Bible stories, crafts and creative ideas for toddler groups, children's ministry and families
Thank you for visiting this blog! I just want to wish you a very Happy Christmas and a blessed New Year. This is my last post of 2018. To finish, here are some photos from the Toddler Group parties that I’ve been involved with over the past week. One was a birthday party for Jesus … Read More “Happy Christmas to you!” »
So far we have had stories about Creation, the Fall, Abraham, the angel visiting Mary and the birth of Jesus. Our last story in our journey to Bethlehem series is all about the shepherds. Luke 2:8-20 Bible Story from Luke 2:8-20 Bible truth for toddlers – Jesus is the Saviour ‘The baby sent from God was … Read More “Journey to Bethlehem – week 6 – The Shepherds” »
This week we arrive in Bethlehem! The story is from Luke 2:1-7. I often start story time by introducing the characters – in this story we’ll all say hello to Mary and then to Joseph as I take them out of the story bag. (The knitted characters are from an Alan Dart pattern – available … Read More “Journey to Bethlehem – week 5 – Jesus is born” »
This week we get very near to Bethlehem! The story is the Angel’s visit to Mary from Luke 1:26-38. Bible story – from Luke 1:26-38. (Include actions in the story if you can – ask the children and adults to join in) ‘One day Mary was at home. It was just an ordinary day. Mary … Read More “Journey to Bethlehem – week 4 – The Angel visits Mary” »
Christmas star craft
This is so easy and uses up Christmas cards! The star shape is from Baker Ross. I kept my Christmas cards from last year but wasn’t quite sure what to do with them until I was planning for Christmas and a friend told me about star shaped wreaths! For toddlers I’m cutting out nativity themed … Read More “Christmas Star to make” »
This week the Bible story was all about God’s promise to Abraham to give him a huge family and to bless all the people on earth through that family. During the story I use the names Abraham and Sarah for simplicity. (At this point in the Bible they are still using the names Abram and … Read More “Journey to Bethlehem – week 3 – God’s promise to Abraham” »
These paper plates can be used to tell the Christmas story and/or as craft ideas. They need some prep so I’m posting them now! The Angel Gabriel visits Mary – Luke 1:26-38 Jesus is born – Luke 2:1-7 The shepherds are told about the birth of the Saviour – Luke 2:8-21 You can tell … Read More “Christmas story paper plates” »
Adam and Eve break God’s law
Autumn craft and activities to enjoy! I love making seasonal wreaths. They can be taken home and used to decorate. It is good for children to see their art work displayed and treasured. We’ve used faux leaves for this wreath that were bought. You could use cut out leaf shapes instead and add tissue paper … Read More “Autumn craft” »
A 3D harvest picture made from a cereal box is a different craft to the usual – it takes a bit of effort to prepare but is well worth it. You need a cereal box for each child. We asked our church to donate boxes over several weeks. So to do this craft for harvest … Read More “Harvest – cereal box 3D picture” »
Jesus told the story about the Wise and Foolish Builders as part of his Sermon on the Mount. You can read it in Matthew 7:24 – 27. It’s a great story for using actions as you tell it. And of course there is the song. If you search youtube for ‘the Wise Man built his … Read More “The Wise Builder craft idea” »
A friend has asked for some ideas on what happens when at toddler group. So here are a few examples. I go to three groups a week at the moment and each one is different. Mondays and Thursday we are in community halls and on Tuesday we are in a church. Monday group ( venue … Read More “Toddler Group timings” »
This term we are thinking about the good things that God has given to us. The idea is borrowed from Christ Church Dunstable (big thank you to them!!). Each week we discover something that God has given to us. We aren’t exactly telling a story each week but are taking things from a story bag. … Read More “God gives us ..animals!” »
It’s nearly summer! This term we are thinking about the things that our Good God has given to us. This idea is borrowed from a Toddler Group scheme from Christ Church Dunstable. Last week we thought about the world. We had a globe (that lit up!) and lots of pictures. All the pictures were freely … Read More “God gives us…” »
We made these over two weeks at our after school club. The first week we made the basket and baby Moses and today we made the hand shaped reeds and tissue paper water. The four year olds did a great job of using scissors. I never use scissors with preschoolers but the children today … Read More “Moses paper plate” »
Nicodemus is mentioned several times in the New Testament. He first appears in John 3, then again in John 7 and then finally in John 19. He came to be a follower of Jesus over time. Quite different to Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus but no less real. For our Toddler Group story … Read More “Followers of Jesus – Nicodemus” »
We started a new set of Bible stories at Toddler group today. Each week we are going to meet someone from the Bible who followed Jesus. Today we started with Tabitha (or Dorcas) from Acts 9. She came along in our story basket together with a few sewing related items. We begin by saying hello … Read More “Followers of Jesus – Tabitha” »
Lovely crafts were made today ..
Sometimes I have cut out wreath shapes from paper plates but when you need to make 50 that can take a while! So when I found that Baker Ross were selling cardboard wreath shapes I was really keen to try them out. As you can see they are dark brown, obviously made of card and … Read More “Easter Wreath Decoration” »
I’ve spent part of today making Easter crafts ready for the next couple of weeks of toddler group. The above is a collection of all the things we’ve done to celebrate Easter over the past six years. When I look at some of them I am amazed that I made the time to prepare 60 … Read More “Easter Ideas” »
Palm Sunday craft idea
Bible reference John 5:1-9 ‘One day Jesus was in the big, important city of Jerusalem (ask children to repeat name) In Jerusalem there was a special pool of water. The people believed that when the water started to move that the first person to get into the water would be made better. So every day … Read More “The Man by the Pool – John 5” »
‘Love heart flowers cards’ – This is an easy make for Mother’s Day which is only a couple of weeks away! The flowers and leaves are made by cutting out heart shapes from coloured sugar paper. I don’t cut these out with scissors ; I use paper cutters. Paper cutters or punches can be expensive … Read More “Mothers Day Card” »
Q is for Question is part of our Bible Alphabet series. Starting at A we have told a Bible Story for each letter of the alphabet. It can be anything – a person, place or object – so long as the letter we are doing comes somewhere. Q was a bit tricky! There are names … Read More “Q is for question” »
Wherever Jesus went there were crowds of people wanting to see him. This story comes not long after the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law when people had heard about the healing and had come to the house with their family and friends who wanted to be made well. In this story Jesus is teaching the people … Read More “Great catch of fish – Luke 5:1-11” »
The story of the Wise Men is from Matthew 2:1-15. As this story is being told to toddlers I don’t mention Herod’s plan to kill the baby boys. It is a very dark part of the story and reminds us the Birth of Jesus took place in a world where many people had rejected God. … Read More “The Wise Men visit Jesus” »
Man through the roof craft is fun! In our group for Reception – Year Two we are doing a series of Bible Stories that can be found here. This week we began with the man through the roof story (healing of the paralysed man) from Mark 2:1-12. We made a craft using a square envelope for … Read More “Man through the roof craft” »
Back in November last year we did the story of Joseph in two parts. In week one we told the story of his special coat and how his older brother sold him to people who were on their way to Egypt. It was great to have some soft toy camels to take out of the … Read More “Joseph forgives” »
