Noah's Ark Story for Children

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there lived a man named Noah. Noah was a very good man, and God loved him because he lived like God wanted him to live. Noah had a wife and three sons, named Ham, Shem and Japheth, and each of his sons had a wife.

It wasn't a very happy time on the earth. There were big ugly giants that lived in those days, and people became very mean to one another. There was a lot of fighting between people, and lying and stealing, and it was just all bad. But Noah and his family were always very nice. God became angry with all the mean people and the big ugly giants. He was so upset with them all that he was sorry he made man on the earth, but he was very pleased with Noah and his family.

God talked to Noah one day and said, "Noah ... Noah. I have to put an end to all of the bad people and giants on the earth. I will destroy them all, people and animals, by sending a Great Flood, to wash them all away. I want you and your family, to build an ark out of gopher wood. Make it with rooms inside and make it really, really big. Put a window in the top, so light can get in, and build a door on the side. I want you to make it three stories tall with rooms inside."

God told Noah all the measurements to use in making the ark, like how long and how high and how wide to make it. Then God said, "I am going to send two of every kind of living thing on the earth to keep them alive during the Great Flood. They are going to live with you and your family on the ark. And I will start my promise with you."

Oh my! Noah had a very big job ahead of him. He had never even built a boat before, let alone, an ark. God told Noah just exactly how to do everything. So, Noah and his family began building the ark. They had to cut down big, tall trees for the wood and had to haul it to the place where they were building the ark. They had to cut the trees so all the wood would fit together just right, the way God told Noah to. They didn't have the same kind of tools back then, that there are now, so it took a lot of time, and a lot of hard work. They needed tar to go between the wood, so that the water couldn't get in at all.

They had to build separate pens for all the different kinds of animals. They built big pens for the big animals, like the elephants and the giraffes. They built medium sized pens for the medium sized animals, like the cows and the horses. They built smaller pens for the smaller animals, like the deer and the sheep. And they built little cages for the little things, like the chickens and the birds. They also had to build places to store all different kinds of food, for all the different kinds of animals. Yes, it was a very big job, indeed!

People made fun of Noah and his family while they were building the ark. They laughed and said, "Noah, you crazy old man, there isn't even a lake close by!" Every time they passed by, they had something mean to say to Noah and his family about how silly they were to build an ark. They didn't know that God was going to bring a Great Flood to wash them all away.

Noah didn't care that the people were laughing at him. He didn't let the people or anything that they said, bother him because he knew what was going to happen. He was very happy doing whatever God told him to do, whistling and singing while he worked.

It took a very long time to build the ark. Many days were spent cutting and lifting and measuring and fitting. It was hard work. When the ark was finished, God told Noah to start loading the ark with his family and the animals because in seven days, the rain would start. God said it would rain for forty days and forty nights, and that would destroy every living thing on the earth.

So, Noah did what God told him to do, and he, and his family started bringing everything God told him to bring, onto the ark. Noah was six hundred years old when he finished the job that God had given him.

The animals knew they were supposed to go to the ark because God led them there. God made all the wild animals calm for the time that they were on the ark. Imagine how surprised all the people were, who watched all the animals gathering together at Noah's ark. The animals walked on to the ark two by two.

You can imagine the long line of all the different kind of animals, waiting their turn to get onto the ark and being led to their places. There were two of each kind, male and female, and seven each of certain kinds that God had sent. Noah's family brought enough food for themselves and for all the animals, too. When the eight people of Noah's family, and all the animals and food were loaded up on the ark, the Lord shut them in.

As soon as the ark was closed up tight, it began to rain. The water from the rain grew deeper and deeper on the earth and the water from the oceans and the seas even began to rise. The ark, with all that was inside, floated on top of the water, above the earth. The whole earth became covered in water, and it all happened, just as God had said it would.

Now all the people who made fun of Noah and his family, understood why they built the ark. Everything that lived on the earth was washed away in the flood, and there were no people or animals left living, only Noah and his family, and the animals on the ark.

The rain didn't stop for forty days and forty nights, and the water covered the top of all the mountains. Then, God sent a wind to help dry up the water. Noah and his family were so glad when the rain stopped. Now they had to wait for all the water to dry up before they all could get off of the ark because the whole world was just one big, huge ocean of water.

On the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains could be seen again. Noah and his family took care of all the animals on the ark, feeding them, and washing them and keeping them healthy, the whole time. After a while, the ark finally rested on a mountain. Noah sent a raven from the ark to fly here and there until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

Noah also sent a dove out of the window in the top of the ark to see if the water was dried up, but the dove returned because there was no place for her to land. So, Noah waited for seven days and then he sent her out again, and when she came back, in her mouth, there was an olive branch. Noah knew then, that the water was lower than the tree tops. So, seven days after that, he sent the dove out, once again, and she never came back to the ark. Now Noah knew that the water was all dried up because the dove could land on the earth and live there again.

God told Noah and his family to leave the ark and to let all the animals off of the ark, to go free. He told them all to go and have families to fill up the earth again with new people and new animals.

Then God told Noah the promise that he spoke about before the flood. "I promise I will never send a flood again to destroy the earth and the people and all the living things on the earth. As a sign of my promise, whenever it rains, I will bring a rainbow over the earth and you will be able to see it in the sky. And I will see the rainbow and remember the promise I made with all the living things on the earth."