In Mark 1:16-20 we read about Jesus calling his first disciples.
Jesus calls his first disciples – Bible Story Idea
To tell the Story you will need the different characters, a boat, a net and a fish in the Story Bag. Take them out as you need them.
One day Jesus was walking along near the Sea of Galilee. It’s a big lake that has lots of fish. Most days there were people there who were fishing. They had boats and big fishing nets to catch the fish in.
On this particular day Jesus saw two men who were throwing their big fishing net into the water – their names were Simon and Andrew. Jesus called over to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’
Simon and Andrew heard Jesus. They looked up from what they were doing and then they left their net and their boat and they followed Jesus!
A little further along Jesus saw two brothers, James and John. They were sitting in their boat mending the fishing net. Jesus called to them, ‘Follow me’. They heard Jesus and they left their boat and their net and they followed Jesus!
Craft Idea
To make this craft you need
Paper plate folded in half (Cut a small slit to slot the lollipop stick through to make a mast)
Lollipop stick
Card or sugar paper to make the sail
Corrugated card to make water (optional)
Tissue paper or similar to decorate the boat
A net (I used the net that is packaging for oranges/lemons)
Let’s make a clay boat with air-hardening modelling clay. This craft is suitable for older children and gives them the opportunity to work with clay even if you have no access to a kiln.
Air-hardening clay is easy to use and will dry out and keep it’s shape. We used Das. It is great to use when you want to make a finished product for the children to keep.
We are using it to make small boats as our Bible Story in our 5-11year olds after school club is Jesus Calming the Storm on the Lake. from Mark 4:35-41. There’s a fun and interactive idea for telling the story using a parachute here.
Let’s make a clay boat instructions
Start by making a ball of clay. Then make a pinch pot. Gradually shape this into an oblong. Add a small ball of clay to the inside of the shape, You will use this to attach the sail while the clay is still fairly soft. Them make a sail. Take a lollipop stick and a glue on a triangle of card. Push this gently into the small ball of clay that’s been added to the inside of the boat shape – make sure it is attached.
Hints and tips
Cover your work surface with a plastic, wipeable cloth and dust the surface with cornflour to prevent sticking.
Add some decoration using some clay tools or the ends of paint brushes
If you need to change something adding some water will make the clay workable. But don’t add too much at once.
Leave to dry out (24 hours per centimetre). There may be some shrinkage and if necessary use PVA glue to reattach the sail.
You can then paint the boat.
Once dry see if the boats float!
If you would rather not use clay then plasticine or modelling dough would work too.
Lost Sheep Bible Stories with two craft ideas for different age groups.
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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
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.
To make the eleven disciples make a paper chain of eleven men. To do this cut a long narrow strip from the A3 paper. Fold like a concertina into eleven sections. Draw a man outline on the first one. It’s important that the arms and legs go to the edges as these connect the men. Cut out carefully, making sure that the arms and legs stay connected. Then make the cloud from the A4 card. Stick on the Bible verse. Then on the A4 paper make a sky and a hill and then carefully add the eleven disciples and the cloud.
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.
To attach the cross add a fold and glue the tabAdd 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.
There is a lot of cutting out to do beforehand and not loads for children to do – they decorate the baby, add the tissue paper and the star – so you may want to make a paper plate Mary, Joseph or a shepherd as well!
A whole paper plate – cut out a triangle and use as the body. Add ribbon so this angel can be used as a Christmas decHow lovely is this! Got to love that face.ice cream pot angel – with a sparkly halo!half a paper plate folded in three – a tree topper or an angel to sit in the stablean angel picture with hearts for wings
‘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’.
I first made a paper plate stained glass window back in 2015! You can take a look at the blog post and instructions here – click this link
There is quite a bit of prep for this craft but it’s so worth the effort. It looks lovely!
This year I thought I would add some extra characters from the Christmas story.
There are templates – you may want to alter the shepherds head – it looks a little lopsided!! (sorry) The link to download – Christmas Stained Glass Window Template
We’re doing stories from the life of peter at Tuesday toddler group. last week it was the calling of the first disciples (Mark 1:16-18. Peter is still called Simon at this point. We have used the name peter to save confusion). The craft was paper plate fish.
This week it was the healing of Peter’s mother in law. (Mark 1:29-31)
The craft is a little bit more involved than usual – it is definitely one for an adult to make with their child. But it uses different textures and can be used to tell the story as the woman can get in and out of the bed.
There’s a free PDF of the bed and the woman is from kit that needs minimal prep.
The two sides of the craft – if you can’t do double sided printing/photocopying the side with the quilt pattern can be blank. It will work just as well.
You need pieces of fabric for the pillow and quilt. Mum-in-law has wool for hair and has a happy face one side and a sad face the other. The idea is that she isn’t glued to the craft but can get out of the bed.
I used a set of concertina girl shapes for the woman. They are from amazon. They need to be cut into individual people.
There are lots of opportunities for chat while making this craft. Parents/carers and toddlers can talk about colour and texture and of course talk about the story. We have our story half way through the morning with craft before and after. For those who make it before it can help them know what to listen out for.
This is so easy and uses up Christmas cards! The star shape is from Baker Ross. I kept my Christmas cards from last year but wasn’t quite sure what to do with them until I was planning for Christmas and a friend told me about star shaped wreaths!
For toddlers I’m cutting out nativity themed pictures plus a few winter robins and I’ve added the choice of tissue paper too. I went with green and red but silver and gold would be lovely!
Older children could cut out their own motifs from a selection of cards.
These paper plates can be used to tell the Christmas story and/or as craft ideas. They need some prep so I’m posting them now!
The Angel Gabriel visits Mary – Luke 1:26-38
Jesus is born – Luke 2:1-7
The shepherds are told about the birth of the Saviour – Luke 2:8-21
You can tell the story a little at a time over three weeks or use the plates altogether
They are made from sturdy paper plates that have a rim (not the cheapest but they need to stand up to being taken out of a story bag). The picture backgrounds are made from tissue paper and the scenes and people use paper, sugar paper, crepe paper, cardboard rolls (stable) wool, cotton wool and shiny paper. The angel wings are hearts cut out using a paper punch. The bodies of the people are triangles and the head scarfs (I can’t think of a better word!) are material. Lots of different textures and colours! Use what you have 🙂
Teach us to pray activity to go with the Bible story from Acts 12:1-19 – Peter in prison. The church met to pray for Peter and their prayers were answered. This take home craft is a reminder to pray. It would be great to use as a family too. Each person could pick a card from the bag and use it to say a short prayer.
Teach us to pray activity instructions
To make you will need – paper bags or envelopes, pens/pencils, scissors, print out of the four prayer prompts – praise, sorry, thank, please – and sticky label with ‘remember to pray’ printed on.
Talk about what the four prayer prompts mean – why we can praise God. How we can praise him for what he is like and the things he has done. Why do we need to say sorry to him? We have thought, said or done things against God’s law. What can we thank God for? food, clothes, friends. What can we ask for his help with – the please prayers. These can be for ourselves and for others. The children can write some of these ideas on the reverse of the cards. Encourage them to make the cards their own by adding ideas.
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