Rachel Ball, Author at Let their light shine!

Make your own scenery!

It’s possible to buy scenery and large pictures to decorate a space but you can make your own. This is great if what you want isn’t available to buy.

You need to photocopy the scene you want to use onto acetate ready to enlarge. We used an OHP (so glad we kept it!) to enlarge the picture onto material. To do this we drew the outline as it was projected on the material (use a size of material that suits your space – a large sheet is fine) and then painted the picture with poster paint. In between the drawing and painting I hemmed the top to make it possible to slide a curtain rail through so we can attach the whole thing to the wall on hooks. You could do this onto paper but for a large scene material can be a better choice.

This is a great way to make a background scene but you need a lot of space and make sure you cover the floor with plastic so that if the paint seeps through it won’t matter! An empty hall is ideal!

We used this scene as a backdrop on the stage when we had a Holiday Bible Club.

You can use the same technique to make a life size Goliath!

celebrating harvest and autumn

One of the great things about blogs and facebook groups is the sharing of ideas. My facebook friend Rhoda posted some pictures of her toddler group looking at autumn leaves and it looked so great that I ordered some magnifying glasses and tweezers from amazon and went into the garden to collect fallen leaves and pine cones (and inadvertently quite a few woodlice). Today the children and parents had a great time looking at these autumn finds. Thank you Rhoda!

Our Bible story was based around harvest. We thought about how God sends the sun and the rain (visual aids below) and then we looked at various fruit and veg from a shopping bag. As they are taken out of the bag each fruit or veg is named and then we decide if it grows on a tree or in the ground.

We sang –

‘I love the sun it shines on me. God made the sun and God made me. I love the rain it falls on me. God made the rain and God made me.’

Our craft was paper plate scarecrows. I love the way the children have made their own versions 🙂

Tower of Babel

There is a really good video clip about this Bible story on The Answers in Genesis site – click here to go straight there.

In one of our toddler groups we’ve been learning about how everything began. We started with creation, then how things went wrong for Adam and Eve when they sinned against God. We’ve learnt about Noah and now we are finding out about how people groups and languages began.

In Genesis 11 we find out that Noah’s descendants were still living in one big group and that they were very capable and able to make bricks. When Noah and his family had come out of the Ark God had told them to ‘fill the earth’ (Genesis 9:1). But they had not spread out but stuck together. So God separates them by confusing their language. Then they really have no choice but to go their separate ways and ‘fill the earth’.

Story for children (during the story if you have someone who can speak a language that you don’t understand ask them to help you – they could give you some building instructions!)

Do you remember how Noah and his family came out of the Ark? They were so happy to be back on dry land again. God told Noah and his family that they should spread out over the whole earth. Do you think they did what God said? No! They wanted to stay altogether.

Time went by. Soon there were lots of people. They all spoke the same language. When someone said ‘hello’ everyone understood. They were clever too. They learnt how to make bricks that were strong. (Have a brick to show)

‘Lets build a huge city with a tall tower that reaches up and up into the sky’ they said. everyone understood.

They started work.

‘Pass the bricks’, ‘Lend me a hammer’, ‘is that wall straight?’ Everyone understood all the instructions.

God looked at what the people were doing. He wasn’t pleased. He had told them to spread out and they hadn’t listened. So God did something that only God could do. He made the people start to speak in different languages.

It was so hard to build the huge city and tall tower now that some people were saying words that other people didn’t understand. (ask your friend to give you a couple of instructions here)

The people gave up. They got together in smaller groups with others who had the same language and they began to spread out over the whole earth.

Craft Idea – build a tower

rainbow craft

We have been hearing the story of Noah at Toddler Group and this week we are finding out about the rainbow and how God keeps his promises. Our craft is quite small as I bought the cloud shapes and the only ones I could find are actually gift tags. The rainbow is made from ribbon.

ideas for a lego themed Bible club

We sometimes run lego themed Bible clubs – either for an after school special or over a few days for a Holiday Bible Club. Playing with lego is a big hit – with both the children and helpers. This year we also enjoyed making mini figure puppets with paper bags (mini figure printable from here) and lego cakes. For the cakes you need madeira cake cut into slices. Spread on apricot jam and cover with coloured fondant icing. Add smarties using coloured writing icing. It is a straight forward no cook edible craft but children love it – and there are quite a few skills that they practice – spreading, rolling the icing, cutting the cake. And they get to eat it!

For the BibleZone time we use stories that have a build – Noah’s Ark, Tower of Babel, Wise and Foolish builders and more…

Lots of time is spent building with the lego and a couple of lego team challenges are added too.

Noah’s ark

I really enjoyed putting this craft together and the children enjoyed making their own too – which is the main thing!

There was a bit of prep – cutting an ark shape from a folded paper plate and tearing tissue paper into long strips. the ark ‘floats’ on the tissue paper water. The animal stickers were a perfect size.

dinosaur craft

There are lots of versions of this in my house (!) – this is my favourite

How to make – paper plates cut in half. You can easily cut the dinosaur spikes/plates a few plates at a time. Older children who can safely use scissors can do this part themselves.

Each dinosaur needs a tail and a head – there is a free printable here – Dinosaur Head and Tail (1) Colour these and then attach with glue.

Decorate the dinosaur with tissue paper, crayon, pens – whatever suits you. I like to give children a choice.

Decorate the pegs and attach. The dinosaur should stand up!

Paper plate lion

I’m putting together some paper plate crafts for a Noah’s Ark themed family event. I’ve made a lion before with wool for the mane but fancied a change so have used mini cup cake liners. As parents are there to make the crafts alongside their children there will be minimal prep –

all you need – cake liners in orange and yellow, yellow tissue paper, googly eyes……..…….black sugar paper, black felt tip pen, scissors, glue and paper plate.

Use the wrong side of the plate to make the lion.

Holiday Bible Club Crafts

We are getting ready for a HBC – these three crafts fit our sport theme. The paper bags, trophy and flag are all from ‘the little crafty bugs company’. The template for the paper bag runner puppet (it cost $4 ) is from ‘teachers pay teachers’.

To decorate each craft we’ve got googly eyes, wool, crayons, cake cases, tissue paper, stickers, pens and crayons…

Bartimaeus Bible Story

Mark 10:32,33, 46-52.

This is one of my favourite Bible stories. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and to face arrest and death when he stops to help a blind man who has to beg to be able to survive. Jesus isn’t too distracted or busy. He stops for a man who asks for help.

In his book ‘Let’s Study Mark’ (Banner of Truth 1999) Sinclair Ferguson writes, ‘Jesus has not changed, he is still the same. He still stops for those who call on his name, and he listens to our prayers for help.’

To tell the story…

Bible Truth for Toddlers – we can believe in Jesus

Jesus and his friends were in a big crowd of people going to the city of Jerusalem. By now lots of people had heard about Jesus and the amazing things he said and did.

One of those people was Batimaeus. Say hello to Bartimaeus! (Use a puppet or doll to represent Bartimaeus). He wasn’t able to see and couldn’t work so each day he sat with his bowl and begged for money. He had heard about Jesus. He started to call out as loud as he could ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’

There were other people too and they didn’t want to hear Bartimaeus. They said ‘Shush’ Can we all say ‘Shush’?

But Jesus listened. He stopped. He asked to meet Bartimaeus.

‘Get up quick!’ the people said

Bartimaeus threw off his coat and jumped up and came to Jesus.

‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Jesus asked.

What would Bartimaeus say? Did he want money? No! Did he want a chat? No!

‘I want to be able to see!’ he said.

Could Jesus do that? Yes! Jesus was able to make Bartimaeus see. Bartimaeus believed in Jesus. He believed that Jesus had the power to make him see. We also need to believe in Jesus.

my telling of the Bible Story about Bartimaeus – a slightly different version to the one above

Some craft ideas are here –

Pinterest board

God made people – story and craft ideas

God made people – story and craft ideas for use in toddler group or at home or in Sunday School. The craft ideas are very easy to make. You could do more than one in your toddler group in the same week.

For the Story have some puppets for Adam and Eve, and some toy animals and pictures land and the sea and plants and trees to take from the story bag as you tell the story.

God made people story

At the very beginning of the world God made everything. He made all the plants and animals. But who was going to look after them? God made people to care for the plants and animals.

When God made people he breathed life into them and they were perfect! He called the man he made Adam and the woman that he made Eve. They were the worlds first family.

God told them, ‘look after everything that I have made’, and everything was very good. (thumbs up). Can you remember the things God made that the people had to look after?

There was the land and the sea. There were the plants; the tall trees and the small flowers. There were the small animals and the large animals. (Have pictures and toy animals to show to the children from a story bag). God had made all these beautiful things and now Adam and Eve were to look after them.

God loved the people he had made and he loves you and me too. We are all important and special to him.

God made people craft ideas

God made people craft showing a person shape decorated with fabric

People shapes are available from Amazon – this is an affiliate link. If you click on the link and purchase the product the blog receives a very small payment at no extra cost to you. Thank you.

God made people craft showing a globe surrounded with faces of children

Here’s a link to a different version of this Bible Story

God made birds – craft

A couple of easy crafts – for the chicken fold a paper plate in half – some cutting out is required. Here’s a PDF to show you the pattern – Chicken+Plate

For the paper plate raven – he could be a different bird if you use different colours – fold the plate in half and cut a slit for the folded paper wing. Add a beak.

God made plants – story and craft ideas

I decided to focus on edible plants for this story time. In Genesis 1:11 it says ‘ And God said ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed..’

I had a fennel plant to show to the children – they are very touchy feely plants! Then we had vegetables and fruit to take from the story bag. We named them and I explained where they grow – under the ground or above the ground or on a tree. I talked about how all these plants were made by God for us to eat.

Note – it is worth telling the children that they mustn’t eat all the plants that see in the garden and that they must always check with an adult first.

Some plant craft ideas from pinterest

A leaf craft to try..

A flower card to make..

A paper plate apple to make..

God made big animals – paper plate craft ideas

Paper plates, tissue paper, glue and a bit of preparation = animal crafts that look great and are fun to make. You can add googly eyes, wool, stickers for eyes, triangles for a nose…

Here are a couple that I’ve made –

2015-06-18 16.19.56 — Paper plate pigs made by me to give children and parents an idea of what to aim at.

There are loads of ideas on my paper plate pinterest board

God made small animals – craft

Genesis 1: 25 ‘And God made the beasts of the earth…and everything that creeps on the ground…and God saw that it was good.’

There are so many crafts that you could make about the small animals that God made – spiders (!), paper plate ladybirds, butterflies to mane a few. i decided on a caterpillar with a butterfly. I used circles (these are card making supplies), tissue paper grass and paper antennae and added some flower shapes.

Here’s a link to Vicki Howie’s Faith in the Family blog post – it’s all about creation!

The woman at the well

I’ve been asked to tell the story of The Woman at the Well to toddlers. It’s a complicated story for under 4’s – lots of conversation and difficult concepts. So here is my attempt – I’ve left out some of the detail that would be lost on young children . Left to myself I would probably have just told a different story! But a challenge can be good so here is my retelling of John 4:1-42.

Our story has lots of surprises – as we listen lets count the surprises as they happen (each time you come to a surprise hold up the word – I know the children probably can’t read it but the adults can)

Jesus and his friends were on a long journey. They were hungry, hot and tired. They stopped just outside a town and while Jesus’ friends went to buy food Jesus sat down by the well. It was very quiet. No one came near the well in the middle of the day.

But then there was a surprise. A woman, carrying a large jar came to the well. She needed to get water. She wanted to avoid everyone in town so she came by herself.

Jesus asked her if she would get some water for him. This was a surprise! Normally people who were from Jesus’ town wouldn’t speak to people from this woman’s town. They avoided each other.

Then there was another surprise. Jesus knew all about the woman. He told her everything she had ever done. How could he do that? Jesus is God and he knows all about all of us.

Can there be any more surprises? Yes! The woman went back to the town she told everyone she had met Jesus and he knew all abut her.

They came to find Jesus. Right there at their well they met Jesus. This was a huge surprise for them! They had met the Saviour of the World.

That is who Jesus is – he was sent from God to be the Saviour of the World. A Saviour for me and for you.

The props are quite simple – a doll to represent Jesus and the woman. A small jar for the water jar (mine is glass but the children won’t be handling it) and a picture of a well.

God made fish

We did a paper plate craft for this week. All you need is paper plates, tissue and crepe paper, green paper for seaweed and lots of fish in bright colours.

God made the land

We’ve been gradually going through all the things that God made using SU’s Tiddlywinks ‘The Big Green Book’ as a starting point. We aren’t sticking to a 1-7 day order here. But if you would like to do that then have a look at the creation plates in this post.

We’ve learnt about God making water, the sun, moon and stars and the sky. This time it was all about the land. The story time was very simple. We used actions to talk about how God made the land – move hands from side to side to make a flat line. God made mountains – hands form a point. God made hills – move hands to make up and down shapes and the valleys in between. God made all of these by just speaking and it was all very good. Thumbs up! The children really enjoyed joining in with the actions 🙂

You can also have some pictures to show to help the children understand what the story is about.

Our craft was very easy to prepare too. We built up a simple landscape using mountains and hills. Cotton wool was used to add some clouds.

God made the sky

To tell the story (have the props in a story bag and take them out when you need them)

‘God made the sky. It was big and empty. So God put the sun in the sky for daytime. He put the moon in the sky for nighttime. What else can we see at night? God made all the twinkling stars. Now sometimes in the day and at night we see something else that God made in the sky – he made clouds too. Everything that God made was very good.’ (Thumbs up)

Song to sing – ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star’ (of course!), ‘My God is so big, so strong and so mighty’.

This was our craft .. cup cake cases cut into clouds (beforehand – older children could do this themselves), cotton wool clouds, shiny paper sun rays and a bit of glitter glue. The sun was cut out using a paper punch.

Some ideas for older children from Crafting the Word of God

God made the sun, moon and stars

This week at Toddler group we learnt that God made the sun, moon and stars. I put on my sunhat and sunglasses for the sun and we pretended to be asleep when we thought about the moon and stars. God made these things just by speaking and they were very good! (we all do thumbs up).

Our craft was making a paper plate sun and a paper plate moon surrounded by stars. We used pre-cut card stars (charity shop find) and pasta shapes, silver and yellow tissue paper and PVA glue. The moon and stars were glued onto black card. The chidren and parents are free to use the craft materials as they like so we have some suns covered in stars 🙂 It’s all about the fun of making rather than the end product.

Our songs were all part of the theme too. These laminated posters are displayed during the session to advertise our song and story time!

God made water – and a giveaway!

a pre-school teaching resource to win!

This term we’ll be using Scripture Union’s Tiddlywinks ‘The Big Green Book’ each week at toddlers.

We will adapt the different ideas each week to suit our group. We are starting with ‘God’s Wonderful World’. It’s all about water. So here’s my craft idea – with a PDF for you and my collection of wet weather gear that I’m planning on dressing up in.

PDF – Umbrella & Rain

Easter egg – messy craft!

This is a craft where you get in a bit of a sticky mess – but it’s fun! The egg shape is polystyrene. (I bought them from Amazon) I covered it in PVA glue and added tissue paper layers. If you finish off with a layer of glue it’ll look shiny. Experiment with the decoration. I added some cut up feathers to one egg. Chocolate sweet wrappers would look great too. Leave the decorated eggs to dry on some clingfilm as they shouldn’t stick to the film!

Easter decorations!

This craft is suitable for all ages – you may have to vary how you decorate the shapes. I used air drying modelling clay to make flowers and eggs. These were cut using cookie cutters. The shapes need time to dry out – a couple of days.

We’ll be decorating flower shapes at Toddler Group. You could make these at home with your children and if you make a hole for string you could hang them on an Easter Tree.

Smooth the edges before the clay dries

Decorate using PVA glue, tissue paper and sequins

A few years ago I made a similar craft using salt dough – I must admit that the shop bought air drying modelling material (long name!) was easier and seems less brittle. The salt dough egg post is here

On the way to Easter with Peter – Friday to Sunday

The story – from Mark 14,15 and John 20

Our story has a sad beginning – Can you look sad? Jesus died on the Friday. He was put in a tomb (cave) and a big stone was put over the entrance.

His friends were very sad and frightened. A whole day went by – that was Saturday.

The next day was Sunday. A lady called Mary went to the tomb. When she got there something had happened. The big stone had been moved. What could she do? Who would help her?

Mary knew someone who could help her – Peter! She went to find Peter and John and told them what had happened.

They listened. Then they started to run. They were running as fast as they could to the tomb. John got there first and looked inside. It was empty.

Then Peter got there. He didn’t just look inside. He walked right in to the tomb. It was empty!

Jesus wasn’t there anymore. The Bible tells us that that he had died and then come alive again. This is happy news for you and for me.

I used pictures from The Tiny Treasures He’s Alive Flannelgraph . After the story you could show the children an Easter Garden.

Mothers Day Card

‘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 but if you use them a lot they are soon worth the money spent. It would take me for ever to cut out hearts! The other shapes are squares/rectangles for the vase and thin strips of green paper for the stalks.

Handy tip – if your paper punch begins to get blunt cut a few shapes out of aluminium foil to sharpen it.

Time to make an Easter Garden!

This is a great activity to do with your own children/grandchildren. All you need is a container, some compost, stones, some plants/moss from the garden/seeds and a tomb shape – this could be made from plasticine or clay.

It’s a great outdoor activity or, if indoors, cover the area where you are making it with newspaper. If you are using live plants/seeds keep them watered!

On the way to Easter with Peter – Peter denies Jesus

Sometimes I like to give the parents/carers and children some actions to do during the story. We practise the actions first and then the idea is that everyone joins in at the right moment in the story!

Actions – running (either on the spot or making sound of running with hands tapping knees, stars in the sky, pretending to shiver and rubbing hands to be warm.

There are also some words to join in with – a rooster crowing, saying ‘No’ and counting to 3.

The story

Some people didn’t like Jesus and they wanted to make trouble for him. He was taken away and asked lots of questions. His friends ran away! All except Peter who followed to where Jesus had been taken. He stayed outside. It was dark – there were stars in the sky. It was cold too and Peter shivered. He tried to stay warm.

‘You are a friend of Jesus’, a woman said.

‘No!’ said Peter. Then he heard the rooster crow

‘You are a friend of Jesus’ she said again

‘No!’ said Peter

Then other people joined in – ‘You are a friend of Jesus’

What would Peter say? He said ‘No!’

Then he heard the rooster crow. Peter remembered that Jesus had told him that before the rooster crowed twice he would say he wasn’t Jesus’ friend 1,2, 3 times. Peter was so sad that he cried.

But Jesus still loved Peter and Easter is all about how Jesus can forgive us when we do wrong things. Jesus was going to forgive Peter.

On the way to Easter with Peter – Jesus’ last meal

On the way to Easter with Peter – Jesus’ last meal Bible story. Bible references – Mark 14 and Luke 22 (see also the accounts in Matthew and John).

The following is a story idea for toddlers. Some of the details have been omitted as this age group would find all the details bewildering! As we are using Peter as our main character I have concentrated on two main parts that he played – getting the room ready and then his conversation with Jesus. His outburst about not letting Jesus wash his feet has been omitted. The concept of being clean as explained by Jesus is quite complicated for toddlers!

The story is quite sad – so don’t overdo the sadness. Just tell it like it happened. The aim is to tell about Peter’s failure in order that we can then tell about Jesus’ love and forgiveness.

Use some props for the story – puppets or knitted people, some pitta bread, a cushion and a picture of a rooster as children may not know what this is.

puppets, flat bread, picture of rooster for Last Supper Bible story

The story…

Do you remember that we are on our way to Easter with Peter? He is one of the friends of Jesus.

Jesus wanted to have a very special meal with his friends. He knew that this would be the last time that they would all be together before he died. But, some people wanted to hurt Jesus and so the meal had to be kept secret.

Jesus had an important job for two of his friends – John and Peter. ‘Go into the town and when you see a man carrying a water jar follow him into the house.Then ask if you can use the room upstairs.’ John and Peter did exactly what Jesus said and they got the room ready. There was a table for the food – some bread and wine to drink and some cushions to sit on.

Jesus and his friends sat down and had a meal together.

When they had finished they sang a song and then went outside for a walk. It was dark. The stars were twinkling in the sky.

Jesus wanted to talk to Peter. ‘You are going to let me down and say that you aren’t my friend’, he told him.

‘No!’ Peter said,’I will never do that!’

‘Peter, you will tell people you don’t even know me before the rooster crows to show it’s morning time’ Jesus said.

Would Peter do that just when Jesus needed his friends? We’ll have to wait and see!

Jesus’ last meal craft idea

lords-supper-cup-and-bread-1 Download

On the way to Easter – with Peter

The fish outline is a free download from :-

<a href=”https://clipartfest.com/”>clipartfest.com</a>

The colourful ‘scales’ are mini cup cake cases cut in half. I bought them from Amazon. The fins are the cases cut into quarters.

We were doing the story of Peter being called to follow Jesus from Mark 1:16. As Peter was a fisherman we made fish! For the next few weeks our stories will be about the things Peter saw and heard and did the first Easter. Here’s Peter..with his boat and fish.

Peter

the sea, boat and fish from Peter’s story

The next four weeks will be

The last Supper Mark 14
Peter denies Jesus Mark 14
Jesus death and resurrection Mark 15,16
BBQ breakfast on the beach John 21

Each time the focus will be on what Peter saw and heard and did. I am hoping that while each short story will be interesting for the children they will also give the adults an understanding of what happened and why.

Easter story – Go Teach

Easter is nearly here! At least the schools break up in about five weeks time. We’ll be telling the Easter story nearly two weeks before the Easter weekend so it feels closer than it is. If you are looking for a simple telling of the Easter story then Go Teach Toddlers Book 2 is one place you will find one. There are simple craft ideas too.

There are thirteen stories in the book with craft ideas and general ideas for toddler groups. This book covers –

Things Jesus did

1. Jesus obeyed God Matthew 3:13-17

2. Jesus made some friends John 1:35-51

3. Jesus calmed the storm Mark 4: 35-41

4. Jesus helped people Luke 5:1-11

5. Jesus taught people about God Luke 4:15-30

6. Jesus did things we cannot do Matthew14:22-33

7. Jesus died and rose again John18:1-5; Mark 16:1-8

Finding out about me

8. Thank God for speech Genesis 11:1-9

9. Thank God for hearing 1 Kings 19:1-18

10. Thank God for taste Daniel 1

11. Thank God for sight Mark 10:46-52

12. Thank God for touch Mark 5:21-34

13. Thank God for smell Matthew 26:6-13

You can order a copy from Go Teach

God has made a way for us to know him

Story from Luke 2

Bible truth for toddlers – God has made a way for us to know him

‘We have heard about how God is everywhere.God knows everything. God is powerful. God is holy. God is faithful. Today we find out that God has made a way for us to know him.

Mary and Joseph were in the stable. That night something amazing had happened. Jesus had been born as a baby. Jesus was not just an ordinary baby – he was God’s Son sent from heaven.

Out in the fields there were some shepherds looking after their sheep. It was dark. There were stars up in the sky. Suddenly an angel was there! This angel had a message from God.

The shepherds were scared!

‘Don’t be afraid,’ the angel said, ‘I bring you good news of great joy that is for everyone. Today in the Town of David a Saviour has been born to you!’

Who is this Saviour? It is Jesus

The angel told the shepherds ‘ You will find the baby wrapped in cloths and in a manger’.

Then there were lots and lots of angels in the sky singing. It was such a special night – a Saviour had been born.

Then the angels were gone. The shepherds looked at each other. ‘let’s go and find this special baby’, they said to each other.

They dashed into the town and they looked. And they found him – the Saviour sent from God was there. God had sent Jesus to be our Saviour so that we can know God. The shepherds found Jesus. You can find Jesus too.’

The characters are from Early Learning Centre. The ‘straw’ is shredded tissue paper.

God is faithful – Zechariah and Elisabeth

Story from Luke 1:5-24

Bible truth for toddlers – God is faithful

One day a man called Zechariah was in the temple. It was a very special place where people went to worship God. Zechariah had a special job to do there – just once in his life! He was a priest and he had been chosen to go and burn some incense that would make the temple small beautiful. He was all by himself. all the other people had to wait outside.

Suddenly an angel was there with him. Angels are big, strong messengers from God. Zechariah was frightened!

‘Don’t be afraid’, the angel said, ‘God has heard your prayers and you and your wife Elisabeth are going to have a baby son.You will give him the name John.’

Now Zechariah should have believed the angel but he didn’t! ‘How can that happen? he said Elisabeth and I are far too old to have children!’

The angel said, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in God’s presence everyday! I was sent to give you this good news. Now since you haven’t believed me you won’t be able to talk until the baby is born.’ Then Gabriel went away.

Zechariah finished what he was doing. He went outside but he couldn’t tell anyone what had happened!

He went back home. Time went by. Would God keep his promise?

God always keeps his promises. God is faithful. Zechariah and Elisabeth had a baby boy and they called him John.

God is powerful – crossing the Red Sea

Story from Exodus 14

Bible truth for toddlers – God is powerful

‘Moses and God’s people were in a hurry. They were escaping from being slaves in a place called Egypt. They were leaving as fast as they could taking all their things with them. There were mums and dads and grandmas and grandads and babies and children just like you are hurrying away from Egypt. Moses was their leader.

But Pharaoh, the king of Egypt was coming after them! He wanted his slaves back.

Moses and the people hurried. Pharaoh and his armies hurried after them!

Then something awful happened.

Moses and God’s people came to a huge sea of water. They couldn’t go round it. They couldn’t go under it. They couldn’t go through it! They were scared. They said to Moses, ‘ Why did you bring us here to die!

Moses said.’ Don’t be afraid. Stand still and see how God will work to save you today.’

What was God going to do?

God is powerful. He is more powerful than anyone. He moved the sea. The water separated and it stood up like towers. The land became completely dry. God is so powerful. He was able to rescue the people. They walked on the dry land, with the water either side of them – all of them got safely to the other side.’

5 loaves and 2 fish craft

A 5 loaves and 2 fish craft to go with the Story of The Feeding of the 5,000 from John 15. There is an idea for telling the story here.

To make this easy craft all you need is

Construction paper or light card
loaves and fish – printed on paper and cut out. I cut all the loaves as a group which saved a lot of time. Children who are able/old enough to use scissors could cut out their own. Here is a PDF file of the loaves and fish.5-loaves-and-2-fish-2
orange/yellow tissue paper in small squares
crayons
PVA glue and glue sticks
sequins (I love using sequins!)
paper plates cut in half
a sticky label that explains what Jesus did with the loaves and fish

Preparation – attach half a paper plate to the construction paper/card beforehand. I used a stapler.

5 loaves and 2 fish craft using a paper plate basket

Meet the gang! Knitted Bible people

Meet the gang! Knitted Bible people!

Say hello to my trusty Bible people. My mum knitted all of these from an Alan Dart pattern for a nativity Available from Amazon set. They are perfect for telling stories at Toddler Group. Although I don’t use them every week (as variety is good), I wouldn’t want to be without them! They are very versatile and a good size – 31cm/12in tall. They can easily fit in a story bag and everyone can see them during story time. All of these knitted dolls were make with Stylecraft Special DK which comes in loads of colours and is a reasonably priced acrylic yarn.

It’s worth noting that these knitted dolls aren’t toys and so it’s advisable to let toddlers look but not touch. I’ve never had any problem with this rule.

Here’s a link to a Bible Story that uses a member of the knitted doll gang – God knows when I feel..busy

God is holy

Exodus 3

Say hello to Moses!

Moses was looking after his sheep. What noise to sheep make? Baa!

He saw something. It looked different.

What was it?

Was it a funny looking sheep? No!

Was it a funny looking snake? No!

It was a plant that was on fire but it was still green and not burning up at all!

He went a little closer! (note – explain that the children must never go near to fire)

Then Moses heard God’s voice. ‘Moses, Moses’.

‘Here I am’, Moses said.

‘Don’t come any nearer. Where you are standing is holy.’

God was there and so an ordinary place had become extraordinary. God is holy

What does that mean? Holy means different to us. He is always great and he is always good.

God knows everything – Pharoah’s dreams

Story from Genesis 41

Bible truth for toddlers – God knows everything

Say hello to Pharaoh! Pharaoh was a very important man. But he was upset. he had had a dream. It was a strange dream and it worried Pharaoh. He wanted to know what his dream meant. What could he do? He sent for all the magicians and wise men. ‘They will tell me what the dream means’ he thought to himself.

But they had no idea!

Oh no! What could Pharaoh do? One of his servants was thinking. He was remembering someone he knew. He had an idea.

‘Pharaoh I know someone who can help. He is in your prison. He is able to tell people what their dreams mean.’ His mane was Joseph.

Pharaoh sent for him right way. Can you tell me what my dream means? he asked Joseph.

No! I can’t. But God can tell us what the dream means. How can God do that? He can because God knows everything. God told the young man what the dream meant. He told Pharaoh.

God knows everything about you and me too. He knows our names and he cares about us.

(Pharaoh and Joseph are made from pringles cartons)

God is everywhere Bible Story

God is everywhere Bible Story for young children based on Genesis 16 – you can read the full story here.

I chose the story about Hagar running away to illustrate the truth that God is everywhere. Hagar thought she was all alone but God was there – he saw her and cared for her. I’ve used a knitted doll to represent Hagar. If you don’t have knitted doll then use a puppet. You could also print out or draw a simple figure and glue onto a lollipop stick to make a puppet. Wooden spoons can make great people for storytelling too!

God is everywhere – story idea

Say hello to Hagar!

Knitted doll to represent Hagar in the story God is everywhere.

Hagar was very sad. She ran away from her home. She sat down and looked around. There was no one there. No one.

But God knew where Hagar was. He spoke to her, ‘Everything will be alright Hagar. Go back home.’

Hagar listened. She knew that God could see where she was. She knew that God is everywhere. Hagar said, ‘You are the God who sees me. You are the God who looks after me.’

Hagar was happier. She got up and went back home.

God sees you. God cares for you. Wherever you go, God is there.

Click on the link for another retelling of this story plus a craft idea! (It’s a printable!)

This story was told as part of a series ‘What is God like?’ All the stories are in this post.

What is God like?

Last term in Toddler Group all our Bible stories were in answer to this question – ‘What is God like?’. We took a story from the Bible to teach one truth about God each week. An alternative title would be ‘What does the Bible tell us about God?’

We answered the question by teaching that –

God is everywhere, God knows everything, God is holy, God is powerful and God is faithful. We finished with the Christmas story – God has made a way for us to know him.

Although it was Christmas when we told the last story I would think it was fine to tell the Christmas story at a different time of year.

Each week we used a story bag and a character or two. These varied from Pringle people, a mini Moses (toilet roll!) and knitted characters. I think the children liked the variety.

You could easily tell these stories to young children at home too.

Here’s a link to all the stories that I’ve put together in one post.

Jesus is born – craft

We made these last year and in a couple of weeks time will make them again at our Holiday Bible Club Christmas Special. The paper plate is cut to form a simple manger shape and then the plate is decorated using coloured tissue paper, a star and some shredded tissue paper. Once this is all done you fold the plate in half so it stands up! This is very simple to make and looks great.

This would be a lovely craft to make at home.

Here’s the one I made last year….

Teach us to pray activity

Teach us to pray activity to go with the Bible story from Acts 12:1-19 – Peter in prison. The church met to pray for Peter and their prayers were answered. This take home craft is a reminder to pray. It would be great to use as a family too. Each person could pick a card from the bag and use it to say a short prayer.

Teach us to pray activity instructions

To make you will need – paper bags or envelopes, pens/pencils, scissors, print out of the four prayer prompts – praise, sorry, thank, please – and sticky label with ‘remember to pray’ printed on.

Talk about what the four prayer prompts mean – why we can praise God. How we can praise him for what he is like and the things he has done. Why do we need to say sorry to him? We have thought, said or done things against God’s law. What can we thank God for? food, clothes, friends. What can we ask for his help with – the please prayers. These can be for ourselves and for others. The children can write some of these ideas on the reverse of the cards. Encourage them to make the cards their own by adding ideas.

Download the prayer prompt cards – childrens-prayer-card

Thank you God for my feet..

Acts 3:1-10 is a great story for thanking God for our feet. The children will enjoy jumping and walking. To tell the story use actions – these are in italics. Use as many or as few as suits your group.

Bible story from Acts 3:1-10. The lame man is healed

Bible truth for toddlers – we can thank God for our feet

‘There was a man who was very sad – can you look sad?

Each day he sat outside and asked people for money so he could buy food – rub thumbs and fingers together to illustrate money

One day two of Jesus’ friends came walking by. They were called Peter and John. Tap hands on knees to make sound of walking.

They stopped and looked at the man. Everyone sit still.

‘Look at us’ they said. Ask everyone to repeat this.

The man looked and he hoped they would give him some money. Rub thumb and fingers together again.

We don’t have any money! Ask everyone to repeat this.

‘But what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus get up and walk!’

Peter held out his hand and helped the man up.

Could he walk? Yes! He could walk – can you walk? He could jump – can you jump?

He was happy!

We can thank God for our feet that we use for standing, walking, running and jumping.’

You could use pictures instead if you prefer – Free Bible Images have these.

This is a craft idea.

Thank you God for my mouth..

I was wondering what to do for thanking God for our mouths – a story that had food in it perhaps? But then remembered the man who came back to Jesus to say ‘thank you’. The story is from Luke 17:11-19. To tell the story I made ten men from wooden spoons. On one side of the spoon each man has a sad face and on the other a happy face. For young children there is an opportunity to practice counting to ten!

The spoons are from Ikea at 30p each.( It was very difficult to remove the labels from the spoons so in the end I left them on) I decorated the spoons with wool stuck on with PVA, tissue paper (with PVA) and sharpies. If doing this as a craft for children I wouldn’t use sharpies as I find that after a while they do give you a headache!

For telling the story the spoons were put into a block of oasis – and as the men were healed each one was turned around. You can add a bit of suspense here – ‘One man was better – was man number two – lets see! How about man number three?’ – and so on.

The main aim of the story was to thank God for our mouths that we can use for saying kind words like thank you.

Thank you God for my nose..

For the Bible story we used Luke 7:36-46. This is a difficult story to tell as it probably seems strange to us that someone would anoint a persons feet. You need to explain that in those days people would wash their feet when they went into a home as they would be dusty and hot. But when Jesus went for a meal at this man’s house he wasn’t given any water to wash his feet. Explaining this helps to make sense of what happens when the woman pours the expensive ointment or perfume on Jesus’ feet. The man didn’t really like Jesus all that much but the woman knew that he could forgive her and she showed how grateful she was.

I used a story bag to tell the story- the perfume bottle is a miniature dove moisturiser!

The craft was perfume pictures – collect lots of collage material – tissue paper shapes, wool etc and beforehand spray with perfume. Put in a sealed container until needed. The collage material is then used to make pictures that are scented. I had some flower pot and flower shapes left over from a previous craft but you could use any shapes. It’s the scent that you want!

Alternative craft with playdough idea can be found here and an alternative story idea and craft here

Thank you God for my hands..

This last term at Toddler Group we thought about ourselves – our hands, feet, eyes, ears, nose and mouth. It is a very easy starting point for the children as they are learning about themselves as well as hearing a short story.

We started with Tabitha. We’ve done her story before but with young children repetition is good.

Tabitha came along to toddler group and bought some sewing supplies with her. We talked about what we could do with our hands – wave, shake hands and help tidy away toys.

For the craft we made coloured rice pictures. Children and adults loved this craft and it was very easy to prepare. I dyed the rice using food colouring and a spoonful of vinegar. Just put the rice in a plastic freezer bag, add food colouring and a teaspoon of vinegar and then smoosh it all around. Pour out onto a tray to dry. ( You can cover the tray in kitchen roll – you just need to then tease the rice off when it’s dry). Once it dries and you break it up with your fingers. We then made rice collages – I used black, square paper plates rather than paper as the rim of the plate kept the rice and PVA glue a bit more contained.

We have a large group so I separated the rice into small containers – two lots of each colour. Half way through the activity I was able to refresh the supplies so that everyone got a chance to choose individual colours.

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God made people story

God made people craft ideas

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The story…

Jesus’ last meal craft idea

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Bible truth for toddlers – God has made a way for us to know him

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God is everywhere – story idea

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Teach us to pray activity instructions

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