• Posts on this site contain affiliate links. This means that when you purchase through these links, we get a small commission off of those purchases; in other words, it helps to keep this site running, cover fees, and support our family!

Not Even a Little White Lie | Kids’ Devotional

Not Even a Little White Lie Kids DevotionalRead Acts 5:1-4verses 1-11 if you deem appropriate for your child’s age.)

Pinocchio Revisited:

(Printable version now available at the end of the post!)

Geppetto, a lonely carpenter with no children, decided that he wanted a boy. He carefully carved one out of wood, taking his time and adding much detail–big, blue eyes, a button nose, wavy black hair. He named him Pinocchio.

As the carpenter worked on his wooden boy, he got to the mouth. As he chipped away at the wooden smile, the boy started making faces. “Stop that at once! That is not nice,” scolded Geppetto.

“No, I won’t!” shouted Pinocchio.

The carpenter was startled. “You can talk?” he questioned.

“Why, of course,” replied the boy rudely, “You gave me a mouth.”

This was just the beginning of Pinocchio’s naughty acts. His dad decided he should go to school with the real boys and learn how to behave. Pinocchio ran away.

He decided to go to school anyway, but on the way Pinocchio saw a play going on. He decided he was much better at singing and dancing than the other performers, so he hopped right onto the scene. The director was going to throw him out, but the crowd loved him so he let Pinocchio stay.

After the play was finished, Pinocchio was given five shiny coins for his participation and told to go straight home. He didn’t. He stumbled upon a wounded fox and a blind cat. They told him they were his friends and wanted to help him turn his money into gold. They told him to bury it beneath a tree. He believed them, so he dug a hole and placed the coins inside.

When he came back, the fox and cat, who were perfectly healthy, disguised themselves as thieves and demanded that he give them the money. His dog, however, came to scare them off. That’s when Pinocchio’s lying began.

“Why weren’t you at school today?” asked a friend of his.

“I was,” he said. After all, what did it matter if he went to school or not? It was only the first day. He’d go tomorrow. No one needed to know. It wasn’t a big deal.

His nose grew a little. Hmm. That was weird.

His friend told him that to become a real boy, he would have to tell the truth and be kind. That when he tells a lie, his nose will grow. He must go straight home. He didn’t.

While Pinocchio wandered, Geppetto set out in search of his son and got lost.

Pinocchio met some boys who tricked him into skipping school again. They told him they had found his dad. They didn’t. They were lying to him. Instead they took him to the circus and mocked, “You’re not a real boy. Join the circus.”

“Yes, I am!” yelled Pinocchio. He wanted to be a real boy…it wasn’t really a lie, was it? His nose grew a little more, until it was the length of his hand.

The Circus Master found the boys and asked them, “What are you doing here? You should be in school!”

Pinocchio, not wanting to get into trouble, told another little lie, “We had off today.”

Guess what happened. His nose grew even longer. It was the size of a banana.

“What? Why? How did your nose just grow?” inquired the Circus Master with growing curiosity.


Pinocchio did not want to end up as part of the circus act. “It didn’t,” he lied, “You just imagined it.”

You know what happened next. His nose was now this long (stretch out one of your arms), as long as my arm. Honestly, I’m not sure how he could still walk with such a long nose.

Now the Circus Master knew this would be quite an act for his show and went after him. Scared, Pinocchio carried his big nose and ran, ran, ran, as fast as he could, all the way to the shore and sat below the dock. He saw a light in the distance. It looked like the lantern from his dad’s workshop. Could it be?

He squinted and looked harder into the distance. His dad was on a raft that had drifted out into the sea. Should he rescue him? Probably. “But he will be so mad that I ran away,” thought Pinocchio, “But it’s my dad and I have to rescue him.” He found some workers at the dock and they were able to pull Geppetto to safety.

Geppetto hugged his son then stepped back to look at him. Of course, he couldn’t help but notice the enormous, clunky nose.

“What happened??” Geppetto worried, “How did your nose get like that?”

Pinocchio was scared his dad would be very angry if he knew the truth, so he began to think of a lie to cover up what really happened, “I…they…at school…” Then he stopped. His dad went looking for him when he was lost. When he returned, he hugged him. Besides, if his nose grew any bigger he would have to use it as a leg. He decided to tell the truth. And so he began the story of his long couple of days, “Well, I was on my way to school when I saw a play…”

That very long nose began to shrink with each truth he told. He was honest about everything.

“Pinocchio, be thankful nothing bad happened to you or anyone else. You may think a little white lie is okay, but here’s the thing about little lies–they grow. If you tell one, you’ll feel you need to tell another. You need to tell the truth.”

Rather than pitch a fit or run off, Pinocchio sat there and listened like a good boy. He apologized to his dad for his bad behavior. Geppetto forgave him.

The next morning, Pinocchio woke up and stretched his arms high into the air. Well, that was easy. He walked over to the mirror. To his surprise, he was a real boy!

Pinocchio

Now, we know that wooden puppets do not really turn into real boys, but there is a great lesson to be learned from this story. It is not good to lie, no matter how small and insignificant that lie may seem. In fact, the Bible tells us not to lie. Read Proverbs 12:22. Being honest is even one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:16.) When people tell you that a “little white lie” isn’t harmful, they are lying.

In the Bible story, Ananias and Sapphira thought it was okay to lie about keeping part of the money they made selling land. Would it have been bad that they kept some as payment? Perhaps not, but the big problem came when they lied about it to the apostles. They lied in fear they would get into trouble and lose that money. It seemed like a small lie at the time, but that was not how God saw it and it did not work out well for them in the end.

Sometimes telling the truth takes courage. It may be difficult like it was for Pinocchio or for Ananias and Sapphira, but it’s something that you need to do. Proverbs 19:1 reminds us it is “Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and a fool” (NLT.)

Whether it’s telling someone you didn’t do something to get out of trouble, pretending you did something really awesome so your friends think you’re cool, or even something as tiny as telling someone that piece of broccoli isn’t really in their teeth because you’d feel bad, the truth is, people would prefer you were honest. Now, I’m not saying you need to shout to the world that Peter has broccoli in his teeth or tell people you are really boring (you aren’t.) I am saying that you should always tell the truth in a loving and respectful manner, even in the little things. Read Ephesians 4:14-15.

Life Application

Tell the truth, even when it’s hard.

You may also like Building a Firm Foundation Kids’ Devotional and Activity

Three Little Pigs Devotional Project

You may also like these devotionals: Adventures in Odyssey (we loved listening to the audio versions on road trips, but they also have books!), 5 Minute Sunday School Activities–Exploring the Bible, The Berenstain Bears Go to Sunday School, and The Illustrated Bible for Little Ones.

Activity

Parents, this first activity is for you and it is simply to set a good example. As a parent, I know how tempting it can be to lie about this or that. Maybe the kids don’t need to know. Maybe you don’t want to hurt their feelings. Just be honest. You don’t need to tell them everything, especially if you can’t, but what you do tell them should be honest and with love. Kids learn the most from the examples set before them.


For the kids’ activity, you will need the free printable Pinocchio face and free printable flash cards available below, then cut out the flash cards. You will also need some building bricks or something else that your child can stack.

Each brick represents a lie. Carefully read each flash card to your child and have him or her decide whether each is the truth or a lie (each answer is labeled upside down on the card.) Depending on your child’s age, you may need to help with understanding. My 4-year-old was able to figure most out without hints.

Every time the flash card contains a lie, have your child place a brick on Pinocchio’s nose.

GET YOUR FREE DOWNLOAD HERE!

This will show how one lie turns into many, build up, and you can’t just take them back. It will also help your child with problem solving and discerning what is right and wrong and can even help with counting and motor skills (my son counted the bricks when we were through.)

Not Even a Little White Lie Kids Devotional and Activities

Did you do this devotional and activity? Share with me in the comments!

Read also: Building a Firm Foundation Kids’ Devotional and How to Tell a Bedtime Story

47 Comments

  1. What a great activity idea! I love that it helps the child learn to be honest. I think the visualization of this could really help children understand why it’s important to tell the truth.

  2. This is such a good life learning lesson to teach kids about the consequences of lying. This lesson teaches kids how to be honest and can even help their parents who are teaching this lesson.

  3. This is a lesson that many adults could learn a thing or two from, because children learn much of their behavior by watching their parents.

  4. This is a great reminder of a story that helps kids understand that lying is unacceptable, and what a great activity to start teaching the values of truth.

  5. I love all of the activity lessons. This is a great learning tool.

  6. I can’t find the link to download the flashcards and face printable. Any help is appreciated. thanks.

    • Hi Ruth, if you scroll to the bottom of the post there is a button that says “download now” and it says above it and below that it is for the activity pages. Click that and it will bring you to the page to choose which you’d like to download. The link(s) will then be emailed to you immediately. Thank you! Please let me know if you are still unable to find it.

      • HI! This is such a cute idea! I’m really excited to do this with my family. I was able to successfully print the devotional and Pinocchio face, but not the flash cards. Is there a separate link for the flash cards?

        • Hi Melissa,

          Fantastic! I hope you enjoy them. The flash cards are a separate file, unfortunately (they are on my old, dead computer so I haven’t been able to get the files combined yet, which is my plan eventually) so you will find a separate quick form to request those on the same page as the Pinocchio face. Hope that helps! Please let me know if you are still unable to find it.

      • I can’t seem to find the flash cards either. I was able to get the sketch though.

        • Hi Teena, just saw this. They were all separate downloads, but you can now download the full set on my account at gumroad.com/artscrackers. Please let me know if you need any further assistance.

      • I tried and sent my email and still didn’t get anything. It is so hard to print it and I love the activity.

        • Hi Vanessa, would you please screenshot me an image of what the issue is/what you are doing? It should not be difficult to get this. I have it hosted in Gumroad and it gives all of the instructions and sends you the file and stores it in your Gumroad account as well to access later. I did not see anything come through showing that you signed up to download it, so please make sure you are following the instructions on that platform. Make sure you are using my branded download button or highlighted text in my post to access it, or the Gumroad widget that lets you do it all right in the post instead of on the Gumroad site.

        • I signed up for the download and never received anything 🙁

          • Hi Lyndsay, could you please email me at alyssa @ artscrackers .com with more details on how you tried to get the download? It should take you to Gumroad, an outside company I am moving all of my downloads to, and when you sign up you should receive both an email with the file and the file added to your Gumroad account. Please make sure you’ve signed up for the files through the Gumroad platform. Thank you!

    • yeah i did face and now the flash cards disappeared. they’re not in devotional either. There’s so many ad popups i cant figure outwhere to go or what todo.

      • Hi Linda,

        Please read all the other comments here or look for the bold headers. Each download is separate and each is labeled clearly as I am unable to combine them at this time. The ads are there as a way to continue to keep my content free. Thank you for understanding. Enjoy the printable devotional!

    • Hello! I only received the face printable. Where can I find the flashcards to print out?

      • Hi Anna, please read the responses to the comments above and look for the headers in the post that explain how to get it. Thank you.

  7. What a wonderful devotion for kids! I’d love for you to share it at Encouraging Word Wednesday. I am thinking we might work it into a lesson for the children’s worship we lead at our church. Thank you!

  8. I’m still not able to find the flashcards… can you help me? I’d love to use this tomorrow for sunday school!

    • Hi Amy, the flashcards are under the activity printables download button (there are two in the post–one for the text and one for the activities.). Once you go there, there will be two different download forms–one for the face and one for the flashcards. The downloads are all separate at this time, as they are housed on multiple broken computers, but I do plan to eventually combine them. Hope that helps! 🙂

  9. I got the flash cards at this link-
    https://artscrackers.com/not-even-little-white-lie-kids-devotional-printable-activity/

    The regular downloads above don’t link to the cards. Thanks!

    • Hi Nicole,

      The links are working, but the “thank you” page is giving an error and no matter what I research I cannot figure out why. The downloads are also all separate, so there are two on the first page (one for the text and one for the activities) then two different download links on the activity downloads page. 🙂 I saw your email that you were able to find the links in your email; so happy they came through. Enjoy!

  10. Hello,
    Thanks for sharing this lesson and printables with us! I’d like to use your printables but am not able to access them.I click the buttons but when I enter my name and email address, I receive an error message. Thanks for any help you can give!

    • Hi Shaynie, check your email. I cannot diagnose why it’s happening, but I have it set to redirect to a “thank you for downloading” page to confirm the download and all looks correct and in place, but it’s not redirecting properly. I am guessing it is a glitch with the program I use. The files are still being emailed, though, you just won’t see it confirmed like usual, so you should have them in your email. Remember as well that the three files are separate–the download buttons for the wording and the activity sheets are both separate and labeled on the home page, then the activity landing page will have two other download links, one for the face and one for the flashcards. Eventually I hope to combine them to make it simpler, but I need to get them off my broken computer to do so. Hope that helps!

  11. hello, thank for offering this resource! I’d love to use it but the emails haven’t come to me, although I did it twice with separate email accounts. Can you help me with this?

    • Hi Rachelle,

      You’re welcome! Have you checked your spam folder? Unfortunately some people like to mark my emails as spam after they get their freebies, so they sometimes are dropped into spam folders. It should send immediately to the email address provided and I haven’t heard anything about it not working, so I am hoping you will find them there. If you do, please mark as not spam. Please let me know if this does or doesn’t work for you and we will get this figured out. Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you need to! 🙂

      • hello! I checked my spam on both emails and didnt see anything.

        • Hi Rachelle,

          Please email me at [email protected] with the emails you tried signing up under and I will see if it went through properly for you 🙂

        • Hi Rachelle,

          I figured out the problem! The company I sent my newsletter and downloads through has caps for subscribers before the price goes up and it emails you when it goes over and stops sending out emails. Apparently I had an email and missed it. I apologize for the inconvenience. I’ve updated it all now so it should work 🙂

  12. Hi there, I downloaded the activity but the picture of Pinocchio is not in the download on the 5th page

    • Hi Sherri,

      Please read the comment I left above and it will explain how to get all the downloads. They are all separate downloads at this time.

  13. I can’t seem to print anything off my printer. What am I doing wrong? Thank you for sharing your talants.

    • Hi Diane,

      Could you please give me more information so I can try to help diagnose what is going wrong? Were you able to get through and get the files emailed for downloading (they’re all separate…the words, flash cards, and face)? Is it giving you an error code anywhere? Please feel free to email me with any extra info and I would be happy to assist you. You can email me using the contact form or just email [email protected].

      And you’re welcome! <3

  14. Pingback: May is about Honesty! Part 2 | Be The Difference | A Blog by Author Maria Dismondy

  15. No face on page five of the devotional. It is a blank page.

    • Hi Lisa, please look for the labels and instructions within the post or read the other comments here for instructions to get the full set. They are all separate downloads. Thank you.

  16. Can’t wait to try it!

  17. I am unable to download the face. Is this included?

    • Hi Susan,

      It is included, however please check out the comments above and instructions within the post on how to get each download. They are all separate and labeled. Some day I hope to get them combined, but for now they are all separate.

  18. Hello!
    I have clicked on the “Get your Free Download” icon and it takes me to the activity page. There is no way on downloading anything.
    I have read through all of the comments and still have no idea on how to do so.
    Thanks for your help!

    • Hi Rain, please click it again or look to see if the widget below that shows up. It will take you to the Gumroad page and it has all the full instructions of how to get access to the set. I just tried it, so I can attest that everything is working properly.

  19. Pingback: DIY Bible Bag for Kids Easy-Sew Tote Bag Pattern

  20. I am having trouble as well. I click on the Free Download box and I need to scroll down to add to cart but as soon as I lift the mouse off the scroll tab, the page disappears. My 10yo was hoping to teach this to her junior church this Sunday.

    • Hi Annie, I was unsure what was happening for you, so I went and tried it out to see if something changed. A window pops up, then you will need to add at least a 0 to the “name a fair price” box then add to cart. I tried it and the screen did disappear, but it puts a little cart in the upper right corner of the screen, with one item in the cart (it is a bit difficult to see and is cut off some for me, which I cannot control, but that may be because I have all of the admin bars at the top of my page). If you click on that cart, it will show you the rest of the information to complete the order. I am not sure why it is popping up in the screen like this now, because I had it set up to take you to the Gumroad page. If you need to, it may be easier to go directly to my storefront at https://gumroad.com/artscrackers. I hope that helps! Please do not hesitate to send any other questions to me, or reach out to me directly via email.

    • Okay, so I was able to figure out what happened, and something did change. I was trying to create an online “storefront” on my website yesterday for my website’s 9th birthday to show all of my products that are housed on different platforms in one place. I was trying to find an easier way to move them over, so I added the Gumroad plugin to my website to avoid manually entering things. It did not work out, but I left the plugin active because I did not think it changed anything, but it appears it changed this. I removed it, and those links will now bring you to an external page like they used to. I apologize for the inconvenience. You should be able to download it now without the cart being hidden.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.