Jonah

I've been reading the story of Jonah to the girls.  We've read the story out of many of their bible story books as well as some Jonah books that we checked out from the library.  The girls also watched the Veggie Tales movie of Jonah.  You can watch the full movie here.

We played two Jonah games (Arin won them both!).  The first was called Jonah's Whale of a Tale, which can be found here.

The second game was called Jonah in the Whale and it can be found here.  This game came with several trivia cards that I also used to quiz Arin even when we weren't playing the board game. She really impressed me because she knew most of the answers without any help!

 
The girls made a whale/fish that swallowed Jonah.  Ella's was a whale and Arin's was just a big fish.  The Jonah template can be found here.

Arin acted out the first part of the story of Jonah.

God told Jonah to go to the city of Ninevah to tell the people to repent.  Jonah did not like the people of Ninevah.  He did not want to go and instead he began to pout.

Then, Jonah decided to hide from God.  He boarded a ship to Tarshish (the opposite direction of Ninevah).

While on the ship, Jonah went below deck to take a nap. 

While Jonah was napping, God sent a terrible storm (this is Arin acting out the ship in the middle of a storm - she was rocking the "boat").

The sailors tried throwing everything overboard to save the ship.

They woke Jonah and told him to pray to his God.  He tells the sailors to throw him overboard.

A big fish comes along and swallows Jonah (which saves his life).

Jonah prays while he is in the belly of the fish.

After three days and three nights, the fish spits Jonah out and onto dry land.  Jonah goes to Ninevah.

We also sang a Jonah song (to the tune of Where is Thumbkin?)  We could have used this song as a felt board activity/puppet activity, but we simply sang it.

Where is Jonah, where is Jonah?
In a boat, in a boat.
What is Jonah doing, what is Jonah doing?
Running from God, running from God.

Where is Jonah, where is Jonah?
In a fish, in a fish.
What is Jonah doing, what is Jonah doing?
Praying to God, praying to God.

Where is Jonah, where is Jonah?
On a hill, on a hill.
What is Jonah doing, what is Jonah doing?
Learning to love, learning to love.

Where is Jonah, where is Jonah?
Ninevah, Ninevah
What is Jonah doing, what is Jonah doing?
Sharing God's love, sharing God's love.

(the song came from here.)