Bible stories, crafts and creative ideas for toddler groups, children's ministry and families
‘And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.’ Luke 1:30,31 Make a stained glass ‘window’ You will need – black square paper plates, black paper … Read More “Christmas – paper plate stained glass nativity” »
This craft has a bit of preparation – there is some cutting out for an adult or older child to do. I made a template to speed the process up! All you need to make the ‘baby in the manger’ scene is :- Good quality paper plates – preferably with a definite rim. You will … Read More “Simple Christmas Craft – baby in the manger” »
Chocolate has taken over advent calendars! So this is a set of printables to make your own set of pictures (that children can decorate every day of advent) with a Bible verse to read each day. In our family we won’t do this instead of chocolate but alongside the chocolate eating advent calendar. Use this … Read More “Make your own advent calendar” »
We’ve had our Early Leaning Centre Nativity for about 14 years and it is still going strong. Sadly the new sets no longer have a stable 🙁 But with some shredded tissue paper for straw and a big catering size foil dish to keep the tissue paper contained, you have a place to display an play with … Read More “Nativity at home” »
Sorry if you had this post on facebook with a missing link. It’s all sorted now 🙂 Luke 2v11 colouring activityB
I saw this on pinterest and thought I would see if it would be ‘child making’ friendly. I think it is! In a few weeks we’ll be having a go at making these mini houses at toddler group. I’ll warn the parents the week before. The biscuits used are the ‘Bahlsen Continental’ biscuits for the … Read More “‘gingerbread’ mini house” »
These paper plates were made as an aid to telling the Christmas story but they could easily be adapted to be crafts. I had a lot of fun making them 🙂 They would make a lovely family craft activity to make during advent and then display at Christmas. And if you want a family craft at … Read More “Christmas Paper Plate Ideas” »
I so wanted to make something like this last year but just ran out of time. So this year I was determined to make a craft focusing on Christingle. This is not necessarily instead of making the real thing. This craft could be done as an extra activity or used for very young children that … Read More “Paper Plate Christingle” »
loved making these angels last year…
Journey To Bethlehem is a series of Bible Stories that take us from the very beginning of the Bible up to the first Christmas. There are six stories in the series with ideas for visual aids and crafts. We have used these stories several times in the half term leading up to Christmas in our … Read More “Journey to Bethlehem – week 1 – God made everything good” »
Here’s some simple instructions for making the Baby Moses paper plate craft. I’ve made a baby Moses paper plate craft before (you can find it here) but wanted something a little simpler for our Holiday Bible Club as we don’t have a lot of time per age group. So this time there was no drawing … Read More “Baby Moses paper plate craft” »
We’ve been learning about ourselves at toddler group. This was our last session this half term and was all about talking. The story was the Tower of Babel. We used actions to show building (fists on top of each other over and over – like the rhyme one potato. two potato), talking (using our hands to … Read More “all about me – I can talk” »
This craft is suitable for all ages – all you need is collage materials, facial features cut from magazines or pictures from the internet, glue, face shapes and sugar paper. Older children can cut out the facial features they want to use. You can either go for proper likenesses or make some funny crazy faces. … Read More “funny face craft” »
It’s harvest celebration time! At toddler group we often mark this event at story and craft time. The story is usually focused on saying ‘thank you’ for our food. I have a basket of various fruit and veg (all real) to show to the children and as I take the fruit and veg out of … Read More “Harvest celebration” »
Young children have lots of discoveries to make. It’s fun to help them discover their senses. There are different activities that can show them that they can smell. Of course they already knew that! We can help them know what the smells are that they like or dislike. Sometimes a smell gives us a warning – the toast … Read More “all about me – I can smell!” »
Having Breakfast with Jesus is a Bible Story from John’s Gospel. It took place after the resurrection of Jesus and before his ascension. Note – the Sea of Tiberias is another name for the Sea of Galilee. Having Breakfast with Jesus – Story Idea In the story bag I had Peter and some friends (there … Read More “Having Breakfast with Jesus” »
This is one of the stories that Jesus told about the lost and the found. The younger son wants his money and spends the lot. He ends up feeding the pigs and comes to his senses. But when he goes home he is welcomed by his father. This son was lost but now is found! … Read More “The Prodigal Son – Stories Jesus Told” »
Bible story from Exodus 8. This is part of our series of stories about animals in the Bible. Meet the main characters – Moses, Pharoah and frogs! Moses was the leader of God’s people. God’s people lived in Egypt. They were very sad (can you look sad). Everyday they had to make bricks. they made … Read More “frogs in the bed..!” »
A new song to a well known tune – always a safe combination. The tune is ‘the wheels on the bus’. The song is about these guys. As you can see, I’ve been watching Springwatch. The owl in the garden goes twit, twit, twoo, twit, twit, twoo, twit, twit, twoo The owl in the garden … Read More “Springwatch inspired song!” »
We’ve been doing a few Bible stories at toddler group on the theme of ‘animals in the Bible’. We started with Jonah and have done the ravens feeding Elijah. Then we had a story about camels and today we thought about bees. ( I know they aren’t animals but I think it’s ok to be … Read More “Samson and the bumble bees.” »
The Christian Resources Exhibition is on at the Excel in East London. So this morning I took the train to go and have a look around. I’ve come home with a few goodies and some ideas! Now in case you aren’t able to go along I picked up some of the free books from The … Read More “Christian Resources Exhibition” »
Two simple crafts for Mothers Day.
In our series of Bible stories that include animals we told the very short story about Elijah being brought food by ravens. 1 Kings 17 2 And the word of the Lord came to him: 3 “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall … Read More “Elijah fed by the ravens” »
This half term we are thinking about animal’s in the Bible. So we made a start with the story of Jonah. I had seen a tent made into the big fish on Handsonbibleteacher.blogspot.co.uk so thought I would have a go at making one – my attempt doesn’t look as neat – I think my pop up … Read More “Jonah and the big fish” »
I found this via Pinterest – it’s originally from this website http://krokotak.com/ which is full of absolutely great ideas. The idea for my simple chicken came from here http://krokotak.com/2012/11/cut-away-some-paper-animals/. My version is a bit simpler as I was cutting out quite a few for our toddler group. If you wanted to you could place these on the breakfast … Read More “Easter chickens – paper plate craft” »
To make this colourful wreath the children need egg boxes, ready mix paint, a paper plate cut into a ring, double sided glue squares (we used Sellotape sticky fixers) and some foam shapes and if you want a bow, crepe paper. (Don’t unfold it simply cut strips from a new pack) For very young children … Read More “easter wreath – recycled egg boxes!” »
To make these pictures I started with a roll of paper from Ikea and drew a road. The buildings and trees were added. As you tell the story you can add all the things you need. The cloaks were cut from material, the donkey has pegs for legs. The people were copied from this book … Read More “Jesus enters Jerusalem – Palm sunday” »
Here are some craft and baking ideas to help celebrate Easter with the links to the original posts! This week I will be getting some brand new ideas together too. I can’t believe that we are almost at Easter already when Christmas doesn’t seem all that long ago. Easter Nests (only suitable for ages 5plus … Read More “getting ready for Easter” »
Palm Sunday craft to make. A few ideas that are fun to make! The story of Palm Sunday (or the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem) is from Luke 19, Mark 11, John 12 and Matthew 21. It is the beginning of the end of Jesus’ life on the earth. In Mark’s gospel we read that, ‘they … Read More “Palm Sunday craft” »
Do you ever have to organise a last minute Bible lesson/story for your Sunday school or Church club? Maybe someone is absent and you are the one who gets the text message ‘Can you sort out a Bible Story for club tonight?’ Well, here is an idea to help. There are a few things you … Read More “Emergency Bible lesson!” »
The story of the Rich Young Man (Mark 10:17-22) has a sad ending. He loves his money more than Jesus. With older children you could talk about things that get in the way of them following Jesus. You could also add a question mark symbol and talk more about why the young man asked the … Read More “Y is for the rich young man” »
Jairus’s daughter is a story from Luke 8: 40-56 Meet Jairus! To tell the story I used some simple pictures. I introduced ‘Jairus’ first and asked the children to repeat his name and say hello. The pictures I used were a selection of symbols and a photo of a house that I made from a … Read More “Jairus’s daughter” »
I love this painting by Wassily Kandinsky. Lovely colours. the idea of using a painting as the inspiration for a craft really appeals to me – it’s a great way of introducing children to art. So for Valentines Day we will be doing our own version – not quite so colourful and of couse no … Read More “Kandinsky inspired Valentine craft” »
I like to use a story bag at toddler group story time. I find it holds the interest of the children and adults better than a picture. My mum is a great knitter and made some Bible characters for me. If you are able to have a go at making some then the pattern is … Read More “Who’s in the story bag?” »
A bobble hat and mittens craft to celebrate the cold, wintry weather. There are two free printables for you to use. I printed the outlines of the bobble hat and the mittens onto paper but you could use card if you like. If you are using Pritt Stick the paper will be fine but if … Read More “It’s cold! Let’s make Bobble hat and mittens craft” »
Simon’s Mother in Law was ill in bed with a fever. This is a simple craft/story telling prop idea for the story of her being healed from Mark 1:29-31. The bed is made from an egg box and the people from cardboard rolls. If you wanted to make larger people you could easily use Pringle … Read More “Simon’s mother in law – homes Jesus visited” »
I love playdough, especially the homemade variety. It’s relatively cheap and lasts a long time and gives hours of fun and creativity. You can make characters from Bible stories with it, add it to laminated print outs, make shapes – anything. It’s great for young children to practice their fine motor skills and exercise … Read More “let’s play with dough..” »
Last week at toddler group we told the story about the Baptism of Jesus. This week we move on to the calling of Simon and Andrew to follow Jesus. To help the children picture what is happening in the story I have made a boat and two disciples using an egg box and cardboard rolls. … Read More “Calling of the first disciples – Mark 2” »
We are planning on telling Bible stories from Mark’s gospel at toddler group from now till Easter. The idea is to link the stories about Christmas with Easter. For the children each story will be complete on it’s own but the adults will be able to follow the chronology. The first story will be from … Read More “Jesus is baptised” »
In Matthew 7 we have recorded for us one of the stories that Jesus told. It is a very simple parable about house building. There was the wise man who built on the rock and the foolish man who built on the sand. The storm came and only one house remained – the house on … Read More “wise and foolish builders – Matthew 7” »
A couple of simple crafts to accompany teaching about creation – We made a collage of people surrounding a world map when we did the story of God making people from Genesis 1. The paper plate globe is a different version of the same idea – this time stickers are used to decorate the paper … Read More “In the beginning..God made people” »
The arrival of The Magi, or Wise men or Three Kings is traditionally celebrated twelve days after Christmas day on the 6 December. The story is recorded in Matthew’s Gospel chapter 2. These men came from the east and having seen a new star in the sky they decided that the new star signified the … Read More “The Visit of The Magi – Epiphany” »
