Psalm 100 Sunday School Lesson for Kids

This is lesson 29 of 32 in a series of lessons called “Praise God Through the Psalms.” 

“Praise God Through the Psalms” – Psalm 100

Use this Psalm 100 Sunday school lesson with kindergarten through 4th grade kids in Sunday school or children’s church, any week you are teaching them to give thanks to God. It takes 45 minutes to an hour and needs only Bibles, blank paper and markers. Lesson focus: Through the book of Psalms and the worship of the people of Israel, we get a glimpse into the character of God and how we should rightly respond to Him in worship. In Psalm 100, we’re reminded of God’s goodness and what it means to be one of ‘God’s sheep.’ Through the discussion of this Psalm you’ll have an opportunity to talk of the goodness of God in rescuing His people from sin through Jesus’ death in our place.

Teaching Thanksgiving this week? Get the free lesson on the widow of Zarephath, with a script, stage directions and supply lists.

Passage: Psalm 100
Target Audience: Kindergarten-4th Grade (can be adapted for older or younger children)
Teaching Time: 45 minutes – 1 hour
Materials Needed:  Bibles, blank paper, markers
Optional Materials: if you want to be able to send the kids home with something each week, you can print the text of the Psalm on one side of a piece of paper and on the back print “I should praise God because He is ____________” (leave the rest of the page blank for drawing.)

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Early Arriver/ Opening 10 minutes– have a few board games out and play with kids as they arrive. Don’t underestimate the conversations that happen while playing “Jenga” or “Uno” with a group of kids.

Intro– – Play a round of “Name The Song”.
Divide the kids into 2 teams. Explain to the kids in the group that you’ll read off one line of a song and they should raise their hand and say (or sing) the next line if they know it. Keep score of which team knows more songs. A few song lines and the following lines are included below. Feel free to add others that you can think of.

• • • • • • “row, row, row your boat”……. “gently down the stream”
        • • “london bridge is falling down”….. “my fair lady”
        • • “twinkle, twinkle little star”….. “how I wonder what you are”
        • • “we are all sinners”….. “we are sick with sin”
        • • “you can wash away my sin”….. “you can change my heart within”
        • “our God is an awesome God, He reigns”….. “from heaven above”

Read the Text. . .Psalm 100

1. 1. Have each kid in the group read one verse, or have 3 volunteers do the reading (divided amongst them). As you go through the Psalm continually ask kids (1) what is this Psalm telling us about who God is?, (2) what is this Psalm telling us about what God does and (3) what is this Psalm telling us about what God expects of His people and how His people should respond to Him.
      

1. 1. This Psalm is only 5 verses long, you might want to give everyone in the group a chance to read the whole thing, or try reading it in a choral reading style (you read a verse and they repeat it back to you).
      
      

1. 1. Take a few minutes to talk about what truths this Psalm teaches us about God. Have the kids point out the truths they see about God in the psalm…..He is God, He made us, He shepherds us, He is good, He is forever loving, He is faithful. As you go through the psalm looking at these truths about God, define each one and come up with examples from scripture where you see these attributes of God. Some will be simple, like He made us, or some like his faithfulness will have many examples.Ask the kids to tell you what the psalm says our reaction to God should be. Point out that it says that we should “shout for joy” and “worship the Lord with gladness” and sing “joyful songs.” Have kids notice that it doesn’t just say we should sing and shout to the Lord, but that we should be glad and joyful while doing it. Have kids demonstrate how you could sing joyfully and how you could sing without joy (or feeling).Divide the kids into 3 smaller groups and give groups 5 minutes to come up with a song or cheer based on one of the truths about God that we see in this psalm. If kids need an idea to get them started, you might want to suggest something like ( “The Bible tells us what God’s like, what God’s like, what God’s like. The Bible says that God is good. He is very good.”….. to the tune of “Mary had a little lamb.”). Give groups time to work and then have them sing their songs or do their cheers for the rest of the group.

1. Cross- Connection– – Look back at Psalm 100:5. Have kids note what the verse says about God’s love and faithfulness. Ask the kids if we deserve God’s love or His faithfulness. Help them see (from Romans 6:23) that we don’t deserve His love; in fact we deserve death. Then, have them look at Romans 5:8 to see that God showed His love by having Jesus die for sinners. Then, have kids look at 1 John 4:9-10 for a definition of God’s love. Then, talk about God’s faithfulness. Point kids back to God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 12, that He would bless all peoples through him and remind the kids that God used His chosen people in the OT as the family that Jesus would be born into and that Jesus is the One who blessed all peoples by dying on the cross in our place.  Help the kids to see that God kept this promise that He made to Abraham, even though His people didn’t keep their side of the covenant. Remind them of the law and how God gave the law to His people as a way for them to show that they were His people, but that they disobeyed and broke the law, but that God still remained faithful. We have to engage the kids they may ask questions like is God real? And we
   have to give a clear answer the best we can.
   

Worship Time– After discussing the passage, distribute the paper and markers or pages printed with the text for the week. Explain that each week you want them to do three things in response to the Psalm…

1. 1. write a verse from the passage that they want to remember

1. 1. write a reason to praise God that they see in the Psalm

1. draw of something from the passage that they think is important.
   

Give kids time to work on their pages and then have them share what they have drawn or written with the rest of the group.

Psalm 100 Activity Sheet for Kids

The Worship Time page works as a simple Psalm 100 activity sheet. Print the five verses on one side of a sheet of paper. On the back, print “I should praise God because He is ____________” and leave the rest of the page blank for drawing. Each child copies a verse to remember, writes a reason to praise God from the psalm, and draws something from the passage.

Prayer– – Close in prayer by praying for the kids that they would learn to worship God for who He reveals Himself to be in His Word. Close the session by singing “Praise Him, Praise Him all you little children” and filling in the “God is……” blanks with truths in this Psalm

Extra Time – – If you have any extra time at the end, play the name game again, or play Old Testament/New Testament– – Have all the kids stand up in the middle of the room. Call out a book of the Bible. If it’s in the OT they have to go to your left side and if it’s NT they have to go to your right side. To make it even more challenging, you could call out names that aren’t books of the Bible and have them freeze for those.

What Does Psalm 100 Teach Kids?

Psalm 100 teaches kids that the LORD is God, that He made us, and that He is good, so we come to Him with joy and thanks. The psalm is labeled “A Psalm of thanksgiving” (Psalm 100:1, BSB). Here are the five truths this lesson draws from it.

1. He is God and He made us. “Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His” (Psalm 100:3, BSB).
2. He shepherds us. “we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture” (Psalm 100:3, BSB).
3. We worship with joy. “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; come into His presence with joyful songs” (Psalm 100:1-2, BSB).
4. We give thanks. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name” (Psalm 100:4, BSB).
5. He is good and faithful, and Jesus shows us how much. “For the LORD is good, and His loving devotion endures forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations” (Psalm 100:5, BSB). We did not earn that love. “God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8, BSB).

Psalm 100 for Thanksgiving Week

Because Psalm 100 is a psalm of thanksgiving, it fits the week of Thanksgiving well. After this lesson, keep the theme going with our Thanksgiving lesson for children’s church on Psalm 100:4-5 or our Thanksgiving children’s sermon.