CAIN AND ABEL LESSON PLAN

07/19/2017 By Jared Dees

This Cain and Abel lesson plan will help you teach young people about the
importance of generosity over jealousy. They will read and remember the story of
Cain and Abel, but more importantly, they will read and reflect on how it relates to
their lives.
CAIN AND ABEL LESSON OBJECTIVE
Students will be able to (SWBAT ) reflect on the ways they have been jealous like
Cain or generous like Abel.

CAIN AND ABEL LESSON ACTIVITIES

1. HOOK

Invite the students to bring in a gift for another teacher (or catechist). Have the
students each talk about what they brought in and why. Don’t do any teaching yet;
just observe. During the sharing time, did any of the students indicate that their gifts
were more meaningful than others? Did any of the students try to be especially
generous? Help make connections between this act of bringing in a gift for a teacher
and the story of Cain and Abel you are about to read next in the lesson.

2 . P R E S E N TA T I O N : R E A D T H E S T O R Y O F C A I N A N D
ABEL

Read Genesis 4:2-16 and have the students use one of the reading guide graphic
organizers found here as they read.

3. PRACTICE: CAIN AND ABEL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

After you finish reading the story with the students, ask a few questions to make sure
they understand what they read. Here are a few Cain and Abel discussion questions:

 What did Cain and Abel offer to God? (Cain: fruit of the ground, Abel: animal)

 What does Genesis say about Abel’s offering? (It was the fatty portion, the
firstling of his flock)

 What warning and advice does God give to Cain about being angry? (“If you
act rightly, you will be accepted; but if not, sin lies in wait at the door: its urge is
for you, yet you can rule over it.”)

 What does Cain do despite God’s warning? (He kills his brother Abel.)

 How does God punish Cain? (He cannot be a farmer; he has to be a

wanderer.)

 Does God completely abandon Cain? (No, he bans anyone from taking
revenge on him.)
Now ask a few questions that get at the deeper meaning of the story:

 Why was Abel’s gift met with approval from God? (Abel gave generously from
the first and best that he had.)

 Why did God not approve of Cain’s offering? (Cain was worried about giving
away too much.)

Alternative Activity: Another fun tactic is to invite the students to make up and ask
the questions about what happened in the story. This will push them to reread the
story in order to create good questions. Give them a few minutes to brainstorm
questions and let them lead the discussion.

4 . P R A C T I C E : C A I N A N D A B E L M E D I TA T I O N W O R K S H E E T

Now that the students have a thorough understanding of

what happened in the story, invite them into a brief process of Lectio Divina . Help
them make connections between what they read and the way they are living their
lives today. For this particular story, you want them to reflect on the times that they
are generous like Abel or jealous like Cain. Have them make a list of ways they have
been like either person in the story on a blank sheet of paper or download this
worksheet from The Religion Teacher’s Genesis Worksheets :

Download the Worksheet >

5 . A S S E S S M E N T: C H A R A D E S O F S E L F I S H N E S S

Check for the students’ understanding of the story and the depth to which they have
reflected on how it relates to their lives with a game of charades. Here are the typical
rules of charades.
Have the students write down one act of selfishness and jealousy (like Cain) to be
placed in a hat or bowl. Work closely with the students to make sure they are writing
down things we do that truly are similar to Cain’s selfish offering and jealous reaction
in the story.

Then have the students each pick a paper to act out in front of the class. Breaking
the students up into groups of 4 or 6 will work best in larger classes. You could even
break them up into teams if you have a enough students.

Remember, though, that the assessment is meant to show how well students are able
to reflect on the ways they have been or can be jealous like Cain or generous like
Abel. That means you need to make sure the jealous acts they write down really do
connect with the story.

When the students finish a few rounds of Cain Charades, have them repeat the
process by writing down generous acts like Abel and acting them out in front of
groups.

B O N U S : T W O A D D I T I O N A L W AY S T O T E A C H A B O U T
CAIN AND ABEL
In this live lesson, I shared three ways to teach about Cain and Abel including the
approach described in this lesson: