New Testament Bible Stories Archives - Let their light shine!

Lydia hears about Jesus Toddler Bible Story

Lydia hears about Jesus when Paul and Silas visit the town of Philippi where she lived. The story of Lydia is from Acts 16:11-15.

Lydia, Paul and Silas Props for Toddler Group Bible Story

Lydia hears about Jesus Toddler Group Bible Story

Bible Truth for toddlers – Believing in Jesus is for everyone

Say hello to Paul and Silas! (everyone say ‘hello Paul’, ‘hello Barnabas’ and wave – get you puppets to wave too!) Paul and Silas believed in Jesus and so they went to all sorts of different places to tell everyone that they met that Jesus was the Saviour sent from God. They went to big towns and small villages, they told men, women and children all about Jesus. And today in our story they were travelling to a new place – and they weren’t walking there, they weren’t running there, they were sailing in a boat!

When they arrived at the town of Philippi (a very important place) they told people about Jesus.

One day they decided to go down to the river – they were sure that there would be a place by the river where people went to pray. They found a group who were praying to God and so they sat down with them and began to tell them all about Jesus.

Now one of the people sitting by the river was Lydia. She was a rich successful woman who had money and a lovely home and a great job selling purple cloth (which was very expensive!) but still, something was missing in her life.

She sat and she listened. She realised that she needed to believe in and follow Jesus. So that is what she did! Lydia now knew Jesus as her Saviour. Jesus came to save all sorts of people – people just like you and me.’

Lydia Bible Story Toddler Group Craft

A simple craft idea – we had a washing line and purple pieces of material.

Materials needed

printout of washing line
purple cloth cut into different shapes,
thin lollipop sticks (optional, although they do look lovely added to the craft)
glue (if using lollipop sticks make sure any glue you use will work)

Step by step instructions

Set up your craft table with supplies of purple cloth shapes, glue, lollipop sticks and the washing line printable.

Display a washing line craft that you have already made

Let the children choose the colour of the lollipop sticks and encourage them to glue and match to the shape on the printable. This is tricky for toddlers so don’t worry if it’s not an exact match.

Let the children glue the purple cloth shapes to the washing line. It’s fine if they only want to glue one piece of fabric.

Lydia hears about Jesus craft. Purple cloth on a washing line.

Lydia Toddler Group Craft Printable Resource

Lydia-made-purple-cloth-Washing-line Download

The Philippian Jailer toddler Bible story

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 Toddler Bible story

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 Jail! 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 when it was dark, 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 jail could hear them!

Suddenly the ground began to shake and shudder! (you could all shake and shudder here).The jail walls moved! The jail 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 in Jesus.

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 people who had hurt them and put them in jail said, ‘We are sorry Paul and Silas.’

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

Philippian Jailer Bible Story Toddler Play Ideas

Make a music area for the children to explore. Collect toddler friendly musical shakers and drums and place on a mat. Allow children to explore making music. You could do this at the end of song time and play some music/songs in the background.

colorful xylophones and hand bells on display — Photo by Lena Ti on Pexels.com

a kid covering his eyes with maracas — Photo by Lena Ti on Pexels.com

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

Decorated transparent cup filled with grains and covered with colourful paper — A colorful homemade shaker filled with dried grains brings creativity to sensory play.

Song ideas For Toddler Group

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

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 For Toddler Group

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.

Printable Resources – Philippian Jailer toddler group craft

Bible Men (3 up)Download

Prison bars (6 up)Download

Singing (Musical notes) (6 up)Download

Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer

Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer Bible Story for young children based on Acts 8:26-40.

To tell the Story have some items in a story bag – Philip, The Treasurer, chariot, horse, scroll.

Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer Bible story prop

The Chariot is made from a shoe box. I turned the box inside out and put it back together and then cut the shape. The wheels are from a cardboard box. They are sturdy enough to take the weight of the chariot.

Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer Bible Story

Say hello to Philip! Philip was a follower of Jesus and everywhere he went he told everyone he met that Jesus had died and come alive again. He was very busy. Lots and lots of people listened to what he said about Jesus and they became followers of Jesus too.

Then one day an angel told Philip to leave the towns and all the people and go to a road where no one lived! How was he going to tell people about Jesus if no one was there?

But he went.

And there he was on the road. When he heard something coming! Clip, clop, clip, clop. It was getting closer and closer. A chariot was coming along the road with a very important man inside. This very important man was on his way home to Africa. Can you guess what he was doing? He was reading and Philip could hear him reading the words out aloud. Philip recognised the words; he knew that the very important man was reading part of the Bible.

‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked the man.

‘No! How can I unless someone helps me.’ the very important man replied.

Philip knew he could help. He got into the chariot and he explained the Bible and helped the very important man to understand that Jesus is the forever king sent from God who came to save us.

The very important man went home happy!

Philip and the Ethiopian craft idea

The Ethiopian Treasurer would have been reading from a scroll. This is a simple way of making a scroll that can be written in by the child. You could choose to encourage children to make marks or write their name. It depends on their age and how much they enjoy having a go at writing.

I used A3 sugar paper cut in half length ways and toilet rolls. If you aren’t happy using toilet rolls you can buy cardboard rolls from craft shops or cut kitchen rolls in half.

Secure the toilet rolls to the sugar paper at both ends using cellotape (I tried using pritt stick but it just didn’t stick!) The children can write in their scroll. To hold the scroll together you can use wool or pipe cleaners.

Step by step photos showing how to make a scroll craft for children to use when telling the Bible story Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer

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)

The Lost Sheep – Stories Jesus Told

Lost Sheep Bible Stories with two craft ideas for different age groups.

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.

The Lost Sheep is a story that Jesus told. Jesus often told parables; stories that have one hidden meaning. In Luke 15:1-7 Jesus tells the story about the lost sheep to show the self important Pharisees that the Tax Collectors and sinners who he socialised with were welcome in the Kingdom of God. The latter often knew that they needed a Saviour while the former thought they were already righteous. When we tell this story we can and focus on the joy in Heaven when something lost is found. In this case the sheep is like us, we need to be found.

The Lost Sheep 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.’ ‘

The Lost Sheep Craft Idea

Lost Sheep Craft- download the image and decorate with yarn, crayons and/or cotton wool

sheep-2 Download

An idea for older children – Lost Sheep Collage– the download for the small sheep is below. I used a gardening catalogue for the tree and flower photos and coloured paper for the hills and sun. The paper is from A4 Coloured Paper

All you need – glue, paper to make the hills (different shades of green), blue paper for background, yellow for sun, pictures of flowers and trees, tissue paper for grass and a sheep to hide.

sheep-x15 Download

Decorate the mini sheep with yarn or cotton wool.

The Man with Four Friends – A Bible Number Story

The Man with Four Friends is our next Bible number story in the series. We are up to the number four! For the other numbers we have told stories about have a look at these links – Number One, Number Two, Number Three

This week the Bible Story is from Mark 2:1-22. The Bible Truth for Toddlers is ‘Jesus can forgive the wrong that people do’.

Man with four friends story bag ideas

To tell the story you need 5 puppets/dolls, a bed/mat and a model or picture of the house and a storybag.

Man with four friends bible story puppets — The four friends

puppet of man on mat — The man on his mat

model of bible time house — Bible time house

The Man with Four Friends – story idea

Can you do some counting with me? Let’s see – use your fingers to count – 1,2,3,4! Today our Bible Story is all about the number 4. Listen to find out when to join in with some counting.

Our story begins in a house with a flat roof and some steps up the side. It had windows and a door. I wonder what could be happening in this house? We are not told who lived in this home, (show the house) but when Jesus arrived lots of people went to the house to meet him. They squashed themselves inside. There was hardly any room. The house was full!

In another part of town there was a man who couldn’t walk. He lay on his bed. (show the man on his bed) He needed the help of his friends everyday. Let’s count the friends together as they come out of the story bag – 1,2,3,4

His friends wanted him to see Jesus.

So, they picked him up and carried him to the house where Jesus was – carefully, carefully they carried their friend through the town to the house where Jesus was…

…they believed Jesus could help their friend.

When they arrived at the house they could not get in the front door because of the crowd. They didn’t give up!

They carried him up the outside stairs and onto the roof – slowly, slowly – carefully, carefully…

…they made a hole in the roof, then – slowly, slowly, carefully, carefully they lowered him down in front of Jesus!

When Jesus saw that they really believed he could help the man he said, “Your sins are forgiven.”

Some people in the house didn’t believe that Jesus could forgive the wrong people do. So, Jesus said to the man, “So that you can be sure that I can forgive sin, get up, pick up your mat and go home.” Straight away and really quickly he got up and walked home!

All the people in the house were amazed!!

We never saw anything like this! They said to one another.

Craft Idea – free download to colour and/or decorate with tissue paper

number-4-friends Download

This story is also a short video!

Jesus is Baptised – story video

Zacchaeus story, video, and craft

Zacchaeus story video and craft idea

Zacchaeus story, video and craft for young children.

Zacchaeus story telling idea

Jesus was walking along the road to a town called Jericho. Lots of people wanted to see Jesus as he walked through their town. They had heard a lot about all the amazing things that he had done.

One man really wanted to see Jesus. His name was Zacchaeus (can you say that name?) Let’s say hello to Zacchaeus as he comes out of the story bag.

Now Zacchaeus was very, very rich. He had loads of money. Some of his money he had by taking what wasn’t his! So people didn’t like Zacchaeus.

But that wasn’t all. Zacchaeus was a short man. So when Jesus was coming to his town he had a problem! He couldn’t see past the crowds! The crowds of people didn’t like Zacchaeus so they weren’t going to let him get to the front. Standing on tip toe didn’t help either. So Zacchaeus began to run. He ran to a tree. Then he did something that he hadn’t done for a long, long time. He climbed the tree. Now he could see Jesus.

And there Jesus was, walking along the road. And then Jesus stopped! Right under the tree. ‘Zacchaeus, come down. I’m coming to your house today!’ said Jesus.

Zacchaeus came down the tree. ‘I will give back all the money that isn’t mine and I will give extra money too’ he said.

Zacchaeus was a different person now that he had met Jesus.

Jesus said ‘I came to look for and to save the lost’. All of us are lost without Jesus. He is looking for us and is able to find and save us.

Zacchaeus story video

Zacchaeus craft idea

Craft Idea – download and print the tree and Zacchaeus. Decorate with tissue and /or sugar paper and colour. Stick Zacchaeus in the tree.

Templates for making Zacchaeus in the tree craft

Zacchaeus in the tree craft — Zacchaeus in the tree

Zacchaeus-x21 Download

tree Download

The story of Zacchaeus is from Luke 19.

There are several other similar videos on the let their light shine youtube channel.

We’ve arrived at Easter!

We’ve arrived at Easter! We have traveled along the road to Jerusalem to reach the first Easter. Each week we’ve met different people that Jesus met on his journey and now we are at the end of our journey.

This weeks story is the Easter Story .. to tell it you need puppets or dolls to represent Peter, John and Mary and the paper plate visual (or something similar.) If you have been making the paper plates display all of them together and then add the one from this final story.

The Story from Luke 23 and 24

Bible truth for toddlers – Jesus died and came alive again

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Paper plates decorated to tell the story of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem at Easter — **The paper plates that have been used to show Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem can be displayed altogether!**

Here’s the link to the introductory post for this story series with links to the blog posts

Easter Craft Idea

Easter shapes craft using crepe paper printing. This is really fun! Have a look at this post for how to use crepe paper to print pictures.

On the Way to Easter…Palm Sunday Story

Jesus rides into Jerusalem

On the way to Easter Palm Sunday story can be told as a stand alone story or used as part of the series ‘On the Way to Easter’.

Bible story from Luke 19:28-40 and Mark 11:1-10

Bible truth for toddlers – Jesus is the King!

‘Jesus and his friends were almost at the big city of Jerusalem. Lots of people wanted to see Jesus. But how was Jesus going to arrive in the city? Was he going to arrive in a car? No! Was he going to arrive in a helicopter? No! (they didn’t have those!) Was he going to ride into the city on a big, strong horse? No!

Jesus sent two of his friends to borrow a donkey. (What noise does a donkey make? Hee-haw) They bought the donkey to Jesus and put their cloaks on it’s back. Jesus sat on the donkey and he rode into the big city.

Crowds and crowds of people were there. There were mums and dads, grandmas and grandads and children just like you! Some of the people took their cloaks off and put them in the road for the donkey to walk on. They called out, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!’ as Jesus passed by. They shouted, ‘hosanna!’ (which means ‘God saves’). Can you say ‘hosanna’? They waved palm branches in the air. The people in the crowd were welcoming Jesus into the big city. They were excited!

They welcomed Jesus – the King sent from God.’

Some pictures to use to tell the story

On the way to Easter Palm Sunday story visual aid — Palm Sunday

Dowload the links to make the street scene

People pictures are available in this blog post

The donkey to make

https://lettheirlightshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/leglessdonkey.pdf

The street scene https://lettheirlightshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/streetscene.pdf

The trees and palm leaves

https://lettheirlightshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/palmleafsceneparts.pdf

I cut the cloaks out of material.

On the way to Easter Palm Sunday story visuals

Craft ideas

You could use the printouts as a craft if telling the story at home or with older children.

The pegs for legs donkey is a fun craft to make. Print and cut out the donkey shape. Colour and add wooden clothes pegs for legs.

There are some Palm Leaf craft ideas here

On the Way to Easter…Mary

The story is from John 12:1-8

Jesus had almost arrived at Jerusalem! He had travelled a long way. How lovely that he was able to go to his friends house. Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha were good friends of Jesus. They wanted to do something special for him so they had a dinner for him. Martha served the food and everyone enjoyed what she had made and they ate everything! Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus. But where was Mary?

Mary wanted to show everyone how special Jesus was. In those days when you went to someone’s house they always gave you some water to wash your feet. The roads were very dusty and people got their feet dirty.

But Mary wanted to do more than just give Jesus water to wash his feet. She had some very expensive ointment that she poured onto the feet of Jesus. The Bible tells us that the perfume from the anointment filled the whole house.

Mary was right to do this special thing for Jesus because he is God’s Son who would soon die to save us.

Paper plate picture to add to the others

Craft Idea – a perfume bottle made from a paper plate. Spray the bottle shape with perfume and allow to saok in and dry. Then decorate!

On the Way to Easter…Bartimaeus

On the Way to Easter Bartimaeus. We are beginning to get ready for Easter at toddler group. This year we are going on the last journey that Jesus made into Jerusalem, meeting some of the people that Jesus met. Last week we met the Rich Young Man. This time on the Way to Easter we meet Bartimaeus. The Story is from Mark 10:46-52.

On the Way to Easter .. Bartimaeus Story Idea

Jesus and his friends were in a big crowd of people going to the city of Jerusalem. By now lots of people had heard about Jesus and the amazing things he said and did. (Do you remember the rich man from last time? – if you are using the paper plate visuals have this already displayed so you can refer to it briefly)

This time we are going to find out about another person that Jesus met as he travelled to Jerusalem for the last time. Say hello to Bartimaeus! (Take Bartimaeus doll or puppet from the Story Bag)

Bartimaeus wasn’t able to see and couldn’t work so each day he sat with his bowl and begged for money. He had heard about Jesus. He started to call out as loud as he could, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’

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

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

‘Get up quick!’ the people said

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

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

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

‘I want to be able to see!’ he said.

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

On the way to Easter ..Bartimaeus paper plate visual showing Bartimaeus standing by the roadside. — Our paper plate visual aid is Bartimaeus by the road that Jesus was travelling on. We will add this to the paper plate of the Rich Young Man.

On the Way to Easter...Bartimaeus paper plates showing Jesus' last journey into Jerusalem — This is all the stories put together – next time it’s all about a short man and a tree. Any guesses?!

On the Way to Easter.. the Rich Young Man

We are beginning to get ready for Easter at toddler group. This year we are going on the last journey that Jesus made into Jerusalem, meeting some of the people that Jesus met. Our first story is from Luke 18:18-23 and Mark 10:17-22. A rich young man comes to find Jesus as he is travelling to Jerusalem and asks him a question…

One day a young man came to speak to Jesus. He didn’t walk up to Jesus. He ran to Jesus. (Run on the spot) He wanted to ask a question. He thought that Jesus was important so he knelt down in front of him and asked ‘Teacher, what must I do to have eternal life?’ (kneel down)

It was a good question and the young man really wanted to know the answer.

Jesus said to him, ‘ You know what the Commandments are that God gave us, to tell us how to live to please him.’

‘I’ve kept them all since I was a young boy.’

Jesus looked at the young man. Jesus cared about him. Jesus wanted to help him. ‘Go, and sell all you have and give your money to the poor and then you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.’

But, oh dear, the young man had a lot of money.(Show money bag) He loved all his money very much. (Hug money bag to yourself) What a choice! Sell everything and give all his money away and follow Jesus or keep all his things and his money and go back home. What would he do?

The young man walked away from Jesus. (Walk on the spot, looking sad and dejected) He felt sad. He chose to keep his money.

Our first paper plate to make up our journey……

This is what we are working towards…

Jesus stops the Storm

‘Jesus stops the Storm’ was another of our weather themed stories at toddler group. It’s from Luke 8. It’s a great story to tell – lots of drama with the wind blowing and waves crashing, frightened disciples, dark skies and Jesus sleeping!

Craft Idea

This craft is in two parts; the lake made from a paper plate – square paper plates with two shades of blue tissue paper – and mini boats. Round plates would be just as good but they need to be a bit sturdy. The boat is cut from card (done beforehand) and has a tab so it can be glued in place but still stand up. The label says ‘Jesus stopped the storm’.

It’s a very effective craft that’s quite easy to make.

Make the boat first and attach to the paper plate. Then add the waves and the label.

Jesus stopped the Storm Bible Story Idea

Introduce actions for the children to do during the story. It’s helpful to explain these actions before you start. Include them as you tell the story.

1. Move arms to represent waves (vary the size of the waves in the story)

2 Blow into closed hands for the wind

3 Pretend to be sleeping

4 Say, ‘shush’ – ‘be still’

You could play some sound effects during the story – thunder and rain recordings are available on MP3 downloads (usually used for relaxation). Make sure you listen to anything you plan to use beforehand.

‘ One day Jesus asked his friends to get in a boat and go to the other side of the lake. It was very calm and the water was gently moving the boat. Jesus was very tired. He laid down in the boat and rested his head on a pillow and went fast asleep. The boat moved slowly out across the lake. Some of Jesus’ friends were fishermen and they knew all about rowing boats.

Suddenly a the wind began to blow. the waves got bigger and bigger and bigger! Water was starting to come inside the boat! It was so scary. But Jesus was fast asleep.

Jesus’ friends felt the wind blowing, saw the waves getting bigger and bigger and they were frightened. ‘We are going to die!,’ they said.

Jesus was still fast asleep. So his friends woke him up. ‘Don’t you care about us? they said.

Jesus cares very much.

He got up and stood up in the boat. And then he did something that no one else could ever do. He told the wind and the waves to ‘STOP! Shush – be still.’

It was suddenly all quiet and still. No more wind blowing and waves crashing.

Jesus’ friends were afraid and shocked. ‘Who is this?’ they said to each other, ‘that even the wind and waves obey him!’

Jesus is God. He is the only one who can stop the storm’.

Downloads for the craft

Jesus-stopped-the-storm-Sheet-of-labels-3-x-8 Download

Mary and Martha

Mary and Martha are two grown up sisters that we meet in Luke 10:38-42 . They live in Bethany. They are mentioned three times in the Life of Jesus. You can also read about them in John 11 – when their brother Lazarus is bought back to life – and in John 12 – when Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume.

You could tell all three of these stories over three sessions or pick a couple. It’s good to include stories about women in our groups as so many of the listeners are women and a lot of Bible stories are about men! I always try to be mindful of this when I’m planning which stories to include.

Mary and Martha story idea

In the story bag I had the three main characters – Martha, Mary and Jesus and some pots and pans, a wooden spoon and a cloth. You could have an apron or a duster. As you introduce the characters take them from the story bag and say ‘hello’

‘Mary and Martha were two grown-up sisters. One day Martha invited Jesus to come to their home for a meal.

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

When he got there Jesus sat down and 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!)

Mary sat still and listened to Jesus.

Martha was not happy!

She said to Jesus, ‘ Lord, don’t you care that I’ve been left to do all the work by myself?! Tell my sister to help me!’

But Jesus didn’t do what Martha said. Instead he said to Martha, ‘You don’t need to worry so much about all the things that need to be done. You need to listen to my words too.’

Today we can listen to the words of Jesus by listening to stories about him and reading the Bible.’

Mary and Martha puppets for story telling

Pan and cloth props for telling story about Mary and Martha

Craft Idea

Make people collages – you could add the words, ‘We use our ears to listen’

Journey to Bethlehem – week 5 – Jesus is born

This week we arrive in Bethlehem!

The story is from Luke 2:1-7.

I often start story time by introducing the characters – in this story we’ll all say hello to Mary and then to Joseph as I take them out of the story bag. (The knitted characters are from an Alan Dart pattern – available from his website or from Amazon)

The Story

‘Mary and Joseph had to go on a long journey. They needed to go all the way to Bethlehem. Maybe they took one of these with them – take donkey out of the story bag. What noise does a donkey make? Everyone join in with ‘eeyore (hee-haw)’

When they got to the town of Bethlehem they needed to find somewhere to stay. Mary’s baby was soon going to be born.

They looked and they looked. They knocked on the door of the hotel. ‘We must find somewhere soon!’ they said to each other.

The hotel boss answered the door – ‘No room here!’ he said

Oh no! (Everyone repeat this)

‘But maybe you could stay where the animals are?’ he said.

It was better than having nowhere to go. So that was where Mary and Joseph went. And there Jesus was born.

He was a real baby – with 10 fingers and 10 toes and a nose and two eyes and two ears. But he was also very special because he is God’s Son. The Bible gives him a special name – Immanuel – which means ‘God with us’. ‘ (Matthew 1:23)

We’ll add another paper plate to our Journey to Bethlehem display..

So altogether we have …..

We will be making Christmas star wreaths as our craft..

The Wise Builder craft idea

Jesus told the story about the Wise and Foolish Builders as part of his Sermon on the Mount. You can read it in Matthew 7:24 – 27. It’s a great story for using actions as you tell it. And of course there is the song. If you search youtube for ‘the Wise Man built his house on the rock’ you should find a couple of versions at least.

The craft that we made was a house on rock made from cut out shapes. The sequin rain is optional – depending on how much mess you wish to make!

The Man by the Pool – John 5

Bible reference John 5:1-9

‘One day Jesus was in the big, important city of Jerusalem (ask children to repeat name)

In Jerusalem there was a special pool of water. The people believed that when the water started to move that the first person to get into the water would be made better. So every day lots of people who were unwell sat around the pool and waited.

Now, Jesus was walking near to the pool and he saw a man who had been unable to walk for a long, long time. He asked him, ‘Do you want to get better?’

The man said, ‘When the water moves there is no one to help me to get into the water and someone else always gets there first.’

Jesus listened to the man and then he told him, ‘ Get up, pick up the mat you are lying on and walk.’

And that’s exactly what the man did. He got up and picked up the mat he’d been lying on and he walked! He was so happy!

Jesus was able to make the man walk because he is the Son of God.’

Craft Idea – we decorated footprints

Q is for question

Q is for Question is part of our Bible Alphabet series. Starting at A we have told a Bible Story for each letter of the alphabet. It can be anything – a person, place or object – so long as the letter we are doing comes somewhere. Q was a bit tricky! There are names we could have used (but not many) so we went with question.

The question, ‘who is this, that even the winds and waves obey him?’ was asked by the disciples after Jesus stilled the storm. (Mark 4:36-41).There are other questions in the story – ‘Teacher do you care that we are perishing?’ and ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?

The question about who Jesus is is at the heart of the story.

To tell the story to young children

Have a story bag with a boat and the twelve disciples (you could use duplo figures or cut out pictures. Below are lego mini figures because that is what we have! Don’t look too closely at the characters as they are a strange bunch!)

Piece of blue cloth to represent the sea.

Cushion or pillow

Introduce actions for the children to do during the story

Move arms to represent waves

Blow into hands for the wind

Pretend to be sleeping

Say ‘Shush’ – ‘be still’

There’s a fuller version of the Story here and a craft idea too.

The Wise Men visit Jesus

The story of the Wise Men is from Matthew 2:1-15. As this story is being told to toddlers I don’t mention Herod’s plan to kill the baby boys. It is a very dark part of the story and reminds us the Birth of Jesus took place in a world where many people had rejected God.

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

Do you remember how we heard about Jesus being born? He was a tiny baby. But then he grew and he was a toddler – just like you! He lived in a house with Mary and Joseph.

Far away from where Jesus lived there were some Wise Men. They read books and knew lots and lots of things. They loved to look at the stars in the dark nights 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 traveled 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 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, farnkinsense 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.

Craft Idea –

Decorate stars – we’ve used wooden stars from amazon and paint. Put the painted star on a white envelope so you can name it. It’s much easier than writing it on the back and then having to turn the stars over at home time.

The Angel visits Mary

The Angel visits Mary Bible story – from Luke 1:26-38.

(Include actions in the story if you can – ask the children and adults to join in)

‘One day Mary was at home. It was just an ordinary day. Mary was cleaning the house (some actions here – maybe dusting or sweeping).

But then something extraordinary happened! An angel came to see her! Now angels are not like fairies. Angels are big and strong! (actions here too – make a big shape with your arms and then flex muscles). The angel that came to see Mary was called Gabriel (ask everyone to repeat the name). He had a message from God.

‘You are going to have a very special baby,’ he said to Mary. ‘This baby will be God’s Son and he will be King forever.’

Who was this baby? This baby, that the angel talked about, was Jesus.

Mary listened. (everyone touch their ears). She knew that this promised baby would be very, very special and important.

Jesus is very, very special and important. He is God’s Son who came to earth to be the Saviour.’

Craft Ideas – make angels

Square paper plate angel – cut out the wings and use tissue paper to create a stained glass effect.

Paper cup/ice cream pot angel. Use a circle for the face and add a pipe cleaner halo.

Story bag ideas – a doll to represent Mary or Early Learning Centre Nativity Set. You could add a duster and a dustpan and brush and your angel craft to represent Gabriel.

Some more angels to make in this post using paper plates

Holiday Bible Club Craft (2)

We used a wooden spoon based craft for the bible story about Jesus healing a man who had leprosy. You can read the story in Matthew 8.

The children drew a sad face one side of the spoon and a happy face the other. We used kitchen roll for the clothes – a fairly good quality brand that the children could decorate with felt pens. The arms and belt are pipe cleaners. Use a slighty longer pipe cleaner for the arms.

To make –

Draw the faces on the spoon and write name on the spoon handle

Colour/decorate the square of kitchen roll – I cut the kitchen roll squares into quarters which made them just the right size for our small wooden spoons. Once coloured fold the quarter in half and then in half again and make a small cut on the fold. Slide the spoon through this and then add the arms. Finally add the belt.

This basic idea can be used for retelling lots of Bible stories. Large wooden spoons make great puppets too. Have a look at this idea here.

Bartimaeus Bible Story

Mark 10:32,33, 46-52.

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

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

To tell the story…

Bible Truth for Toddlers – we can believe in Jesus

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

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

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

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

‘Get up quick!’ the people said

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

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

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

‘I want to be able to see!’ he said.

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

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

Some craft ideas are here –

Pinterest board

God has made a way for us to know him

Story from Luke 2

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

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

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

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

The shepherds were scared!

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

Who is this Saviour? It is Jesus

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

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

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

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

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

God is faithful – Zechariah and Elisabeth

Story from Luke 1:5-24

Bible truth for toddlers – God is faithful

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you God for my feet..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peter held out his hand and helped the man up.

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

He was happy!

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

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

This is a craft idea.

Thank you God for my mouth..

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

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

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

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

Jesus feeds five thousand people

This story is from John 6 ( and the other gospels too). In the story basket we had Jesus, Andrew, the young boy, a paper chain of people to represent the crowd and the lunch of two fish and five loaves. In John 6 Philip is also mentioned by name but we kept to just Andrew as he bought the young boy with the lunch to Jesus. Sometimes too much detail can make a toddler group story too long. The paper plate lunch was also our crafty make – we did the craft before the story. The loaves and fish were cut from sugar paper. We weren’t strict about how much ‘lunch’ everyone had on their plate.

all about me – I can smell!

Young children have lots of discoveries to make. It’s fun to help them discover their senses. There are different activities that can show them that they can smell. Of course they already knew that! We can help them know what the smells are that they like or dislike. Sometimes a smell gives us a warning – the toast is burning! Sometimes a smell can make us hungry.

There is a bible Story that you can tell to illustrate that we can smell here. There is a different retelling in the Go Teach Toddler book that we are using this half term.

For a craft for this Bible Story make a perfume bottle

You need – paper plate cut into a simple bottle shape (we are going to use the reverse side so the bottle looks more 3D)

Coloured paper that has been sprayed with perfume. I used tissue paper circles that I bought from Tiger.

Glue stick

Crayons to add decoration. (optional)

Beforehand cut out the bottles, spray the paper and make an example.

I have been cutting some herbs from my garden for the children to smell – these herbs are child friendly – sage, lemon balm, thyme and lavender. The lemon balm is a strong scent in particular. If you don’t have herbs in your garden you could use the fresh herb pots that supermarkets sell. Just a few would be fine.

Playdough can be given a scent. I’ve used vanilla extract (expensive) in one dough and mixed spice in another. Take a look at my pinterest playdough board for some really good ideas. I like the sound of lemon dough. 🙂 there is a recipe for that on the board.

My favourite smell is fresh coffee but sadly at our group we only serve instant!

Y is for the rich young man

The story of the Rich Young Man (Mark 10:17-22) has a sad ending. He loves his money more than Jesus. With older children you could talk about things that get in the way of them following Jesus. You could also add a question mark symbol and talk more about why the young man asked the question, ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Did he already think he was good enough?

With young children the story lends itself to using actions – running, kneeling and walking. Make a money bag using real coins as they are weighty and jingle! Or use an action to represent money such as rubbing your thumb and fingers together.

The Story about The Rich Young Man – for younger children

It was a good question and the young man really wanted to know the answer.

Jesus said to him, ‘ You know what the Commandments are that God gave us, to tell us how to live to please him.’

‘I’ve kept them all since I was a young boy,’ he replied

Jesus looked at the young man. Jesus cared about him. Jesus wanted to help him. Jesus said to him,’Go, and sell all you have and give your money to the poor and then you will have treasure in heaven and come and follow me.’

The young man walked away from Jesus. (Walk on the spot, looking sad and dejected) He felt sad. He chose to keep his money.

We are almost at the end of our Bible Alphabet – next up is Zacchaeus!

Simon’s mother in law – homes Jesus visited

Simon’s Mother in Law was ill in bed with a fever. This is a simple craft/story telling prop idea for the story of her being healed from Mark 1:29-31.

An egg box used as a pretend bed for telling a story

Cardboard tubes decorated as people to use telling a Bible Story about Simon's mother in law

Cardboard rolls decorated as people to tell the story about Simon's mother in law

The bed is made from an egg box and the people from cardboard rolls. If you wanted to make larger people you could easily use Pringle cartons (instructions in this post) or similar and a shoebox for a bed.

Simon’s mother in law story

‘Jesus had met some fishermen by the lake of Galilee. Do you know what fishermen do? Yes, that’s right, they catch fish!

Their names were Simon and Andrew, who were brothers and James and John who were also brothers.

Jesus called them to be his followers.

One day Jesus went to the home of Simon and Andrew. Even though they were grown ups they lived in the same home with their families. Their friends James and John were there too.

It’s really nice to have friends visit us isn’t it? But things weren’t happy in this home… everyone was sad.

Simon’s mother-in-law was very poorly. She had a temperature and had to stay in bed.

When Jesus found out that she was poorly he went to see her. He cared about her. He cares about you and me too.

Jesus held her hand and helped her get up – and she was better!!

Now I couldn’t have done that. And you couldn’t have done that. But Jesus could because Jesus is God.

Simon’s mother-in-law was so happy to be well. The first thing she did was to start looking after her friends and she made them something to eat.

Everyone in the house was happy!’

A video of this story

There is a craft idea for this Bible Story in this post. Take a look!

Calling of the first disciples – Mark 2

Last week at toddler group we told the story about the Baptism of Jesus. This week we move on to the calling of Simon and Andrew to follow Jesus.

To help the children picture what is happening in the story I have made a boat and two disciples using an egg box and cardboard rolls.

The story will be very short and will be told from Mark 1:16-18.

The visual aids are easy to make – all you need is

Egg box (6 egg size)

Two toilet rolls or cardboard rolls

Two pieces of material for head gear and two pipe cleaners to fasten material

Felt pens or Sharpies to colour cardboard roll disciples

Paint to colour egg box

Pipe cleaner for mast and triangle large enough to fold around pipe cleaner to make sale (stick this with double sided sticky tape)

The pictures should give a clear idea of how everything was made!

For a simple craft make a paper plate fish

DSCN0540 — Fish craft using a paper plate

Jesus is baptised

We are planning on telling Bible stories from Mark’s gospel at toddler group from now till Easter. The idea is to link the stories about Christmas with Easter. For the children each story will be complete on it’s own but the adults will be able to follow the chronology.

The first story will be from mark 1:9 – the baptism of Jesus. To tell this I am using a simple visual aid that I found on Pinterest (link in the text below)

The following stories will be –

The calling of the first disciples (Mark 1:16-20)

Man through the roof (Mark 2:1-12)

Calming the storm (Mark 4:35-41)

Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:21-43)

Feeding of 5,000 (Mark 6:30-44)

The rich young man (Mark 10:17-22)

Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52)

Triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:1-11)

Easter (Mark 15-16:8)

For the baptism of Jesus I will be using a very simple visual aid that I found here. I have altered it a little. It could also be made as a craft. The figures for Jesus and John were taken from this book. (I would definitely recommend that you get a copy if you teach young children in sunday school)

To make the craft/visual aid you will need

Two paper plates

Colouring pencils and felt tips (I used Sharpies)

Cellotape and blue tac

One popsicle stick or wood skewer

Two figures to represent Jesus and John – both cut out and coloured in. Attach ‘John’ to paper plate and ‘Jesus’ to the popsicle stick

Stapler to attach plates together

Scissors to cut one plate into sky and water – making a gap between.

Once you have all the different materials this is very quick to make – just leave enough space for the popsicle stick/skewer to move so that you can demonstrate the baptism.

This is a very short Bible Story video – just two minutes. Let me know what you think…

wise and foolish builders – Matthew 7

In Matthew 7 we have recorded for us one of the stories that Jesus told. It is a very simple parable about house building. There was the wise man who built on the rock and the foolish man who built on the sand. The storm came and only one house remained – the house on the rock.

Jesus explains the story when he says ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.’ Matthew 7:24.

When telling the story to young children have some rocks and sand to show. They could also enjoy some sensory play with sand and pebbles and have a go at building with wooden blocks in a sand tray before or after the story time.

There is also a well known song with great actions that tells the story – have a listen here and a lego inspired retelling of the story here.

For a simple craft decorate/colour a house. There is space to write Matthew 7:24 or print on a label and stick in the space. Or download the PDF and add the verse before printing out. this is what i should have done as my writing isn’t very neat!

PDF of house for craft House (1)

The Visit of The Magi – Epiphany

The arrival of The Magi, or Wise men or Three Kings is traditionally celebrated twelve days after Christmas day on the 6 December.

The story is recorded in Matthew’s Gospel chapter 2. These men came from the east and having seen a new star in the sky they decided that the new star signified the birth of a new king. They travelled all the way to Jerusalem looking for this new king. But he wasn’t to be found there. The religious leaders are summoned by King Herod and they know that the promised king is to be found in Bethlehem. The Magi travel on and they find Jesus in the house with his mother. The baby is now a young toddler. The family are living in a house in Bethlehem and haven’t yet returned to Nazareth. Jesus has already been to Jerusalem where he has been taken to the temple. Simeon and Anna have both recognised the baby as the promised Saviour. (see Luke 2).

The Magi follow the star to the house where Jesus is and give him the gifts of gold, frankinsense and myrrh. Herod has given them instructions to then return to Jerusalem and tell exactly where the child is so he too can ‘worship him’. But The Magi are warned in a dream to go home by a different route. When Herod realises that they haven’t done as he said he has all the young boys of bethleham killed. Mary and Joseph escape with Jesus to Egypt and return to live in Nazareth when Herod dies.

The Visit of the Magi Story idea

Have a star and either pitures of The Magi or models. The ones in the pictures are from a Nativity set. (You can refer to The magi as Wise men or kings. The Bible doesn’t say how many there were but we know that they gave three gifts.)

‘A long, long, long time ago some Wise Men (show pictures or models) were looking up at the dark night sky. (Everyone look up).

They could see the stars twinkling in the sky (make stars shapes with hands). ‘Look’ they said ‘there is a brand new star!’ (show star) ‘The new star means that a new King has been born. We must find him and go and give him gifts.’

The wise men packed their bags. (Pretend to be packing bags). They set off following the star.

They went to a big city. They didn’t find the new king there.

They went to a big palace. They didn’t find the new king there.

Where is he? The Wise men kept looking.

They followed the star to a small town with a small ordinary house and there was a little boy. He was the New king. His name is Jesus. The wise men bowed down and gave him their gifts. They had looked and looked for him and were so happy that they had found him.’

Visit of the Magi craft

Decorate star shapes with pictures cut from old christmas cards and wrapping paper.

Older children could think about the word Epiphany and what it means. Although the Bible doesn’t use the word in this story it is the traditional word used to decribe the visit of The Magi. They could also make a timeline of events recorded in Luke and Matthew from the angels visit to Mary up to Luke 2:40 when the family return to Nazareth and settle. Both gospel writers include different parts of the Christmas Story.

Once they have a simple timeline they could plot the journeys taken by Mary and Joseph and, after he was born, Jesus and the Magi on a map.

Make a Paper Plate Boat

Paper plates are great for crafts. They are cheap to buy and can be recycled when no longer needed. If you are telling a Bible Story with a boat in then this is an easy make to add to your Story Bag.

All you need:

Paper plate, tissue paper squares or pens/crayons, card or a lollypop stick for the mast, patterned paper for the sail, cellotape, blue waves made from card or construction paper (optional)

Use Cellotape to secure the mast.

This is also suitable to make as a simple craft. It’s great for children to make and then use to retell the story as it stand up by itself.

Here’s a link to a Bible Story that has a fishing boat

And a Paper Plate Crafts Pinterest Board with some more ideas

Z is for Zacchaeus

I made this to use with under fives to tell the story of Zacchaeus. He moves up the tree which is great for keeping the young children interested. We are doing the story as part of our Bible Alphabet series. It’s from Luke 19:1-10.

The tree is a Pringles container covered in brown construction paper with large leaves stapled around the top. It’s important that the brown construction paper is taller than the Pringles container by about 4cm so you have space to staple on the leaves. Also leave the lid on so that Zacchaeus doesn’t fall inside while you are telling the story! The leaves were made from construction paper and lightweight card in two contrasting greens.

You can slide Zacchaeus up the tree trunk by blue tacking him to a piece of brown construction paper that has been folded and wound round the tree trunk and stapled to make a circular collar for the tree. This should be tight enough to stay in place but slide smoothly. When Zacchaeus has climbed the tree take him off the brown slider/collar and blue tac him in the leaves.

Here’s a link to a craft idea and a short video of the story.

The well known children’s song ‘Zacchaeus was a very little man (or very wee man) is great to sing. There are lots of versions on the web; some have music to sing along to and others also have animation.

L is for lost sheep

L is for lost sheep – a parable that Jesus told (Luke 15:1-7)

To tell the story to young children

Very young children will probably benefit from using smaller numbers – maybe just up to ten with the number ten sheep missing. Before you begin hide a sheep but unless you have a small group give the task of looking for it to a helper (who knows where to look!). If you have a very small group you could look together.

You could dress as a shepherd or take have a picture of a shepherd to show (we had a shepherd’s crook to show too). Ask the children what sort of animal a shepherd looks after and if they don’t know after one or two tries tell them – a shepherd looks after sheep. Ask them to make the sound a sheep makes. Explain that Jesus told a story about a shepherd who had 10 (100) sheep. He looked after them. At the end of the day he counted them. Have some sheep to count and count them altogether 1,2,,3,4,5,6,7,8,9…..Oh no one is missing! Where can he be? At this point pretend to look for the sheep and find him.

Explain that Jesus told the story to tell everyone that he has come to look for people – to help them to know and love God.

Sheep Craft Ideas

Pegs for legs sheep – print the sheep on to card and cut out for young children. They can decorate their sheep with yarn or cotton wool.Make sure an adult adds the legs.

Sheep collage – print on to paper and decorate with cotton wool or yarn and wax crayons.

Sheep – Pdf file – free to use

Sheep_(peg_legs) – Pdf file – free to use

Bible alphabet – C is for carpenter

Following on from where Jesus was born – Bethlehem – who took care of him? Mary and Joseph. In this story we concentrated on Joseph and the job he did.

With young children I sometimes like to have some objects in a bag – it keeps them interested and watching what is going on and objects help to explain words and concepts.

In the story bag

A knitted doll – Joseph

A toy saw and hammer

Pieces of wood

The man with four friends – duplo storytelling – homes Jesus visited

One of the homes Jesus visited was the place where the paralysed man was healed. Luke 5:17- 26. If you look very closely you can just see crowds of people in the model of the house. To tell the story to young children you could use lego duplo figures.( Of course avoid the clearly identifiable charcters such as Bob the Builder) The mat is brown paper and material – chosen because it has to be rolled up. It fits really well in the duplo figures hand.

If you didn’t want to use duplo for telling the story you could let a small group play with the figures and model afterwards to retell the story to you.

Homes Jesus visited

At toddler group this half term each bible story will be about a house that Jesus visited. Today I talked about the homes where we live. The craft was a collage of different types of homes and the collage I had made was my introduction.

I talked about how Jesus didn’t stay a baby in a manger (I showed a picture of this) but he grew up and became a man. He visited lots of peoples homes but they were quite different to our homes today.

The model of a Bible Times house was hidden in a bag – I explained that we were going to hear lots of stories of the homes Jesus visited – and showed the model. I explained about the flat roof and the steps at the side.

Next week we begin the stories. With older children I would have gone on to tell a story right away.

To make the house – and I’m sure you could do better – I used a shoe box with a lid and covered it with brown paper. The steps were a bit tricky – I used corrugated card from some packaging and folded it concertina style.

Thank you God book – for toddler group

Over the past term at our Toddler Group we have made a ‘thank you God book’ – this is an overview of what we did

Title page ‘our thank you God book’

Then the following pages – with pictures added from google images. Each page was A3 and was laminated.

‘I am wonderfully made’ Psalm 139 verse 14

Hands can .. clap, wave, touch, catch

Thank you God for my hands

Tabitha used her hands to help others

Feet can … run, jump, walk, tip toe

Thank you God for my feet

Zacchaeus used his feet to run to see Jesus

Noses can.. rub, smell, breathe

Thank you God for my nose

Mary gave the special perfume to Jesus. It smelt beautiful.

Mouths can … shout, eat and drink, sing, speak

Thank you God for my mouth

Ears can listen to … whispers, shouts, songs

Thank you God for my ears

The children shouted ‘Hosanna’. Everyone heard.

Eyes can.. blink, see colours, close, open

Thank you God for my eyes

Jesus died. Then he came alive again. Lots of people saw him.

For the first 6 weeks we went through the parts of the body – so we just did hands can .. thank you God for my hands etc. The children were able to do the different actions.

Then for the next 5 weeks we reviewed/repeated what we had done but added a short bible story. We combined ears and mouths for a week as they fitted so well with the story of palm sunday. The children were able to shout Hosanna and everyone could hear them!

The pictures are just to give you an idea of what we did – they were more of a visul aid for the adults as we had actions for the children to do. I find it really helpful to have something visual to refer to just in case i forget what I’m meant to say!

Easter decorations – eggs and more eggs

Easter decorations – eggs and more eggs, some to decorate and some to eat!

It’s very straightforward to make salt dough eggs but you do need to do this ahead as the dough shapes need to dry out.

To make them you need to start with a salt dough. This is very easy. You need

2 cups plain flour,
I cup of salt
I cup of water (add this gradually as you may not need it all).
Kneed the dough on a floured surface and roll out to about 4mm thick. As you do this keep making sure it isn’t sticking to the work top. To make an egg shape I used a template and cut around it. You could also use an egg shaped biscuit cutter.
If you are making hanging decorations you need to make a hole for the thread about 1cm away from the edge. Then leave the shapes to dry. They will air dry, but it will take a long time (48 hours plus)
Alternatively, put them in a low oven, not more than 100C, for up to 4 hours. (They can burn so keep an eye on them). Once dry you can paint them as I did or leave them plain for children to decorate.

Roll out the salt dough

Use a template or cutter to make egg shapes

Cut out

Pierce a hole about 1cm away from the edge

Leave to dry out – the shapes should be solid after 48 hours.

Paint using poster paint

Decorate and add yarn to make a loop

Children of almost any age can decorate these simple egg shapes. We used them at toddler group with pre-schoolers, but they would be great for older children who would be able to do more intricate designs or pictures.

We used felt tips to decorate but you could also glue coloured paper on to them and add glitter! A covering of PVA glue at the end will add a shine – but as you can see in the pictures the colours may run a bit.

I loved this craft and my own children had a really good time using up the left over eggs later on at home.

Lots of chocolate eggs to give as Easter gifts

Our Easter Story in toddler group focused on the people who saw Jesus alive again. We reviewed what we had learnt about our eyes first and then the story was told about Jesus dying but coming back to life again.

Links to these stories and other ideas for celebrating Easter –

Thank you God for our eyes – part of our ‘Thank you God’ series

The Easter Story

Palm Sunday – Palm leaf craft

Easter is nearly here! In toddler group we have been learning about being ‘Wonderfully made’ and have already talkied about our mouths that shout, whisper and taste’ and our ears that can ‘hear shouts and whispers’. The Bible story that we are using to develop this is the Palm Sunday story that we read in Luke 19:29-40, Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-10, John 12:12-15. In these accounts people shouted ‘Hosanna!’ and everyone heard. The story will be told simply and the children will be encouraged to shout ‘Hosanna’ in the appropiate places!

The above craft is palm leaf shapes for the children to decorate using chalk, felt tip and wax crayons. I prefer wax crayons rather than the plastic variety as they blend and make a better mark on the paper.

The word Hosanna means ‘Save please’ and also ‘Salvation has come.’ Take a look at what John Piper has to say about Hosanna!

Jar of perfume craft – mary anoints Jesus

There are Bible stories that tell us what happened just prior to Jesus’ death and ressurection. One of these stories tells us about mary annointing Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume.

As the children had been learning that we are ‘Wonderfully Made’ we started with the familiar – we thanked God for our noses and how they help us to smell (we did the flower craft for this). Then we moved from the familiar to something new – the story of mary and the expensive perfume she used to anoint Jesus. The story is found in John 12: 1-8 where we read that, ‘the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.’ When you tell the story have a bottle of perfume to show.

The craft was very simple – a shelf and an assortment of perfumes bottles to stick onto it. You could spray these with perfume beforehand (before the children arrive). I have shown what the craft would be like using colour printing/photocopying and black and white. I did go around the outlines of the bottles with marker pen so they stand out more and I cut them out in a bubble – but they need a flat bottom to sit on the shelf!!

Lydia hears about Jesus Toddler Group Bible Story

Bible Truth for toddlers – Believing in Jesus is for everyone

Lydia Bible Story Toddler Group Craft

Lydia Toddler Group Craft Printable Resource

Other Toddler Bible Stories from the Book of Acts

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The Philippian Jailer Toddler Bible story

Telling the story

Philippian Jailer Bible Story Toddler Play Ideas

Song ideas For Toddler Group

Paul and Silas in Jail craft For Toddler Group

Printable Resources – Philippian Jailer toddler group craft

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Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer Bible Story

Philip and the Ethiopian craft idea

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Jesus calls his first disciples – Bible Story Idea

Craft Idea

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The Lost Sheep Story Idea

The Lost Sheep Craft Idea

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Man with four friends story bag ideas

The Man with Four Friends – story idea

Craft Idea – free download to colour and/or decorate with tissue paper

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Zacchaeus story telling idea

Zacchaeus story video

Zacchaeus craft idea

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The Story from Luke 23 and 24

Easter Craft Idea

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Some pictures to use to tell the story

Craft ideas

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On the Way to Easter .. Bartimaeus Story Idea

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Craft Idea

Jesus stopped the Storm Bible Story Idea

Downloads for the craft

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Mary and Martha story idea

Craft Idea

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To tell the story to young children

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

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The Story about The Rich Young Man – for younger children

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Simon’s mother in law story

A video of this story

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The Visit of the Magi Story idea

Visit of the Magi craft

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Sheep Craft Ideas

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