Recipe for Success

Upper Elementary

Lesson 5
Winter 2025-26
By: RLD Editorial Team
January 04, 2026

Lesson Focus:

Jesus is able to meet all our needs.

Bible Basis:

John 6:1-13, 26-40

Materials Needed:

Step 1:

Internet access

Step 4:

Printouts of bread graphic (2 per student; template with 2 per page found here)
Pens/pencils
Paper cutter

Summary & Links:

In order to introduce the lesson topic, students will discuss different kinds of needs that people have and watch a video about how ADA compliant sidewalks help meet the needs of individuals with disabilities.

Memory Verse:

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
—John 6:35

ECHOES: “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.”
—John 6:47-48

Materials Needed:

Internet access

Welcome, everyone! In today’s lesson, we’re going to learn about one of the most important ways we relate to each other and to God. It has to do with our needs.

Does anyone know the difference between a need and a want? (Students will likely offer examples.)

A want is something that isn’t necessary but we think would make us happy or fulfilled or satisfied. A need is something we really can’t get along without!

What are some examples of real needs? (Possible answers: Food, air, shelter, water, friendship.)

All of us have certain basic needs that we really can’t get along without. There are the obvious ones like food and water. Then there are the less immediate (but no less important) needs like family, a place to live, access to doctors and education, and many other things. If a person’s needs are not met, it can be really damaging.

Let’s watch this video carefully, noticing some of the ways that sidewalks are being designed to be ADA compliant and meet the needs of individuals with disabilities.

Play this video for your preteens [0:50]: ADA Compliance and Sidewalk Construction: Making Sidewalks Safe and Accessible for Everyone

What needs is the ADA compliant sidewalk helping to meet? (Answer: It offers a gradual slope so that people with wheelchairs or mobility aids can access it, it eliminates puddles and flooding on the sidewalk that could cause falls, etc.)

In today’s lesson, Jesus meets an important need for many, many people…but promises to meet an even more important need. Let’s see what happens.

Looking for Steps 2 & 3?

You can find Steps 2 and 3 in your teacher’s guide. To purchase a teacher’s guide, please visit: Bible-in-Life or Echoes.

Materials Needed:

Printouts of bread graphic (2 per student; template with 2 per page found here)
Pens/pencils
Paper cutter

Before class, print out enough bread graphics so that each student has two graphics (two per page; template found here). Cut each page in two so that your students have one to keep and one to give away. (If your class is meeting online, email the template for families to print ahead of time. Invite students to bring printouts and pens/pencils to class.)

In today’s lesson, we heard how Jesus met the needs of five thousand people by miraculously providing them with food. All of Jesus’ miracles are amazing, but this is one that seems extra special because of how many people it affected all at once.

What are some important things we learned in our lesson today? (Students may comment that Jesus is able to meet all of our needs, that He is the Bread of Life, that there are different kinds of hunger and thirst, etc.)
Other than things like food or shelter, what are some other needs that are met in Jesus? (Possible answers might include: Wisdom, guidance, strength, peace, forgiveness, eternal life, joy.)
Can you think of a time when Jesus met your needs? (Be prepared to give your own examples to prompt discussion.)

Distribute supplies (or invite students to have them ready at home). Ask your students to write out the memory verse on each of their bread graphics. Have your students think back over the lesson and how they might share it with someone who doesn’t know Jesus as Savior. Encourage them to hang their bread graphic in a spot that will remind them to keep their needs always before the Lord in prayer because He stands ready to meet those needs. Challenge them to share the other graphic with someone who needs Jesus.

Close in prayer.

David C Cook COVID-19 Response

Upper Elementary