On the way to Easter.. Bible Stories Archives

On the way to Easter…paper plate pictures

On the way to Easter paper plate pictures that help to tell the story of the first Easter. In the Gospels Jesus meets several people when he is on his last journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover for the final time. So four of our stories are about the people that met Jesus as he was going to Jerusalem. Then we have the story of the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

I’ll be using different props for each story but as we go there will be a paper plate picture for each week that will build a bigger picture.. (If you don’t want to use all the stories just pick and choose)

Our stories will be… (Click on the links to go to the stories and crafts)

The Rich Young Ruler (Luke 18:18-23 and Mark 10:17-22)
Bartimaeus (Luke 18:35-43 and Mark 10:32,33,46-52)
Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10)
Mary anoints Jesus (John 12:1-8)
The Triumphal Entry (Luke 19:28-40)
Death and Resurrection of Jesus (Luke 23:44-24:12)

This is how our big picture will look when we have told all the stories..

Pictures on paper plates showing the people Jesus met in the run up to the first Easter

These are paper plates covered in tissue paper with people and buildings and trees etc added.

The people are available to download – if you would like to make a contribution to the blog you are very welcome to do so but of course you don’t have to!

woman-smile-x4 Download

man-smile-x4 Download

man-small-smile-x4 Download

man-sad-x4 Download

children-x21 Download

The pictures of trees and buildings are available in this post https://lettheirlightshine.com/2015/03/20/jesus-enters-jerusalem-palm-sunday/

On the way to Easter – some thoughts about telling the story

Easter can be a difficult story to tell to young children. It isn’t necessary to go into detail about how Jesus died. It’s always good to include the positive for example you can say – that although Jesus died and his friends were sad he came back to life again and his friends were happy! Be factual with sensitivity. Easter is a good news event!

A couple of Easter story videos – Palm Sunday and Easter!

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…Zacchaeus

Jesus is now in Jericho on his way to Jerusalem. Last time he met Bartimaeus. Now he meets Zacchaeus. Two very different people!

To tell the story… from Luke 19:1-10

Have a tree – you can make one from a pringle container or draw one – and a person to represent Zacchaeus. Place Zacchaeus in a story bag.

Jesus was now getting nearer to Jerusalem. 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 save us.

Craft Idea

The tree and Zacchaeus are available to download. The tree can be decorated with tissue paper, crepe paper and/or leaves cut from sugar paper with brown tissue paper for the tree trunk.

Tree Download

Zacchaeus-x21 Download

Our next paper plate to add to our ‘Journey to Jerusalem….’

This is what we are aiming for …..

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…

Category: On the way to Easter.. Bible Stories

On the way to Easter…paper plate pictures

On the way to Easter – some thoughts about telling the story

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