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The Ultimate Guide to Toddler Group Resources

The Ultimate guide to Church Toddler Group Resources is all about getting back in the swing of all things toddler group after a few weeks away.

Follow the links for extra ideas for toddler group Bible stories and toddler Bible story crafts. At the end of the post I’ve added a friendly toddler group checklist so you can see what you’ve achieved and what you might need to do.

Toddler Group Resources – set up ideas

Every toddler group is unique, different spaces, different people but here’s some ideas that can be copied or adapted. Setting up a toddler group in a church or community hall can be really hard work. Toddler group leaders become furniture movers and it can take it’s toll. If you can get some help.

Below are some photos of our set up and the toys we have out each week.

One of the groups I help with meets in a community hall but is run by a church. To help parents and carers know who we are we have a notice board. It’s good to display something about your group so people know what they are coming to. We like to have this behind our welcome table.

Some ideas for your toddler group welcome table

A leaflet or booklet with key details about the group including dates when you are running and phone numbers of leaders or a website address. Include details of your church.
Information that is helpful for families from your local area including details of other toddler groups
A box of tissues
Some christian tracts or booklets
Smalltalk – printable information sheets from Care for the Family that cover a wide range of topics. I recommend taking a look at the list on their website. They are family friendly and helpful without lecturing.
Your sign in sheet – this can be simple with first name of the adult and the number of children with them.

Resources for Telling Bible Stories to Toddlers

Telling Bible Stories in a toddler can feel a bit daunting so here are some resources to make it easier and hopefully enjoyable.

Invest in some props – take a look at this post all about these knitted bible characters

Other props that are helpful

Pringle people are easy to make and very versatile.
Home made paper plate scenes that tell a bible story
Purple cloth for the bible story about Lydia
A home made cardboard box bible time house for telling the toddler group bible story series Homes Jesus Visited.

Sometimes you can make use of toddler group toys for props such as a toy lion for a bible story about Daniel or things you borrow from home such as a pan and wooden spoon for a bible story about Mary and Martha.

Choose a story bag or basket that is easy to use. I have a few favourites – it is easier for me if they are bags/baskets that hold their shape.

It better to have fewer props – don’t feel that you need a prop for everything in the story or you’ll just have so much to remember and get out of the bag you risk losing the flow of the story.

The ultimate guide to toddler group resources story basket with props for bible stories

The ultimate guide to toddler group resources story bags with props for bible stories

Plan which bible stories you want to tell in your toddler group.

We recommend planning a term at a time – include seasonal things like Harvest and have a few weeks for Christmas and Easter.

There are lots of toddler group bible stories on the blog. Here are some for you to try that have been put in handy six week segments. One is all about saying ‘thank you’ to God for our bodies – it’s a great series if you want to introduce a bible story time in your group. The other story series is all about what God is like.

It can be fun to have a theme – Animal bible stories, Number bible Stories, Weather bible stories

Other resources are available from Go Teach and Faith in Kids

Toddler group resources for crafts

At the beginning of every term it’s a good idea just to check your craft resources. Here are a few basics that we use nearly every week at toddler group and consequently often need topping up.

Paper – coloured sugar paper, plain white A4 paper for printing
Glue sticks
Coloured tissue paper
Wax crayons (remove any that have broken into small bits)

Here’s a post with lots of ideas for craft resources

Play dough for toddler group play

There are lots of play dough recipes – this is the one I use most

I hope this guide has given you lots of ideas. Here’s a handy checklist

Welcome sheet with important info for adults
Sign in sheet
Tissues
Smalltalk from Care for the Family
Props
Story bag/basket
Bible story plan
Glue sticks
Paper
Wax crayons
Tissue paper
Play dough
Are all the toys clean and unbroken?

I’m sure you can add ideas of your own.

The Philippian Jailer

The Philippian Jailer Bible story is found in Acts 16:25-34. Paul and Silas are in prison at midnight at the beginning of our story. By the end they are having a meal with the jailer and his family.

For young children a few details have been ommitted or simplified.

The Philippian Jailer Bible story idea

In the story bag – dolls/puppets representing Paul, Silas, the jailer, some play food. Take the items from the bag as you need them. You can add some movement in the story too.This is indicated in the text below.

Telling the story

‘Say hello to Paul and Silas. They had had a very tough day. People in the town of Phillipi weren’t happy with them talking about Jesus. They had been locked up in prison! It wasn’t very nice at all. It wasn’t clean and tidy and it definitely wasn’t comfortable.

What could they do? They might have decided to moan and groan. They might have decided to be really angry and upset. But they didn’t do any of those things.

In the middle of the night, they were praying to God and singing.

I think they were singing quite loudly because the Bible tells us that all the other people in the prison could hear them!

Suddenly the ground began to shake and shudder! (you could all shake and shudder here).The prison walls moved! The prison doors opened! Everyone’s chains fell off!

The man in charge of the jail was frightened. He would be in big trouble if Paul and Silas escaped. But they didn’t. Paul called out,’ Don’t worry, we are still here’.

The jailer ran into the room, he was shaking with fear, ‘What do I need to do to be saved?’ he asked Paul.

What would Paul say? He told the jailer about the Lord Jesus, the only one who can save. And the jailer believed.

The jailer took Paul and Silas into his home and he and his family looked after them and they had some yummy food to eat.

The next day Paul and Silas were set free and the leaders who had hurt them and locked them up said sorry.

This was the beginning of the church in the town of Phillipi.’

For another story about the new church in Philippi have a look at Lydia hears about Jesus

Play Ideas

Make a music area for the children to explore

Make musical instruments using yogurt pots, uncooked rice and paper lids secured with tape. Decorate the pots with stickers.

Song ideas

Paul and Silas were singing praises to God in prison – here are some songs you could sing with the children

From my head down to my toes God loves me

If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands

My God is so great so strong and so mighty

Paul and Silas in Jail craft

Paul and Silas collage showing them singing in Philippian Jail

Scroll down for the printable downloads you need for the above craft. Cut out the pieces you need and provide an A4 piece of sugar paper for the background. You also need crayons and glue.

Bible Men (3 up)Download

Prison bars (6 up)Download

Singing (Musical notes) (6 up)Download

Valentine Collage

Valentine collage to make using coloured tissue paper.

Tissue paper is a wonderful paper that can be torn, layered, crumpled and glued. It comes in a whole variety of colours and is relatively inexpensive. I use it a lot in crafts with children.

This Valentine themed tissue paper collage is very simple to prepare and make. The added hearts are a nice touch but if you don’t have a paper punch to make heart shapes stickers would be great.

All you need to make the valentine collage

A4 or A3 sugar paper
Glue sticks
Hearts cut from paper (and/or heart stickers)
Tissue paper torn into shapes – I used pink, red and yellow in large squares and some green in smaller shapes

Young children can be given the torn tissue paper shapes. Older children could select the colours they wish to use and tear the paper themselves. Tissue paper tears easily but usually there is a direction in the paper that tears in a straightish line – so experiment and see how the older children get on. If they are having trouble tearing the paper easily suggest that they turn the paper 90 degrees and try again.

Some other ideas for Valentines Day

Card to make

Valentine heart wreath to make

Making and exploring with texture

Making and exploring with texture is our final look at craft ideas based on three key area – colour, shape and texture. Thinking of these three key areas can help us as we plan creative crafts for young children. Sometimes it’s easy to get into a way of doing things and it’s really good to reflect on what we are doing and providing for children to make. It’s helpful for us to ask – What are we exploring about colour? What are we learning about shape? Are there different textures to explore?

Making and exploring with texture in craft – some ideas

What creates texture? Think about using materials that aren’t smooth A4 paper! Here’s a list of ideas

Yarn
Fabric (different types of fabric have different textures)
Corrugated paper
Tissue paper (flat and scrunched up)
Crepe paper
Sugar paper
Leaves
Flowers
Paper straws
Wooden lollipop sticks
Thick paint/watery paint
Cardboard tubes
Felt
Pasta/rice
Cup cake cases
Feathers
Sweet wrapers
Finger paint
Egg boxes
News paper
Sequins
Ribbon
Cotton wool
Sponge
Mesh – lemons are often packaged in this!

The above list can be used to make collages and pictures. You can also use the following to explore texture and make 3D crafts or just use to enjoy and explore.

Play dough
Salt dough
Boxes of various shapes and sizes for ‘junk’ models.

Give children opportunities to make texture collages. This can be an open ended activity with everything laid out for children to choose which items they wish to include.

When it comes to exploring textures PVA glue is my top choice when making texture collages but glue sticks can work well with too. Make sure you have a try yourself to see what works. Also, be mindful that if you use glue sticks with cotton wool the cotton wool sticks to the glue stick pretty quickly!

making and exploring with texture collage

Include texture in craft activities. Some ideas include…

making and exploring with texture angel craft

Texture, colour and shape – there are overlaps between these three but if you aim to consider them when you are putting together a craft for young children you will make it a richer experience. You don’t have to include all the ideas all the time, sometimes you might want to make black and white pictures or just use circles or see what children can make with only having fabric and glue. Sometimes less is better! But it’s good to ask these question as we plan crafts……

What are the children discovering about texture?

What are they learning about shape?

How are they exploring colour?

Here’s a link to Studio in a school you tube channel that has lots of ideas.

Making and exploring with shapes

Making and exploring with shapes is just some ideas of how we can introduce children to shapes during craft time. We’ve already though about making and exploring with colour.

Have you ever looked back at the craft activities you’ve set out for children and discovered that most of them involved a piece of A4 paper? Maybe not, but sometimes this is what happens as it is a standard size and if you have something printed it will often be on A4 paper.

These are some ideas to add variety. Some of these crafts do include A4 paper but shapes are added! Or the printed shape is cut out. Of course children can decorate a picture of a fish but it is lovely to have a fish shape to cover with shiny paper!

Use the shape of what you want to create.

This can be as simple as a fish shape or a person shape. Make giant leaves or an enormous egg. Decorate a star.

Use paper plates – different colours, sizes and shapes

Paper plates make for brilliant making. They come in different colours and shapes and sizes. You can use them as they are for making faces or fold them and cut them into different shapes. Here’s some ideas.

Make greetings cards for special occasions.

You can buy blank cards in different sizes (and colours) and decorate for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Valentines etc. As you can see we’ve made a lot of cards with hearts.

Start with different shaped paper

Sometimes long and thin paper can make for a lovely picture. It’s good to start with a shape that isn’t A4 or A3. If you are making a caterpillar or a field this is great. If you want a tower it works just as well.

Wreath shapes

Wreath shapes are great shapes to use to create seasonal makes. You can make your own from paper plates or buy cardboard wreath shapes. Add tissue paper, pictures cut from greetings cards, shapes cut from patterned paper.

Use shapes to make pictures

Provide cut out shapes for children to make their own creations. These are some ideas – children can make up their own or follow an idea.

making and exploring with shapes collage

Making and exploring with shapes craft idea

Make 3D crafts

Use cardboard tubes, paper plates to make 3D objects. Have rolls of card to make crowns or hats. Lollipop sticks, cereal boxes, yogurt pots, clean egg cartons (no egg residue) are all useful to collect ready to use.

Instructions for the 3D angel are here.

Use cup cake cases

Cup cake cases can be used flattened out or as flowers or a Moses basket. You can cut them in half or into quarters. They are a great addition to craft materials and come in different sizes and colours (Avoid the waxy type as they won’t stick to anything!)

Useful craft supplies for incorporating lots of different shapes in your toddler group crafts when making and exploring with shapes

Paper punches – to cut your own hearts, circles, leave shapes etc. If you don’t want to buy a whole set I’d go for a large circle.
Cup cake cases – large and small (choice of colours/patterns)
Paper plates – round and square
A4 sugar paper cut in half
Blank greetings cards
Tissue paper squares and circles
People cut outs
Sugar paper squares/rectangles
Stars/sun/moon shapes

These are just some of the ways I’ve tried to make sure we aren’t always using A4 paper for craft.

Exploring colour with toddlers

Exploring colour with toddlers.

When we plan crafts for children it can be helpful to think about three basic things; colour, shape, and texture. This post is all about colour. How can we include an experience of colour (or the lack of it) in our craft times with young children? Here’s some ideas..

Coloured paper as the base for creating.

It’s good to give coloured paper as the base for making sometimes. Take a look at whether or not you tend to always start with white or off white paper. When can you start with something else? Sometimes white/cream paper is exactly what you need to use but not always.

Black paper can give a good contrast to colours.

Black paper collage exploring colour with toddlers

Children can use black paper as the background for a colour filled collage.

Exploring with colour black paper collage of the moon and stars

Black paper makes a great base for a moon and stars picture. Other ideas include mark making with white wax crayon on black paper.

Sometimes you may like to start a picture craft with a background colour like this picture of Abraham, Sarah and Isaac in their tent.

Exploring colour with toddlers a picture that starts with a green background.

Exploring colour with toddlers -Painting

Powder paints are great for young children. Use non spill pots, easy to hold brushes and provide aprons. Large pieces of sugar paper are great. Children may want to cover the paper with layers of paint or be happy with just a few marks here and there. Let them decide. (Just try to prevent so much coverage that the paper disintegrates!). Sometimes children want to use there fingers and make hand prints. This is great!

Exploring colour with toddlers child's painting covering an A3 page with red, yellow, blue and green coloured paint

Crepe paper printing

Crepe paper printing is a fun way of discovering that colours change when mixed together. (It can leave fingers stained too so warn parents).

For each picture you need

two pieces of sugar paper – we used A3
crepe paper of various colours in strips.
You also need a water spray bottle.

Children can choose the colours of crepe and lay them on the paper (they don’t need to cover it). Then spray with water. Place the other piece of sugar paper on top and pat down.

Pull apart and remove crepe paper. The beauty of crepe paper is that the colour runs when wet. The children can see some lovely effects when the colours blend and mix.

When we do this activity at toddler group some children love having the opportunity to make lots of pictures so if you can allow them to experiment and enjoy the process.

crepe paper printing to see colours mixing

Exploring colour with toddlers a crepe paper print

Wax resist washes

Use wax crayons to mark make on white sugar paper and then paint over a colour wash (very watery powder paint). You can use several different colours on the same picture or just one.

Exploring colour with toddlers a blue and white wax resist

Exploring colour with toddlers single colour collage

Make a colour collage (lots of shapes and textures to explore here too) This can help children to learn the names of colours and also help them to start to think about how the colour makes them feel. You can ask, ‘Is this colour warm or cold?’

exploring colour with toddlers collage of red paper, card and textures

Explore the way light and colour come together

Make simple sun catchers or a stained glass effect. These pictures are colorful but come to life when light shines through them. Here’s a link to detailed instructions on how to make these gorgeous colour filled crafts.

Home made finger paints

Finger painting on a paper plate can provide a lovely opportunity for children to mix colours. Here’s a link to a recipe from Rainy Day Mum.

Use colourful materials

Sometimes you might want to limit the colour choices to make nightime pictures or a single colour collage but at other times have lots of options available. Here’s some ideas

Paints
Chalk
Tissue paper
Crepe paper
Wax crayons
Felt tips (washable) We sometimes use these but not all the time. They make mark making easy for young children.
Colourful collage materials (see the post all about texture)

These are just a few ideas about making and exploring with colour with toddlers. We haven’t begun to talk about primary and secondary colours or the colour wheel and I’ve only mentioned one idea about hot and cold colours or how different colours make us feel!

The ideas in this post are just some activities that we’ve used to include lots of making and exploring with colour in our toddler group. They would all be great to do at home too. Feel free to share your own ideas about crafts with colour in the comments.

But if you’d like to think more about colour take a look at this really interesting video Color theory for Noobs

Crepe paper printing craft

Crepe paper printing craft ideas. Crepe paper and water make for great craft. It’s not exactly mess free but almost. You will have lots of soggy crepe paper at the end so you do need to have some newspaper and a tray to put your used crepe paper out of the way. Paper towels and some wipes are useful too as hands can get dye on them. But don’t let any of that put you off this lovely creative activity that really is suitable for all ages.

All you need

Water and some spray bottles (that have only ever been used for plain water)
Crepe paper cut into strips
Sugar paper (2 sheets for each picture)
Cover your table with newspaper
Have something on hand to put the wet crepe paper in to
Wipes and paper towels for hands

To make –

Take a sheet of sugar paper
Lay on crepe paper – let the children choose the colours they would like. They can layer them if they wish. They don’t have to cover the paper.
Spay with water (you’ll see the colours start to run. Experiment with just how wet you want the picture to be – too dry isn’t great but neither is too wet!
Place the second sheet of paper on top (like making a paper sandwich with crepe filling)
Pat down
Peel apart
Take the crepe paper off and throw away

Crepe paper printing in pictures

This is a great craft for toddlers. It doesn’t matter if they can’t operate the water bottle as the main point is to experiment with the colours and see how they mix and change

You can also develop the basic craft into an Easter themed craft by using egg shaped paper.

Easter egg shape decorated with crepe paper printing

You can also add the symbol of the cross using black crepe paper.

Older children can experiment with how they want the colours to look – like in the picture above with rays of light coming from the centre of the cross.

Enjoy being creative with colour with this craft. The pictures will need some time to dry so keep that in mind. But it is really fun so have a go at some crepe paper printing craft!

Here’s another Easter craft idea with a free printable – you could make both!

I used this crepe paper from Amazon. (Affiliate link – when you click and make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you)

Black paper collage toddler group craft

Black paper collage to make those colours pop! There is nothing wrong with using pastel coloured sugar paper or the off white recycled sugar paper but black paper makes a great alternative. You can really enjoy the colours of the collage. They stand out and the collage looks vibrant.

All you need to make a black paper collage

Good quality black paper that can take plenty of glue. If you want to you can use card.
PVA glue and glue speaders (Glue sticks are an option but PVA works better in this activity as it will stick all the collage materials so that’s what we used for this make)
Collage materials – card shapes (ours were from a charity shop and I’m pretty sure were once part of a make your own greetings card kit), feathers, stickers, tissue paper, pictures from magazines, ribbon, fabric pieces, yarn
Light coloured crayons – white, yellow

To make – This is a great craft for letting children choose what to use. I like to lay out all the collage materials in a way that makes it easy for young children to see what there is. A couple of ideas are to sort the collage materials by colour or type. Before the children begin decant some PVA glue in to shallow containers that won’t spill easily. Then let the children create. Some children will want to pack their paper with loads of materials and others may be happy with one or two things on the paper. Let them choose what they want to do.

Collage on black paper toddler group craft

Take a look at this helpful article about collage and young children.

The article mentions collecting recycled items for a collage ‘busy box’ which is a great idea. Ask your friends and family for donations of yarn and fabric offcuts, paper and greetings card pictures, ribbon – all sorts of things we can use for collage.

Here’s a blog post about craft supplies – some bought and some collected!

Jesus calls Levi

Jesus calls Levi is found in Mark 2:13-17 , Luke 5:27-28 and Matthew 9:9-13 In Matthew’s gospel Levi is called Matthew. When you tell the story it’s up to you which name to use.

To tell the story you need some props for Levi and the Lord Jesus , a picture of a house, some of Levi’s friends. I’ve used a set of power point pictures from lampbiblepictures.co.uk You have to purchase from the site but they are good value. I won’t be using them as a power point but as printed pictures that I’ve attached to lollipop sticks. I’ve also made a large house picture that opens up to reveal Levi and his friends having a meal with Jesus.

Jesus calls Levi – Bible story

There was once a man called Levi who had a job that meant that most people didn’t like him very much at all! I wonder what that job was? Let’s say hello to Levi and find out.

Hello Levi! (Take Levi out of the story bag)

Levi! Aren’t you going to say hello?

He’s too busy counting all the money. Levi is a tax collector. Everyone thinks he is really awful. His only friends are other tax collectors. He probably takes too much money and keeps some for himself.

One day someone comes along to just where Levi is sitting doing his job, collecting the money. But this isn’t just anyone walking along, this person is Jesus. He knows all about Levi. He knows he isn’t a good person. he knows he does things that are wrong and unfair. What is Jesus going to do?

Jesus looks at Levi and he says to him, ‘Follow me’.

Levi stops counting the money. Levi gets up and he follows Jesus. And Levi wants his friends, all the other tax collectors to meet Jesus too so he invites them all to his home for some food.

Some people were cross! ‘Look at what Jesus is doing’, they said. ‘Doesn’t he know how bad those people are?’ But Jesus said, ‘I’ve come to help the people who know they need me.’

Some of the pictures below are from Lampbiblepictures. The large house picture opens up to show Levi’s friends

Large Bible time house for story telling

Pictures for telling the bible story Jesus calls Levi

Jesus calls Levi – craft idea

I really like a ‘lift the flap’ craft and this one is very simple. Part of the craft is the house and inside are some people.

All you need

House printed on to A4 (portrait) and folded in half (if you use the download below the house will be in the lower half of the A4 page – and this is right.)
Group of people printed out. You need a group of 4 for each house. (Have some extra as children often use more than 1)
Tissue paper, crayons, glue to decorate the house and the people

Friends of Levi in a lift the flap house craft

Lift the flap – House Download

Lift the flap – Crowd Download

Sarah laughs! – women in the Bible 2

Sarah laughs when she is told she will have a baby. She is old, too old to have any children and she just can’t quite believe the message of the three visitors (who we know are messengers from God) and so she laughs. This is where our story begins.

It ends with the birth of Isaac whose name means ‘laughter’. God kept his promise to Abraham and Sarah; God always keeps his promises.

Read the story for yourself from Genesis 18:1-16 and Genesis 21:1-7.

Sarah laughs! story idea

Are you ready to hello to Sarah? she was a real person who lived a long time ago. Let’s get ready to meet her! Say ‘hello Sarah!’

Sarah was married to a man called Abraham. They had lots of things – lots of people working for them, lots of sheep, lots of goats, lots of money. But there was something they really wished that they had. They really wanted to have children. Now God had promised that they would have a huge family but they were getting really old and still no family of their own. It was difficult for them to believe God and to wait patiently.

Days and days went by. Months and months. Years and years. Then one day Abraham was sitting outside his home. (He lived in a tent!). It was a warm, sunny day. Abraham wasn’t really doing anything in particular when he saw three men walking along. He got up and started running. He wasn’t running away he was running to them. ‘ Please come to our home and have something to eat’, Abraham said. ‘Yes’, they said.

Abraham hurried back to his tent and asked Sarah to make some bread. He went to his servant and asked them to make some hot food. The visitors sat outside and ate the lovely food.Now, they weren’t just people like us – these men were sent from God with a special message. ‘Where is Sarah? they asked. She’s in the tent, Abraham replied. ‘This time next year she will have a baby son’, the LORD said.

Now Sarah heard what was said. She thought, ‘I’m too old to have a baby!’ and she laughed.

But nothing is too difficult for God and a year later Abraham and Sarah welcomed a new baby son. They called him Isaac which means ‘laughter’! God always keeps his promises.

Sarah laughs bible story props

Have dolls or puppets representing Sarah, Abraham and baby Isaac. Make a tent by draping a blanket over a clothes horse.

Sarah laughs bible story puppet with Abraham puppet outside their tent

Craft idea

Make a tent – this is a fun ‘lift the flap’ craft. All you need to make this lovely craft is

A4 paper for the background
Different coloured paper for the tent. Fold this as shown in the picture
Abraham, Sarah and Isaac printed out. (downloads at the end of this post)
Crayons/felt tips to decorate
Tissue paper to decorate the tent
Flower stickers to use around the tent

Abraham-Sarah-x-2 Download

Baby-x-12 Download

Make a gingerbread house paper craft scene

Make a gingerbread house inspired scene with bits and pieces of paper and wrapping. Making a real gingerbread house is lovely but sometimes it’s good to just have a rummage through odds and ends of paper and card and create something festive.

I always keep wrapping paper scraps and christmas card pictures as they make great almost free craft materials.

Here’s some inspiration for your pictures..

Here’s my finished gingerbread house street scene

Gingerbread house street scene made with paper and craft materials

This would be a great activity to make at home in those days between Christmas and New Year or on Christmas Eve!

All you need to make a gingerbread house inspired scene

Paper for the background – I put two A4 pieces together with tape. (Have the tape on the back of your picture)
Paper to cut into house shapes and trees. I went with simple shapes.
Wrapping paper and Christmas cards cut into shapes
Small hearts, snow flakes, circles
Optional – glitter, sequins, tinsel
Glue

Use whatever you like – and whatever you have.

If you want to do this with very young children prepare the shapes of paper beforehand and make them slightly bigger so they are easier to hold and stick. Children’s interests vary so if children love making they will spend a bit longer creating a paper picture. If you are doing this at home make your own version alongside your child or create a street scene together.

Older children can be encouraged to make the shapes for the trees and houses themselves and create their own gingerbread paper art from scratch. Give them lots of choice of materials.

There’s an idea in this post for making a mini ‘gingerbread’ house using biscuits. It’s very easy to do and lots of fun!

If you would like to make an edible gingerbread house here’s a link to a Mary Berry recipe.

In the beginning God made – days 1-3 – craft ideas

In the beginning God…crafts days 1-3 for toddler groups and young children to enjoy making. In Genesis 1 we learn all about days of creation. These crafts cover the first 3 Days of Creation from Genesis 1:1-13.

All you need

Patterned muffin cases and cup cake cases – trim these to look like flowers
Blue paper
Large lollipop sticks
Shiny paper
Black paper – A4
Cotton wool shapes (make up remover pads are great!)
Blue and green tissue paper
Red dot stickers
Tree shapes
Cardboard rolls (toilet rolls or you can buy cardboard rolls if you prefer)
Blue paper – A4
Blue paper, different shades cut into waves
Brown paper cut into hill shapes
Glue sticks
Crayons

In the beginning God made light

To make ‘In the beginning God made light’ use the black A4 paper and put the label in the centre. The children then add the shiny paper shapes and can use white crayons to decorate.

Label (3×8) ‘In the begining God made light Genesis chapter1’Download

In the beginning God made sky and sea

To make ‘In the beginning God made sky and sea’ use the blue paper and tissue paper to make the sky and sea (different shades work well) and then add the label.

Label (3×8) ‘In the begining God made sky and sea Genesis chapter1’Download

In the beginning God moved the water and there was land

To make ‘In the beginning God moved the water and there was land’ you need some blue paper for the sky and sea plus some brown for the land. You can add some clouds too.

Label (3×8) ‘In the begining God moved the water and there was land Genesis chapter1’ (1)Download

God made the land on Day Three, when he also made the trees and plants. You could add cut outs of plants and trees to the above picture or make some extra crafts.

In the beginning God made trees and flowers

Label (3×8) ‘In the begining God made flowers Genesis chapter1’Download

Label (3×8) ‘In the begining God made trees Genesis chapter1’Download

Here’s a download for the tree shape. It’s best to print it onto card. Ahead of time make two slits opposite each other in the cardboard roll. After the tree shape has been decorated it can be slotted into the tree trunk.

Tree-Roll Download

The next three days of creation include the sun, moon and stars, birds and fish and animals and people! When God saw everything he had made it was very good. 🙂

There are lots more ideas on this pinterest board

Good Friday crafts to make

Good Friday crafts for children to make that use paper plates! One craft uses round paper plates (use cheap plates that can be folded easily) and the other crafts use black and green square plates. (These are available online – take a look here)

Good Friday crafts – round paper plate

Good Friday craft made with a paper plate

The above craft was made with a cheap paper plate folded a third of the way down. The sky is a mixture of blues and blacks (I used wax crayons as they blend well). The hill is some green and yellow crayon. Fold then colour the plate. Cut out the three crosses and then glue them on the blue, fold over the green and glue in place. I used pritt stick. PVA would work fine too.

An alternative to crayons is to use torn up sugar paper and tissue paper.

I really like the added texture of the torn paper plus if you have a large group this works well – it’s likely that you won’t have enough blue and green wax crayons for a large group to share!

Good Friday crafts – square paper plates

Good Friday stained glass window paper plate craft — Cut out centre of plate

To make

Cut out centre of plate. Use this to make the cross shape.
Use tacky back to cover the centre (sticky side needs to be same side as black rim)
Cover tacky back with brightly coloured tissue paper (try to stay within the square of tacky back)
Glue on the black paper cross

Good Friday craft – Easter Garden

I love Easter Gardens. There are several versions of this paper plate Easter Garden on the blog. No soil is needed (although I love Easter Gardens made with soil, moss, twigs and flowers too!)

All you need…

Square paper plate (green)
Flower stickers
Cup cake cases various sizes (trim to look like petals)
Brown paper path
Cross and stone for the tomb cut from card (give both shapes a flap to use to stick to plate)
A small pot for the tomb (Make sure it will stick)
A strip of brown paper to cover the tomb and help glue it to the plate
Green tissue paper to make a hill around the cross

Take a look here for some additional ideas for making an Easter Garden with a paper plate. There is a simplified version of an Easter Garden here.

Craft supplies you need for toddler group!

Craft supplies you need for toddler group! – or would really like, come in all shapes and sizes (and price ranges!). Here are some ideas of what you need (or would really like) when doing crafts with young children in toddler group or at home.

Some craft supplies can be bought especially for doing crafts at home or in toddler group but there are others that you possibly already have or friends and family can collect for you.

Craft supplies for toddler group and home

Craft supplies you might like to buy

Paint
No spill paint pots
Paint brushes
Aprons (you can go old school and use old men’s shirts – children wear them backwards – buttons at the back. Use them and then wash them.)
Glue (PVA can last ages)
Glue spreaders
Glue sticks
Paper plates – round, square, white/black or coloured.
Paper cups/pots
Doilies
Wax crayons
Petit four cases
Cup cake cases
Wreath shapes
Sugar paper
Lollipop sticks
Stickers – stars, themed stickers for example animals, sea creatures.
Pipe cleaners

Of course you don’t have to buy everything on this list. Prioritise items like wax crayons, paper and glue. See if there is a local scheme for sharing supplies.

Paper can be very expensive so save paper from packaging if you can. Card is great to use so try to reuse packaging.

Craft supplies you may already have (or know someone who does)

This is the list to get excited about! Craft items for toddler group that are free are a bonus. Once you start looking you will see opportunities for free craft supplies all over the place.

Greeting card pictures. Collect all year round and especially at Christmas. Just ask donors to tear the picture from the greeting section of the card if they can.
Wrapping paper (all sorts including shiny paper)
Tissue paper – often used for wrapping flowers/gifts/breakables
Yarn/wool – Lots of knitters and crocheters will have yarn in small lengths in a variety of colours. Ask for donations.
Fabric – sewers will have scraps you can use for collage.
Cardboard tubes
Cereal boxes
Netting from fruit packaging
Natural collage materials – leaves, petals (make sure these are non-poisonous. Take a look at this post for more info.
Ribbon (this is often used as handles on gift bags)
Magazine pictures
Garden catalogue photos of plants/vegetables
Paint colour sample cards from DIY stores
Egg cartons (these should be clean, i.e no sign of any egg!) Children can be allergic to egg so take care.

It’s good to be on the look out for materials you can use – charity shops are great for finding bits and bobs!

Some supplies you need only buy once – non spill paint pots and good paint brushes. Glue spreaders will last and a good quality PVC cloth to cover the craft table will last years. (You can use newspaper but just check the content first!)

Here are some crafts that use a variety of the items listed

Here’s a link to a craft video post that goes through the steps of how to make a tree topper angel (or an angel ornament).

Have a look at this post for some more craft ideas!

Wax Resist Pictures

Wax resist pictures are fun and easy to create. All you need is some paper, wax crayons, watery paint and a paint brush. You can make patterns and pictures – it’s very easy and relatively mess free.

If you want to create a pattern then it’s fun to start with taking a crayon for a ‘walk’ around the paper. Create swirls and shapes. Then use bright wax colours to fill in some of the shapes you’ve created. You can use colour blocks, stripes, stars and circles – anything you like! Use white crayon on white paper to create some shapes. When you are happy with what you have made paint it all over with a thinned watery paint. I used blue ready mix paint that I watered down.

Let it dry and enjoy your wax resist picture!

You can also have fun making marks with a white wax crayon on white paper and painting over the colour wash.

This is a fun activity for a rainy day – here’s a link to a cup cake case craft that’s also great for the holidays.

I used crayola wax crayons which worked really well – and are bright colours.

Foy young children use chunky crayons

Hey there! This post has some affiliate links. So, if you click on them and decide to buy the product, I get a little commission. And here’s the best part – it won’t cost you anything extra! Cool, right? Thanks a bunch!

Hannah Prays Story and Craft

Hannah Prays story and craft for young children. A Bible Story all about talking to God and how God hears us when we talk to him.

The Story is from 1 Samuel 1:1-20

Hannah Prays – Story

Bible Truth for Toddlers – God hears us when we talk to him

In the story bag we have Hannah and baby Samuel.

‘Are you ready to say hello to the person in our story? Her name is Hannah. ‘Hello Hannah’. (Take Hannah from the story bag)

Hannah lived a long time ago with her husband. She had nice clothes, and a lovely home but she was very, very sad.

Hannah didn’t have any children and this made her very sad.

What could she do?

No one seemed to care about how she felt.

Who could she talk to?

Hannah decided to talk to God. Sometimes we call that praying. She told him how sad she was. She told God how much she wanted to have a baby. She told God all about how she felt.

God always cares about how we feel. He is always able to listen to us when we talk to him. Even though we can’t see God he is there – he is real, and he is kind and good and powerful.

When Hannah had told God all about everything she felt much better.

Now God doesn’t always give us exactly what we ask him for but he heard Hannah’s prayer and she had a baby! (Take Samuel from the story bag) Let’s quietly whisper, ‘hello Samuel’ – because he’s sleeping!

Hannah called her baby Samuel. She loved him very much.

Let’s say bye, bye to Hannah and Samuel. (Place them back in the story bag)

Hannah prays story – Craft Idea

We have a picture of Hannah to decorate and baby Samuel to add. If you can, have some Skin Coloured Crayons for the children to use – these are really good for all crafts that include pictures of people.

Downloads for the craft

Baby-Samuel Download

Hannah Download

There is another Bible Story Idea about Samuel here. It’s all about Samuel hearing God’s voice and how God speaks to us today. You could tell these stories on consecutive weeks to teach that we can talk to God and God talks to us.

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David defeats Goliath

David defeats Goliath is a well known Bible Story found in 1 Samuel 17. This is a simple retelling of the story for toddlers

Bible Truth for Toddlers – God helps us

God’s people were in a lot of trouble! They were hiding in their tents! Every day their enemy laughed at them. Their enemy was a huge fighter called Goliath (everyone repeat the name together)

Goliath was taller than everyone else

Goliath was stronger than everyone else

Goliath was scarier that everyone else

What could God’s people do?

They felt small

They felt weak

They were scared

But David was brave. It wasn’t because David was tall (he wasn’t!). It wasn’t because David was strong (he wasn’t). David was brave because he knew God would help him.

‘I’ll go and fight Goliath,’ David said. And he did. He took 1,2,3,4,5 small stones and his sling. He walked towards Goliath and he threw a stone.

It whizzed through the air and plonk! It hit Goliath and he fell down! David won! God’s people didn’t need to hide anymore. God helped David. God is able to help you too.

David defeats Goliath craft Idea

Goliath-x-2 Download

David-x-6 Download

W is for Water from the Rock

The People of God were in the wilderness. They had escaped from Egypt but were thirsty. They moaned! God told Moses to strike the rock and out came water. The story is from Exodus 17:1-7

W is for Water from the Rock – story idea

Have you ever felt hungry? God’s people had been hungry and so God had given them food to eat.

Have you ever felt thirsty? God’s people felt thirsty. But instead of asking God to help them find water they moaned and groaned! Why isn’t God helping us? they said to Moses.

Why are you moaning and groaning? Moses said

Then Moses asked for God’s help. What shall I do with all these moany and groany people?

God heard Moses. God helped Moses. God said, ‘Moses, take your staff and hit the rock’.

Moses did what God said. He lifted up his staff and struck the rock and out came water!

God gave the people water to drink. He looked after them.

God is able to look after you and me too.

Water from the Rock Craft Idea

A simple collage to make. Beforehand prepare the rock from brown paper, a sun, some blue paper strips for water and Moses (Pdf below). The children can build the scene.

Moses-Water-from-the-rock Download

Here’s a link to another story about Moses

Make a ‘Thank you God’ book

Make a ‘Thank you God’ book to share with toddlers; a great way to teach children about how wonderfully made they are.

We used our ‘Thank you God’ book over several weeks at toddler group. Each week we had an activity to tie in with the theme and sang songs that were connected.

Make a ‘Thank you God’ book

The pages to make your own book are below for you to download and print. The photos on each page are all loyalty free. (Please don’t remove the attribute that is on each photo). You can tie the pages together with string – make two holes in each page in roughly the same place and tie together. Or you could make a large folder and stick the title page to the outside. Each week take out the page that you are using.

Using your ‘Thank you God’ book

At toddler group we began our story time with our welcome song and then talked through the page of the ‘Thank you God’ book that we were using that week. There’s no need to recap on previous weeks – you want to keep the story time short. The children and adults were encouraged to join in – for example clapping when it was in the book. We added extra ideas too. The book is a starting point; add activities that suit your group.

For each week I’ve listed some song ideas. Every week read the Bible verse together (you don’t have to read out the reference but you can say that these words are from God’s Book, the Bible.)

The following are the files for you to download and print

Thank-God-Title-pages with Bible verse-A4 Download

Thank-God-Nose-A4 Download

Thank-God-Mouth-A4 Download

Thank-God-Hands-A4 Download

Thank-God-Eyes-A4 Download

Thank-God-Ears-A4 Download

Thank-God-Feet-A4 Download

Songs to sing with the ‘Thank you God’ book

There are lots of songs that will fit in with this theme. Here are some ideas.

Songs/Rhymes to use any week

Head, shoulders knees and toes
From my head down to my toes God loves me
I wiggle my fingers, I wiggle my toes
The Hokey Cokey (if you are a large group don’t get in a circle – wave arms up in the air for ‘oh the hokey cokey’)

Songs about feet

The Grand old Duke of York
Walking through the jungle
Sleeping bunnies (jumping/hopping at the end of the song)

Songs about hands

Open shut them, open shut them
If you’re happy and you know it (can use for feet too)
Round and round the garden (a rhymes using hands – for adults to do with their child)
Miss Polly had a dolly (knocking on the door with our hands)
Tommy Thumb (a song using our hands)
We all clap hands together

Songs about ears

I hear thunder
Old MacDonald (all the sounds the animals make)
Oh we can play on the big brass drum

Songs about mouths

Jelly on a plate (for eating)
All songs – we use our mouths for singing!
The wheels on the bus – the verses the Daddies on the bus go ‘Shush’, the babies on the bus go ‘wah, wah, wah’ and the mummies on the bus go ‘chatter, chatter, chatter’.

Songs about eyes

I see blue sky (second verse of ‘I hear thunder’)
Sleeping bunnies (we close our eyes to sleep)

Songs about noses

I wiggle my fingers, I wiggle my nose
Head, shoulders, knees and toes

A really great book for songs and rhymes is ‘This Little Puffin’ compiled by Elizabeth Matterson. First published in 1969 it’s been updated. Well worth buying if you work with under fives. I’ve had my copy for over thirty years (might be time to buy the updated edition!) – Affiliate link – if you click on the above link and make a purchase this blog will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you.

Craft/Activity Ideas to go with the ‘Thank you God’ book

Feet – decorate foot prints

Thank-you-God-for-my-FEET-1 Download

Hands – make hand prints with paint. Do finger painting. Play with dough. Build with bricks.

a girl sitting at a table with green paint on her palm — Photo by Vlada Karpovich on Pexels.com

Ears – put together a sound/listening table with musical instruments, scrunchie paper, rain sticks.

Mouths – decorate biscuits (check for allergies first). Make smiley faces using paper plates.

Eyes – have a ‘looking table’ with large magnifyers and leaves, pine cones, flowers for children to take a closer look at. We used this idea for Autumn too.

Noses – make scented pictures. Beforehand use some inexpensive perfume to spray collage materials. Allow to dry. At toddler group let the children create scented pictures using the now scented collage materials. Here’s a similar idea. Scented flower pictures.

The Wheels on the Bus Craft

The Wheels on the Bus is a well known and often sung song at Toddler Group so we made a fun craft to go with the song. The Bus can be decorated with collage materials and crayons. We added some fun face stickers too.

Some ideas for collage materials

Tissue paper squares (lots of colours)
Wool
Sugar paper cut up into different shapes
Bits of wrapping paper
Fabric (Cut into squares using pinking shears – it won’t fray)
Felt
Card shapes – often designed for card making, you might find some in charity shops
Petit four cases/Cup cake cases

You can decide if you want to use lots of different materials or just a few. It’s good for children to have some choice.

Here’s a printable of the bus

Bus-The-wheels-on-the-bus…Download

Here’s some lyrics for the Wheels on the Bus.

Make a beautiful picture for Spring

Make a beautiful picture for spring using stickers and colours! There are loads of great stickers suitable for young children and if you don’t feel like using glue they are a good alternative. It also saves you from having to find lots of pictures to cut out so a really useful time saver. When you set up the craft space provide a pot for all the left over sticker backing. It’ll make tidy up so much easier.

We used a printed background for our spring picture that has hills, trees, a sun and some water. The children then decorated the scene with crayons and stickers. Wax crayons are great to use as you can blend colours and cover an area more easily that with felt tips of pencils. The stickers stuck to the crayon just fine.

An outdoor scene decorated with animal stickers and crayons

The background is available to download

Create-a-spring-picture Download

We used stickers from Amazon. They come on a roll – we cut them up into individual stickers for ease of use. They are a great size for children to be able to peel the backing off themselves – great for using fine motor skills.

Here are links to some stickers. They are different designs as the ones we used are no longer available! (Affiliate link – some of the links in this blog are affiliate links which means that if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you)

Woodland Animal stickers

Sea Animal stickers

Flowers and Butterflies stickers

Jesus calls the First Disciples

In Mark 1:16-20 we read about Jesus calling his first disciples.

Jesus calls his first disciples – Bible Story Idea

To tell the Story you will need the different characters, a boat, a net and a fish in the Story Bag. Take them out as you need them.

One day Jesus was walking along near the Sea of Galilee. It’s a big lake that has lots of fish. Most days there were people there who were fishing. They had boats and big fishing nets to catch the fish in.

On this particular day Jesus saw two men who were throwing their big fishing net into the water – their names were Simon and Andrew. Jesus called over to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’

Simon and Andrew heard Jesus. They looked up from what they were doing and then they left their net and their boat and they followed Jesus!

A little further along Jesus saw two brothers, James and John. They were sitting in their boat mending the fishing net. Jesus called to them, ‘Follow me’. They heard Jesus and they left their boat and their net and they followed Jesus!

Craft Idea

To make this craft you need

Paper plate folded in half (Cut a small slit to slot the lollipop stick through to make a mast)
Lollipop stick
Card or sugar paper to make the sail
Corrugated card to make water (optional)
Tissue paper or similar to decorate the boat
A net (I used the net that is packaging for oranges/lemons)

Let’s make a clay boat!

Let’s make a clay boat with air-hardening modelling clay. This craft is suitable for older children and gives them the opportunity to work with clay even if you have no access to a kiln.

Air-hardening clay is easy to use and will dry out and keep it’s shape. We used Das. It is great to use when you want to make a finished product for the children to keep.

We are using it to make small boats as our Bible Story in our 5-11year olds after school club is Jesus Calming the Storm on the Lake. from Mark 4:35-41. There’s a fun and interactive idea for telling the story using a parachute here.

Let’s make a clay boat instructions

Start by making a ball of clay. Then make a pinch pot. Gradually shape this into an oblong. Add a small ball of clay to the inside of the shape, You will use this to attach the sail while the clay is still fairly soft. Them make a sail. Take a lollipop stick and a glue on a triangle of card. Push this gently into the small ball of clay that’s been added to the inside of the boat shape – make sure it is attached.

Hints and tips

Cover your work surface with a plastic, wipeable cloth and dust the surface with cornflour to prevent sticking.

Add some decoration using some clay tools or the ends of paint brushes

If you need to change something adding some water will make the clay workable. But don’t add too much at once.

Leave to dry out (24 hours per centimetre). There may be some shrinkage and if necessary use PVA glue to reattach the sail.

You can then paint the boat.

Once dry see if the boats float!

If you would rather not use clay then plasticine or modelling dough would work too.

Can you find the lost sheep? – craft & story

A lift the flap craft! Can you find the lost sheep? This craft is not only something to make but will help to retell the story of the Shepherd finding his lost sheep. (From Luke 15:1-7) Children are familiar with lift the flap books – something to find on the page that’s hidden under a flap. This craft uses the same idea and is fairly simple to make. Young children will need some help to make sure that they glue the sheep in the right place and that they don’t stick the flap down. You could always choose to glue the sheep in place beforehand.

Step by step to making the lift the flap craft

The dark green paper is folded in half but the top half is cut slightly less wide (by about 1cm) so it is easy to open. You don’t have to do this but it makes it easier for children to use.

The Lost Sheep Bible Story Idea

‘One day there were some very moany, groany people who were cross with Jesus. They thought that they were very important, special people and that Jesus should spend all his time with them. But Jesus was busy spending time with people who had done bad things! ‘How can he spend his time with these awful people?’ they said.

Jesus knew that they were moaning and groaning about him so he told them this story…

‘Once upon a time there was a shepherd who had a 10 sheep. He looked after them really well. He gave them food to eat and water to drink. Every day he counted them – 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 – just to make sure they were all safe and sound.

But one day there was a problem. The shepherd was counting his sheep, one – then two – then three and so on – all the way to nine! And then… where was 10? One sheep was lost. Oh No! What could he do?

He missed his lost sheep and so he went off to find it. The Shepherd was determined to find his lost sheep. He looked here and he looked there, he looked everywhere! He walked over the hills, through the forest, behind the rocks. Looking and looking!

And then he found the sheep that was lost! He picked it up and carried it home. Can you imaging how he felt?

He was so happy that he called all his friends and they celebrated! All his sheep were now safe and sound.’

Jesus had finished telling the story. Jesus looked at the moany, groany people and he said to them, ‘There is lots of happiness in heaven when someone who knows they are lost comes back to God.’

Downloads for the craft

sheep-x15 Download

Shepherds-5-x-2 Download

Some other sheep craft are here

Some other lift the flap craft here and here

This Lost Sheep Storybook is available from Amazon. (affiliate link – if you click and purchase let their light shine will receive a bit of money from Amazon – to buy craft supplies! – at no extra cost to you.)

A Great Light Party Lantern to make

Here’s a Light Party Lantern that is easy to make and inexpensive too! It’s a lantern that will twinkle in the dark and remind children that Jesus is the light of the World. If you are planning to celebrate a light party as an alternative to Halloween or you are looking for something to make at home then this craft is a fun make.

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All you need

See through plastic cups
Tissue paper squares
Battery operated tea lights
Pipe Cleaners (two per lantern)
Pritt Sticks
Word strip – Jesus said, ‘I am the light of the World’. We printed onto labels and then cut them out.

Jesus-said-I-am-the-Light-of-the-World.-Labels-2-x-8 Download

All the things you need to make a light party lantern craft

How to make a light party lantern

Begin by getting the tissue paper squares ready. Let children select the colours they would like to use. They can cut them smaller if they wish

Turn the plastic cup upside down and cover half with glue. Stick on the tissue paper. It’s ok for colours to overlap. Once you’re happy do the other half.

Turn the cup the right way up. Add the word strip. If the cup is tapered this need to go in the middle.

The pipe cleaners make a great handle. Lay one pipe cleaner down flat on the work surface. Secure the other pipe cleaner in two places about a cup’s width apart. You may need to adjust this a bit as you go on. Secure the first pipe cleaner to the cup’s rim – just wrap it around and twist the ends together. You should have a secure handle to carry the lantern or hang it up.

Place a battery operated tea light in the cup – and you have a lantern!

A light party lantern lit with a battery operated tea light

Lion Craft using Paper Curls

This is a lovely lion craft using paper curls that are surprisingly simple to make. The paper curls add a lot of texture for the mane. If you use a variety of yellow and orange colours it adds some depth to the finished craft. It’s really important that you use light weight paper to make the curls or you won’t get curl effect.

We used this craft to accompany the story about Daniel in the Lion’s Den. You can find a toddler friendly version of the story here.

All you need to make the lion craft

Print out of the lion (see below)
Yellow and orange paper cut into 1cm wide strips that are about the length of A4 paper and then curled. Simply hold one end of the paper and then pull a scissor blade along the length. I used this paper. You ideally want a low weight paper to make the curls
Some yellow/orange crayons or pencils
Glue

All you need to make a lion picture with curls of paper

Lion Download

Lion picture with paper curls for the mane

Platinum Jubilee Ideas

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links which means if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive commission at no extra cost to you.

We will be celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee at toddler group with crowns to make, cakes and a special song! The bunting will be up! Here are some Platinum Jubilee Ideas for you!

Platinum Jubilee crowns to make

Depending on your budget and size of your group there are two choices. You can buy ready made crowns to decorate or you can make your own completely from scratch!

Make your own crowns from scratch

You need some long strips of light card or sugar paper that will fit around a toddlers head. Leave them flat – you don’t want to transform them into a wearable crown till after they have been decorated.

Once you have your long strips of card or sugar paper let your toddlers imagination take the lead – they can decorate the crown as much (or as little) as they like. Provide lots of crayons, stickers and paper shapes that they can use to add lots of ‘jewels’ to their crown. Once the glue has dried transform the card/paper strip into a wearable crown using some cellotape. Make sure it fits!

If you have lots of collage bits and bobs this is a great craft for using some of them up!

A crown craft idea for young children. Platinum Jubilee ideas.

Buy some crowns to decorate

If you are short on time then this will save you some. You can buy crowns that are ready for some decorations to be added and come with an adjustable fit. There won’t be another Platinum Jubilee for a long time so you may want to splash out! I bought some ready to decorate crowns and some stickers to decorate.

A Jubilee Song

As well as making crowns to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee we’ll be singing this great song by The Cheeky Pandas

We’ll also be having cakes to share but those aren’t made yet! Keep an eye out on my instagram where they will appear!

Parable of The Builders – Stories Jesus Told

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links which means if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive commission at no extra cost to you.

This parable of the builders is from Luke 6:46-49. It’s a great story to tell as you can dress up as a builder, use actions, sing the song ‘The Wise Man Built His House Upon The Rock’, and, if you are feeling adventurous, use sand rock and water. But it is really helpful to explain why Jesus told this story – so that is where we began. A simple sentence – ‘Jesus told this story to show how important it is to listen to and do what he says.’ It’s also helpful to finish by saying , ‘If we listen to and do what Jesus says our lives last, just like the house on the rock lasted’.

We can’t always explain everything about the parable in the way we might like because the children are so young but we can say something to encourage the adults listening to begin to think further about Jesus.

The Parable of the Builders Story Idea

We had two people to act out the story. One of them also narrated what was happening. We dressed up as builders! Everyone joined in with actions of building, the rain, the floods and the crash as one of the houses fell.

Once upon a time there was a builder who just wanted a house as quick as possible! He chose to build on the sand. It would be quick and easy to build a house. He did a bit of digging and found some stones to make a house on the soft sand. Soon he was finished and sat down to have a rest!

There was another builder who also wanted a house. This builder wanted to build the house really well and so he built his house on rock. He worked so hard digging the foundations, cutting the stones, building them on top of each other. It took a lot longer to complete the build! But then the house was finished and he sat down to have a rest.

Suddenly the rain came and the floods. The house on the rock kept standing! But the house on the sand fell down with a crash!

If there is just one person telling the story they could stand in a different spot for the foolish builder and act out the part and then move to a different spot for the wise builder.

Props for acting out being a builder — Parable of the builders Bible Story props

The builders craft idea

For the craft we made a house – print out the outline and cut up loads of paper to make bricks that can be stuck on the house.

A picture of a house to colour or decorate as a collage — Parable of the builders craft idea

house-on-the-rock Download

The Song – The Wise Man Built his House upon the Rock !

The Good Samaritan – Stories Jesus Told

The Good Samaritan is one of the stories that Jesus told and is from Luke 10. It teaches one simple truth about how we treat other people. Here is a simple storytelling idea for young children..

Knitted toys to tell the story of The Good Samaritan

Characters for telling the good Samaritan story

The Good Samaritan Story Idea

To tell the story I had several of the characters (the man who was hurt and the three men who were walking on the road) and a donkey in the story bag. You can make the sounds of the men walking and the donkey going clippity-clop when you tell the story. Get everyone to join in with ‘Oh No!’ when it appears in the story.

‘One day a man asked Jesus a question – ‘how can I get to heaven?’ Jesus said to the man, ‘what do you think you need to do?’

‘I need to love God and love my neighbour. But who is my neighbour?’ The man was hoping that he had been good enough and that he really only needed to love the people that he liked. So Jesus told this made up story…

Once upon a time a man went on a journey and was hurt. He needed help but there was no one to help him. Oh No! (get the children and adults to join in with ‘Oh no’ each time you say it)

Then he heard footsteps. Someone was coming! A man was coming along the road. He looked, he saw that someone needed help but he kept on walking! Oh No!

Then he heard more footsteps. Someone was coming! Another man was walking along the road. He looked, he saw that someone needed help but he kept on walking! Oh No!

But then he heard something a bit different – it was clippity clop. A donkey was coming along the road and a man. The man looked, he saw that someone needed help and he stopped. Now this man was from far away and from a different place. But he was happy to help the man and he put him on the donkey and took him to a place to stay and gave him medicine until he was better.

Jesus has finished telling the story. ‘Who was a good neighbour?’ Jesus asked. ‘The person who helped’, said the man. And he knew he hadn’t loved other people like that.

We all find it hard to be a good neighbour to everyone. No one can never be good enough to earn a place in heaven. We need Jesus to help us.

Craft Idea

Collage of peoples faces. A craft to go with the Good Samaritan bible story that Jesus told

Lots of photos of people to make an ‘everyone is my neighbour’ collage. Use magazines and catalogues to find photos and cut them out beforehand. Try to provide a wide variety of people from different cultures, backgrounds and ages. The Good Samaritan is a great story to teach children to love others!

The children can select pictures and glue them onto A4 Sugar Paper/Construction Paper. Here’s a link to some recycled paper that’s great for the background.

This story is one of several in a series for toddler groups ‘Stories Jesus Told‘ – the others are linked for you below

It’s a lovely set of stories to tell and fits nicely in a six week half term.

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links which means if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive commission at no extra cost to you.

Cup Cake Cases Flower Wreath

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links which means if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive commission at no extra cost to you.

A cup cake case flower wreath is a colourful craft to celebrate spring and summer. Paper cake cases are inexpensive and come in lots of colours. You can go for the really bright or the pastels or a mixture of the two. There’s two ways of going about making this – older children can have a go at making the flowers, selecting the colours they want to use and cutting the shapes themselves. Younger children can have fun choosing colour combinations and have an adult do the cutting for them (in a large group do this preparation ahead of time) Any age can glue the flowers onto the cardboard circle. The paper cases can be layered as in the photo above. Older children might like to shade the wreath. For example start with reds, then oranges and then yellows. Let them experiment first and then glue the finished piece.

All you need

Cardboard wreath
Glue
Scissors for older children to use (for toddlers an adult can do the cutting)
Cup cake cases
Petit four cases

To turn the cup cake cases into flowers you need to make a few folds and cut an arc – take a look at the gallery below to see how.. it’s easy..

Arrange the flowers any way you choose – if you have different sizes you can layer them. You can use plain colours or patterned cases. Here are some ideas.

Easter Craft – a paper Easter Garden

Easter Craft – a paper Easter Garden that is easy to make. Easter Gardens are lovely but if you don’t have the time to make a garden with soil and real plants then this is a simple alternative. It is a great reminder of the Story of Easter.

To make the Easter Garden you need

picture of the empty tomb printed onto card (see file to download – there is a choice – one has the words ‘Jesus is alive!’)
pictures of flowers from garden catalogues or magazines
glue
pencils and crayons

Make the picture while the card is flat and then fold in half so the tomb and hills are vertical.

This craft is suitable for toddlers upwards. Older children can cut out the flower pictures and or draw their own. You can add stickers and tissue paper shapes too.

cross-empty-tomb-jesus-is-alive-2 Download

cross-empty-tomb-blank-3-1 Download

Here is another Easter Garden idea using a paper plate

My Easter Pinterest Board has lots of Easter themed craft ideas

God knows when I feel….scared

God knows when I feel scared. God really does know how we feel. This week’s story is from Luke 8:22-25 when the disciples were scared. Even though Jesus was sleeping during the storm he is the Son of God, and he still knew how the disciples felt.

God knows when I feel scared story idea

In the storybag – disciples, a boat, a cushion and the emoji face. There are lots of actions you could do during this story. Encourage everyone to join in.

To begin – I wonder if you have ever felt scared or frightened? – show the emoji face. One day Jesus’ friends were very scared. Let’s find out what happened…

Jesus and his friends got into the boat. ‘Lets go across the lake’, Jesus said.

They began to row. But Jesus wasn’t rowing. He was doing something else. He was sleeping.

Jesus’ friends kept rowing.

And then something started. Drip, drip, splash, splash. It was raining! Whoosh, whoosh! The wind was blowing! The boat was rocking. The boat was fillng up with water!! Oh no! They were in danger. And they were scared.

‘Wake up, Jesus!’ they said, ‘We are in danger and we are scared.’

Jesus knew they were scared. He cared about his friends.

‘Stop!’ Jesus said to the wind, the rain and the stormy waves. And they stopped. And everything was calm.

Jesus cares when we are scared. We can ask for his help.

Jesus calms the storm craft idea

God knows when I am scared craft idea of a boat in the storm

All you need for the craft..

Background paper – Grey or white
Selection of blue paper waves
Boat shape
Lollipop stick for the mast
Triangles for sails
Crayons to colour rain
Glue
‘God knows when I am scared’ printed out

The labels are available for download. Either print on paper and cut out or print onto a sheet of labels.

god-knows-when-i-am-scared-24-to-a-sheet-1 Download

God knows when I feel….. busy!

God knows when I feel busy! This term we are telling Bible Stories that remind us that God knows how we feel. We start with Martha feeling busy. The story is from Luke 10: 38-42. Each week there will be a different emoji paper plate face that represents how the character in the story is feeling.

I’m not sure that toddlers dislike feeling busy but the adults listening in to this story will probably relate to Martha.

God knows when I feel busy bible story idea

In the story bag I had – the emoji paper plate face, Martha, Mary, pan, wooden spoon and an apron that I put on during the story. As you introduce the characters take them from the story bag and say ‘hello.

One day Martha invited Jesus to come to her home for a meal. She lived with her sister Mary

Jesus was very happy to go to Mary and Martha’s house.

When he got there Jesus began to talk about God. Mary so wanted to listen to everything that he had to say. She sat down and listened.

But Martha had a lot to do! There was tidying to be done. There was the cooking to be done. Pans needed stirring!(Use the props from the story bag – encourage the children to mime the actions too) Food needed chopping! Plates needed wiping! Water needed pouring! She was busy, busy, busy! (Can you say that with me? She was busy, busy, busy!) – show the face of the busy person.

Mary sat still and listened to Jesus.

Martha was not happy! She was so busy and no one was helping!

She said to Jesus, ‘Tell my sister to help me!’

But Jesus didn’t do what Martha said. Instead he said to Martha, ‘You don’t need to be so busy. You need to sit and listen to my words too.’

Today we can stop being so busy and instead listen to the words of Jesus by listening to stories about him and reading the Bible.’

God knows when I feel bust bible story props — Martha – God knows when we are busy

The print out is from pixabay. Here’s the link to the plate for you to print

4.-busy-craft-plate-g532901bca_1280 Download

I cut out lots of food pictures from magazines for the children to choose from to decorate their plates. Here’s a photo of the craft table set up (minus the glue which I always put out last so I can put the lids away – they are small and could be a chocking hazard)

Weaving Craft

Weaving craft is a great activity for an after school club for children aged 4-plus. It needs a bit of prep but is well worth the effort. We made these at our children’s club and everyone joined in; there was lots of concentration!

Try to have yarn of different colours so the children can make some choices. We used a double knitting weight for the centre of the flower and then changed to aran weight. But chunky or aran weight yarn for the whole flower would be great too. Just don’t use really fine yarn as it will take forever to complete. If you want to you can use ribbon which would look lovely (just make sure that it works and stays put – satin ribbon might be a bit slippery). It’s always a good idea to test out a craft activity and any materials you are hoping to use to double check that the craft is makeable.

All you need for the Weaving Craft

Paper plate (cut the petals – we have 11. It’s best to have an odd number as it makes the weaving easier. It’s always ‘over, under,with an odd number!’)
Yarn – we used Double Knitting for the inner circle and Aran for the outer circle. Look at the photo below to see the difference. It’s helpful to have the yarn in small amounts as this helps with the weaving.
Cellotape to secure the yarn at the back of the plate
Ribbon (optional)

How to make

Cut the petals – have a look at the photos to see how far to cut into the plate.
Thread the loom – use any colour but one that stands out will make a great contrast when you are weaving.
To start weaving knot the first colour of yarn at the centre and then start weaving alternating ‘over, under’.
Change colour as often as you like by knotting a new colour to the old colour.
Use the Aran weight yarn as the circle gets bigger.

Here’s a link to another craft using yarn that is also really fun to make.

I often buy yarn from Wool Warehouse – stylecraft DK comes in many colours and is very good. You can also find yarn in charity shops and ask friends and family for any small amounts they might have that you can use for crafts.

Paper Plate Fish Craft

Paper plate fish craft to make. There are so many Bible Stories with fish! You could use this craft for Creation, the Calling of the first disciples, the Great catch of fish, Jesus making breakfast.

Paper plate fish craft – all you need

Paper plate (inexpensive and not too sturdy)
Cut out a triangle from the plate to make the mouth. (Do this beforehand)
Use the triangle for the fish tail. Attach this with glue or staple. (The stapling needs to be done by an adult)
Glue
Glue lots of shiny paper to the fish. We used a variety including cellophane, tissue paper with a glittery finish, shimmer paper and left over Christmas wrapping paper. (It’s always worthwhile keeping used wrapping paper for crafts)
Add an eye. Older children could use googly eyes. I prefer not to use them with toddlers so we draw on eyes instead.
Encourage lots of layering of the different types of paper and cellophane to blend the colours.

Here’s a link to another fishy craft. This post also has a story idea.

Jesus and Three Disciples – A Bible Number Story

Jesus and three disciples is our next Bible number story. We are up to the number 3. This Story is from Matthew 17:1-13. (We have already thought about Jonah and One Big Fish and Noah and Two of Every Animal.) This week’s Bible Truth for Toddler’s is, ‘We can listen to Jesus.’ To tell the story you could have three people to take out of a storybag – say hello to them and count them too.

Jesus and three disciples story idea

Meet three of Jesus’ disciples (friends) – Peter, James and John. They knew each other really well.

One day they went for a walk up a mountain – up, up, up they went. No one else was at the top. Just the three of them.

And then something extraordinary happened. Jesus began to shine really brightly.

Peter and James and John looked at Jesus. Something very special was happening. Although Jesus was a man just like them, he was also the Son of God. They were seeing a little bit of his glory. They were seeing just how special Jesus is.

And then they were surrounded by a bright cloud. Not an ordinary cloud – but one that was shining. And they heard God’s voice say, ‘This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.’

And then it was over – and they walked back down the mountain.

Jesus really is God’s Son and we can listen to him today by reading God’s Special Book – the Bible.

Three Friends of Jesus – Peter, James and John

Craft Idea

We made shiny pictures – using various types of paper and celophane. Wrapping paper is really good for this. We also had a colouring sheet with the three disciples/friends of Jesus. This is a free download.

number-3-disciples Download

Candle – colouring stained glass craft

Candle – colouring stained glass craft. This is a very simple candle craft – you can choose whether to cut out the flame and glue tissue paper to the back for a stained glass effect or just colour in the flame or add some glitter!

And you can choose whether or not to add a Bible verse to the heart shape. Sometimes it depends on how much time we have for preparation and the age and stage of the children who are making the craft.

One of the downloads for the candle craft comes with the words from John 8:12 printed on the heart, the other is left blank.

In the picture the bible verse is written by hand but I felt the downloadable version needed an upgrade!

The picture is made up of

a candle – to represent light,
a heart – to remind us of God’s love, and
the Cross – to remind us that Jesus died for us and in doing so showed his love for us.

This would make a great Memory Verse craft to help children learn John 8:12.

What you need to make the candle colouring stained glass craft

Wax crayons or blendable colouring pencils are great for adding colour to the candle design; they can be layered and blended (you can use felt pens but I’m not sure that they would have such a good effect as sometimes you just end up with a streaky effect! If young children are using felt tips it’s best to make sure they are water based pens )
Glitter (optional)
Yellow tissue paper if cutting out the flame and adding the stained glass effect
Glue if doing the above
Printouts of the design

heart-and-candle-no-bible-verse Free printable to download

heart-and-candle-with-john-8v12-1 Download

Noah and two of every animal – A Bible Number Story

Noah and two of every animal is our second bible number story. Last week we thought about the Number One and Jonah and the One Big Fish. This story is all about counting to two! The Bible Truth for toddlers is, ‘Those who trust in God are rescued’. You can read the story from Genesis here.

To tell the story you can use – an ark, animals in pairs, Mr and Mrs Noah, a toy saw and hammer.

Noah and two of every animal story idea

Say hello to Noah! God told Noah to start building. He needed to cut lots of wood and use a hammer and a saw. But what was he making? It wasn’t a house. It wasn’t a new bed. It wasn’t a table. It wasn’t even really a boat! It was an ark. It was like a big, big box that would float. God had told Noah to build an ark, he told him exactly how big it should be and what sort of wood to use.

Noah worked hard. He trusted God and he did what God said. Everyday he sawed and hammered. Every night he went fast asleep. Then he woke up and sawed and hammered until one day the Ark was finished. It was huge!

It was too big for just Noah and his family. Who else was it for?

God sent animals to go inside the ark. Two of every kind. Let’s count them! (show animals in pairs and count – 1,2). They went into the big ark that Noah had built. Noah collected all the food that they would need and put in safely in the ark and then Noah and his family went inside too. And then God shut the door.

Everyone inside the Ark waited. They waited. And they waited.

And then it began. It rained and it poured. It rained for such a long time. But Noah and his family and the animals were safe in the ark. God took care of them and rescued them from the big flood.

And when the flood had gone they were able to come out of the big ark that Noah had built. God had rescued them from the big flood.

Noah and two of every animal craft idea

number-2-animals Download

We added tissue paper in different shades of blue for the water and used animal stickers. I liked that they were photos of animals. Lots of opportunity for naming animals while making the craft.

Song Idea

Instead of ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’, we sang ‘Mr Noah had an ark’ and added the animals that we had used in the story with any sounds that they make.

Noah's ark shape sorter to tell Noah and two of every animal bible story — Noah’s Ark shape sorter that we used as a storytelling prop.

Answers in Genesis have lots of information about Noah’s ark if you’d like to read more.

Jonah and the One Great Big Fish – A Bible Number Story

Jonah and the One Great Big Fish – A Bible Number Story. We are thinking about counting in toddler group. So we have some Bible Stories with numbers. First up is Jonah. The Bible truth for toddlers in this story is ‘God always knows where we are’. The story is from the book of Jonah.

To tell the Story you need –

Jonah (we used a figure from happyland),

a big fish (the one pictured is VERY big – made over a tent) and

a toy boat.

Jonah and the One Great Big Fish story

God said to Jonah, ‘go to the big city called Ninevah (can you say that? repeat the name together) and tell everyone there about me.’

Jonah listened to God.

But Jonah didn’t like the people in the big city of Ninevah.

‘I don’t want to! I’m not going to go!’ He said (have you ever said that?)

Jonah thought to himself, ‘I will go far away – so far away that God won’t know where I am.’ He went and got on a boat and sailed away, far, far away from Ninevah.

But then the rain came and the wind blew – and out of the boat came Jonah – and splash into the sea!

Down, down, down he went. ‘Please God, help me!’ he prayed.

God knew exactly where Jonah was, God always knows where we are; and he sent something to help. It wasn’t a boat – it was one great big fish. The one great big fish opened up it’s mouth and swallowed Jonah. He was safe!

The one great big fish took Jonah back to land. God said, ‘Jonah, go to Ninevah’. And this time Jonah did exactly what God said.

Jonah craft idea

Decorate the big fish! It’s a free download.

number-1-big-fish Download

The other stories in this Bible Number Story Series

Elisha and the Widow’s Oil craft ideas

Elisha and the widow’s oil is a story from 2 Kings 4:1-7 where we read about Elisha helping a widow who needed to pay her debts. He told her to borrow as many empty jars of oil as she could from neighbours and then go inside her home and close the door. What happened next shows us God’s care for his people.

Elisha and the widow’s oil Bible Story

Bible Truth for Toddlers – God cares about us

To tell the story to young children – you need a bottle of oil.

‘There was once a woman who had two sons. Sadly, her husband had died and she was in trouble. She owed some bad people money and she had no way of paying them back.

She went to see Elisha. He was God’s prophet. ‘I am in trouble. Can you help me?!’ she asked

What do you have at home? Elisha asked

I have one jar of oil. (Show the oil)

Elisha told her what she must do. ‘Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your neighbours. Then go home. Shut the door and start to pour the oil into the empty jars and then sell the oil and pay your debts’

What would the woman do? She started to borrow empty jars. She went to one home and then another and then another. Soon she had lots of empty jars.

Then she went home and closed the door.

Her sons helped her start to pour the oil into an empty jar. And something amazing happened. As they filled the empty jar the oil that they had started with didn’t run out. They filled another jar and still it didn’t run out. Soon all the jars were full of oil. And once they were all full the oil that they had started with stopped flowing.

Now oil is expensive and the woman was able to sell all this extra oil. She had enough money to pay her debts and money left over for her and her sons to live on.

Elisha was able to help because he was God’s prophet. God cared about this woman and her sons. God cares about you and me too.’

Craft ideas – free downloads

One idea is to colour/decorate jars of oil. The other is to add more jars of oil to the picture and then colour or decorate.

Elisha and the widow's oil craft colouring jars — Decorate the jars of oil

widows-oil-jars-x-4 Download

widows-oil-jars-add-a-jar-1 Download

‘Thank you God for yummy food’ craft

To Make

You need A4 card with holes punched at the top (landscape) centre and thread added

Stick on lots of pictures of fruit and vegetables (from gardening catalogues)
Add the ribbon/banner. See download below.

banner-thank-you-god-for-yummy-food-1 Download

Hang up in the kitchen!

While you are making talk about the names of the fruit and vegetables, their colours and where they grow (in the ground, on trees etc). When you eat something that is on your picture you could add a smiley face 🙂

Caterpillar craft

Cup cake cases are lovely for crafts! They can be used to make lots of things including caterpillars! Just flatten them and glue them slightly overlapping each other. You can make patterns by alternating two colours or use one colour or go for multicoloured! You can even use metalic cases. Use what you have. Add a smiley face and some grass (I’ve used tissue paper). You can add some smaller circles at one end too.

Easter Story Paper Plate Craft

Paper plates are just so great for craft ideas (and can be used as storytelling props too) This simple paper plate idea can be used as both. The craft is for a child and adult to make together while talking about the Easter Story.

You need – paper plate, tissue paper or similar in green and blue, white paper on which to draw the hill and the tomb, brown paper circle for the stone, brown paper strips for the cross, some crayons/pencils, glue and scissors. (Obviously if making with younger children use children’s safety scissors and make sure you keep a watchful eye. Scissors should always be used with care while sitting down).

Begin by covering the top half of the plate with blue paper and the bottom with green.

Draw two hills on the white paper. Colour one green. Make the other into the tomb by drawing the entrance and colour brown. Cut out and stick in the middle of the plate covering the sky/grass join.

Add the cross to the green hill and the stone infront of the tomb entrance to one side to show that the tomb is empty.

It would be great to make this while talking about the Easter story or reading the story together.

The Wise Men find The King

This story is from Matthew 2:1-18

To tell the story you need – some Wise Men, toy camels and a star. You can add some actions too – stars with hands (like in twinkle, twinkle little star), running, looking, kneeling.

The story

Bible Truth for Toddlers – Jesus is King

Far away from where Jesus was born there were some Wise Men. They read books and knew a lot. They loved to look at the stars in the dark night’s sky. One night they saw a new star! They looked at the new star and they looked at each other. ‘Wow! they thought, ‘this new star means that a new king has been born in Israel. Let’s go and worship him’.

So they packed their things and set off for the important city of Jerusalem. They travelled for a long time. It took days and days to get there. When they arrived in Jerusalem they asked everyone they met, ‘Where is the new baby king?’

Now, there was a king in Jerusalem called King Herod but he wasn’t a baby; he was a grown up and he wasn’t at all happy. He didn’t want a new King! He heard that there were men from a far away place who were asking people, ‘Where is the new king?’ This upset him and it upset the people who were living in Jerusalem. He sent for the men from the temple. ‘Where is this new King to be born?’ he asked. The men from the temple knew the answer because it was written in the Bible. ‘In Bethlehem.’ they said.

Herod sent for the Wise Men and he told them to go to Bethlehem and find this new King and then come back and tell him where the new King was so he could go and worship him too.

So off the Wise Men went. It wasn’t too far to go now. As they got nearer something very special happened. The star was there again and this time it went before them and shone right over the house where Jesus was. The Wise men had found Jesus and they knelt down and worshiped him. They took their treasures out of their bags and gave them to Jesus. They gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh. These were special gifts for a King.

The Wise Men never told Herod where Jesus was. God warned them not to in a dream and they travelled home.

Herod didn’t want to worship Jesus. He wanted to get rid of him. An angel told Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and run away to a different country till it was safe to go back home.

Joseph did what the angel said and took Mary and Jesus to somewhere safe far away from Herod. When the danger was past they went to back home to Nazareth.

Some star craft ideas

For a star craft – decorate a star wreath shape and add some tissue paper for a stained glass window effect. Or use Christmas card pictures to decoarate a star.

Make a Wise Men stained glass window. For instructions see this blog post Christmas stained glass – paper plate!

Paint a star shape. This is a wooden star but card would be fine too.

Star Christmas decoration to make – using lollipop sticks

Star Christmas decoration to make to hang on the tree! Lots of sequins are needed for this simple star shaped decoration for the Christmas Tree. It’s a fun craft to make and looks lovely as a special home made decoration. The printable banner, ‘Joy to the World’ is a reminder of the great news of the first Christmas.

Luke 2:10-11 And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

Everything you need for the star decoration

Six lollipop/ popsicle sticks per star. (plus some spare in case of any mishaps!) Try to buy the coloured sticks. (Please consider purchasing through this link as the blog will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!)
Sequins (different colours, shapes and sizes)
PVA glue and spreaders
A button and thread
‘Joy to the World’ mini banner (download available below)

joy-to-the-world-ribbon

How to make the star

1. Glue the lollipop sticks together – layer the sticks as shown in the photo and wait for the glue to dry.

2. Meanwhile thread the cotton through the button – tie in a knot to make a loop. This will be used to hang the star from the tree.

3. Glue the threaded button to the top of the lollipop stick star.

4. Before you add sequins to the lollipop stick glue the mini ‘Joy to the World’ banner in place and then add sequins to the star.

Diagram showing how to put a lollipop stick star shape together

Star decoration made with lollipop sticks and sequins

Star decoration for the Christmas tree made with lollipop sticks and sequins

Here’s another star idea that’s suitable for under 5’s. A Christmas Star wreath shape decorated with pictures from Christmas cards. If you don’t have Christmas cards use wrapping paper scraps!

A Christmas Carol to enjoy!

Toddler Group Resources – set up ideas

Some ideas for your toddler group welcome table

Resources for Telling Bible Stories to Toddlers

Plan which bible stories you want to tell in your toddler group.

Toddler group resources for crafts

Play dough for toddler group play

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The Philippian Jailer Bible story idea

Telling the story

Play Ideas

Song ideas

Paul and Silas in Jail craft

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All you need to make the valentine collage

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Making and exploring with texture in craft – some ideas

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Use the shape of what you want to create.

Use paper plates – different colours, sizes and shapes

Make greetings cards for special occasions.

Start with different shaped paper

Wreath shapes

Use shapes to make pictures

Make 3D crafts

Use cup cake cases

Useful craft supplies for incorporating lots of different shapes in your toddler group crafts when making and exploring with shapes

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Coloured paper as the base for creating.

Exploring colour with toddlers -Painting

Crepe paper printing

Wax resist washes

Exploring colour with toddlers single colour collage

Explore the way light and colour come together

Home made finger paints

Use colourful materials

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Crepe paper printing in pictures

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All you need to make a black paper collage

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Jesus calls Levi – Bible story

Some of the pictures below are from Lampbiblepictures. The large house picture opens up to show Levi’s friends

Jesus calls Levi – craft idea

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Sarah laughs! story idea

Sarah laughs bible story props

Craft idea

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All you need to make a gingerbread house inspired scene

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In the beginning God made light

In the beginning God made sky and sea

In the beginning God moved the water and there was land

In the beginning God made trees and flowers

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Good Friday crafts – round paper plate

Good Friday crafts – square paper plates

Good Friday craft – Easter Garden

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Craft supplies you might like to buy

Craft supplies you may already have (or know someone who does)

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Hannah Prays – Story

Hannah prays story – Craft Idea

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Bible Truth for Toddlers – God helps us

David defeats Goliath craft Idea

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W is for Water from the Rock – story idea

Water from the Rock Craft Idea

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Make a ‘Thank you God’ book

Using your ‘Thank you God’ book

Songs to sing with the ‘Thank you God’ book

Craft/Activity Ideas to go with the ‘Thank you God’ book

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Jesus calls his first disciples – Bible Story Idea