Teaching Little Ones
Teaching Little Ones

First Steps

Teaching Little Ones: First Steps

Why a curriculum for 2-3 year olds?

The ‘First Steps‘ syllabus is written with a particular group of children in mind—namely, the two to three olds who are too young to join the traditional Sunday School, and yet are getting a bit old for the traditional crèche set-up. In crèche they can make life difficult by being too rough for the babies and bored with the toys. If they were to go into a cubicle in a Sunday School hall they may make life difficult for all the other classes due to their noise level.

And yet, what better time to start teaching children than when they are young. Paul reminds Timothy that he had the privilege of knowing the holy Scriptures “from infancy” (2 Timothy 3:14-15).

The ‘First Steps ’ syllabus will not suit every church, and those churches that use it may use it in different ways. For instance some churches may use it for a full year while others for the second half of the year.

You may notice some degree of repetition with the early units in ‘Learning about God’. This is intentional, as some churches may begin with Learning about God, without having used the ‘First Steps ’ lessons. On the other hand, the children in those churches which do use ‘First Steps ’, need to be taught simple concepts as simply as possible, and the slight repetition will be a positive, rather than a negative, to their learning.

We want to help young children learn about God so that they can develop a relationship with him at their level. We want, therefore, to help children to grow up knowing that God made the world around them and that he loves them. So when teaching this age group, it is helpful to begin with their world—God made me, my family and friends—and in teaching this to move from specifics (God made me) to generalities (God made everyone).

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Read the ‘First Steps’ introduction (PDF).

Two boys

Syllabus:

Unit 1: God made me

  1. God made my hands and feet
  2. God made my eyes and ears
  3. God made me | Sample this lesson (PDF)

Unit 2: God made everyone

  1. God made my friends
  2. God made my family
  3. God made everyone

Unit 3: God made everything

  1. God made the flowers and trees
  2. God made food
  3. God made all the animals
  4. God made—revision

Unit 4: God loves me

  1. God loves me
  2. God always loves me
  3. God is with me all day and night
  4. God is always with me
  5. God loves me lots and lots—revision

Unit 5: God loves everyone

  1. God says that he loves us | Sample this lesson (PDF)
  2. God loves my family
  3. God loves my friends
  4. God loves all the people I see
  5. God loves everyone

Unit 6: God is kind

  1. God gives us rain
  2. God gives us sunshine
  3. God gives us food
  4. God helps us to be happy
  5. God is kind—revision

Unit 7: God hears

  1. We can talk to God
  2. God hears us when we talk to him
  3. Thanking God | Sample this lesson (PDF)
  4. God wants us to say sorry to him
  5. God hears—revision

Unit 8: God is great

  1. God is everywhere
  2. God made everything
  3. God can do anything
  4. God loves everyone
  5. God is very important

Unit 9: Christmas

  1. The Bible and Jesus
  2. Mary and Joseph | Sample this lesson (PDF)
  3. Jesus is born
  4. Shepherds visit
  5. Wise men visit