Is Jehoshaphat the forever king?

Is Jehoshaphat the forever king? is the third story in the series ‘Who is the forever king?’ that leads up to Christmas.

We began with God’s promise to David, ‘Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ 2 Samuel 7:16. We have found out that neither David or Solomon are the forever king so we are still looking!

In this third story we meet Jehoshaphat. The story is based on 2 Chronicles 20. The lollipop stick puppet is made using a free image from Free bible Images

Is Jehoshaphat the forever king? Bible Story

Say hello to King Jehoshaphat? King Jehoshaphat wanted to follow God and wanted the people to follow God too so he made sure that they were taught all about God.

But one day he was given some very bad news. There were enemies about to attack! Not just one army, not two but three! It was awful. What could king Jehoshaphat do? He didn’t have enough soldiers to fight three armies.

He knew what to do. He went to God’s house and he got all the people to come with him. Not just the grown ups, but the mums and dads and children, the grandparents. Everyone. And he talked to God. ‘Please help us! We are in big trouble’

Could God hear? Yes! Could he help? Yes!

God told the people, ‘Go to meet these three armies tomorrow but you won’t need to fight them. I will rescue and save you.’

The king and all the people went to bed. They got up very early in the morning and they went to meet the armies. Jehoshaphat said to them, ‘Believe in the LORD’.

And as the people got near to the armies they started to sing.

But what about the three different armies? They got all muddled up and started fighting with each other! God’s people were kept safe because God looked after them.

But Jehoshaphat made friends with a bad king and made some bad choices. Was he the forever king? No, we still haven’t found him yet. We need to keep looking.

Is Jehoshaphat the forever king? craft idea

Make and decorate crown biscuits – link to recipe here

Is Jehoshaphat the forever king biscuits to make

Make crown shapes to decorate with home made finger paint

Dough crown decorated with finger paint

here’s a link to How to easy to make finger paint and a link to the recipe for the home made dough for the crown shapes

Is Solomon the forever King?

Is Solomon the forever King? is the second story in our series ‘Who is the forever king?’ This is a great series to use in the weeks before Christmas.

Solomon led a very full life so we’ve chosen to focus on the building of the temple as it follows on from the story ‘Is David the forever king?

The puppet is made from these free pictures from Free Bible Images

Is Solomon the forever king? Bible story from 1 Kings 8

Say hello to King Solomon! Solomon was King David’s son and he had the job of building the special house for God where people could come and pray and worship.

But Solomon was the King. He wasn’t going to do any of the sawing, hammering, lifting or carrying in the building work. He had loads of people who could do that. He organised everything. He bought lots and lots of wood, stone and lots and lots of gold. King Solomon wanted this house for God to be the most special building ever made. And it was.

When all the building work was done it was the most beautiful place.

Solomon want inside, all the people came and Solomon talked to God. All the people listened.

‘O Lord, there is no one like you. You keep your promises. I have built this house for you but you are so great that you are everywhere all of the time. Please hear your people when they pray to you in this place and please forgive them.’

King Solomon was a good King most of the time but after he had built god’s house he did things that were wrong. He grew old and died. Is Solomon the forever king? No. We haven’t found him yet.

Is Solomon the forever king? craft ideas

Is Solomon the forever king? craft idea using a cardboard tube to make a king.

Make King Solomon from a cardboard tube.

All you need

  • Cardboard tube
  • Paper to wrap around for clothes
  • Circle shape for face
  • Gold crown
  • Material for cloak and pipe cleaner belt.
  • Glue, crayons, tape

Here’s some more ideas from Pinterest..

Is David the forever King?

Is David the forever King? Is the first story in a series, ‘Who is the forever king?’ We used this series of stories in the run up to Christmas, beginning with God’s promise to David, ‘Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ 2 Samuel 7:16.

We begin with the story of David wanting to build a house for God (temple) and then each week find out if Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah or Josiah are the forever king. These five kings are not the only kings of God’s people but they are in in Matthew’s gospel and have stories that are suitable for telling to young children.

We made some great lollipop stick puppets using free downloads from Free Bible Images. We printed the pictures onto card, cut them out (with a generous border) and taped them to large lollipop sticks.

Is David the forever king? puppets to use when telling the story

Each week we focused on one king – so we made some visual aids that we could add to each week. (The word ‘no’ was added at the end of the story). This helps to remind everyone of the stories and holds the theme together.

Is David the forever King? story from 2 Samuel 7

Say hello to King David! King David lived a long, long time ago. He was a good King who followed God and trusted God. One day David looked around at his beautiful house. It was really lovely, well made, warm and dry. It looked wonderful. As David looked at his house he had an idea. ‘I would like to build a house for God. A special place where people can go to worship him’. Now David knew that God is everywhere all at once, he wanted to build a really special place where God could be worshiped.

It does seem like a very good idea.

But God said, ‘No, David. You can plan the special house where people can come to worship me but your son will build it.’ And then God made a promise to David, a very special promise, ‘your kingdom will last forever, there will always be a king on your throne.’

What an amazing promise. David did as God said and made all the plans for the special house where people could come and worship God.

But was David the forever king that God had promised? No! David grew old and he died. And his son became King. We are still looking for the forever king. Who can he be?

Is David the forever king? craft idea

Make some crowns – you can buy card crowns to decorate of make your own using strips of card. Add stickers, tissue paper and coloured shapes to decorate.

Is David the forever King Crown craft for toddlers

Let’s make play dough at home!

Let’s make play dough at home! It’s cheap, easy and much better than shop bought. Play dough is great for children to develop their fine motor skills, lots of squishing, squeezing, rolling and pinching! It’s also good for developing language – talk about the shapes you are making, how the play dough feels, name the cutter shapes you might be using. Chat while you play.

Let’s make play dough recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups of water
2 cups of plain flour
1 cup of salt
2 tbsp cream of tartar
2 tbsp of cooking oil (NOT olive
oil or nut oil)
food colouring (optional)
Instructions:
1.Place all ingredients in a large microwaveable bowl.
2.Heat in the microwave on full power in 50-second bursts,
stirring in between, until all the ingredients are almost
combined.
3.When almost combined, reduce the heat time to 30 seconds
between stirring.
4.When combined, tip onto a floured surface and knead until
smooth (It will be hot at first, so be careful!)
5.Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months

Here’s a downloadable version of the recipe for you to print and keep and share

playdoughDownload

If you’ve never made play dough before here’s a few photos to show the different stages –

Making play dough at home
making play dough
making play dough
home made play dough
home made play dough

Just a few notes

Choose your food colouring wisely – some colours just aren’t as nice once mixed in to the dough

Add a scent if you like

Olive oil will make the dough sticky and unusable – save your money and use a cheap vegetable oil

Use cheap flour

If you prefer you can cook the dough in a large pan over a low heat, stirring all the time.

There are lots of ideas for making play dough mats on the web. Here’s a link to one site.

God sees us – Hagar

God sees us is a truth from the Bible. The story of Hagar from Genesis 16 illustrates this truth in a really beautiful way. Hagar is comforted knowing that she is seen by God, who cares for her.

To tell the story use a doll to represent Hagar.

knitted doll to represent Hagar for What is God like story series for toddlers

God sees us – Hagar story idea

Say hello to Hagar!

Hagar was very sad. (Can you look sad?) She ran away from her home. (Make the sound of running by tapping hands on knees – encourage everyone to do this action with you). She sat down and looked around. There was no one there. No one. It was very quiet. (Everyone say ‘shush’).

But God knew where Hagar was. He spoke to her, ‘It will be alright Hagar. Go back home.’

Hagar listened. She knew that God could see where she was. She knew that God is everywhere. Hagar said, ‘You are the God who sees me. You are the God who looks after me.’

God sees you and me too. He cares for us and is able to look after us.

God sees us – Hagar craft idea

Make a happy and sad paper plate face. On one side make a sad face and on the other side a happy face.

Glue plates back to back with a large lollipop stick between them so they can be held and turned. Hagar was sad but at the end of our story she is happy. Here’s some ideas from Pinterest.

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 boat to Ninevah
The big fish that swallowed Jonah

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-1Download

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

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