What's in Gods Big Book? Archives - Let their light shine!

God is everywhere – Jonah

God is everywhere is a truth we learn from the Bible. We are using the story of Jonah to illustrate this truth in a way that is easy for toddlers.

To tell the Story you need –

Jonah (we used a figure from happyland),
a big fish (the one pictured is VERY big – made over a tent) and
a toy boat.

Jonah and the Great Big Fish story

God said to Jonah, ‘go to the big city called Ninevah (can you say that? repeat the name together) and tell everyone there about me.’

Jonah listened to God.

But Jonah didn’t like the people in the big city of Ninevah.

‘I don’t want to! I’m not going to go!’ He said (have you ever said that?)

Jonah thought to himself, ‘I will go far away – so far away that God won’t know where I am.’ He went and got on a boat and sailed away, far, far away from Ninevah.

But then the rain came and the wind blew – and out of the boat came Jonah – and splash into the sea!

Down, down, down he went. ‘Please God, help me!’ he prayed. Could God still hear Jonah from inside the great big fish? Was God too far away? No he was not far away. He was right there with Jonah.

God is everywhere. Jonah couldn’t run away from God.

God knew exactly where Jonah was, God always knows where we are; and he sent something to help. It wasn’t a boat – it was one great big fish. The one great big fish opened up it’s mouth and swallowed Jonah. He was safe!

The one great big fish took Jonah back to land. God said, ‘Jonah, go to Ninevah’. And this time Jonah did exactly what God said.

God is everywhere, all of the time. So wherever you go God is already there!

God is everywhere – Jonah in the big fish craft

Picture of large fish with Jonah inside for God is everywhere story

To make Jonah in the big fish you need

Printouts of the big fish
Some men to represent Jonah
Blue crepe paper for the water (these are attached at the top of the picture so they can move)
Glue and crayons

whale-1 Download

Here’s a link to how to make a giant fish for telling the story.

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!

The Big Tower up to Heaven

The Big Tower up to Heaven story comes from Genesis 11. This 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, and Noah built the Ark

Big Tower up to Heaven story idea

(during the story if you have someone who can speak a language that you don’t understand ask them to help you – they could give you some building instructions!)

Do you remember how Noah and his family came out of the Ark? They were so happy to be back on dry land again. God told Noah and his family that they should spread out over the whole earth. Do you think they did what God said? No! They wanted to stay altogether.

Time went by. Soon there were lots of people. They all spoke the same language. When someone said ‘hello’ everyone understood. They were clever too. They learnt how to make bricks that were strong. (Have a brick to show)

‘Lets build a huge city with a big tower that reaches up to heaven’ they said. Everyone understood. They all agreed that this was a really good idea!

They started work.

‘Pass the bricks’, ‘Lend me a hammer’, ‘is that wall straight?’ Everyone understood all the instructions.

God looked at what the people were doing. He wasn’t pleased. He had told them to spread out and they hadn’t listened. So God did something that only God could do. He made the people start to speak in different languages.

It was so hard to build the huge city and the big tower up to heaven now that some people were saying words that other people didn’t understand. (Ask your friend to give you a couple of instructions here)

The people gave up. They got together in smaller groups with others who had the same language and they began to spread out over the whole earth.

Big Tower up to Heaven building activities

This story is a great opportunity for the children to do some building! Use boxes, wooden blocks and empty cereal boxes! If you have the space create a building area and provide some toy tools and hard hats too.

a girl in a white dress and eyeglasses playing with cardboard boxes — Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

boy building with toy blocks — Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

baby in white onesie holding wooden blocks — Photo by Tatiana Syrikova on Pexels.com

child playing wooden blocks — Photo by Tatiana Syrikova on Pexels.com

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.

First Sad Day Story and Craft

First sad day story and craft is the second ‘page’ in our ‘What’s in God’s Big Book? ‘ story series. We began with ‘God made everything‘. This story is based on Genesis 3

To tell the story

We had our Big Book with this page inside to show at the end of the story and read. We used props to tell the story – Adam, Eve, an apple (it was just fruit in the story but an apple is easy to take a bite from), a toy snake.

First sad day story

Adam and Eve lived in the beautiful garden. Everything was very good (thumbs up). There were trees and flowers and animals. They were happy (can you look happy?).

God had made everything and he had one rule for Adam and Eve to keep. Just one! He said to them, ‘Don’t eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. If you do you will die.’ They listened and they heard what God said.

Everything was lovely. But then one day a snake began to talk to Eve! ‘Did God really say that you can’t eat the fruit from all the trees in the garden?’

‘We can eat all the fruit from all the trees, except from the tree in the middle of the garden’, Eve replied. ‘If we eat from the tree in the middle of the garden we will die’

‘No you won’t’, said the snake, ‘you’ll become just like God’.

Eve looked at the tree in the middle of the garden. The fruit looked good! So she reached out her hand and she …. picked some of the fruit …. and she …took a bite! (you can ask another leader to play the part of Eve and act this out as you tell the story)

Adam was with her so she gave some to him and he took a bite too!

Adam and Eve had broken the one rule that God had given them. And everything changed. They felt sad. (Can you look sad) They had to leave the beautiful garden. And one day many years later they would die. It was a very sad day.

But God still loved Adam and Eve and he promised that he would send a Saviour to make everything good again.

First sad day craft idea

To make the spiral snake you need fairly sturdy paper plates (you need to be able to cut them but you don’t want them to fall apart when the toddlers start glueing on tissue paper!), tissue paper squares in lots of colours, snake tongue shapes cut out and some crayons/felt tips to draw on an eye. Adults can add the wool/string at the end of the make.

(You can add the string/wool beforehand if you prefer. An easy way to do this is to thread a darning needle with the wool and punch it through the plate. Tie a knot and cover the knot with cellotape.)

To tell the Story you need –

Jonah and the Great Big Fish story

God is everywhere – Jonah in the big fish craft

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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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Big Tower up to Heaven story idea

Big Tower up to Heaven building activities

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Noah built an Ark Story

Noah built an Ark craft ideas

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First sad day story

First sad day craft idea

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