Need a Bible curriculum for a very wide age range? Teaching a multi-age class is challenging–especially when you can’t find good lesson plans for multiple ages. The resources on this page include all-in-one Sunday School ideas, Bible lessons for kids of all ages, and other top resources for one room Sunday School classes, homeschool families, Bible study groups, and any other situation where you teach God’s Word to a mixed age group.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase anything through one of these links, I may earn a commission for recommending you—at NO extra cost to you!! I only recommend products I would personally use from companies that I trust.
Read my full disclosure here.
Searching for Bible curriculum for a mixed age group?
Recently I asked the ladies on my email list if they taught a mixed age group. I was shocked by how many answered yes! And my heart went out to them as they described their struggles:
- How do I make lessons understandable for younger kids, but not too “babyish” for older kids?
- How can I keep them all interested since they’re at different levels?
- How do I prevent the older kids from getting bored and disrupting my multi-age class?
Do you face the same problems?
In this post on adapting lessons for multiple ages, I gave a few tips for how to handle those challenges.
And today, I want to give you a short and sweet list of all the resources I think are best suited for a multi-age Sunday School or any other mixed age group you teach.
Best resources for a multi-age Sunday School class
1) King of Glory
King of Glory, by P.D. Bramsen, isn’t just my favorite resource for a multi-age class. It’s actually my all-time favorite resource for teaching kids the Bible!
I love the thoughtful, accurate illustrations on each page.
I love that the text is simple–yet it catches your curiosity and your imagination and draws you in.
And I especially love that the book starts at the beginning and traces the concept of redemption all the way through the Bible, culminating with Jesus Christ and the message of salvation. The book is broken down into just 70 “scenes,” yet it effectively hits all the key parts of Scripture to make its point. It’s very well done.
King of Glory isn’t a full curriculum, but it’s a beautiful foundation to work from. The simple text and beautiful illustrations will keep your younger ones interested, and the deep topics that the text brings up will give you a good starting place for talking with your older kids. We used it with great success for our kindergarten to sixth grade mixed age class.
Purchase your copy of King of Glory now.
2) BibleBaton Curriculums
I love taking a “hands-on approach” to teaching the Bible because it helps kids understand the Bible so much better. The more demonstrations, illustrations, and activities you can use, the better.
Hands-on learning is especially effective for mixed age groups. You cut out some of the talking, reading, and writing when you go with a more “multi-sensory” teaching style–and that means you can include your younger kids more easily.
All of my curriuculums include multiple options for hands-on learning, so you can choose what best suits you and your one room Sunday School!
Check out these creative, easy-to-use Bible curriculums for kids:
- If you have limited space or your prefer artsy-type projects, you should use my crafts manuals.
- If you have younger kids or ones that do best with lots of high-energy activities, you should use the games manuals.
- If you only have a little extra time in your class period or if you have lots of young kiddoes, try the printable coloring pages I offer in my coloring books.
- If you have older kids or you want to dive deeper when it comes to personally processing and applying biblical concepts, use the printable worksheets in my student workbooks.
Check out all of my available curriculums here!
3) Firm Foundations
I’m a huge proponent of teaching God’s Word from beginning to end. I believe that the Old Testament stories lay the foundation for the message of the New Testament.
When you teach the Bible chronologically, your kids are primed to understand the Gospel by the time you start teaching it from the New Testament. Read more about this approach (and be sure to check out the video too… it gives me goosebumps!!).
Because I’m such a huge fan of chronological Bible lessons, I absolutely recommend Firm Foundations–because that’s exactly what they do. They start in Genesis and work through to the New Testament.
Firm Foundations is very similar to King of Glory, but Firm Foundations goes more in-depth. The curriculum is targeted to a fourth-grade level, but we used it with our mixed age group very successfully. Firm Foundations works for multiple ages because the content is very thorough and solid. You get a lot of material to work with, which makes it easier to skim over some things for the sake of your littles, while still giving your older kids some meat to chew on!
Check out the Firm Foundations curriculum here.
4) Answers Bible Curriculum
I’ve personally used all 3 of the ideas above, and can recommend them without hesitation. Now I’d like to mention an option that I haven’t personally used. But, it comes from a company that I have a lot of trust and respect for. And I have looked over several of their lesson plans, and been very impressed with the biblical content of them. This is a curriculum that I could definitely recommend!
This is the Sunday School curriculum from Answers in Genesis. They are always extremely thorough and their materials are usually top notch. This curriculum isn’t for a mixed age group, but you can get manuals for each age group and combine the material so that you have something for everyone in your multi-age class.
Learn more about the Answers Bible Curriculum.
Other curriculum ideas for a multi-age class
Below, I’m adding a couple of options I found on Amazon. I don’t really love these, but they are specifically written for the “one room” Sunday School class. If you choose to use them, be very discerning about the content. You probably will need to edit what you use from these books.
All-in-One Sunday School
13 interactive Bible lessons specifically designed for multiple ages. Lesson topics include “God keeps His promises,” “God will guide us,” and “Families are important to God.” Each lesson includes life applications, handouts, and more. Find details about All-in-One Sunday School here.
All Together Now
Another set of 13 lessons. Includes plenty of hands-on learning ideas, simple paper crafts, and more. Specifically designed for ages 4-12. Learn more about All Together Now here.
The best resources for a multi-age class
There you have it–my top recommendations for books and other resources to use when you teach the Bible to a mixed age group.
After purchasing a curriculum, you may also want to check out these tips for adapting lesson plans to a mixed age class.
And have fun “passing the faith along” to your kids!
TEACH THE BIBLE SUCCESSFULLY!
[…] you have a mixed age Bible class, you could teach the popular children’s Bible stories from Genesis to Revelation using King […]