Sunday School classroom or youth group once a week (thereby completing an entire unit in a month).
✔️Our goal with each lesson is to combine scholarly study in a fun, interactive way so that students not only experience the rich Biblical narrative but also to whet their appetite for more by learning how to study the Scriptures for themselves.
❓️FAQS❓️
What Christian perspective is used for these Bible lessons?
I am an evangelical Christian who writes Bible curriculum for older students, and I take this tremendous responsibility seriously. Each lesson has a clear focus on what God says in His Word and the lessons are presented age appropriately, thoughtfully and biblically.
What translation of the Bible is used? 99% of the time I use the ESV although on rare occasion I might use another translation such as the NIV.
How can this Bible curriculum be used? These lessons are flexible enough to be used in the following settings:
Children's Sunday School class
Youth Group
Private Christian school Bible class
Chapel for Christian schools
Children's Church
Homeschool Bible class
Family Bible time
Copyright ©️ Experience the Bible Creatively. Permission to copy for single classroom use only.
