Toddler craft Archives - Let their light shine!

Jesus feeds four thousand people

Jesus feeds four thousand people is a story from Mark 8:1-10. A large crowd has gathered to listen to Jesus and have stayed so long that they have no food. Jesus shows his compassion and feeds everyone from a small amount of bread and fish.

Jesus feeds four thousand people story idea

Jesus was talking to lots and lots of people about God. There were mums and dads, grandads and grandmas and children! They had been listening for a long time. They had been listening – for – 1,2,3 days!!! Can you imagine that!?

I think they had some time to sleep too and some food to eat. But the food had all gone and it really was time to go home.

Jesus called his twelve special friends together, ‘We must give everyone something to eat,’ he said. ‘They have to be able to walk home and some of them have got a long way to go’. Jesus cared about all the people.

His friends didn’t know what to do. ‘We are so far away from anywhere,’ they said.

Jesus asked them, ‘how much food do you have?’ They looked at what they had – it wasn’t much. Just 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 small loaves of bread and some fish. Oh dear. Not really enough for Jesus and his twelve friends never mind everyone else!

Jesus told everyone to sit down. Jesus thanked God for the seven loaves and the few fish and then he started to share it out. All the tired and hungry people; all the mums and dads and grandmas and grandads and children had more than enough to eat. And once they were full, they started to go home.

Jesus’ friends had to tidy up – there was so much food that there were 7 baskets of leftovers!

Craft Idea

Jesus feeds the four thousand craft of a basket and bread and fish

To make the bread and fish in a basket

Basket download
Bread and fish download
Crayons
Glue
Shredded paper for the basket decoration

7 loaves & come fish – LOAVES & FISH (3-up)Download

7 leaves & some fish – BASKET Download

Here’s a link to a similar story

Three women and a baby – women in the Bible 3

Three women and a baby is the story of Moses’ birth, his mothers’ plan to keep him safe and his rescue. Three women make sure that Moses is safe. You can read the story in Exodus 2:1-10.

To tell the story I used some pictures from Free Bible Images. They have a great selection of Bible characters that you can print onto card, cut out and make into lollipop stick puppets. Here’s a link – you will need to have a look at the different sections to find pictures suitable for Moses’ mum, sister and Pharoah’s daughter. The characters aren’t named, just have a look and see what you would like to use.

I also used a doll for the baby and an oval storage basket and some blue cloth for the Nile.

Baby Moses in a basket props for story telling

Three women and a baby – story idea

In our Bible story today there are three women. Let’s find out what they did.

A long time ago there was a really bad king. He was very cross that God’s people, who were living in his country, were having families with lots of children. ‘I’m not happy about this!’ he said to himself. Then he had a very bad and horrible plan. ‘Get rid of all the baby boys’, he said. That was a horrible plan. he was a very bad king.

There was a family that had just had a baby boy. They weren’t going to get rid of him. They loved him very much. So they kept him a secret. Every time he cried they said ‘Shush’ (can you say that?). But as he got bigger he cried louder. What could his mummy do? His mummy trusted God and she made a plan to keep her baby safe.

His mummy (take puppet from story bag) had a plan. She began to make something. Shall I show you what it was? It was a basket. She made it waterproof and very strong with a lid.

When it was finished she wrapped up her baby son and put him gently into the basket. Then she took the baby in the basket down to the river. The baby’s big sister came too. (Take her from the story bag) Now they weren’t going to just any part of the river. The mummy knew that someone important would be going to this part of the river too.

The mummy put the basket in the water and she went home. But big sister hid and watched and waited.

Sure enough down to the river came the third woman in our story. She was very important. She was the bad kings daughter! (Take her from the story bag) She looked at the basket. What’s inside? she thought. So she opened the lid! And there inside was the little baby boy and he was crying. The King’s daughter felt sorry for him. She knew that he was a baby belonging to God’s people.

Now the baby’s big sister did a very brave thing. She stopped hiding and called out, ‘Shall I go and find someone who can take care of the baby for you?’

‘Go, and get someone’, the Kings daughter said.

Who could she find to care for the baby? His mum!

These three women rescued the baby boy and he was called Moses, which means taken out of the water. Moses mummy trusted God to keep her little baby boy safe – and he did. God can always be trusted.

Maybe when you were a baby you were put in a Moses Basket? It’s called a Moses basket because of this true story from the Bible.

Moses in the basket craft idea

All you need to make a simple paper plate Moses in the basket craft

Paper plate
Cup cake liner
Blue and green tissue paper
Baby – see download (He is sad because he was crying)
Glue

baby-moses-x-24 (1)Download

God’s promise to Abraham

God’s promise to Abraham is the final story in the series What’s in God’s big book? We began by making a Big Book and then each week we take out a page for our story. So far we have done God made everything , First sad day, Noah built the Ark , The big tower to Heaven and Abram leaves home ( I tell the story first and we finish by taking the page out of the book and reading the words)

This final story in the six week series is from Genesis 15:1-6

God’s promise to Abraham story idea

To tell the story use the same dolls/puppets for Abraham and Sarah as last time. (Although you might want to just focus on Abraham). You can use a picture of stars or just ask everyone to make star actions when you get to that point in the story.

Abraham (Abram) had left his home to go to a new land that God was going to give to him.

God had promised that Abraham would have a new place to live and have a family. But Abraham was old and his wife, Sarah was old and they had no children. Had God forgotten his promise? No! God never forgets anything.

But Abraham was worried. He talked to God,’ I don’t have a family of my own,’ he said to God.

Now it was night time. It was really dark outside the tent. ‘Abraham go outside and look up at the sky,’ God said.

So Abraham went outside into the night. He looked up at all the bright shining stars. ‘ Can you count them all? God said. There were just too many to count! ‘That is how large your family will be,’ God said.

Abraham believed God. He knew that God is so powerful and so good that he always keeps his promises.

Genesis 15 craft idea

Abraham outside his tent looking at the stars

We’ve made similar crafts before – take a look here where there is a download for the picture of Abraham

To create the night sky just use black or dark blue paper and add stars.

There is a flap inside the tent that Abraham can slot into and also the green strip is only glued at the sides and bottom so Abraham can stand outside. This allows the children to re tell the story. But if it’s too fiddly just glue Abraham outside his tent.

Abram leaves home

Abram leaves home is part of our Story Series ‘What’s in God’s Big Book?’ We started by making a Big Book and then each week we take out a page for our story. So far we have done God made everything , First sad day, Noah built the Ark and The big tower to Heaven ( I tell the story first and we finish by taking the page out of the book and reading the words)

The story is from Genesis 12

In the story bag have Abram and Sarah.

Knitted dolls to use to tell the Bible story about Abram and Sarai leaving home.

You can add actions to the story and ask the group to repeat phrases (I’ve written these in Bold).

Abram leaves home story idea

Say hello to Abram! Hello Abram. Abram lived a long, long time ago with his wife Sarai.

One day God spoke to Abram and said to him, ‘Leave where you live and go to a new place that I will show to you. I will bless you and make your family a great nation and bless all the world through you.’

Wow! That was a big promise.

Abram listened to God. Abram got ready to do what God had said.

He packed up his bags. He said goodbye to his neighbours and friends and off he went! Can you wave and say goodbye. He didn’t travel in a car or aeroplane. He didn’t even use a boat. But he probably had a donkey or camel to ride on and sometimes he would have walked.

Abram trusted God and was sure that God would be with him and keep his promise.

Every day he and Sarai travelled and every night they put up their tent and went fast asleep.

Today God speaks to you and me in The Bible and we should do what he says. We can trust God to keep his promises just like Abram.

Abram in his tent craft idea

Abram in his tent craft made with sugar paper.

Abraham-1 Download

I have added a download for you to print and use for Abraham standing in his tent. For full craft instructions see this post. This is one of my favourite crafts – the children really love the lift the flap element!

Noah built the Ark

‘Noah Built an Ark’ is the third story in our ‘What’s in God’s Big Book?’ series that we have used with under 5’s. We began by making a big book that could be used to hold each page. Take a look here. It is really oversized – you could get away with making a smaller big book (especially if you need to take it on the bus!)

The first story was God made everything. The second First sad day. We now move on to Noah based on Genesis 6-8.

Noah built an Ark Story

In the story bag – Noah, a tool kit, wood, a variety of animals

Say hello to Noah! He lived a long tome ago. All around him and his family people were always cross. They argued, they shouted, they sometimes started fighting! It was horrible. No one cared about anyone else. No one listened to God anymore. They ignored him.

But God saw them! God sees everything. So God decided to wash everything way. He was going to end all the arguing and fighting.

Now Noah was not like everyone else. He did care about what God thought. Do you think God noticed Noah? Yes, he did. And God decided to save Noah.

He told Noah what to do – and Noah started to build! He sawed wood, he hammered, he measured.He sawed more wood! He was making something really, really big! It wasn’t a house. It wasn’t a tower. It wasn’t even a boat. It was an Ark.

It was like an enormous wooden box with rooms inside that would float.

It took a long time.

Then the Ark was finished. God sent some of the animals to go inside. (You can show some here – and maybe make the sounds they would make). Then Noah and his wife and family went inside too. And God shut the door – bang!

They waited – and then it started – the rain poured down. There was so much rain! Soon the whole world was covered in water. Everything was washed away except for Noah and his family and the animals in the Ark.

Days and days went by. Then God stopped the rain. Slowly the water went down until it was finally safe for Noah to come out of The Ark. Noah was very grateful. He said, ‘Thank you God’. And God made a very special promise to Noah, ‘I won’t destroy everything again. While the earth is here, there will always be seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.’ And God put the rainbow in the sky to remind Noah of his promise.

That special promise is for us too! When you see a rainbow in the sky remember that God always keeps his promises.

Noah built an Ark craft ideas

A great craft to go with this story is a paper plate Ark that rocks! If making with under 5’s pre-cut the Ark shapes. You can also make the water using tissue and crepe paper on a blue sheet of sugar/construction paper. There are some great animal stickers that the children can enjoy adding to their Ark. These stickers are often sold on a roll so cut them into singles beforehand. Or use cut outs of animals for the children to colour and glue to the Ark.

We’ve also made a large Ark that you can use during the story and decorate with animal stickers.

Older children can have a go at making the rainbow cloud. We used cloud shaped gift tags and rainbow ribbon.

Celebrate Epiphany

Celebrate Epiphany with some lovely crafts and tell the Bible Story of the Visit of the Magi. The visit of The Magi (also known as Wise Men or kings) is found in Matthew 2.

Celebrate Epiphany Bible Story

Celebrate Epiphany story Wise Men knitted dolls

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Celebrate Epiphany Craft Ideas

Decorate crown shapes made from air- drying dough. Make crowns from card of buy crowns to decorate with circle stickers. The King is make from a Pringle Container.

Decorate wooden stars with paint and/or sequins. Put the decorated star on named envelope to dry and then put in the envelope to take home. The sequins stick best with PVA glue.

Use a square black paper plate to make these star stained glass windows. Cut out the star shape and then glue brightly coloured tissue paper over the gap on the reverse side. To make this even easier for young children use some clear sticky back plastic in the gap and then add small pieces if tissue paper (it won’t be as neat but it is easier)

A similar craft to celebrate Epiphany using a paper plate – take a look here for instructions!

Enjoy celebrating Epiphany!

Jesus feeds four thousand people story idea

Craft Idea

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Three women and a baby – story idea

Moses in the basket craft idea

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God’s promise to Abraham story idea

Genesis 15 craft idea

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Abram leaves home story idea

Abram in his tent craft idea

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Noah built an Ark Story

Noah built an Ark craft ideas

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Celebrate Epiphany Bible Story

Celebrate Epiphany Craft Ideas

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