Toddlers - we are wonderfully made Archives

Scented flower craft for 3 year olds

This is a scented flower craft for 3 year olds to make. It’s ideal for young children and makes a lovely take home picture at toddler group. There is some preparation needed but it’s worth the effort!

Scented flower craft for 3 year olds

Materials needed for flower craft

Flower shapes printed onto coloured card or heavy paper (you want a weight of paper or card that will be easy for you to cut out and also heavy enough for the scent to be sprayed on to it and still keep it’s shape)
Green card cut into strips for the flower stalks.
Green card cut into leaf shapes
Coloured background paper
Glue sticks – we used these

Step by step instructions for scented flower craft for 3 year olds

Do all your prep beforehand – print flower shapes, cut stems and leaves. Lightly spray a scent over the flower shapes and leave to dry.
On the day lay your craft table with a PVC cloth
Put the flowers, stalks and leaves in separate shallow containers (don’t put everything out at once, keep some back to top up for toddlers who come to the craft table later in the toddler group session)
Remove glue stick lids and put out of the reach of toddlers
Have an example made and display
Let the children choose the colours and number of flowers for their own craft creations.

Scented flower craft preparation

Cheap body spray to make scented flower craft

Spray card flowers with a scent

What children can learn in making a scented flower craft

Young children can learn about colour – encourage lots of chatting about naming the colours of the flowers, favourite colours, matching colours.

Fine motor skills are developed through the use of glue sticks and handling the craft materials

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I encourage a reluctant 3 year old to make craft?

This can be tricky. Model the behaviour you would like to see. Make a flower craft yourself, ask your 3 year old to help you choose the colours. Keep the activity short though and if you only stick one flower take it as a win and tell your 3 year old how pleased you are that you made something together.

Links to other crafts suitable for 3 year olds

Black paper collage is a super easy craft to prepare and looks stunning.

This post all about Exploring Colour with Toddlers has lovely ideas for colour filled craft activities to help 3 year olds experience making with colour.

For more flower themed craft take a look at this post about Beautiful Flowers

Finally some Creation Bible Story Crafts for Toddlers are in this post – including some flowers!

Our feet craft and song ideas for toddler groups

Our feet craft and song ideas for toddlers to enjoy in your church toddler group. In our amazing body series at our Toddler Group we have been learning about our feet. Our focus Bible verse is Psalm 139:14.

Our feet are amazing story time for toddler group

In the story time we used our feet to jump, stand, run on the spot, walk and stand as tall as we could on tiptoe. It was a very active few minutes. Then we sat down and we counted our feet and wriggled our toes. You could count toes depending on whether you want everyone to take their shoes off!

How to tell the story

Always begin toddler group story time the same way – with the same rhyme or song to get everyone settled on the Bible story mat.
Begin with saying hello!
Your opening sentence, ‘ Today we are finding out more about our amazing bodies!’
Can you find your feet. Let’s count them – 1,2
Feet are amazing. Let’s see what they can do..
Let’s all stand up
Let’s jump
Can you stand on one leg? That’s quite difficult to do
Can you stand on tip toe and reach up high?
Let’s sit down and count our feet and our toes together
God made us – he has given us amazing bodies!

You can end your toddler story time with a simple toddler friendly prayer, ‘Thank you God for our feet. Thank you that we are wonderfully made. Amen’

An easy feet craft for toddlers

The craft is super easy and fun.

Materials needed

Feet printable (included below) – print as many as you need for your group
Glue sticks – we use these
Tissue paper squares in assorted colours
Collage materials – these can be paper scraps, fabric pieces, yarn. Provide a choice of colours, textures and shapes in different containers. Make it inviting.
Wax crayons

Step by step

Set up the craft table with a washable cover
Set out the collage materials in shallow bowls
Remove lids from the glue sticks and set aside (we do this at our group because they are small and we don’t want toddlers putting them in their mouths)
Put out the wax crayons in a shallow bowl. Remove any that are broken.
Make a proto-type craft – and display it near your craft table to give some inspiration.
Place some of your feet printables on the table (keep most nearby – but if you put them all out at one you run the risk of a few toddlers using them all and you’ll run out)
Encourage the toddler group adults to sit with their toddler as they make
Have a place where the finished craft can be placed to dry ready to be taken home.

our feet craft collage toddler group — our feet craft for toddler group

Our feet Song time for toddler group

‘Head, shoulders, knees and toes’, – which is the theme song for this series about our amazing bodies.

Rhyme, ‘I wiggle my fingers, I wiggle my toes. I wiggle my shoulders, I wiggle my nose. There are no wiggles left in me, and I’m as still, as still can be.’

‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ has lots of marching on the spot.

A great rhyme for a parent/carer to with with their young child/baby is ‘This little piggy’. Here’s a link to the rhyme.

What children can learn from our feet toddler story

God made our amazing feet
Gratitude for their amazing body

Our feet craft printable for toddler groups and families

Thank-you-God-for-my-FEET-1 Download

FAQ’S

How do I keep toddlers engaged with the Bible Story in Toddler Group?

This story about our feet is very interactive rather than a straight forward narrative the toddlers have activities to do that make the most of learning through movement.

How do I encourage gratitude in a toddler?

By focusing on our bodies and what they can do this story encourages toddlers to be thankful for their body which is wonderfully made.

Links to Bible Stories about feet

Thank you God for my feet – the Bible Story about the Lame man who is healed.

Toddler Group Bible Stories about our bodies

Thank you God for my hands – a Toddler Bible Story and activity about Tabitha

Thank you God for my nose – A Toddler Group Bible Story about Mary anointing Jesus

Thank you God for my mouth

Have a look at our Thank you God Book post that is full of ideas about our bodies. This is a great series of stories for Church Toddler Group. The post is full of free prinables to make a large book that you add to over several weeks.

Bartimaeus – a Toddler Bible Story all about being able to see – this is one of my favourite Bible Stories that I tell in our Church Toddler Group. This post has a little video of me telling the story.

Links to toddler crafts and songs about our bodies

I am wonderfully made crafts for toddlers (with ideas for song time at toddler group)

Our five senses craft

All you need for these crafts ….

Sugar paper, glue, pictures cut from catalogues and magazines, felt, feathers, satin type fabric, wool, ribbon, stars, pictures of birds singing, pictures of musical instruments and paper plates. For ‘Things I like to smell’ spray the pictures with perfume beforehand. (If you can have some real items for the children to smell – lemons, herbs and sweetpeas are all good. For ‘Things I like to hear’ it would be great to have a table of musical instruments for the children to use.) I also used printed labels, ‘Things I like to… smell/taste/see/touch or hear’.

Label (3×8) ‘Things I like to taste’

Label (3×8) ‘Things I like to smell’

Label (3×8) ‘Things I like to see’

Label (3×8) ‘Things I like to hear’

Label (3×8) ‘Things I like to touch’

funny face craft

This craft is suitable for all ages – all you need is collage materials, facial features cut from magazines or pictures from the internet, glue, face shapes and sugar paper. Older children can cut out the facial features they want to use. You can either go for proper likenesses or make some funny crazy faces.

I used faces from Amazon

You could use this craft for Thank you God for my eyes, ears, mouth, nose. With toddlers there are lots of opportunities to talk about our faces as the craft is made.

Picasso made a lot of funny faces – you might want to print some of his pictures to show the children. Take a look at this Pinterest board.

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!!

Zacchaeus craft

A few weeks ago in toddler group we learnt about our feet. To build on that we have done a Bible story that includes feet – in Luke 19 we read that a man called Zacchaeus ‘wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him.’ (Luke 19:3,4). In the story time we looked again at our feet being wonderfully made and then continued with the story of Zacchaeus. With very young children it may be enough to just teach that Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus and how he managed to do that. Children can run on the spot and pretend to climb a tree as you tell the story. With school age children you could tell the whole story.

For the craft we had a tree outline and leaves cut from different types of paper and material – which gives the picture some texture and adds different shades of green. Each child had just one man to stick in the tree.

For another idea about telling this story see here.

Wonderfully made!

We are all wonderfully made! David writes in Psalm 139, ‘I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made’.

There are lots of different crafts you can do that are all about people. Here’s a couple of ideas..

People shapes decorated with tissue paper

Use people shapes!

For this craft you need to make or buy people cut outs. (The ones in the picture are bought). Try to use the shapes that are different skin colours if you can. Paper shapes are best – there are some that are foam which aren’t suitable for young children so be careful when buying online. Provide shapes for clothes and crayons or felt tips for added detail. You could also add yarn for hair. Have variety for the children to choose from.

People shapes decorated with fabric and yarn

Make a collage of faces – I used photos from magazines (you may recognise some famous faces!). It’s useful to collect free magazines form places like Tesco if you can or ask for donations. It’s much cheaper than printing pictures out at home.

Photos of people made into a collage picture

Some song ideas

Head, shoulders, knees and toes
From my head down to my toes God loves me
Open shut them, open shut them, make your hands go clap
I’ve got a body, a very busy body – have a look at the video – it’s a great tune and you could add your own lyrics.

Tabitha -T-shirt craft

Tabitha -T-shirt craft is a really lovely simple collage based craft. It is great to have a stash of fabric off cuts to use for craft – adding a different texture to paper and lots of colours.

The story of Tabitha (Dorcas) is found in the Bible in Acts 9:36-43. She was a follower of Jesus who helped others by making clothes. We used this story as an extension to ‘Thank you God for our hands’. The story was told to under threes using a bag of items that you need for sewing – scissors, material, thread, needle, pin cushion. These were taken from the bag one at a time and named. We also had a picture of Tabitha sewing. We didn’t talk about Tabitha dying and being bought back to life but you could do that with older children.

The above craft is a T-shirt outline to decoarte with fabric shapes and glue. I used a variety of colours and the children could also use crayons. A very simple craft but effective and fun.

t-shirt (1)Download

Our Amazing bodies! – our mouths

At toddler group we’ve been learning about our amazing bodies during story time. This week it’s the turn of our mouths. We think about two things in the story, songs and craft – we use our mouths to speak and we use them to eat. Our focus is, ‘I am wonderfully made’.

Story time- our amazing bodies – our mouths

In the story time we are using a Bible verse, ‘I am ..wonderfully made.’ Psalm 139:14. (We left out the word fearfully just because the children are so young.) This week we are thinking about our mouths – how we use our mouths to talk to each other. We can SHOUT and whisper. We talk about eating with our mouths too – thus the craft.

Song time

In our song time we’ll sing, ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star’ very quietly, ‘Row, row, row your boat – with a scream for the crocodile, ‘Horsey, horsey don’t you stop’ with the clip, clop sound effects and ‘Head, shoulders, knees and toes’.

Craft time

This is the craft to go with the theme. The children at toddler group are 3 years old and under and their parent/carer usually sits with them at the craft table – this is an opportunity for lots of chat about the different food.

To do this all you need are – paper plates, pictures of food either from magazines or from the web printed and cut out and glue sticks. Choose food that is familiar and a mixture of fruit and veg and the less healthy but yummy – in this case a cup cake. I avoided meat as I know we have children who wouldn’t be allowed certain meats.

Note – don’t put everything out on the craft table at once or some children won’t have anything left to use. Have a pencil handy so parents/carers can write the child’s name on their plate but don’t leave this on the table. I did a few weeks ago and one child had a lot of fun drawing lines on all the paper!

You could do this with older children. Use smaller pictures all on one page and get them to do the cutting out. They can select what they would like for their plate.

Enjoy!