Lesson Plans for Bible Stories: Daniel and the Lion’s Den

Bringing preschool bible lessons to life can be tough, especially with a bunch of active children. This lesson about Daniel and the lion’s den will help students admire Daniel’s bravery, and have a lot of fun in the process.

Begin by helping students make a connection to their own lives. Ask them if they have ever seen lions at the zoo. Then ask if they have ever gone inside of a lion’s cage. Encourage them to discuss why none of them have ever gone inside of a lion’s cage. Note that lions are dangerous. Then discuss the story of Daniel, a high official (close friend of the king) who other people in the palace became jealous of. Explain that the jealous people convinced the king to make a law that forbade people from praying to anyone besides the king, just because they knew that Daniel prayed every day. Then mention what Daniel’s choices were – to pray like always, or to be killed! Explain how Daniel decided to pray because his faith was so important to him, and tell students how he was miraculously saved from the lions in return.

Ask students whether this story could ever happen in their country today. Discuss the importance of democracy and how we are grateful to live in a democratic country. Think up ways that such a thing could happen, and ask them to think about whether they would be as brave as Daniel if it ever did.

Give each student a paper plate and set out bowls full of cut brown yarn (pieces should be several inches long). Help students glue one end of each strand of yarn to the border of the plate to create a lion’s mane. Then help them cut out eyes and draw on lions’ mouths, encouraging them to think about what lions look like or giving them pictures of lions to use as examples. Then punch a hole in each side of the mask and tie another piece of yarn through it to keep the mask on each child’s head.

Play Daniel Tag with your students! To play, have one child be “the lion” and the rest of the students being “Daniels.” Play what looks like a regular game of tag, with the lion being “it.” When the lion tags a Daniel, the Daniel becomes a lion as well. Continue until all there is only one Daniel remaining. To play another game, have the winning Daniel be the first lion.

This lesson about Daniel and the lion’s den will help students to relate to the story and learn to be excited about bible stories in general!