Primary Age Group Archives - Let their light shine!

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!

Easter Garden to make at home

Easter garden to make at home is a great way to celebrate Easter. The garden is a reminder of the Easter story and is also fun to make. Traditionally an Easter Garden would be made using soil, moss, flowers etc but this version is made entirely from paper and card – if you haven’t got easy access to soil and plants this is for you!

What I used to make the Easter Garden

paper plate (a piece of card would do too)
cereal box to make the cross (make two cross shapes and glue together so it will stand up)
paper ice cream tub for the tomb ( a roll of paper with card glued over an end would be fine)
a paper circle for the stone
tissue paper for the path and grass
pictures of flowers from magazines/garden catalogues.

How to make a cross for an Easter Garden — To attach the cross add a fold and glue the tab

Instructions for making a paper plate Easter Garden — Add the tomb – this might need to be glued and then held in place till it has stuck. Make a fold on the edge of the circle for the tomb then glue the tab that you have made and glue down. If you want to add the words do that first.

Here’s another Easter Garden idea that uses play dough and weetabix

Take a look at this telling of the Easter story for young children.

More Easter craft ideas..

Easter egg colouring printables

Easter egg colouring printables!

These A4 Easter Egg designs can be coloured or made into collages. Whatever you feel like doing! I’ve used wax crayons (you can blend the colours!), felt tips, tissue paper and some sugar paper circles. Cut out the egg shape after you’ve decorated it. If you want to paint the eggs then maybe print the shape onto card. Enjoy!

easter-egg-happy-easter-a4 Download

easter-egg-jesus-is-alive-a4 Download

easter-egg-pattern-a4 Download

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.