4 Engaging Activities For The Story Of Esther

One of my absolute favorite stories in the Bible is the book of Esther. Not only is it an amazing story, but it shows kids that it is ok to be scared. You can be both scared and courageous at the same time. So today, we’re talk about teaching the story of Esther, with lots of different activities to get all of your Sunday School, Bible Class, or Children’s Church students engaged!

There are many different morals that you can pull out of the story of Esther, but today we’re going to focus on how Esther was courageous (even though she was scared!), and Esther 4:14 (Perhaps you were made for such a time as this.)

Let’s get started!

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The story of Esther is one of the best Bible stories-- and kids should know it! This post includes ideas for how to teach the story of Esther with different activities for the story of Esther for Bible Class, Children's Church, or Sunday School, Becca's Bible Class

Story of Esther Lesson for Sunday School

  • Bible passage: book of Esther
  • Memory verse: Esther 4:14

First off, you have to read the story of Esther.

If possible, see about some visuals so that students can keep all of the characters straight. This could be some pictures (does anyone remember those felt scenes from when we were kids?) with people’s names on them. Another super simple way to accomplish this is to have students act out the story as you read it– just assign an Esther, a king, a Hayman, and a Mordecai.

After you read, ask students the following questions. You can have them answer whole group, or you could split them up into groups to talk about one of the questions. Then, they can share their answers with the rest of the class.

  • In what parts of the story was Esther in the right place at the right time?
  • In what part of the story was Esther courageous?
  • Do you think it was easy for her to be courageous?
  • Do you think that Esther was scared in the story? Why?

You can have students answer the questions on paper. All of these are on print and go worksheets in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, where students can easily answer the questions alone or in groups.

Recall the Story

After talking through the story, it’s time to make sure we remember the story!

There are many ways that you can do this. For a simple, no prep version, you can break students into groups and have them act out different scenes from the story.

What I prefer is to make a comic strip of the story! Have students create a comic strip with pictures and captions about what happened in the story. In the printables in my shop, there is a pre-made comic strip where students can color in the pictures and then add the captions for each box.

Another option would be to have students do some Esther coloring sheets. This is great if they are a little bit younger and writing is still difficult.

Courageous

After reviewing the story, let’s talk all about being courageous! Have students tell about some times when they were courageous. Ask if they though it was hard for them to be courageous, or if it was easy.

Then comes the great debate: Was Esther courageous, or was she just in the right place at the right time?

Alternate Ending to the Story of Esther

To talk about how to be courageous, you should also talk about what would happen if we aren’t courageous.

In the story, Mordecai says that Esther may have been born for this. So if this is her job, and she doesn’t do it, then what happens?

Take students through that line of thinking– anytime you have the choice to be courageous, you also have the choice to not be courageous. Either way, there are consequences to your choices.

Have students create an alternate ending to the story– what would have happened in the story of Esther if she hadn’t been courageous? Would the Jews still have been saved? Would we even know who Esther was? What would have happened to Mordecai.

Have students write their answers, draw their answers, or do both! You can grab sheets to write all of the answers (in writing or writing and drawing form) here.

Extension: Build a Crown!

And lastly…. just for fun… Let’s build a crown!

Now, not just any crown. In this crown, students will pick “jewels” that represent the different aspects of their character that they would like to portray.

Ideals for their character include:

  • Courageous
  • Kind
  • Smart
  • Helpful
  • Strong
  • Independent
  • Faithful

And anything else you can think of!

When I did this with my Children’s Church students, we printed off the crowns that are included in the printables. The students wrote the character trait they have or want to have on the jewels, and then glued them to the crown. Then they added any other things they wanted to decorate with– feathers, beads, markers, etc.

You could also build a nature crown like in this blog post from……. Have your kids find sticks, flowers, leaves, and more to create a nature crown. Talk about what each of the different things they pick will represent!

The story of Esther is one of the best Bible stories-- and kids should know it! This post includes ideas for how to teach the story of Esther with different activities for the story of Esther for Bible Class, Children's Church, or Sunday School, Becca's Bible Class

If you need more activities, you can pick them up in my TPT shop. There are coloring sheets, digital trivia games (on Slides and on Boom Cards), a video lesson, tiered writing prompts, and all of the printable activities that I’ve mentioned so far.

You can check out everything by clicking here.

What are your favorite ways to learn about the story of Esther? Let us know in the comments!

Happy teaching!