Mary & Martha Story Summary for Kids
Mary and Martha were entertaining Jesus at their house. Martha was very busy serving Jesus, preparing the meal, cleaning, etc. Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to Jesus teach. We don't know if Jesus was just teaching Mary, or whether others were there.
But Martha became indignant at Mary that she wasn't helping out. You can imagine in your head Martha passing by the doorway to the living room on her way to get food supplies, taking the trash out, or taking the food to the dining room, each time getting more and more frustrated that she was doing all this work herself while her sister Mary was just sitting down in the living room with Jesus. Martha finally snapped: "Lord, my sister has left me to do the work by myself. Don’t you care? Tell her to help me!" (Luke 10:40).
But Jesus had a very important lesson for Martha. He told her that Mary had a choice. She could have gotten very busy with all the serving, preparing, and cleaning - just like Martha. Or she could have chosen to spend time with Jesus and learn from him. Jesus told Martha that Mary had made the better choice.
Where Is the Story of Mary and Martha in the Bible?
The main story of Mary and Martha is found only in the gospel of Luke, in Luke 10:38–42. However, we do see Mary and Martha (and their brother Lazarus) in other places in the gospels. This story involves the same Mary and Martha we learned about in the Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead lesson (John 11). We learned in that story that Mary and Martha were good friends of Jesus, along with their brother Lazarus, and they lived in Bethany, which was just outside of Jerusalem. He would stay at their house frequently as he was traveling around Jerusalem.
Lessons from Mary and Martha for Kids
Jesus' main lesson for Martha was that spending time with him is one of the best ways to live! Even kids can learn that spending time with Jesus by reading his Word, praying, worshiping with other Christians is important and must be intentionally chosen - it doesn't typically happen on accident.
My Notes
Video Options
From Crossroads Kids Club
From Kids on the Move
From Saddleback Kids Slapstick Theater
Resource Sheet
This coloring sheet depicts Martha cleaning and being frustrated at Mary, sitting at Jesus' feet listening to him teach
1Warm Up get your kids talking and engaged
Do you have chores at your house? What is your least favorite chore? What is your favorite chore?
Today, we're going to learn about a time when a woman named Martha was serving Jesus in her house. But Jesus taught her that there was something more important than her chores!
2Teach the Story teach a holistic story
Read story from a Children's storybook Bible for younger children.
For older children, read the story from an age-appropriate Children's storybook Bible or read directly from the Bible.
3Bible Mastery give them basic Bible skills
4Comprehension Questions make sure they understand the story
First, ask the children if they have any questions about the story. What to do if you don't know the answer?
- Whose house was Jesus at?
- Martha and her sister Mary
- What was Martha doing while Jesus was there?
- She was serving him - probably things like cooking and cleaning
- What was Mary doing?
- Sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to him teach
- Why was Martha upset?
- Because Mary wasn't helping her serve
- What did Jesus tell Martha when she complained to him about it?
- That Mary chose the most important thing - listening to Jesus
5Faith Questions open up a conversation about faith and the gospel; close with prayer
- Jesus praised Mary for putting him first and choosing to spend time with him.
- How can you spend time with Jesus?
6Memory Verse hide God's Word in their heart
All 12 activities below are free to use with no sign-up — complete with instructions, supply lists, and an age label for all-ages, early elementary, or late elementary classes.
Reminder Bracelets
- Bracelets can be as difficult or as easy as you want, depending on the age of the students.
- Ideas include: braided paracord, rainbow loom, pony beads, braided leather string.
- Make bracelets and allow students to wear them.
- Pray together for the bracelets to be a reminder for them to spend time with God.
Time to Make the Snack!
- This activity is best done as an introduction to the story. It might lose its meaning if done after your Bible story. The idea of this lesson is to get them thinking about the Bible story. Martha did have important things to get done; however, we need to step away from those important tasks to choose what is better (v. 42)
- Cooking ideas:
- Make peanut butter sandwiches
- Peanut butter ball recipe (see "Are you Listening?" activity for recipe)
- Mix and bake cookies (or bake pre-made cookies)
- Mix up a trail mix
- Anything that will get the students involved in the task
Mary and Martha Word Search
- Print out a word search for each child (depending on their age)
- Page 2 of each document is the answer key.
Spring Cleaning
- Give students spray bottles filled with water and rags.
- Allow them to clean tables, windows, etc
- They love it!
Quiet Time-Younger Students
This activity has two options:
Option 1:
- Sit students in a circle on the floor.
- Explain that it is important for us to spend time talking to God.
- Say a simple prayer, stopping at the end of each sentence to allow students to repeat the prayer. You can have them fill in the blanks, as well.
- For example:
- Thank you for____________.
- Please take care of _____________.
- Please help me with_______________.
Option 2:
- Provide the students with paper and crayons.
- Allow them to draw pictures of people they would like to pray for or things they are thankful for.
Martha, Martha
- Have all the kids stand in an open area.
- The leader will call out instructions to the kids and the kids have to act them out.
- But when the leader says "Martha, Martha!" all the kids must sit down, legs crossed and hand cupped over their ear (like they are listening closely).
- The last one to sit down is out. Also, any kids who don't act out the instructions are out.
- Play until there is only one child left.
Example instructions to call out to the kids:
- Sweep the floor
- Wash the windows
- Take the bread out of the oven
- Stir the pot
- Take out the trash
- Knead the bread dough
- Fold the laundry
- Feed the dog
- Brush your teeth
You can trick the kids, with commands like this:
- Mary, Mary!
- Marsha, Marsha!
- Martha, sweep!
- Martha, Fartha!
You can also start getting more frantic as the game goes on, calling out multiple things at a time.
Jesus, I'm Listening Ears
- Print out all 3 pages of the Jesus, I'm Listening printable for each child.
- Depending on the cutting skills of your kids, you can have them cut out the ears and the headband, or you can cut them out beforehand.
- Staple or glue the ears onto the headband, making the headband the right size for each child.
Better Balloons
- Write a "Martha" and "Mary"activites on a bunch of blown-up balloons.
- Put all the balloons in the middle of the room and then have the kids work together to decide which side of the room each balloon goes to (the "Martha" side or the "Mary" side).
- Talk about the fact that there are lots of things that keep us busy, but Jesus said that Mary chose what was best.
List of "Martha" activities for balloons:
- Sweep the floor
- Wash the windows
- Take the bread out of the oven
- Stir the pot
- Take out the trash
- Knead the bread dough
- Fold the laundry
- Feed the dog
- Brush your teeth
List of "Mary" activities for balloons:
- Listening to Jesus
- Sitting at Jesus' feet
- Talking to Jesus
Mary Sitting at Jesus's Feet Craft
- Color the sheets.
- Cut out Mary.
- Glue Mary at the feet of Jesus.
Are you listening?
Students will complete cooking activity while listening to their teacher read Luke 10:38-42.
Recipe suggestion:
Peanut Butter Balls
- 1-2 cups crispy rice cereal
- 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- Cover a baking sheet with waxed paper.
- Stir together the peanut butter, honey, wheat germ, and 1 cup of rice cereal until well blended.
- Roll mixture into 1 inch balls. If the dough is too sticky, add more cereal.
- Place the balls on the waxed paper and refrigerate. (Can eat immediately, but are a bit more sticky)
As the students are following the recipe, read the Bible verses in a normal tone of voice.
After the students are done with the recipe, read the Comprehension Questions and see if they were able to concentrate on what you were saying
Feel free to give rewards to students who are able to answer questions correctly
Where Does my Time Go? Activity Sheet
- Give a "Where Does My Time Go?" worksheet to each child
- Begin by marking off the pie graph in quarters, with each quarter representing 6 hours.
- At the bottom of the worksheet, walk the students through their typical day to determine what takes up most of their time.
- Start with sleep and school, which take up most of the average child's day.
- For each activity shade in the pie graph a certain color. You can also have them mark next to the activity with that color so they know the activity that color goes with.
- Use the 6 hour blocks as guides to help them know how much to color in. (see the picture below for an example)
- As they are working through the exercise, ask them if there are any activities that are interfering with them spending time with God.
Quiet Time-Older Students
- Talk to your students about the importance of taking time out of their day to spend alone time with God.
- A friendship with God takes effort, just like a friendship with others.
- This activity may be difficult for some children at first.
- Encourage the students to find a spot in the room or the building where they can concentrate and spend time alone with God for 10-15 minutes
- Depending on the maturity of the students, you may need to give them a place to start. This may be a list of things to pray about or a certain passage to read.
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Mary Sitting at Jesus's Feet Craft Example
Where Does my Time Go? Activity Sheet Example
