In the beginning God…crafts days 1-3 for toddler groups and young children to enjoy making. In Genesis 1 we learn all about days of creation. These crafts cover the first 3 Days of Creation from Genesis 1:1-13.
All you need
Patterned muffin cases and cup cake cases – trim these to look like flowers
Blue paper
Large lollipop sticks
Shiny paper
Black paper – A4
Cotton wool shapes (make up remover pads are great!)
Blue and green tissue paper
Red dot stickers
Tree shapes
Cardboard rolls (toilet rolls or you can buy cardboard rolls if you prefer)
Blue paper – A4
Blue paper, different shades cut into waves
Brown paper cut into hill shapes
Glue sticks
Crayons
In the beginning God made light
To make ‘In the beginning God made light’ use the black A4 paper and put the label in the centre. The children then add the shiny paper shapes and can use white crayons to decorate.
To make ‘In the beginning God made sky and sea’ use the blue paper and tissue paper to make the sky and sea (different shades work well) and then add the label.
In the beginning God moved the water and there was land
To make ‘In the beginning God moved the water and there was land’ you need some blue paper for the sky and sea plus some brown for the land. You can add some clouds too.
God made the land on Day Three, when he also made the trees and plants. You could add cut outs of plants and trees to the above picture or make some extra crafts.
Here’s a download for the tree shape. It’s best to print it onto card. Ahead of time make two slits opposite each other in the cardboard roll. After the tree shape has been decorated it can be slotted into the tree trunk.
The next three days of creation include the sun, moon and stars, birds and fish and animals and people! When God saw everything he had made it was very good. 🙂
The cast of Christmas are ready! I’m really looking forward to telling the Christmas Story with these guys .. made by my super talented mum. The Wise Men are my favourites 🙂 Here’s a link to the Alan Dart pattern my mum used. (Affiliate link – if you click and buy the item I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you)
You can use the characters over several weeks and build up a nativity tableau. They are a great size and fit well in a story bag or basket. I add some toy sheep for the shepherds and we have some soft toy camels for the Wise Men.
If you are planning on making them give yourself plenty of time or ask for help! My mum used Stylecraft Special DK from Wool Warehouse. It is reasonably priced yarn that comes on lots of colours. Of course you could also ask for donations of yarn from friends and family.
If you don’t have time to do some knitting you can make a nativity set from paper plates – have a look at this post.
Daniel in the lions’ den bible story for young children. You can read the story in Daniel 6.
Daniel in the Lions’ Den story idea
Daniel lived a long, long time ago. He loved God and often talked to God, we call that praying. He prayed to God three times every day. What do you think he said? The Bible tells us that he thanked God. He lived a long way from his home in a foreign country but he worked hard and he was always doing his best.
He worked for the King. (Say hello to king Darius). Now king Darius had lots of people who worked for him. But he knew that Daniel was the most hardworking and trustworthy person so he made Daniel the boss over all the other servants.
Well they weren’t happy about that at all! They were grumpy. They were jealous. ‘Why is Daniel the kings favourite and not us?’ they said.
Then they thought. ‘Let’s get daniel into trouble.’ But that was going to be difficult because Daniel worked hard and always did his best.
But these other servants were full of jealously and determination. ‘Let’s trick the king into making a law about praying to God. Then we will see what happens to Daniel!’
They went to the king and said, ‘ Oh most wonderful King make a new rule that everyone must only pray to you for a whole month or be thrown into the den with the lions’.
Well the king liked the sound of that. It made him feel important. So he made the new rule; and it couldn’t be changed.
So what was Daniel going to do? When Daniel heard about the new rule he didn’t start praying to King Darius. Oh no – why do that? He went home and he did what he had always done – he knelt down by his window and he prayed to God.
The jealous servants were so happy! We’ve got him ! Off they went to see the King. They told him all about Daniel breaking the new rule.
King Darius was sad. He spent all day trying to find a way to save Daniel from being thrown to the hungry lions. But he couldn’t think of anything. He couldn’t save Daniel.
When evening came Daniel was taken to the lions den. ‘I hope you God can save you,’ King Darius said.
King Darius went to his beautiful palace. But he didn’t eat. He didn’t listen to music. He couldn’t sleep.
As soon as morning came he hurried to the lions’ den. He called out , ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God saved you?’ He waited. He listened. He heard something! It wasn’t the roar of a lion it was a voice..
‘Yes, he has saved me’, Daniel called back!
King Darius was a very powerful king but only The living God could save Daniel. The living God still saves people today!
Daniel in the Lions’ Den storytelling prop ideas
Choose some props to take out of the story bag as you tell the story. It’s great to have everyone say hello to the different characters as they come out of the bag. I had three props; Daniel, King Darius (made from a Cardboard tube – instructions here) and a lion (which is also a craft idea)
Daniel in the Lions’ Den craft idea
If you don’t have any paper plates there is another idea here (with a printable lion) that uses paper curls for the mane.
NOTE – my example has stick on eyes. Be careful with these. You can use stickers for eyes instead.
How to run a Biblezone Build Club with Lego – lots of ideas to help you run a fun Kid’s Club!
Biblezone Build Clubs bring together two great things; playing with Lego and a Bible story (and a memory verse).
Free play with lego is great for children aged 5 and over (if you have younger children you will need some duplo). It allows them to be creative and build at their own pace. In a world full of screens it’s great to give children an opportunity to play.
Here’s a short video explaining BibleZone Build
Biblezone Build Story Ideas
It’s great to have a Bible story half way through your club. Pick a story that has building. The wise and foolish Builders is great – you can dress up as a builder to tell the story! You could go with Nehemiah building the walls of Jerusalem or The Tower of Babel.
Have a look at these links for some ideas
Nehemiah – there are several stories – choose one.
In the beginning God made light Bible Story and craft idea to use with young children.
How everything began is recorded for us in Genesis 1. Telling the story of Creation to young children is a great opportunity to help children understand that they are special and important because God made them.
In the beginning God made light story idea
You will need some dark blue or black fabric and some white fabric (sheets or blankets are fine)
Before the world began there was God. God had no beginning; he has always been.
Then God began to make the world.
It was dark! (show the dark fabric). And then God said, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light! (show white fabric). God was making the world from nothing. We can’t do that! If we make something we need something to make it with. If we want to build a tower we need bricks. If we want to make a sandwich we need bread. But God is so powerful he made things from nothing!
Now God had made darkness and light. But they were mixed up. So God separated the light and the darkness. God called the light day and God called the darkness night. That was the very first day ever!
In the beginning God made light craft idea
You will need
Black paper
Gold paper – cut in to strips
Silver paper – cut in to strips
White crayons
Labels – ‘In the beginning God made light’ Genesis 1.
Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer Bible Story for young children based on Acts 8:26-40.
To tell the Story have some items in a story bag – Philip, The Treasurer, chariot, horse, scroll.
The Chariot is made from a shoe box. I turned the box inside out and put it back together and then cut the shape. The wheels are from a cardboard box. They are sturdy enough to take the weight of the chariot.
Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer Bible Story
Say hello to Philip! Philip was a follower of Jesus and everywhere he went he told everyone he met that Jesus had died and come alive again. He was very busy. Lots and lots of people listened to what he said about Jesus and they became followers of Jesus too.
Then one day an angel told Philip to leave the towns and all the people and go to a road where no one lived! How was he going to tell people about Jesus if no one was there?
But he went.
And there he was on the road. When he heard something coming! Clip, clop, clip, clop. It was getting closer and closer. A chariot was coming along the road with a very important man inside. This very important man was on his way home to Africa. Can you guess what he was doing? He was reading and Philip could hear him reading the words out aloud. Philip recognised the words; he knew that the very important man was reading part of the Bible.
‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked the man.
‘No! How can I unless someone helps me.’ the very important man replied.
Philip knew he could help. He got into the chariot and he explained the Bible and helped the very important man to understand that Jesus is the forever king sent from God who came to save us.
The very important man went home happy!
Philip and the Ethiopian craft idea
The Ethiopian Treasurer would have been reading from a scroll. This is a simple way of making a scroll that can be written in by the child. You could choose to encourage children to make marks or write their name. It depends on their age and how much they enjoy having a go at writing.
I used A3 sugar paper cut in half length ways and toilet rolls. If you aren’t happy using toilet rolls you can buy cardboard rolls from craft shops or cut kitchen rolls in half.
Secure the toilet rolls to the sugar paper at both ends using cellotape (I tried using pritt stick but it just didn’t stick!) The children can write in their scroll. To hold the scroll together you can use wool or pipe cleaners.
Easter egg with cross symbol craft ideas for children of all ages! The basic printout of the symbol of the cross hidden in an egg shape can be used in several different ways. Very young children can decorate the egg with crayons and tissue paper. Older children (10 plus) can trace the picture onto tracing paper and use felt tips to create a beautiful stained glass effect. Just be careful of smudging. Tracing paper is a little more tricky to use. ImportantNote – you do need to be careful with Sharpies and other Permanent Markers because of the smell they give off – they aren’t suitable for young children. Check if there are rules about their use in your country before using with anyone under 18.
Easter egg with cross symbol craft ideas
Print out the egg and heart shapes (PDF below) Cut out the hearts and if you want to cut out the egg shape. (You can do this before or after decorating). Then use tissue paper strips, crayons, felt tips to decorate and add the red heart. We did this at Toddler Group and they had a lovely time (make extra hearts as toddlers like to add several!). We also made this at a Children’s after school club and they enjoyed it too.
Older children can colour the cross first and then layer strips of tissue paper across the egg shape. Then trim the tissue paper to fit and add the red heart
Egg with cross on tracing paper
This version of the Easter egg with cross symbol craft takes a while to complete – older children can add extra lines and shapes and then carefully colour the egg – bright colours are best! I made the outline of the cross and heart thicker so they would stand out. Once completed place in a window. I think this would be a great craft to try at home.
Good Friday crafts for children to make that use paper plates! One craft uses round paper plates (use cheap plates that can be folded easily) and the other crafts use black and green square plates. (These are available online – take a look here)
Good Friday crafts – round paper plate
The above craft was made with a cheap paper plate folded a third of the way down. The sky is a mixture of blues and blacks (I used wax crayons as they blend well). The hill is some green and yellow crayon. Fold then colour the plate. Cut out the three crosses and then glue them on the blue, fold over the green and glue in place. I used pritt stick. PVA would work fine too.
An alternative to crayons is to use torn up sugar paper and tissue paper.
I really like the added texture of the torn paper plus if you have a large group this works well – it’s likely that you won’t have enough blue and green wax crayons for a large group to share!
Good Friday crafts – square paper plates
Cut out centre of plateTurn plate over. Add tacky back. Sticky side must be on the same side as black rim.Cover with bright tissue paperGlue on the cross shape. Use the centre of the plate to make this.Put your stained glass effect Good Friday Craft in a window!
To make
Cut out centre of plate. Use this to make the cross shape.
Use tacky back to cover the centre (sticky side needs to be same side as black rim)
Cover tacky back with brightly coloured tissue paper (try to stay within the square of tacky back)
Glue on the black paper cross
Good Friday craft – Easter Garden
I love Easter Gardens. There are several versions of this paper plate Easter Garden on the blog. No soil is needed (although I love Easter Gardens made with soil, moss, twigs and flowers too!)
All you need…
Square paper plate (green)
Flower stickers
Cup cake cases various sizes (trim to look like petals)
Brown paper path
Cross and stone for the tomb cut from card (give both shapes a flap to use to stick to plate)
A small pot for the tomb (Make sure it will stick)
A strip of brown paper to cover the tomb and help glue it to the plate
Green tissue paper to make a hill around the cross
On the way to Easter paper plate pictures that help to tell the story of the first Easter. In the Gospels Jesus meets several people when he is on his last journey to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover for the final time. So four of our stories are about the people that met Jesus as he was going to Jerusalem. Then we have the story of the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
I’ll be using different props for each story but as we go there will be a paper plate picture for each week that will build a bigger picture.. (If you don’t want to use all the stories just pick and choose)
Our stories will be… (Click on the links to go to the stories and crafts)
This is how our big picture will look when we have told all the stories..
These are paper plates covered in tissue paper with people and buildings and trees etc added.
The people are available to download – if you would like to make a contribution to the blog you are very welcome to do so but of course you don’t have to!
On the way to Easter – some thoughts about telling the story
Easter can be a difficult story to tell to young children. It isn’t necessary to go into detail about how Jesus died. It’s always good to include the positive for example you can say – that although Jesus died and his friends were sad he came back to life again and his friends were happy! Be factual with sensitivity. Easter is a good news event!
A couple of Easter story videos – Palm Sunday and Easter!
Hearts for Valentine’s Day! Valentines day is almost here. These crafts can be used for Valentine’s Day or at any time.
To make life easier I have a heart shaped paper punch like this one from hobbycraft that makes quick work of cutting out hearts. When it gets blunt I use kitchen foil to sharpen it (just cut out a few foil hearts).They are also available from Amazon. You can also cut out heart shapes and also buy heart shapes.
When making crafts with hearts I like to use a broad colour palette, not just pinks and reds. Patterned paper and shiny paper are also great to use.
You can make wreaths from pre-cut cardboard heart shapes. These are available in craft shops and from Amazon. Valentine cards are good if you want the children to have a card to give; I buy blank cards with envelopes. If you had rather not buy blank cards then just fold A4 card in half.
Craft supplies for Valentine hearts – pick and mix
Heart paper punches in different sizes – or templates to cut by hand
Glue
Card blanks and envelopes or card folded to A5 size
Heart shapes – large so they can be decorated
Patterned paper
Coloured paper
Shiny paper
Heart shaped stickers
It’s fine to make a craft yourself beforehand to give children an idea of what you did but then let them make it their own.
Older children might like to use the paper punches themselves. Show them how to use them safely and make sure they cut one sheet of paper at a time.
Hearts for Valentine’s Day ideas
Here’s link to a craft that reminds us about God’s love. This would be great for older children as there are two pdf’s to print and then they can cut out the wreath shape, hearts and ribbon.
If you are making this with older children have a go at helping them to learn the bible verse as they make the craft by repeating the words together a few times.
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
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.
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.
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!
(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.
‘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!)
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 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
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)
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.)
There are lots of different ways to tell the story of creation. You can use pictures, paper plates that represent the different days, objects from a storybag (model animals, model trees, fruit etc). When I teach this story I focus on a few details
God made everything by speaking – he said the word and things were made!
Everything God made was very good. (thumbs up!)
God breathed life into Adam and them he made Eve from one of Adam’s ribs. (Genesis 2)
When you tell the story you can count the different days together, repeat the phrase ‘It was very good’ (everyone does a thumbs up) and explain that people are very special to God- he breathed life into them and gave them a beautiful and perfect place to live.
Some Creation paper plates that are great to use to tell the story – link to instructions
God made everything craft ideas
There are so many crafts you can do about creation! Here are a few ideas from this blog plus a link to a pinterest board where I’ve collected ideas
A creation place mat (requires some cutting out – either do beforehand or let older children do it themselves) , creation collage all about people (cut faces from magazines) we printed out a picture of the world but if you don’t want to do that you could combine the sponge print globe with the faces, a sponge print world – we used circles cut from card, blue and green paint and kitchen sponges that were easy to hold. The paint should be fairly thick!
Creation Pinterest Board with lots of craft ideas!
Craft supplies you need for toddler group! – or would really like, come in all shapes and sizes (and price ranges!). Here are some ideas of what you need (or would really like) when doing crafts with young children in toddler group or at home.
Some craft supplies can be bought especially for doing crafts at home or in toddler group but there are others that you possibly already have or friends and family can collect for you.
Craft supplies you might like to buy
Paint
No spill paint pots
Paint brushes
Aprons (you can go old school and use old men’s shirts – children wear them backwards – buttons at the back. Use them and then wash them.)
Glue (PVA can last ages)
Glue spreaders
Glue sticks
Paper plates – round, square, white/black or coloured.
Paper cups/pots
Doilies
Wax crayons
Petit four cases
Cup cake cases
Wreath shapes
Sugar paper
Lollipop sticks
Stickers – stars, themed stickers for example animals, sea creatures.
Pipe cleaners
Of course you don’t have to buy everything on this list. Prioritise items like wax crayons, paper and glue. See if there is a local scheme for sharing supplies.
Paper can be very expensive so save paper from packaging if you can. Card is great to use so try to reuse packaging.
Craft supplies you may already have (or know someone who does)
This is the list to get excited about! Craft items for toddler group that are free are a bonus. Once you start looking you will see opportunities for free craft supplies all over the place.
Greeting card pictures. Collect all year round and especially at Christmas. Just ask donors to tear the picture from the greeting section of the card if they can.
Wrapping paper (all sorts including shiny paper)
Tissue paper – often used for wrapping flowers/gifts/breakables
Yarn/wool – Lots of knitters and crocheters will have yarn in small lengths in a variety of colours. Ask for donations.
Fabric – sewers will have scraps you can use for collage.
Ribbon (this is often used as handles on gift bags)
Magazine pictures
Garden catalogue photos of plants/vegetables
Paint colour sample cards from DIY stores
Egg cartons (these should be clean, i.e no sign of any egg!) Children can be allergic to egg so take care.
It’s good to be on the look out for materials you can use – charity shops are great for finding bits and bobs!
Some supplies you need only buy once – non spill paint pots and good paint brushes. Glue spreaders will last and a good quality PVC cloth to cover the craft table will last years. (You can use newspaper but just check the content first!)
Here are some crafts that use a variety of the items listed
Here’s a link to a craft video post that goes through the steps of how to make a tree topper angel (or an angel ornament).
Have a look at this post for some more craft ideas!
Make a big book to use at story time! I’m always looking for a new idea for story time. I like something visual and easy to use. I think it’s important to have props that help children and adults listen to the story and enjoy story time. We’ve completed a Bible Alphabet (a story for every letter of the alphabet). It was great having a long story series. So for the next series we are going to think about ‘What’s in God’s Book’. We will start with creation and then tell stories in chronological order as we go through the Bible. Characters will appear, big events will happen and although every story will stand alone they will also fit together as the story of God’s book.
We will have storybags and props each week but we will also have a big book. And each week a picture or page will appear out of the big book.
How we made the big book
We used blue mount board and yellow paper (150g) and pritt stick (a great glue for this as you can move the paper around just after you have glued it. It’s very forgiving)
The book is actually more of a pocket or pouch. The yellow paper is folded and then glued to the mount board which will make it easy to take pictures out of the big book.
It’s definitely a big book but it will be a great size for our toddler group story time as we have a big group!
Big Book Story Ideas
We are starting with Creation but will then do the following stories
Story Bag Ideas that are easy to find and use! If you tell Bible Stories in a Toddler Group setting or with young children in Sunday School you will probably have used a Story Bag. (It’s slightly different from providing a Story Bag for sharing in a small group or one to one as you will probably be telling the story rather than reading it from a book. In a large group the storyteller should be in charge of the props, make sure everyone can see them. Also there is no need to include a copy of a book!)
A Story Bag is a very useful tool in keeping children engaged with a story. Items appear from the bag throughout the story. These items can aid understanding; an unfamiliar object is often easier to show than to explain.
Easy Story Bag Ideas for the beginning of the story
Taking things out of a bag can build excitement and anticipation. When I begin a story I often start by introducing the main character…for example
I’ve bought someone with me today who is in our story. Are you ready to say hello to Mary? Let’s practice.. ‘Hello Mary’. I’m not sure she can hear you! Let’s try again, ‘Hello Mary’. (I take Mary from the story bag)
This makes a good start to the story. Everyone has joined in with saying hello to the main character. Children (and adults) are waiting to see what happens next.
Another way to begin is by taking an object out of the bag that is central to your story such as a model of a Bible time house or a boat. You could begin story time like this…
Today in our story bag is somewhere that Jesus often visited! Let’s find out where? (Take the house from the bag) It’s a house! It’s where his friends Mary and Martha lived. One day they invited Jesus to come and see them…
Story bag Ideas for the middle of the story
If you have started your story by introducing the main character or place then the next items in the story bag should help the story move along.
For example – having said hello to Mary you could help the children think about what she was doing..
Mary was having an ordinary day – she might have been cleaning (take a duster from the bag and pretend to dust and a brush and brushpan and pretend to sweep)..
There are lots of things that people in Bible Stories do that are ordinary and every day like cooking and eating so you can include everyday items in the story bag to help children understand the story.
Here’s a list of items I’ve used
Bread rolls
Purple cloth (Story about Lydia)
Large blue cloth (Sea, lake)
Play boat
Pans
Bowls
Dusters/Cloths
Sewing supplies (Tabitha/Dorcas)
Fruit/Veg (Harvest)
Pringle carton characters
Knitted dolls
Toy camels
Knitted donkey
Toy sheep
Model of flat roofed house (Make your own from a cardboard box or use duplo)
Mat – for man to lie on (Man with four friends)
Toy animals
Model of Noah’s Ark
Rock/Stone
Sand
Coins
Large leaves (Palm Sunday)
An apple
A toy snake
A crown
Toy boat
Toy building tools (useful for lots of stories – Tower of Babel, Noah, Building the Temple, Nehemiah, Parable of the Builders)
Red cord/yarn (Rahab rescues the spies)
Cushion/Pillow (Jesus asleep in the storm)
Characters made from wooden spoons
Concertina people (great for crowds – Feeding of 5,000)
Paper plate faces (use to explain feelings)
Puppets – bought or make your own by adding a lollipop stick to a cut out character
There are so many things you can use in a story bag to help bring the story to life.
At the end of the story
Finishing a story well can be more difficult than getting started. So it’s worth thinking through an ending that is clear. If you know how to finish your story it won’t just trail off…
A Story bag is really useful at the end of a story. If you have used a character then you can end with ..
Mary had an amazing day. Let’s say goodbye .. (and everyone joins in with )’Goodbye Mary’, as you place her in the story bag
If you have used an object like a model of a house you could end the story something like this..
Jesus had been to visit the house. (Put it back in the bag) I wonder where he will go next?
You don’t have to use a story bag every week but it is a great way to keep children and adults listening to your story. Choose a bag that you like and that will be easy to take items from. A basket works well – you can cover items with a cloth to hide them.
My Story Basket!
My Story Bags!
Here’s a Bible Story using props –
Here’s a collection of Story bag Prop Ideas on Pinterest
Singing songs and saying rhymes with toddlers is a great way of helping young children learn. They are fun and interactive. Most toddler groups have a song time using well known favourites. Repetition is good! Here’s a handy list of song and rhyme ideas that are great for toddlers.
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Twinkle, twinkle, little star
Old MacDonald
Zoom, zoom, zoom we’re going to the moon
I’m a little teapot
Miss Polly had a dolly
Open shut them, open shut them make your hands go clap
The grand old Duke of York
Tommy thumb
Wind the bobbin up
Row, row, row your boat
Jelly on a plate
Horsey, horsey don’t you stop
1,2,3,4,5, once I caught a fish alive
Humpty Dumpty
I hear thunder
If you’re happy and you know it
Incy wincy spider
Here we go round the mulberry bush
5 little ducks
5 little speckles frogs
Rock a bye baby
Round and round the garden
The Wheels on the bus
Two little dickie birds
5 little peas in a pea pod pressed
Singing with toddlers often means having actions to fit the words. There can be marching, wobbling jelly, pointing to the parts of the body, pretending to be stars or spiders, counting on fingers, hiding hands behind your back, clapping, stamping – so many!
Some songs are great for adults to sing with their child sat on their knee – Round and Round the Garden, Rock a Bye Baby, Horsey, Horsey don’t you stop, Row, Row, Row your Boat and Zoom, Zoom, Zoom we’re going to the Moon.
Songs and rhymes encourage language development – there’s lots of vocabulary used in a fun and easy to remember way.
You don’t need to worry too much about being the best singer – you don’t need to be able to play the guitar (and although you might want to I think doing the actions to the songs is maybe better as children can copy you and join in).
Mix up songs that are lively and those that are quiet.
Sing a song once at normal speed and then repeat going faster. This works well for, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and The Grand old Duke of York.
Include said rhymes. Mix them in among the songs.
If you have a Story Time include a song that fits your story if you can.
Repeat favourites.
Use props from time to time – an Old MacDonald puppet with toy animals, a Humpty Dumpty! Use items that suit your style and group.
Humpty Dumpty
Sign up to the World Nursery Rhyme Week for ideas and free colouring sheets and activity ideas. Everyone’s welcome – parents, grandparents, carers, toddler groups, kindergartens, nurseries, preschool settings.. and it’s a great way to learn more about the importance and value of singing with toddlers!
Care for the Family produce a resource for parents called Smalltalk. Every issue of Smalltalk covers a different topic from Potty Training to Creating a Family Budget. Here’s a link to the issue about Singing with Children that you could make available at your Toddler Group. Here’s a link to the list of all the Smalltalk issues – they are so good!
Wax resist pictures are fun and easy to create. All you need is some paper, wax crayons, watery paint and a paint brush. You can make patterns and pictures – it’s very easy and relatively mess free.
If you want to create a pattern then it’s fun to start with taking a crayon for a ‘walk’ around the paper. Create swirls and shapes. Then use bright wax colours to fill in some of the shapes you’ve created. You can use colour blocks, stripes, stars and circles – anything you like! Use white crayon on white paper to create some shapes. When you are happy with what you have made paint it all over with a thinned watery paint. I used blue ready mix paint that I watered down.
Let it dry and enjoy your wax resist picture!
You can also have fun making marks with a white wax crayon on white paper and painting over the colour wash.
Hey there! This post has some affiliate links. So, if you click on them and decide to buy the product, I get a little commission. And here’s the best part – it won’t cost you anything extra! Cool, right? Thanks a bunch!
Bible Truth for Toddlers – God hears us when we talk to him
In the story bag we have Hannah and baby Samuel.
‘Are you ready to say hello to the person in our story? Her name is Hannah. ‘Hello Hannah’. (Take Hannah from the story bag)
Hannah lived a long time ago with her husband. She had nice clothes, and a lovely home but she was very, very sad.
Hannah didn’t have any children and this made her very sad.
What could she do?
No one seemed to care about how she felt.
Who could she talk to?
Hannah decided to talk to God. Sometimes we call that praying. She told him how sad she was. She told God how much she wanted to have a baby. She told God all about how she felt.
God always cares about how we feel. He is always able to listen to us when we talk to him. Even though we can’t see God he is there – he is real, and he is kind and good and powerful.
When Hannah had told God all about everything she felt much better.
Now God doesn’t always give us exactly what we ask him for but he heard Hannah’s prayer and she had a baby! (Take Samuel from the story bag) Let’s quietly whisper, ‘hello Samuel’ – because he’s sleeping!
Hannah called her baby Samuel. She loved him very much.
Let’s say bye, bye to Hannah and Samuel. (Place them back in the story bag)
Hannah prays story – Craft Idea
We have a picture of Hannah to decorate and baby Samuel to add. If you can, have some Skin Coloured Crayons for the children to use – these are really good for all crafts that include pictures of people.
There is another Bible Story Idea about Samuel here. It’s all about Samuel hearing God’s voice and how God speaks to us today. You could tell these stories on consecutive weeks to teach that we can talk to God and God talks to us.
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David defeats Goliath is a well known Bible Story found in 1 Samuel 17. This is a simple retelling of the story for toddlers
Bible Truth for Toddlers – God helps us
God’s people were in a lot of trouble! They were hiding in their tents! Every day their enemy laughed at them. Their enemy was a huge fighter called Goliath (everyone repeat the name together)
Goliath was taller than everyone else
Goliath was stronger than everyone else
Goliath was scarier that everyone else
What could God’s people do?
They felt small
They felt weak
They were scared
But David was brave. It wasn’t because David was tall (he wasn’t!). It wasn’t because David was strong (he wasn’t). David was brave because he knew God would help him.
‘I’ll go and fight Goliath,’ David said. And he did. He took 1,2,3,4,5 small stones and his sling. He walked towards Goliath and he threw a stone.
It whizzed through the air and plonk! It hit Goliath and he fell down! David won! God’s people didn’t need to hide anymore. God helped David. God is able to help you too.
Josiah reads God’s book bible story. Josiah was King in Judah at a very difficult time. The temple was in need of repair and God’s people were not following God’s law. This Bible Story tells of how God’s Book was found and how Josiah read God’s Book to the people. It’s taken from 2 Kings 22:1 – 23:2. As this story is intended for toddlers a lot of detail has been left out. There are some fun actions to do during the story so that everyone can join in.
Josiah reads God’s Book – story idea
Bible Truth for Toddlers – God’s Book is for Everyone
In the Story Bag – King Josiah puppet/doll, a toy hammer, a brush, a Bible(Take these from the story bag as you need them)
Before you begin – explain to everyone that there are some things to join in with during the story; some sweeping, hammering and saying ‘no’.
‘Let’s say hello to King Josiah! Josiah was King a long time ago. He was very upset that the Temple, where people went to worship God, was really messy and untidy. Parts of it needed cleaning. Parts of it needed mending. Josiah said, ‘Let’s fix and tidy the Temple,’ and so work began.
There was sweeping!
There was hammering!
Everyone was busy!
But then they stopped…… Everything went quiet…..They had found something.
What could it be?
Was it silver? NO!
Was it Gold? NO!
Was it lots of money? NO!
It was even better than those things.
They had found God’s Book. (It didn’t look exactly like this Bible but the words inside are the same)
Josiah read God’s Book. ‘This is so important that everyone should hear it’, he said
All the people came to the Temple – the important people, the ordinary everyday people, the old people, the young people. People just like you. People just like me. And King Josiah read God’s Book to everyone.
God’s Book is for everyone!
Here’s a blog post all about making Pringle people. Josiah is made from a Pringle tube – you could use a bread stick tube too. The advantage of using a pringle tube is that it is fairly solid so a pringle person will stand up easily leaving your hands free for storytelling actions.
Let’s bake Coronation Crown Biscuits that are easy to make and very moreish! This recipe is straightforward – you only need three ingredients. It’s from a Book by Rosemary Wadey that I’ve had for years. It’s easy to increase the quantity and you can decorate the biscuits or just sprinkle with sugar (or leave plain).
Baking at home with children is lots of fun – and these biscuits are just perfect for children to make. There’s some measuring to do, quite a bit of mixing, some rolling out and then use some cutters to make the shapes you want. I’ve used a round cutter and then a small crown to make the hole in the biscuit.
If baking these with children be mindful of the hot oven and be careful taking the baking trays out of the oven.
Let’s Bake Coronation Crown Biscuit Recipe
50g/2oz Butter (or Marg – softened)
25g/1oz Caster Sugar
75g/3oz Plain Flour
Set the oven to 150 C/Gas Mark 2
Cream the butter and sugar together
Add the flour gradually to form a dough
Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge – this will make it easier to roll out and cut shapes
Roll out on a floured surface
Place on a lined baking sheet
Bake for about 20 minutes (may need a little longer)
Cool and enjoy!
These are delicious as plain biscuits but if you want to add icing and sprinkles you can!
(This post contains an affiliate link – if you click on the link and purchase the book this blog gets a small commission – many thanks)
X is for Xerxes is part of our Bible Alphabet. The following is a much shortened telling of the story of Esther, King Xerxes and Haman. When you are telling a story in a toddler group you have to shorten the narrative and find a way to tell the story simply. To read the full story see Esther
X is for Xerxes story idea
Our story happened a long time again in a country called Persia. There was a powerful king called King Xerxes. He was in charge of a huge kingdom and in his kingdom lots of God’s people lived. They were a long way from home.
Now one of God’s people had married the King (he didn’t know that she was one of God’s people – he had married her because she was very beautiful) Her name was Esther.
And there was another man whose name was Haman. The king liked him very much but he was a very bad and horrible man.
Haman didn’t like God’s people at all. He wanted to get rid of all of them. And so he asked the king, ‘Can we get rid of all these people?’ And the King said, ….. ‘yes!’
Now Esther was very sad and worried. She had to find a way to keep God’s people safe. She knew that she needed help. But who could help her? She sent a message to her family – Pray to God. Ask him to help me. And I will pray too.
Esther asked God to help her. She went to see King Xerxes. She told him what was going to happen to God’s people and how she was one of them. The King was horrified. He was angry with Haman and he protected God’s people. They were kept safe.
King Xerxes was very powerful – but not as powerful as God who is able to keep his people safe and hears them when they ask for his help.
X is for Xerxes props for story telling
King Xerxes and Queen Esther are made from Pringle Containers. Xerxes is a regular Pringle container and Esther is a whole wheat Pringle tube which is slightly smaller (perfect for making storytelling people of different heights!)
To make you just cover the tube in coloured paper (I used a glue gun to stick this) and then add a face , hair and some clothes. Pipe cleaners are very useful for holding everything together. As they are royalty I added crowns but often it’s just a piece of material held in place with a pipe cleaner as in the case of Haman. There are instructions here
Easy to make finger paint that uses three ingredients (and one of them is water!)
I spent quite a while searching on line for ready made finger paints but was put off by some of the reviews. I really don’t want children breaking out in a rash because of allergies. The best thing about making something yourself is that you know what’s in the end product.
I found several recipes for home made finger paint and decided to try out the one from Rainy Day Mum partly because I had quite a lot of Corn flour (cornstarch) left over from making crown shapes.
It’s a fantastic recipe. Really quick to make and if you use a mug for the measurements there is a lot. I cooked my finger paints without any food colouring. Once I was happy with the consistency I split it between four bowls and added different colours.
Finger paint can be used on paper or card or on a plastic mat. You can encourage children to paint with it, make marks on paper and/or just enjoy the texture by mixing the colours on a plastic mat.
A fairly sturdy paper plate makes a good canvas.
You can also use these paints to add decoration to shapes and pictures. Here’s a crown made from Bicarbonate of Soda and Corn Flour dough with some finger paint decoration. You can see in the picture that home made finger paints add texture too!
You just need to be careful that the paint doesn’t get onto furniture or favourite clothes. If using in a toddler group let parents know beforehand so they can dress themselves and their toddler appropriately. Have some aprons for the children to wear and some baby wipes handy.
To store the finger paints use an air tight container. It will keep for a couple of weeks.
These crowns are made from a dough that has three ingredients – and one of them is cold water! It’s air drying so you need to make it a few days before you want to decorate the shapes.
If you are celebrating The Coronation Twinkl has some great ideas and resources here with lots of ideas for Coronation Parties and decorations. Twinkl also have loads of great Coronation themed crafts that would be great for an at home Coronation party. It’s free to join Twinkl and they have loads of resources and ideas. Well worth a look.
Ingredients for the dough
3 Cups Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda)
11/2 Cups Cornflour (Cornstarch)
2 Cups Cold Water
To make the dough
Mix everything together in a large pan (it will be watery)
Cook on medium heat – stirring all the time
Once it has formed a dough remove from heat and allow to cool slightly
Knead it on a surface (sprinkle some cornflour to stop it sticking)
Roll out
Cut into shapes
Leave to dry out for at least 24 hours
It’s a lovely dough to use. It did stick to my pan a bit but came off easily with hot soapy water. I have to admit that it was so watery at first that I thought it was never going to work but it did! At toddler group we will decorate the crowns – either with glitter or finger paints. If you wanted to make hanging decorations then you just need to add a hole with a skewer before the shapes have dried out.
The People of God were in the wilderness. They had escaped from Egypt but were thirsty. They moaned! God told Moses to strike the rock and out came water. The story is from Exodus 17:1-7
W is for Water from the Rock – story idea
Have you ever felt hungry? God’s people had been hungry and so God had given them food to eat.
Have you ever felt thirsty? God’s people felt thirsty. But instead of asking God to help them find water they moaned and groaned! Why isn’t God helping us? they said to Moses.
Why are you moaning and groaning? Moses said
Then Moses asked for God’s help. What shall I do with all these moany and groany people?
God heard Moses. God helped Moses. God said, ‘Moses, take your staff and hit the rock’.
Moses did what God said. He lifted up his staff and struck the rock and out came water!
God gave the people water to drink. He looked after them.
God is able to look after you and me too.
Water from the Rock Craft Idea
A simple collage to make. Beforehand prepare the rock from brown paper, a sun, some blue paper strips for water and Moses (Pdf below). The children can build the scene.
Make a basket using a large paper plate! This is a great basket to make for an Easter Egg Hunt. See end of post for some other ideas too! Baskets are really useful!
All you need
Paper plate (9in/23cm diameter)
Scissors
Stapler
Hole Punch
Pipe cleaner (12in/30cm length)
Stickers to decorate
Tissue paper to put inside
Small Easter eggs/chocolates hidden – to find!
How to make the baskets
If making these with young children you may want to do several of the stages beforehand. Older children can cut the plate and use the stapler (with supervision – make sure they can use it safely). Punching the holes needs supervision just to make sure they aren’t punched too close to the edge of the plate. You want the pipe cleaner handle to hold!
Mark out where to cut the plate (picture 1)
Cut along the lines
Fold the small section inwards and bend round the two longer sides. Secure with a staple. Do this twice.
Punch holes
Add pipe cleaner handle (Twist around the punched hole to secure)
Decorate with stickers
Add tissue paper lining
Collect eggs!
The basic basket can be used as a craft for the story of Feeding the 5,000. Just add the five loaves and two fish. If you click on the link you’ll find a post with a Pdf with loaves and fish that you can print.
You could also make it to celebrate harvest. Add some pictures of fruit and veg to your basket.
If you leave out the pipe cleaner handle you could use the basket for a Baby Moses craft too! here’s another idea about Moses.
Once you have a basic craft idea it’s great to be able to adapt it for different age groups and Bible Stories and Seasonal crafts. I’m sure you can think of other ways to use a basic basket shape!
Make a ‘Thank you God’ book to share with toddlers; a great way to teach children about how wonderfully made they are.
We used our ‘Thank you God’ book over several weeks at toddler group. Each week we had an activity to tie in with the theme and sang songs that were connected.
Make a ‘Thank you God’ book
The pages to make your own book are below for you to download and print. The photos on each page are all loyalty free. (Please don’t remove the attribute that is on each photo). You can tie the pages together with string – make two holes in each page in roughly the same place and tie together. Or you could make a large folder and stick the title page to the outside. Each week take out the page that you are using.
Using your ‘Thank you God’ book
At toddler group we began our story time with our welcome song and then talked through the page of the ‘Thank you God’ book that we were using that week. There’s no need to recap on previous weeks – you want to keep the story time short. The children and adults were encouraged to join in – for example clapping when it was in the book. We added extra ideas too. The book is a starting point; add activities that suit your group.
For each week I’ve listed some song ideas. Every week read the Bible verse together (you don’t have to read out the reference but you can say that these words are from God’s Book, the Bible.)
The following are the files for you to download and print
There are lots of songs that will fit in with this theme. Here are some ideas.
Songs/Rhymes to use any week
Head, shoulders knees and toes
From my head down to my toes God loves me
I wiggle my fingers, I wiggle my toes
The Hokey Cokey (if you are a large group don’t get in a circle – wave arms up in the air for ‘oh the hokey cokey’)
Songs about feet
The Grand old Duke of York
Walking through the jungle
Sleeping bunnies (jumping/hopping at the end of the song)
Songs about hands
Open shut them, open shut them
If you’re happy and you know it (can use for feet too)
Round and round the garden (a rhymes using hands – for adults to do with their child)
Miss Polly had a dolly (knocking on the door with our hands)
Tommy Thumb (a song using our hands)
We all clap hands together
Songs about ears
I hear thunder
Old MacDonald (all the sounds the animals make)
Oh we can play on the big brass drum
Songs about mouths
Jelly on a plate (for eating)
All songs – we use our mouths for singing!
The wheels on the bus – the verses the Daddies on the bus go ‘Shush’, the babies on the bus go ‘wah, wah, wah’ and the mummies on the bus go ‘chatter, chatter, chatter’.
Songs about eyes
I see blue sky (second verse of ‘I hear thunder’)
Sleeping bunnies (we close our eyes to sleep)
Songs about noses
I wiggle my fingers, I wiggle my nose
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
A really great book for songs and rhymes is ‘This Little Puffin’ compiled by Elizabeth Matterson. First published in 1969 it’s been updated. Well worth buying if you work with under fives. I’ve had my copy for over thirty years (might be time to buy the updated edition!) – Affiliate link – if you click on the above link and make a purchase this blog will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you.
Craft/Activity Ideas to go with the ‘Thank you God’ book
Ears – put together a sound/listening table with musical instruments, scrunchie paper, rain sticks.
Mouths – decorate biscuits (check for allergies first). Make smiley faces using paper plates.
Eyes – have a ‘looking table’ with large magnifyers and leaves, pine cones, flowers for children to take a closer look at. We used this idea for Autumn too.
Noses – make scented pictures. Beforehand use some inexpensive perfume to spray collage materials. Allow to dry. At toddler group let the children create scented pictures using the now scented collage materials. Here’s a similar idea. Scented flower pictures.
Samuel heard God’s voice story and craft for toddler group. This is a lovely story to tell – there are actions for everyone to join in with and an idea for story bag items.
Samuel heard God’s Voice story idea for toddler group
In the story bag have Eli and Samuel. I have a knitted doll for Eli and a cardboard tube model of Samuel.
Eli Samuel
You can also do actions during the story – particularly for Samuel sleeping. Encourage everyone to join in with the voice that calls ‘Samuel’
Samuel Bible Story for toddlers
‘Say hello to Samuel! he was a real person who lived a long time ago. When he was a young boy he lived in the temple; the very special place where people went to worship God.
One night he got ready for bed, and snuggled down to go to sleep. Let’s pretend to be asleep. We have to be very quiet. Suddenly Samuel heard someone calling his name, ‘Samuel’. That must be Eli, the old priest calling me, he thought. So up he got and went to Eli. ‘Here I am, you called me!’ ‘No I didn’t’, said Eli. ‘Go back to bed’.
Samuel went back to bed and closed his eyes and snuggled down to go to sleep. ‘Samuel’, he heard the voice again! He got up and went to Eli, ‘Here I am, you called me’. ‘No I didn’t, go back to bed’.
Samuel went back to bed. Snuggled down and closed his eyes. ‘Samuel’, he heard the voice again! He got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, you called me.’
Then Eli realised something. It was God calling Samuel’s name. God wanted to speak to Samuel. ‘Go back and lie down Samuel and when he calls your name again say, ‘speak Lord, your servant is listening.’
Samuel went back to bed and lay down. And sure enough he heard, ‘Samuel, Samuel’. He said, ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening.’
God still speaks to us today. Not in a voice we can hear like Samuel heard, but through the Bible. Show your Bible.
Samuel Craft Idea for toddlers
This craft is Samuel in his bed – don’t glue Samuel to the bed; he just slots inside. Children will enjoy taking him in and out of bed and can retell story.
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The Wheels on the Bus is a well known and often sung song at Toddler Group so we made a fun craft to go with the song. The Bus can be decorated with collage materials and crayons. We added some fun face stickers too.
Some ideas for collage materials
Tissue paper squares (lots of colours)
Wool
Sugar paper cut up into different shapes
Bits of wrapping paper
Fabric (Cut into squares using pinking shears – it won’t fray)
Felt
Card shapes – often designed for card making, you might find some in charity shops
Petit four cases/Cup cake cases
You can decide if you want to use lots of different materials or just a few. It’s good for children to have some choice.
Make a beautiful picture for spring using stickers and colours! There are loads of great stickers suitable for young children and if you don’t feel like using glue they are a good alternative. It also saves you from having to find lots of pictures to cut out so a really useful time saver. When you set up the craft space provide a pot for all the left over sticker backing. It’ll make tidy up so much easier.
We used a printed background for our spring picture that has hills, trees, a sun and some water. The children then decorated the scene with crayons and stickers. Wax crayons are great to use as you can blend colours and cover an area more easily that with felt tips of pencils. The stickers stuck to the crayon just fine.
We used stickers from Amazon. They come on a roll – we cut them up into individual stickers for ease of use. They are a great size for children to be able to peel the backing off themselves – great for using fine motor skills.
Here are links to some stickers. They are different designs as the ones we used are no longer available! (Affiliate link – some of the links in this blog are affiliate links which means that if you click on the link and purchase the item I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you)
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.
A lift the flap craft! Can you find the lost sheep? This craft is not only something to make but will help to retell the story of the Shepherd finding his lost sheep. (From Luke 15:1-7) Children are familiar with lift the flap books – something to find on the page that’s hidden under a flap. This craft uses the same idea and is fairly simple to make. Young children will need some help to make sure that they glue the sheep in the right place and that they don’t stick the flap down. You could always choose to glue the sheep in place beforehand.
Step by step to making the lift the flap craft
The dark green paper is folded in half but the top half is cut slightly less wide (by about 1cm) so it is easy to open. You don’t have to do this but it makes it easier for children to use.
The Lost Sheep Bible 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.’
This Lost Sheep Storybook is available from Amazon. (affiliate link – if you click and purchase let their light shine will receive a bit of money from Amazon – to buy craft supplies! – at no extra cost to you.)
Use what you have to make a Christmas collage. There is so much for us to spend money on at Christmas that it’s a nice change to use what we already have have to make crafts.
I always keep Christmas cards as they have great pictures. And those bits of wrapping paper that aren’t quite big enough to wrap any of the gifts I’ve bought come in handy too.
If you have any paper punchers you can cut out shapes but if not just use scissors. Older children can doing the cutting out themselves.
Just use what you have – sweet wrappers, greeting cards, wrapping paper, pictures from magazines. Whatever you fancy!
Sometimes we do a ‘cover the paper’ challenge. The idea is to fill an A4 piece of paper with collage materials. It’s a lot of fun!
This year we have quite a lot of sequins left from other crafts so we’ll be adding those to the selection of materials that the children can choose from. I think that is part of the pleasure of making – choosing what to use.
Here’s a couple of my attempts – the children will no doubt do a better job than me!
A use what you have snow themed collage
These crafts would be great to make at home between Christmas and New Year. Keep your wrapping paper and cards and enjoy giving them a second life!
Let’s meet Anna and Simeon who saw Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem. We read about them in Luke 2:22-38. This story isn’t always told at Christmas time but it fits in between the visit of the Shepherds and the arrival of the Wise men. (When Herod starts to anxiously look for Jesus in Matthew 2 – the new King, Jesus has already been in Jerusalem.) Most people didn’t see anything special about this visit but Simeon and Anna recognised who Jesus is. Simeon knew that Jesus was God’s salvation and Anna saw that Jesus was the one bringing redemption.
Let’s meet Anna and Simeon Bible Story Idea
In the story bag have the main characters to show at the right time in the story – Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, Simeon and Anna.
Jesus had been born! Mary and Joseph gave him his special name – Jesus – which means ‘The Lord saves’. Then some days later they needed to go to the big city of Jerusalem to the Temple. The temple was a very special place. People went there to worship God. Mary and Joseph needed to go there to say thank you to God for the new baby.
It wasn’t too far to travel. Let’s walk with them. (make the sound of walking by tapping hands on knees)
They arrived at the temple and went inside. It was a very special place. Lots of people were there. One of them was an old man called Simeon. (Say hello to Simeon) Simeon had been looking forward to seeing someone. He was looking forward to seeing the Saviour that God had promised to send. And today was the day! Simeon saw Jesus. And even though he was a baby Simeon knew he was the saviour sent from God. Simeon held Jesus in his arms and said thank you to God for sending the Saviour.
And then a woman saw Jesus. Her name was Anna. (Say hello to Anna) She was very old and came to the temple everyday. And on this day she saw Jesus and she knew that he was the Saviour! She began to tell everyone and she said thank you to God for sending the Saviour.
We can say thank you to God for sending Jesus – the Saviour.
Anna and Simeon to make
This is a variation of the Yarn wrapped candle. You need cardboard tubes – you can purchase these or use a halved kitchen roll. Add a face, hair or beard and wrap yarn around the tube for clothing. Take a look at the Yarn wrapped candle post for instructions about that. You don’t need to glue the yarn! Add a headdress and secure with a pipe cleaner.
The Birth of Jesus story video for young children to enjoy. Jesus’ birth is the heart of Christmas. This story video begins with the journey to Bethlehem and ends with the Shepherds visit.
Feel free to use and share.
A lovely craft idea to do – make a Christmas collage using wrapping paper and Christmas cards. If making with young children cut the shapes beforehand. If making with your own child at home you could have a go at teaching some cutting skills using child friendly scissors. Always take care!
Here’s a link to a pinterest board with lots of Christmas craft ideas
Candle crafts are lovely for homemade Christmas decorations. I saw this idea on pinterest. It’s from Kidscraftroom.com which is a great place for craft ideas. This craft combines two of my favourite things – yarn and Christmas! If you are making this at home with your own children you can use what you have – cardboard tubes from toilet rolls and kitchen rolls and paper and yarn you already have. If making in a group then it’s better to avoid toilet rolls or check with your group first. If you don’t have shiny paper or card for the flame just use what you have – silver foil or sweet wrappers would work just as well.
To make the candle decoration you need
Cardboard tubes
White paper to cover the tube – or any colour you choose
Yellow and gold card to make the flame. This needs to be the same width as the tube at it’s base as you are going to slot it into the tube.
Yarn.
Before making something with children I always try it our first. It’s the only way to know if it will work! I had a few different attempts at wrapping yarn around the cardboard tube and decided to go with a variegated chunky yarn. I used a pink based colour that is really bright! It’s available from amazon. (affiliate link – if you click on the link and make a purchase the blog recieves a small payment from Amazon at no extra cost to you). You can use any yarn that you have but you need it to hold to the tube without using glue.
Candle decoration To make
Cover the tube with paper. Secure with glue and then cut and tuck in extra paper at both ends. The tube should still stand up.
Cut two slits opposite each other at one end.
Slot the begginning of the yarn in one of the slits and start wrapping
Wrap the yarn from top to bottom and then back to the top and secure in the other slit. Push the end of the yarn into the centre of the tube
Make the flame
Slot the flame into the top of the candle
Another Christmas craft from the blog is here – A Christmas Star to make.
Here’s a Light Party Lantern that is easy to make and inexpensive too! It’s a lantern that will twinkle in the dark and remind children that Jesus is the light of the World. If you are planning to celebrate a light party as an alternative to Halloween or you are looking for something to make at home then this craft is a fun make.
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Begin by getting the tissue paper squares ready. Let children select the colours they would like to use. They can cut them smaller if they wish
Turn the plastic cup upside down and cover half with glue. Stick on the tissue paper. It’s ok for colours to overlap. Once you’re happy do the other half.
Turn the cup the right way up. Add the word strip. If the cup is tapered this need to go in the middle.
The pipe cleaners make a great handle. Lay one pipe cleaner down flat on the work surface. Secure the other pipe cleaner in two places about a cup’s width apart. You may need to adjust this a bit as you go on. Secure the first pipe cleaner to the cup’s rim – just wrap it around and twist the ends together. You should have a secure handle to carry the lantern or hang it up.
Place a battery operated tea light in the cup – and you have a lantern!
This is a lovely lion craft using paper curls that are surprisingly simple to make. The paper curls add a lot of texture for the mane. If you use a variety of yellow and orange colours it adds some depth to the finished craft. It’s really important that you use light weight paper to make the curls or you won’t get curl effect.
We used this craft to accompany the story about Daniel in the Lion’s Den. You can find a toddler friendly version of the story here.
All you need to make the lion craft
Print out of the lion (see below)
Yellow and orange paper cut into 1cm wide strips that are about the length of A4 paper and then curled. Simply hold one end of the paper and then pull a scissor blade along the length. I used this paper. You ideally want a low weight paper to make the curls
Autumn is a great time of year for crafts and activities. The colours and textures of autumn lend themselves to so many colourful crafts and there’s lots to see and do to celebrate the season.
Autumn craft activities
A few ideas of things to use for crafts that celebrate Autumn (be mindful of the age of the children – avoid small items when making craft with younger children)
Yellow, orange, red, tissue paper
Real leaves that have fallen from the trees
Conkers
Acorns
Twigs
Playdough in autumnal colours
Apples for printing
Autumn coloured paint
Yarn, wool in autumn colours
A few green, brown and purple bits of tissue paper etc also add to crafts
Pinterest Board – take look at some great ideas for autumn crafts!
If you want to grow a tree then you can plant a conker in a pot! So long as you keep the squirrels from digging it up it will grow into a tree. (Don’t plant it in your garden unless you want a really huge tree! – much better to keep it in a pot and keep repotting it until you are happy with it’s size) Here’s how…
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