Tag: bible stories

Is Jesus the forever king?

Is Jesus the forever king? This lesson is the final part of our toddler group Bible story series, “Who is the Forever King?” If you are looking for a simple toddler group Bible story for Christmas, this interactive lesson shows young children how Jesus fulfills God’s promises in the Bible. We began with King David and 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 told simple stories about David, Solomon, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah. These kings are all mentioned in Matthew 1 in the genealogy of Jesus, the son of David.

Why did we put the Christmas Toddler Group story in a series about kings?

We tell a toddler friendly Bible story every week at toddler group and we wanted to place the Christmas story in the context of the whole Bible. If you need a Christmas toddler Bible lesson that connects the Old and New Testaments, this approach helps children see the bigger picture.

You can also explore our Journey to Bethlehem series of toddler Bible stories in this post for more inspiration.

This time we shifted our focus to the promise given to David that there would be a forever King on his throne.

Links to the stories in this ‘Who is the forever King?’ toddler Bible story series

To tell each Bible story you need six weeks (this includes the Toddler Christmas Bible story)

  • Week One – Is David the forever King? read the post here
  • Week Two – Is Solomon the forever King? Bible story idea here
  • Week Three – Is Jehoshaphat the forever King? Bible story and craft here
  • Week Four – Is Hezekiah the forever King? read the post here
  • Week Five – Is Josiah the forever King? the story is here
  • Week six – Is Jesus the forever King?

Props and pictures to use in the series

We made use of free printables from Free Bible Images for the kings. They are available here. The chosen images were printed onto card, cut out and a lollipop stick was added to make a puppet.

We also made an A3 poster with the series title, ‘Who is the Forever King?’ a name card for each King and added velcro to the back of the King puppets so we could build up our picture board each week. The ‘yes’ or ‘no’ was added at the end of each Bible story.

Although toddlers won’t be reading these names the adults will and it helps them to be involved and listening to the Bible story.

King puppet for the Toddler Bible Story series, 'Who is the Forever King?'
King puppet for the Toddler Bible Story series, 'Who is the Forever King?'
King puppet for the Toddler Bible Story series, 'Who is the Forever King?'
King puppet for the Toddler Bible Story series, 'Who is the Forever King?'
King puppet for the Toddler Bible Story series, 'Who is the Forever King?'
Picture of a manger for the Bible Story series 'Who is the Forever King' for telling a toddler group Christmas Bible story
The King puppets for the Toddler Bible story series, 'Who is the forever King?'
The King puppets for the Toddler Bible story series, ‘Who is the forever King?’

Toddler Group Christmas Bible Story Script – Is Jesus the forever King?

This short, 10-minute toddler group Bible story script is designed for preschool children, toddlers, and their parents. It uses simple repetition and props to keep young minds engaged. Read through the narrative below or use it as an outline for your toddler group nativity story session.

Is Jesus the forever king? visual aid for telling a toddler group Bible story

To tell the story – you need puppets or dolls representing the following plus a manger. If you don’t have puppets or dolls there is a paper plate alternative below.

  • Mary
  • Angel Gabriel
  • Joseph
  • Donkey – optional as it isn’t mentioned in the bible
  • Baby
  • Shepherds

Here’s the links to how to make a paper plate nativity – angels, manger with baby, shepherds

Preschool nativity made from paper plates

OR you could use dolls –

Is Jesus the forever king? storytelling dolls
Is Jesus the forever king? storytelling dolls
Is Jesus the forever king? storytelling dolls

Is Jesus the forever king? Toddler Group Bible story

Luke 1:26-38, 2:1-16

We are still looking for the forever King! The king that will be on the throne of David forever. Lets see if we find him today.

A long time ago there was a woman called Mary. One day she had a very surprising visitor with a very surprising message!

It was an angel, a big strong messenger sent from God who said to Mary, ‘ You are going to have a very special baby. You must give him the name Jesus. He will be God the son and God will give him the throne of David. His kingdom will never, ever end.’

The forever king was going to be born! He was going to be the very best king and the most powerful king in the whole world.

Mary listened to the angel and she was willing to be the bay’s mum.

But then just before the baby was going to be born Mary and Joseph had to go on a long journey to Bethlehem. Bethlehem was their home town (and it had also been King Davids home town). They might have taken a donkey to carry their bags. It took quite a while.

‘Are we nearly there yet?’ No not quite. They carried on. Are we nearly there yet? Almost. They carried on. Are we nearly there yet? Yes we’re here! But oh no there’s no where to stay.

Mary and Joseph ended up staying where the animals were. And that night the Lord Jesus was born. He was an ordinary baby – with fingers and toes and a nose and mouth and eyes. But he was God’s forever king too.

Outside Bethlehem there were shepherds looking after their sheep. It was really dark with stars shining in the sky. Suddenly an angel was there with them. They were terrified.

‘Don’t be afraid’, the angel said, ‘today in the city of David, a Saviour has been born. You will find him all wrapped up and lying in a manger.’ Then lots of angels filled the sky singing. And then they were gone and it was dark again.

‘Let’s go and find him’ the shepherds said to one another. So the rushed down the hill, through the town and they looked for the forever king who is the Saviour – and they found him.

Jesus is the Saviour sent for you and me. Is he the forever King? Yes! The shepherds found him and we can find him too.

Easy Toddler Christmas Craft: Stained glass Paper Plate Nativity

This paper plate nativity craft is a fun, easy toddler group Christmas craft that doubles as a keepsake decoration for parents. It works brilliantly alongside any preschool nativity Bible story. It doesn’t matter if the picture isn’t coloured neatly! Allow the toddlers to make it their own.

stained glass nativity toddler craft
stained glass nativity toddler craft
stained glass nativity toddler craft

Materials needed for the Toddler Craft

  • Paper plates – I used brown plates
  • Yellow tissue paper – this can be shredded like straw. This is quite messy so if you prefer less mess use torn tissue paper.
  • Crayons (avoid very dark blue and black)
  • Christmas wrapping paper odds and ends cut into shapes toddlers can easily pick up.
  • Glue
  • Nativity picture printed on card – see download. This needs to be cut out beforehand. Older children could do this themselves – just cut the page in half for them.

Christmas Toddler craft free download

Nativitiy-Scene-paper-plateDownload

To make the paper plate Christmas Toddler craft

  • decorate the nativity first
  • then fold along the line marked (adult help needed)
  • add glue to the plain are of the nativity picture and stick in the centre of the plate.
  • Cover the plate with tissue paper straw and add any other decorations to the rim of the plate.
  • Make sure to add the toddlers name too

If you tried this interactive toddler Bible lesson or paper plate nativity craft, I’d love to hear how it went! Leave a comment below or share your group’s finished creations with us.

The Complete Guide to Bible Storytelling: Every Tip and Trick in One Place

Bible Storytelling – where do we begin?

The Complete Guide to Bible Storytelling is here to help answer that question.

We have the stories already written for us in the Bible. But when we tell them to young children in a Toddler group setting we need to do more than relate a narrative in a monotone voice. We need to keep the toddlers engaged, we want their adults to listen and it’s a bonus if we, the storyteller enjoy the experience.

This post brings together every storytelling tip shared on the blog.

Some of these things I’ve learnt over time. I’ve been telling Bible Stories in Toddler Groups for a long time. When I began I was nervous and sometimes unsure what to say. I’ve worked hard to get better at Bible Storytelling and it’s now something that I love to do.

The following tips are dotted around the blog – in this post I’ve grouped the tips together by theme. Preparation, Props, Delivery, Teamwork.

Preparation and Mindset

Sometimes we think we know a Bible story but we’ve forgotten something or added something. So, start with the Bible.

Using Props and visuals

  • Collect and use props that bring the story to life. Here’s a selection of props we use…
Model of a flat roofed house
Bible time house for Bible Stories about homes Jesus visited
Paper plate emojis for Bible storytelling in Toddler Group
Paper plate emojis used for our God knows series
Bible storytelling props of pan and cloth for Mary and Martha Bible Story
Cleaning and cooking props for Mary and Martha Bible Story
Purple cloth
Purple cloth for Lydia Bible Story
Concertina people
concertina crowd feeding the 5000
Blue cloth
Blue cloth – rivers and seas
Gold card crown
Crown for Bible stories about Kings and Queens
Toy building set
Building props – for stories Jesus told
Knitted donkey and paper leaf shape
donkey and palm leaf -Easter storytelling

  • Get knitting! (or find someone who can). My knitted Bible characters are invaluable. I don’t use them every week but they have proved to be a big hit with toddlers and their adults so they feature a lot in my stories.
Knitted dolls for Bible Storytelling props for Toddler Group
Abraham, Sarah and Isaac
Knitted dolls used as Bible Characters for telling Bible Stories to toddlers
Selection of knitted Characters

  • Collect helpful resources to have to hand when you need them. Ideas here.

Voice, Actions and Delivery

  • Make sure everyone can see you – It’s easier for toddlers and their adults to listen when they can see what’s going on and feel part of story time (read full post)

Your voice is so important. Use it to add interest for your listeners. Ideas here

  • Announce it’s time for the story with a theme song
  • Don’t fill your bible Story with so much verbal descriptive clutter that is full of terminology toddlers couldn’t even begin to comprehend that the audience is bamboozled and bored and left to look around for something else to do. (I hope you get my meaning!) Concise post here
  • Add value to your story – have a look at this post. The idea is to keep everyone engaged and listening and joining in. If everyone feels included the bible Story will be enjoyable for you, the storyteller. Actions to do and sound effects to make! These ideas are for all the listeners, toddlers and adults.
  • Lean into the things that are familiar for toddlers when you tell the Bible Story. Ideas here

Tell toddler group Bible Stories in such a way that your listeners know that the Bible is important to you. Tell them in such a way that your listeners will know that Jesus is important.

  • In other words Tell it like you mean it. The Bible is true, it is God’s word for everyone. I try to include the phrases, ‘The Bible says’, or ‘The Bible tells us’ whenever it fits naturally into the story (once per story).

Grounding our Toddler Storytime in God’s Word is valuable.

Involve your church/other toddler group leaders

Share your ideas with us

Although the post title calls this ‘A complete Guide’, it is of course just a snapshot. If you’ve been telling Bible Stories in Toddler Group please add your own tips and tricks in the comments. There’s always more to learn.

Engaging Toddlers with Bible Stories: Free Mini Course

Engaging Toddlers with Bible Stories is a free training course full of practical ideas for telling Bible Stories in Church based Toddler Groups.

Getting started in Bible Storytelling in a Toddler Group is sometimes daunting this training course aims to

  • Give you confidence in your storytelling
  • Provide practical ideas for including your audience of toddlers and their adults in the Bible Story time
  • Offer a simple way of putting together a Bible Story script for Toddler Group Bible story time.

There are four short videos packed with practical ideas. And by short we mean short – you don’t need much time to watch. 

Why a training course for Toddler Group Leaders?

I’ve been telling Bible stories to toddlers in baby and toddler groups for over 14 years and over that time I’ve learnt a lot. Being part of a team and listening to other people telling stories has been really helpful – we can learn so much from others. This mini course is really just what I’ve learnt so far!

Who’s it for?

Use this Toddler group training course as a refresher if you’ve been telling Bible Stories to Toddlers for years, or as a starting point if this is something you’ve never done before but would like to have a go. It is lots of fun to tell stories to young children and very rewarding and the more you tell Bible Stories to young children the better a storyteller you become.

Telling Bible Stories to young children in Toddler Group is very special. The Bible is full of wonderful stories about real people that are relatable. There are stories about families, animals, journeys, the ordinary everyday and the miraculous – and most importantly they are about the truth of Who God is and what he is like and how we can be in his family. Telling these stories is a privilege.

What’s included in this Toddler Group Training?

We cover how to put a story together, how to get your audience joining in and listening and we share some examples of stories to tell. 

What do I need to take part in the course?

You just need a bit of time, a way of watching the videos (all are in this post or on our You Tube Channel), a notebook, a pen and a Bible.

How much does it cost?

It’s free! So jump in and have a listen. Start at the beginning or skip to the video that interests you the most. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful.

There are four short videos – it won’t take too much of your time to watch. They are full of practical hints and tips. Beginning with thinking about our audience to finding the focus of your story to putting a simple story together and then telling it.

All you need is a pen, notebook and your Bible. You can watch them all in one sitting or spread them out.

Getting Started In Bible Storytelling to Young Children – Introduction

Session 2 – Finding your Focus

Session 3 – Engagement with the Bible Story

Session 4 – Build and Tell your Story

I hope that you enjoy this mini course for Toddler Group leaders and find it helpful.

See this page for some hints and tips for telling great Bible Stories to young children for more ideas for your Toddler Group.

FAQ’s about Engaging Toddlers with Bible Stories: Free Mini Course

Can Toddlers sit and listen to Bible Stories?

Yes and No! Toddlers can listen well to engaging Bible Stories that are told in a way that is suitable for them. Think short, clear Bible Stories that use suitable language and include props and/or actions.

Are all Bible Stories suitable for toddlers?

It’s good to think about the suitability of Bible Story content when telling Bible Stories in Toddler Groups. Avoid violence and focus on the familiar – homes Jesus visited, animals in the Bible, Saying thank you to God. Bible stories that have a clear narrative with a clear problem and solution are straightforward to tell. For example Jesus calming the storm. The storm is the problem, Jesus calming the storm is the solution.

How long should a Toddler Group Bible Story be?

Great question. Toddler Bible Stories can be several minutes long. If you have props and ways of including toddlers by doing actions during the story, Toddlers can enjoy a good story in Toddler Group that lasts several minutes.

How do I stop parents talking in the Toddler Group Bible Story?

Stopping parents talking during a toddler group Bible Story can be very difficult. Here’s a few ideas to try

  • Always begin story time the same way. Choose a song or rhyme and ask everyone to sing or say it with you. Then tell the Bible Story.
  • As everyone settles ask parents – ‘please can adults be quiet during the story. It helps me a lot and I really appreciate your help in this.’
  • If parents talk during the story you can include an action for everyone to do, or ask everyone to repeat a phrase.
  • Think about your set up. Have everyone sit near enough to the story teller that they feel that they need to llisten.
  • Sometimes it’s really helpful to have other toddler group leaders sitting among the adults. They can set an example to other adults.

The Ultimate Guide to Toddler Group Resources

The Ultimate guide to Church Toddler Group Resources is all about getting back in the swing of all things toddler group after a few weeks away.

Follow the links for extra ideas for toddler group Bible stories and toddler Bible story crafts. At the end of the post I’ve added a friendly toddler group checklist so you can see what you’ve achieved and what you might need to do.

Toddler Group Resources – set up ideas

Every toddler group is unique, different spaces, different people but here’s some ideas that can be copied or adapted. Setting up a toddler group in a church or community hall can be really hard work. Toddler group leaders become furniture movers and it can take it’s toll. If you can get some help.

Below are some photos of our set up and the toys we have out each week.

home corner set up

One of the groups I help with meets in a community hall but is run by a church. To help parents and carers know who we are we have a notice board. It’s good to display something about your group so people know what they are coming to. We like to have this behind our welcome table.

Some ideas for your toddler group welcome table

  • A leaflet or booklet with key details about the group including dates when you are running and phone numbers of leaders or a website address. Include details of your church.
  • Information that is helpful for families from your local area including details of other toddler groups
  • A box of tissues
  • Some christian tracts or booklets
  • Smalltalk – printable information sheets from Care for the Family that cover a wide range of topics. I recommend taking a look at the list on their website. They are family friendly and helpful without lecturing.
  • Your sign in sheet – this can be simple with first name of the adult and the number of children with them.

Resources for Telling Bible Stories to Toddlers

Telling Bible Stories in a toddler can feel a bit daunting so here are some resources to make it easier and hopefully enjoyable.

Other props that are helpful

Sometimes you can make use of toddler group toys for props such as a toy lion for a bible story about Daniel or things you borrow from home such as a pan and wooden spoon for a bible story about Mary and Martha.

Choose a story bag or basket that is easy to use. I have a few favourites – it is easier for me if they are bags/baskets that hold their shape.

It better to have fewer props – don’t feel that you need a prop for everything in the story or you’ll just have so much to remember and get out of the bag you risk losing the flow of the story.

The ultimate guide to toddler group resources story basket with props for bible stories
The ultimate guide to toddler group resources story bags with props for bible stories

Plan which bible stories you want to tell in your toddler group.

We recommend planning a term at a time – include seasonal things like Harvest and have a few weeks for Christmas and Easter.

There are lots of toddler group bible stories on the blog. Here are some for you to try that have been put in handy six week segments. One is all about saying ‘thank you’ to God for our bodies – it’s a great series if you want to introduce a bible story time in your group. The other story series is all about what God is like.

It can be fun to have a theme – Animal bible stories, Number bible Stories, Weather bible stories

Other resources are available from Go Teach and Faith in Kids

Toddler group resources for crafts

At the beginning of every term it’s a good idea just to check your craft resources. Here are a few basics that we use nearly every week at toddler group and consequently often need topping up.

  • Paper – coloured sugar paper, plain white A4 paper for printing
  • Glue sticks
  • Coloured tissue paper
  • Wax crayons (remove any that have broken into small bits)

Here’s a post with lots of ideas for craft resources

Play dough for toddler group play

play dough for toddler group

There are lots of play dough recipes – this is the one I use most

I hope this guide has given you lots of ideas. Here’s a handy checklist

  • Welcome sheet with important info for adults
  • Sign in sheet
  • Tissues
  • Smalltalk from Care for the Family
  • Props
  • Story bag/basket
  • Bible story plan
  • Glue sticks
  • Paper
  • Wax crayons
  • Tissue paper
  • Play dough
  • Are all the toys clean and unbroken?

I’m sure you can add ideas of your own.

Learning to pray toddler group story

Learning to pray toddler group story. A Bible story idea for toddler group story time based on the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6:5-15 and Luke 11:1-13.

Jesus often prayed to his Father in Heaven and he taught his disciples a model prayer to help them to know how to pray. It’s a very short prayer and the story idea for toddlers takes a few aspects of it to help young children understand some simple truths about prayer.

Learning to pray toddler group story

In the story bag you will need some dolls/puppets to represent Jesus’ disciples, an emoji sad face (to represent saying sorry), an emoji happy face (to represent forgiving others), some bread (or picture of some food)

When Jesus walked on the earth he often went to quiet places (everyone say shush) to pray to God. One day his friends asked him, ‘Jesus, please can you teach us how to pray?’ Would Jesus help them? Yes, of course he helped them. This is what he said…

‘When you pray talk to the God who is in heaven. This is the true God, who has all power and is always good. He is the ruler of everything. He can hear you when you talk to him.

Ask God to give you your daily bread. To give you the things you need for today. Enough food to eat and water to drink. God knows what you need.

Ask God to forgive you, say sorry to him.

Ask him to help you to be a forgiving friend to others.

Ask for God’s help to do what you know is right.

God hears you when you talk to him. Don’t be afraid to keep asking for the things you need.’

Just like Jesus’ friends you and I can pray to God.

Paper plate sad and happy faces for use in learning to pray toddler group bible story

Emojis to represent being forgiving and being sorry

Three puppets to represent some of Jesus' disciples for use in learning to pray toddler group story

Some knitted dolls to represent the disciples

Learning to pray toddler group story craft

Craft Idea – make a collage of food we can thank God for.

All you need for this easy craft..

  • Paper plates
  • Pictures of food – we used fruit and veg
  • Crayons
  • Glue
  • Tissue paper shapes to decorate the plate
Paper plates decorated with collage fruit and veg pictures craft idea for learning to pray toddler group bible story

Here’s another activity about prayer that’s lovely to make and use.

Here’s some prayer prompt cards to download that you might like to use

childrens-prayer-cardDownload

There are lots of Bible Stories where people pray – here’s a link to one of my favourites

Nehemiah Builds the Wall: Free Toddler Bible Story & Craft Idea

Nehemiah Builds the Wall (Mr Keep Going) – Toddler Bible Story

Nehemiah and the Rebuilding of Jerusalem’s Walls for Toddlers

Looking for a simple, engaging toddler Bible story about perseverance and trusting God? The story of Nehemiah—our “Mr Keep Going”—is a fantastic lesson for young children on working together and not giving up when things get tough.

Storybag Props & Preparation

  • Puppets: Cardboard tube or Pringles tube puppets to represent Nehemiah and Sanballat. Toy builders set.
  • Play Props: Toy builder tools, a toy toolbox, construction hard hats, wooden play bricks, duplo or cardboard boxes.
Nehemiah toddler Bible story puppets made from Pringles tubes
Nehemiah toddler Bible story puppets made from Pringles tubes
toy building tools

Nehemiah Builds the Wall (Mr Keep Going) – Toddler Bible Story script

Say hello to Nehemiah! He lived a long, long time ago.

Nehemiah had a big job to do. The walls of the big city of Jerusalem were all broken down. Everything was a mess. God gave Nehemiah the job or organising a rebuild. But he had never built anything before!

Nehemiah said, ‘Yes I will rebuild the walls’. He asked people to help him and they got started. It was really hard work. Lots of people helped but there were some who thought, ‘ We are too important to do any building work.’

Did that stop Nehemiah? No. He kept going.

Say hello to Sanballat. He didn’t like God. He didn’t like Nehemiah and he certainly didn’t like the wall being built. ‘I will stop Nehemiah’, said Sanballat. He began to make fun of Nehemiah, ‘you don’t know how to build. Your wall is rubbish! If a fox jumps on it it’s going to fall down.’

Did that stop Nehemiah? No. He kept going.

Nehemiah asked God to help him and he trusted God and he kept going. Nehemiah is Mr Keep Going!

He didn’t stop building until the wall was finished!

Toddler Craft Idea: Fox Collage

Decorate a picture of a fox using orange paper scraps, felt or crayons

foxDownload
Fox collage

Nehemiah builds the wall toddler play ideas

Provide some building activities with wooden bricks, duplo or cardboard boxes. Have a toy tool kit for children to use and some builders dressing up clothes and hats.

selective focus photo of a kid stacking building blocks
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com
person holding yellow and pink lego blocks
Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com
boy building with toy blocks
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com
Photo by Polesie Toys on Pexels.com

If you would like to make the Pringle People to use for Nehemiah and Sanballat instructions are here

The Philippian Jailer toddler Bible story

The Philippian Jailer Bible story is found in Acts 16:25-34. Paul and Silas are in prison at midnight at the beginning of our story. By the end they are having a meal with the jailer and his family.

For young children a few details have been ommitted or simplified.

The Philippian Jailer Toddler Bible story

In the story bag – dolls/puppets representing Paul, Silas, the jailer, some play food. Take the items from the bag as you need them. You can add some movement in the story too.This is indicated in the text below.

Telling the story

‘Say hello to Paul and Silas. They had had a very tough day. People in the town of Phillipi weren’t happy with them talking about Jesus. They had been locked up in Jail! It wasn’t very nice at all. It wasn’t clean and tidy and it definitely wasn’t comfortable.

What could they do? They might have decided to moan and groan. They might have decided to be really angry and upset. But they didn’t do any of those things.

In the middle of the night when it was dark, they were praying to God and singing.

I think they were singing quite loudly because the Bible tells us that all the other people in the jail could hear them!

Suddenly the ground began to shake and shudder! (you could all shake and shudder here).The jail walls moved! The jail doors opened! Everyone’s chains fell off!

The man in charge of the jail was frightened. He would be in big trouble if Paul and Silas escaped. But they didn’t. Paul called out,’ Don’t worry, we are still here’.

The jailer ran into the room, he was shaking with fear, ‘What do I need to do to be saved?’ he asked Paul.

What would Paul say? He told the jailer about the Lord Jesus, the only one who can save. And the jailer believed in Jesus.

The jailer took Paul and Silas into his home and he and his family looked after them and they had some yummy food to eat.

The next day Paul and Silas were set free and the people who had hurt them and put them in jail said, ‘We are sorry Paul and Silas.’

This was the beginning of the church in the town of Phillipi.’

Wooden spoon puppets

For another story about the new church in Philippi have a look at Lydia hears about Jesus

Philippian Jailer Bible Story Toddler Play Ideas

Make a music area for the children to explore. Collect toddler friendly musical shakers and drums and place on a mat. Allow children to explore making music. You could do this at the end of song time and play some music/songs in the background.

colorful xylophones and hand bells on display
Photo by Lena Ti on Pexels.com
a kid covering his eyes with maracas
Photo by Alena Darmel on Pexels.com
cute little black kid playing with toy in kindergarten
Photo by Chrofit the man to call on Pexels.com

Make musical instruments using yogurt pots, uncooked rice, lentils and beans and paper lids secured with tape. Decorate the pots with stickers and glitter glue

Decorated transparent cup filled with grains and covered with colourful paper
A colorful homemade shaker filled with dried grains brings creativity to sensory play.

Song ideas For Toddler Group

Paul and Silas were singing praises to God in prison – here are some songs you could sing with the children in your T

  • From my head down to my toes God loves me
  • If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands
  • My God is so great so strong and so mighty

Paul and Silas in Jail craft For Toddler Group

Paul and Silas collage showing them singing in Philippian Jail

Scroll down for the printable downloads you need for the above craft. Cut out the pieces you need and provide an A4 piece of sugar paper for the background. You also need crayons and glue.

Printable Resources – Philippian Jailer toddler group craft

Bible Men (3 up)Download
Prison bars (6 up)Download
Singing (Musical notes) (6 up)Download

The first Christians

The first Christians is a simple story about sharing and meeting together. It’s based on Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-37. These two Bible passages aren’t really a narrative (as in a straightforward story with a beginning, middle and end). They are more of a selection of facts about the first Christians in the early church – what people did and where they went. Consequently it’s a bit more of a challenge when telling to very young children.

Pictures help! For each piece of information about what the first Christians did or where they went I printed a picture onto A4 card. You could just as easily use props.

Just a couple of things to note – doing these things didn’t make people Christians, they did them because they were Christians. Kindness and sharing are things that are good for all people and often qualities people share and are not the preserve of Christians alone.

God helped the first Christians to share story

Have some dolls/puppets to represent the first Christians

Jesus had gone back to heaven and had sent the Holy Spirit to help his friends. Now lots and lots of people believed in Jesus. But what did they do every day? How did they care for each other? Where did they go? The Bible tells us…

They spent time learning more about God from the Bible.

They went to each others homes and spent time together.

They remembered how Jesus had died for them by sharing bread and wine together – just as Jesus had asked.

They prayed together – talking to God, saying thank you to him and asking for his help.

They went to the temple together.

They shared what they had with each other.

And every day more and more people believed that Jesus was the Saviour sent from God.

Sharing craft ideas

A group craft idea as simple as having a long roll of paper and letting children decorate with crayons, pens and stickers. If you have the space display your group art.

You could also focus on sharing meals together and make a dinner plate craft.

Some additional ideas on a pinterest board..

The Pearl of Great Price

The Pearl of Great Price is one of the stories Jesus told about the value of being in God’s Kingdom. It’s a very short story found in Matthew 13:45-46.

The Pearl of Great Price Story idea

Jesus told a story about how valuable it is to be part of his family.

Once upon a time there was a man whose job was to buy things and sell things. He was looking for something very special. He was looking for a beautiful, expensive piece of jewelry called a pearl.

He went form one market to another. He looked at all the things on sale. But nothing was quite what he was looking for. But he didn’t give up. He kept looking..

Until one day.. there it was! The most perfect and beautiful pearl.

He looked in his pockets – he had some money but it wasn’t enough. Oh no! What could he do?

He went home and started to collect all his things together, his clothes, his furniture, his carpets, his books .. everything he had and he took his things to the market and sold all of them.

Then he took his money and he bought the pearl. It was worth more than everything he had sold! He was happy!

Jesus told this story to help us understand that being in his family is worth more than anything else.

The Hidden Treasure is a similar story. Here’s a link to a story and craft with a printable.

Pearl craft idea

What you need

  • Cheap paper plates that are easy to cut and fold
  • Tissue paper
  • Glue sticks

For younger children you can do the cutting beforehand. Here’s a picture gallery of the stages. The pearl is made of scrunched up tissue paper. Make it large and be aware of chocking hazards.

Pearl shell craft
Fold the plate and draw on the scallops
Pearl shell craft
Cut out
Pearl shell craft
Cover the outside with tissue paper. I used yellow and light pink
Pearl shell craft
Once dry this is how the shell will look when folded
Pearl shell craft
Unfold and add some scrunched tissue paper to the inside
Pearl shell craft
Roll a ball of white tissue paper and glue inside
Pearl of great price paper plate craft
Fold over and you are finished!

Pentecost

Pentecost Bible story for young children with some craft ideas courtesy of Pinterest.

I’ve started the story in Luke 24:36-53 so that we can set the day of Pentecost in the context of the great commission. The disciples were told to tell others about the Lord Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit enabled them to do just that. The rest of the story idea is based on Acts 2

Bible story idea

Bible Truth for toddlers – Jesus keeps his promises

The Lord Jesus had died and come back to life again. Many people saw him and he spent time with his disciples. He had a very special job that he wanted his disciples to do. What could it be? He told them to tell everyone about him. Not just the people close by but people who lived far away too. But how could they do that? It was a huge job to do! The Lord Jesus promised that he would send God the Holy Spirit to help.

And then Jesus went back to heaven, where he still is now.

His friends waited. If Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit they knew it would happen. Jesus always keeps his promises.

The friends and followers of Jesus all met together in a house. It was a special time, there was a big festival called Pentecost and lots and lots of people were travelling to Jerusalem from all over the place to celebrate. They spoke different languages, wore different clothes and traveled from here, there and everywhere.

Meanwhile in the house there was suddenly a sound like the wind, and something that looked like flames rested above the heads of Jesus’ friends. Suddenly they could speak in languages they had never learned.

They were able to tell the people in Jerusalem who were from here, there and everywhere about the Lord Jesus! God, The Holy Spirit had come and he was helping them. And that day lots and lots of people believed in Jesus and became his followers.

Prop Ideas to help tell the story

I’ve used some picture from Lamp Bible Pictures and attached them to large lollipop sticks. Here’s the link to Lamp Bible Pictures. I purchased the Power Point and printed the pictures that i wanted to use.

Pictures depicting the ascension
Pictures depicting Pentecost

Pentecost crafts Pinterest Board

Here’s a few craft ideas – look out for the super play dough mat idea.

Here’s a link to a fuller retelling of the Ascension

Is Josiah the forever King?

Is Josiah the forever king? is the penultimate story in the series ‘Who is the forever king?’ We began with King David and in the final story we will find the forever King – The Lord Jesus.

All the different king puppets used to tell the stories are from Free Bible Images.

In the series we have told simple stories about different kings who are in Matthew 1. So far in each story there is a link to the House of God – the temple. It’s planning (David), it’s building (Solomon), going to God’s House to pray (Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah). It’s an important link. These men were all on David’s throne and they are connected both to God’s House-the temple and God’s House – the family kingly line from which the Lord Jesus would come. David had wanted to build God a house but God had promised to make David into a house.

Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ 2 Samuel 7:16.

So now we come to Josiah, and his connection with the temple is in repairing it and finding the Book of the Law. For ease we use the word Bible when telling the story.

Is Josiah the forever king? story from 2 Kings 22,23

Say hello to King Josiah! Josiah became king when he was very young. He wanted to obey God. But things had got very bad. The beautiful house of God that Solomon had built with the beautiful wood and stone and all the gold was in a mess. No one had bothered to look after it.

Josiah decided to sort out the mess. He sent in the builders! They moved out all the rubbish, they hammered, they sawed, they hammered some more and then they stopped. ‘What’s that? they said to each other. ‘It’s not just more rubbish. It’s not a stone. What is it?’

The builders had found something that had been lost for a long time. They found part of the Bible. It had been lost and forgotten.

They hurried to King Josiah. ‘Look what we have found?’

Josiah read the Bible. ‘Oh no’, he thought, ‘we haven’t been living the best way’.

Josiah called the people together to come with him to the house of the LORD. Josiah stood up and he read the Bible, God’s Word to all the people. And King Josiah and all the people made a promise to obey God.

King Josiah was a really good King but he grew old and died. Is Josiah the forever king? No. We still haven’t found him. Let’s keep looking.

Is Josiah the forever king? craft ideas

Is Hezekiah the forever king?

Is Hezekiah the forever king? is story number four in the series, ‘Who is the forever king?’ These stories lead up well to the birth of Jesus, who is the forever King. We began with King David.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. – Luke 1:31,32

For these stories we have used lollipop stick puppets with Free Bible Images visuals

Is Hezekiah the forever king puppet for storytelling

Is Hezekiah the forever king? story idea from 2 Chronicles 29-32, 2 Kings 19

Say hello to King Hezekiah! King Hezekiah was a good King. He obeyed God and he trusted God and he cared about the people.

But he had a big problem. The King of Assyria wasn’t very nice. He came with his army and started to say horrible things to King Hezekiah. He wanted to get all the land for himself.

What could Hezekiah do? He believed that God was powerful. He believed that God would keep the people safe.

The King of Assyria didn’t give up. He wrote a letter, ‘ Dear King Hezekiah, your God can’t help you! We are more powerful than anyone. we always win. We are more powerful than your god. No one can stop us!’

King Hezekiah went to God’s house. He took the letter and laid it out and he prayed. ‘Lord God, the Assyrians are very powerful but please show them that you are greater than them, because you are the God of everything and the only true God.’

Could God hear King Hezekiah? Yes! Could God help? Yes!

God said to King Hezekiah, ‘I will defend this city’. And God did. The King of Assyria went home.

King Hezekiah did lots of good things but as he got old he wasn’t a wise king. He grew old and he died.

Is Hezekiah the forever King? No. We haven’t found him yet. Let’s keep looking.

Is Hezekiah the forever king? craft ideas

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

Jesus visits people’s homes story series

The series “Jesus Visits People’s Homes” features stories suitable for toddler groups. These narratives highlight relatable home settings for young children, making Bible stories easier to grasp. Six stories depict various homes Jesus visited, including Simon’s, Levi’s, and Mary and Martha’s. Each story is linked to craft ideas, such as creating home collages from shapes. Additionally, play activities are suggested, like setting up a home corner to encourage imaginative play related to the stories.

Jesus visits people’s homes story series. These stories can be used at toddler groups. I really enjoyed telling these stories to young children. There is something familiar about the setting of the domestic home that children can easily relate to and understand – a good place to start when telling Bible stories to very young children.

Here you’ll find six different stories to tell all about homes that Jesus visited and the people who lived in them. Click on the links for the story ideas.

Jesus visits people’s homes links to the stories

Jesus visits Simon’s home – Mark 1:29-34

Jesus visits a crowded home – Mark 2:1- 12

Jesus visits Levi’s home – Mark 2:13-17

Jesus visits Jairus’s home – Luke 8:40-56

Jesus visits Mary and Martha’s home – Luke 10:38-42

Jesus visits Zacchaeus’ home – Luke 19:1-10

Most of the links will also contain a craft idea. For an optional idea see if you can make collages of homes and houses using shapes. Provide various shapes of houses/flats and smaller squares for windows and doors and glue.

house collage using coloured shapes

Jesus visits people’s homes story series craft ideas

Model of a flat roofed house
Make a house
man made better
man on his mat
Peter’s mother in law

Jesus visits people’s homes play ideas

home corner
home corner set up
dinner time

Set up a home corner with tables, chairs, a cooker, sink, pots and pans and crockery and pretend food.

Some more ideas for a home corner are in this blog post.

Paul meets Jesus

Paul meets Jesus on the road to Damascus. The story is from Acts 9:1-19. We’ve used the name Paul for the story as it’s easier for young children to stick to one name – but of course you could use the name Saul.

To tell the story – have a story bag or basket with Paul and Ananias and a bright yellow cloth or similar for the bright light.

Puppets representing Paul and Ananias to use when telling the story Paul meets Jesus

Paul meets Jesus story idea

Paul was not happy! He was really, really cross. He was angry with all the people who believed in Jesus. Paul believed in God. He worked very hard to keep all of God’s rules. But now people had started to go around telling everyone that Jesus was God the Son who had died and three days later come back to life again.

Paul was angry. He wanted to stop people talking about Jesus. But what could he do? He decided that he would find as many people who believed in Jesus as he could and put them in prison. That would stop them telling everyone!

So Paul started to go to the town of Damascus. He knew people there were talking about Jesus and he wanted to shut them up!

Suddenly, as Paul was on his way there was a really bright light – a light from heaven. Paul fell to the ground and then he heard someone talking to him. It wasn’t one of the people with him, it wasn’t an angel. Who could it be?

Paul why are you being so horrible to me? the voice said.

‘Who are you?’ Paul asked

‘I am Jesus’, came the reply. ‘go into the city and you will be told what to do’.

Paul got up but he couldn’t see anything and the people with him held his hand and helped him into the city.

Meanwhile Ananias was at his home. God said to him, Ananias, go to Straight Street to Judas’ house. When you get there pray for a man named Paul.

Ananias had heard all about Paul and he wasn’t too sure at first but God told him to go and so he did.

When he met Paul he prayed for him and then Paul could see again. And Paul knew that Jesus really was alive in heaven. He realised that Jesus is the Son of God and he started to tell everyone he met about Jesus.

craft ideas

Here’s a link to another story from Acts – Tabitha

Jesus goes back to heaven

Jesus goes back to heaven is the retelling of the ascension. After Easter it’s good to continue the story to explain what happened next. There are several stories that you could tell; The Road to Emmaus, Thomas and/or Breakfast on the Beach but you can also go straight on to the Ascension.

It’s important that we teach that The Lord Jesus didn’t die again. He lives forever! And he will come back again. The story is based on Luke 24:50-53 and Acts 1:6-11

Jesus goes back to heaven – story idea

We have used a set of pictures from Lamp Bible Pictures to help tell the story. They are a powerpoint but we print the pictures onto card and add a lollipop stick so they can be held easily when telling the story. I put them in a story bag/basket and take them out when I need them. We have also used the set of disciple pictures (omit Judas) also from Lamp Bible Pictures. These can be used for lots of stories so worth having. If you can have someone to help hold the pictures do.

Story basket with pictures of Jesus goes back to heaven

Jesus had died but was alive again! His friends saw him and spoke to him. Lots of people saw him. He wasn’t a ghost. He could eat food! He was really alive again.

He had a job for his friends to do, ‘I want you to tell other people all about me. Tell them about the things that I said and the things that I did. Tell them how I died for them and came alive again.’

Jesus told his friends to tell everyone the Good News that he was the Saviour. They were to tell everyone in all the world starting right where they were. Jesus was going to send The Holy Spirit to help them.

When Jesus had spent time with his friends they went for a walk together. Then something very special happened. As they were standing Jesus blessed them. And as he was blessing them Jesus began to go up, up, up and Jesus was taken back to heaven. He went up, up, up and into the sky and was gone. They couldn’t see him anymore.

While they were looking up into the sky two angels came and spoke to them, ‘Why are you looking up into the sky? This same Jesus who has gone up to heaven will come back again. ‘

Jesus is still alive. He is the King over everything and is seated on his throne in heaven. But one day Jesus will come back to earth again. He won’t come as a baby. He will come as the King of everyone.

Ascension craft ideas

 

Jesus feeds four thousand people

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

Jesus feeds four thousand people story idea

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Craft Idea

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

To make the bread and fish in a basket

  • Basket download
  • Bread and fish download
  • Crayons
  • Glue
  • Shredded paper for the basket decoration
7 loaves & come fish – LOAVES & FISH (3-up)Download
7 leaves & some fish – BASKETDownload

Here’s a link to a similar story

Jesus calls Levi

Jesus calls Levi is found in Mark 2:13-17 , Luke 5:27-28 and Matthew 9:9-13 In Matthew’s gospel Levi is called Matthew. When you tell the story it’s up to you which name to use.

To tell the story you need some props for Levi and the Lord Jesus , a picture of a house, some of Levi’s friends. I’ve used a set of power point pictures from lampbiblepictures.co.uk You have to purchase from the site but they are good value. I won’t be using them as a power point but as printed pictures that I’ve attached to lollipop sticks. I’ve also made a large house picture that opens up to reveal Levi and his friends having a meal with Jesus.

Jesus calls Levi – Bible story

There was once a man called Levi who had a job that meant that most people didn’t like him very much at all! I wonder what that job was? Let’s say hello to Levi and find out.

Hello Levi! (Take Levi out of the story bag)

Levi! Aren’t you going to say hello?

He’s too busy counting all the money. Levi is a tax collector. Everyone thinks he is really awful. His only friends are other tax collectors. He probably takes too much money and keeps some for himself.

One day someone comes along to just where Levi is sitting doing his job, collecting the money. But this isn’t just anyone walking along, this person is Jesus. He knows all about Levi. He knows he isn’t a good person. he knows he does things that are wrong and unfair. What is Jesus going to do?

Jesus looks at Levi and he says to him, ‘Follow me’.

Levi stops counting the money. Levi gets up and he follows Jesus. And Levi wants his friends, all the other tax collectors to meet Jesus too so he invites them all to his home for some food.

Some people were cross! ‘Look at what Jesus is doing’, they said. ‘Doesn’t he know how bad those people are?’ But Jesus said, ‘I’ve come to help the people who know they need me.’

Some of the pictures below are from Lampbiblepictures. The large house picture opens up to show Levi’s friends
Large Bible time house for story telling
Pictures for telling the bible story Jesus calls Levi

Jesus calls Levi – craft idea

I really like a ‘lift the flap’ craft and this one is very simple. Part of the craft is the house and inside are some people.

All you need

  • House printed on to A4 (portrait) and folded in half (if you use the download below the house will be in the lower half of the A4 page – and this is right.)
  • Group of people printed out. You need a group of 4 for each house. (Have some extra as children often use more than 1)
  • Tissue paper, crayons, glue to decorate the house and the people
Jesus calls Levi Craft
Friends of Levi in a lift the flap house craft
Bible time house with people inside for Jesus calls Levi story
Lift the flap – HouseDownload
Lift the flap – CrowdDownload

Sarah laughs! – women in the Bible 2

Sarah laughs when she is told she will have a baby. She is old, too old to have any children and she just can’t quite believe the message of the three visitors (who we know are messengers from God) and so she laughs. This is where our story begins.

It ends with the birth of Isaac whose name means ‘laughter’. God kept his promise to Abraham and Sarah; God always keeps his promises.

Read the story for yourself from Genesis 18:1-16 and Genesis 21:1-7.

Sarah laughs! story idea

Are you ready to hello to Sarah? she was a real person who lived a long time ago. Let’s get ready to meet her! Say ‘hello Sarah!’

Sarah was married to a man called Abraham. They had lots of things – lots of people working for them, lots of sheep, lots of goats, lots of money. But there was something they really wished that they had. They really wanted to have children. Now God had promised that they would have a huge family but they were getting really old and still no family of their own. It was difficult for them to believe God and to wait patiently.

Days and days went by. Months and months. Years and years. Then one day Abraham was sitting outside his home. (He lived in a tent!). It was a warm, sunny day. Abraham wasn’t really doing anything in particular when he saw three men walking along. He got up and started running. He wasn’t running away he was running to them. ‘ Please come to our home and have something to eat’, Abraham said. ‘Yes’, they said.

Abraham hurried back to his tent and asked Sarah to make some bread. He went to his servant and asked them to make some hot food. The visitors sat outside and ate the lovely food.Now, they weren’t just people like us – these men were sent from God with a special message. ‘Where is Sarah? they asked. She’s in the tent, Abraham replied. ‘This time next year she will have a baby son’, the LORD said.

Now Sarah heard what was said. She thought, ‘I’m too old to have a baby!’ and she laughed.

But nothing is too difficult for God and a year later Abraham and Sarah welcomed a new baby son. They called him Isaac which means ‘laughter’! God always keeps his promises.

Sarah laughs bible story props

Have dolls or puppets representing Sarah, Abraham and baby Isaac. Make a tent by draping a blanket over a clothes horse.

Sarah bible story puppet
Sarah laughs bible story puppet with Abraham puppet outside their tent
Abraham and Sarah dolls for story telling
Sarah and Abraham Bible story puppets

Craft idea

Make a tent – this is a fun ‘lift the flap’ craft. All you need to make this lovely craft is

  • A4 paper for the background
  • Different coloured paper for the tent. Fold this as shown in the picture
  • Abraham, Sarah and Isaac printed out. (downloads at the end of this post)
  • Crayons/felt tips to decorate
  • Tissue paper to decorate the tent
  • Flower stickers to use around the tent
Abraham and Sarah in a tent craft
Abraham and Sarah in a tent craft
Abraham-Sarah-x-2Download
Baby-x-12Download

Eve Bible Story for Toddlers: Creation & Family Craft Idea

Welcome to our first lesson in a new series exploring women in the Bible for toddlers. Because Eve was the very first woman, starting with her story is a natural fit.

In this lesson, we cover two main truths that are simple for toddlers to understand:

God made Eve

God made Adam

The Bible Story is based on Genesis 2: 4 -24

Let’s say hello to Eve Bible (Toddler Story Script)

Story Bag Prep: Place puppets or dolls representing Adam and Eve inside your story bag before starting.

Say hello to Adam! Adam was a real person who lived a long, long, long time ago. He was very special because he was the very first person ever! He wasn’t ever a baby! He wasn’t ever a toddler! So how did he get to be the first person ever?

The Bible tells us that God made Adam. God had already made the birds and the fish, the sun, moon and stars. God had already made all the trees, plants and flowers. He had already made the elephants, tigers, lions and all the other animals. Everything in God’s new world was beautiful. It was all very good! God had made all these things by just speaking.

But then God did something different. He made Adam out of the dust. And God breathed life into him.

Now Adam needed somewhere to live so God made a beautiful garden for Adam. He gave Adam a job to do, ‘Look after the garden,’ God said. He gave Adam one rule to keep,’ Don’t eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden,’ God said.

But when God looked at Adam in the garden there was something that wasn’t good! ‘It isn’t good for Adam to be alone’, God said. There were lots of beautiful plants and amazing animals but they weren’t enough.

So God made Eve, the very first woman to be Adam’s best friend. Are you ready to say hello to Eve? Hello Eve!

Adam and Eve weren’t just the very first man and the very first woman, they were the very first family. God loved them and gave them the very best place to live. And they were happy!

If you want to tell the next part of the story then there is an idea in this post that covers Genesis 3.

Craft idea – make a family collage

people collage
People shapes collage

All you need for making a family collage

  • People shapes – either buy or cut out your own
  • Tissue paper
  • Fabric scraps if you have any
  • Crayons
  • Yarn for hair – try to have a variety of colours
  • Glue
  • Backing paper

Step-by-Step Instructions:

  1. Set out a variety of collage materials where children can reach them.
  2. Have the children select their paper people shapes and glue them to the backing paper.
  3. Let them decorate the shapes using tissue paper, yarn, and fabric.

Tip for Toddlers: Allow room for creativity! It is fine if they put yarn on the body for clothes or glue tissue paper where the hair goes. The goal is to let them express how they want their picture to look.

The Saviour is here! – Christmas 3

The Saviour is here is our third Christmas Story in a series of three. We began with Isaiah foretelling the birth of Jesus, The Saviour is Promised and then we told the story of Angel Gabriel visiting Mary, The Saviour is on his way.

The story is based on Luke 2:1-20

The Saviour is here! Bible Story

Bible Truth for Toddlers – Jesus is the Saviour

In the story bag you need – Mary, Joseph, a donkey, the baby, a manger,shepherds, sheep and angels. Take them out as you need them.

‘Say hello to Mary and Joseph! They had to go on a long, long journey. All the way back to Joseph’s home town of Bethlehem. It wasn’t a good time to travel, Mary was soon to have her baby that the Angel Gabriel had told her about. But they had to go. Maybe they had a donkey.. Off they went..

Down the road, over the hills.. Are we nearly there yet? No! On and on they went. Are we nearly there yet? Almost!

But oh no, Bethlehem was so busy. So many people. Where could Mary and Joseph stay. They asked at the hotel. ‘No room here’, the man said. But you can stay in the stable with the animals.

And that’s where the special baby, sent from God, was born. Mary wrapped him up and put him in the manger – all safe and snuggled up.

That same night, out on the hills outside the town there were shepherds looking after their sheep. It was dark! When all of a sudden there was a bright light, the brightest light they had ever seen and there was an angel! The shepherds were scared. ‘Don’t be afraid’, the angel said, ‘I bring you good news! Today a Saviour has been born for you. You will find him in a manger and all wrapped up.’ And then there were loads of angels filling the sky and singing. Then they were gone and it was dark again.

The shepherds looked at one another. ‘Let’s go and find this baby, the Saviour who has been born,’ they said. So off they went..down the hill, through the town, are they nearly there? Not yet! Looking here, looking there, are they nearly there? Almost! – until they found Jesus. They found the Saviour.

Jesus is the Saviour, he is the Saviour God sent for everyone everywhere.

Christmas craft idea

Craft table set up
Stained glass nativity
Stained glass nativity
Stained glass nativity
Stained glass nativity

To make the stained glass nativity you need

  • Paper plates – I used a brown plate
  • Yellow tissue paper – this can be shredded like straw. This is quite messy so if you prefer less mess use torn tissue paper.
  • Crayons
  • Christmas wrapping paper odds and ends
  • Nativity picture printed on card – see download. This needs to be cut out beforehand. Older children could do this themselves – just cut the page in half for them.
Nativitiy Scene (paper plate)Download

To make – decorate the nativity first then fold and glue to plate. Cover the plate with tissue paper straw and add any other decorations to the rim of the plate.

The Saviour is on his way – Christmas 2

The Saviour is on his way is our second Christmas story in a series of three. We began with, The Saviour is Promised – a Story all about Isaiah and now we meet Mary and the Angel Gabriel. The Bible Story is from Luke 1:26-38 and includes the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary.

If you have told the first story in the series include the four things Isaiah said about the special baby to be born and have an action for each sentence

  • A child will be born – rock a pretend baby in your arms
  • A Son will be given – point up to heaven and then bring hands down
  • He will be King forever – put a pretend crown on your head
  • He will bring peace – clasp your hands together

The Saviour is on his way – Bible story idea

Bible Truth for Toddlers – God keeps his promises

Do you remember Isaiah? He told people what God wanted them to know. He had written down a promise that God had made – God was going to send someone – Isaiah told everyone that…

  • A child will be born – rock a pretend baby in your arms
  • A Son will be given – point up to heaven and then bring hands down
  • He will be King forever – put a pretend crown on your head
  • He will bring peace – clasp your hands together

But a long, long time had passed. Days, weeks, months and years and years and years went by. Had God forgotten his promise? No! God never forgets anything!

One day a young woman called Mary was at home. (Say hello to Mary!)It was just an ordinary day. Mary was cleaning the house (some actions here – maybe dusting or sweeping).

But then something extraordinary happened! An angel came to see her! Now angels are not like fairies. Angels are big and strong! (actions here too – make a big shape with your arms and then flex muscles). The angel that came to see Mary was called Gabriel (ask everyone to repeat the name). He had a message from God.

You are going to have a very special baby,’ he said to Mary. ‘This baby will be God’s Son and he will be King forever.’

The Baby was going to be born! rock a pretend baby in your arms

The Son was going to be given! point up to heaven and then bring hands down

He was going to be King forever! put a pretend crown on your head

The Saviour God promised was on his way. God always keeps his promises.

Craft Ideas – make Angel Gabriel

Angel craft
Angel craft
Angel craft
Angel craft
Angel craft
Angel craft
Angel craft
Angel craft
Angel craft

Joseph and the Angel

Joseph and the Angel is from Matthew 1:18-25. In Luke’s Gospel we hear about the Angel visiting Mary and in Matthew’s Gospel we find out how Joseph knew that the baby was from God. In this story we have the special name – Immanuel, a name that only appears a couple of times in the Bible, here in Matthew and Isaiah 7:14. Matthew is telling us that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise.

We also read that Joseph is to name the baby Jesus.

She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1: 21

In Luke’s account we read that Mary has also been told to name the child Jesus.

..you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Luke 1: 31b-33

To tell the story – if you are tellling a series of Christmas stories you will probably want to focus on the message the angel gave to Joseph.

In the story bag – Joseph doll or puppet, some carpenters tools, Mary puppet, an angel,

Actions to include – sleeping!

Joseph and the Angel story

Mary (take her from the story bag) knew that she was going to have a very special baby. An angel had been sent from God to tell her!

But someone was very sad that she was having a baby. He didn’t really understand. He didn’t really know what to do. His name is Joseph. Are you ready to say hello to Joseph – ‘Hello Joseph’ (take him out of the story bag)

Joseph was all ready to marry Mary but then he found out she was having a baby. He wasn’t the father. He didn’t know what had happened but he decided that he couldn’t marry Mary. He was sad. Oh dear!

Joseph was a carpenter – he spent the day making things with wood, hammering, sawing.. and then he went home and went to bed. Soon he was fast asleep. (Pretend to be sleeping)

Now that was when something extraordinary happened. An angel appeared in his dream (this isn’t something that happens when you or I go to sleep). But it happened to Joseph. The angel had a really important message from God.

‘Joseph, you can marry Mary. Her baby is sent from God. He will be Immanuel, which means God with us. He is the one that God promised to send. When he is born you must name him Jesus because he is the Saviour’.

The next morning Joseph woke up. He got up. What was he going to do? He did what God had told him to do. He believed that this baby was God with us, the one who is the only Saviour. He married Mary and he cared for her.

You could finish with a question for the adults – ‘who do you believe Jesus is?’

angel craft

Make a rocking angel.

All you need

  • Paper plate folded in half
  • Circles for faces
  • Wool for hair
  • Shiny paper to decorate
  • Paper doilies cut into 1/8’s (depending on size). They just need to be a right fit for wings.
  • Glue
  • Crayons to decorate faces of angels
paper plate angel craft
paper plate angel

Here’s a link to the Bible story – The Angel visits Mary

The Saviour is Promised – Christmas 1

The Saviour is promised is the first of three Christmas stories. We begin seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus with Isaiah and the prophecy of Jesus’ coming into the world.

Why tell this part of the Christmas Story? It helps to put Christmas into context. It reminds us and helps us to see that this was God’s plan and that Jesus’ coming as a baby was a fulfillment of God’s promise.

Tell the story simply – there is a story idea below.

The Saviour is Promised – Bible Story

Bible reference – Isaiah 9:6-7

Bible Truth for Toddlers – God promised to send The Saviour

In the story bag we have Isaiah and a scroll with some key sentences (these remind the storyteller of key sentences!)

‘Today someone who lived a long, long time ago has come to see us. His name is Isaiah. Are you ready to say hello? Hello Isaiah! (Take him out of the story bag).

Isaiah was God’s prophet – he told people the things that God wanted them to know.

Now God’s people were in trouble. Everything was getting worse and worse. People were sad and frightened. God knew all about the trouble they were in. God sent Isaiah to talk to them and give them a message

I wonder what that message was? Isaiah wrote it down so we can read it too!

Take your scroll from the story bag and read it out. God says..a baby will be born, a Son will be given, he will be King forever, he will bring peace.

Wow – what an amazing promise from God. A real baby will be born who will be just like you and me and yet also different from you and me because this baby will be God’s Son given to us. He will be the king and he will bring peace between people and God and people and each other!

The people heard what Isaiah said but not everyone believed the promise. But God always keeps his promises. Next time we find out more about this promised baby.’

Puppet representing Isaiah to use in storytelling
Puppet representing Isaiah to use in storytelling

If you’d like to do some background reading about Isaiah 9 have a look at this article from Desiring God

The Saviour is Promised craft ideas

You could make scrolls but as this story is part of a Christmas series you could make a Christmas Collage using pictures cut from wrapping paper and Christmas cards. Add sequins, shiny stars – anything you fancy that is seasonal.

Here’s a link to a similar idea Christmas Star to make

David and Psalm 139

David wrote Psalm 139. We are going to focus on verses 1-16. It’s a personal Psalm that shows us that the Creator God knows us as individuals. This is comforting and challenging; God knows everything about us. We can’t hide from God, we can’t escape him but it is comforting too; he knows us and he leads and guides us. Our story also mentions that The LORD was with David – see 1 Samuel 16:18.

David and Psalm 139 Bible Story for young children

Bible Truth – God knows about me

To tell the story use a story bag with a doll for David, a sheep and a crown. You could write the shortened and simplified Psalm 139 (see below) out on a big piece of paper for the adults to say together. You can add actions to Psalm 139 too – point upwards for God and then do simple actions for the main words.

Say hello to David! (take David from the story bag). David lived a long time ago. He had two different jobs at different times. When he was young he was a shepherd who looked after sheep. (take sheep from story bag). What sound does a sheep make? (everyone make a ‘bah’ sound). Later on David became a very important King (take crown from the story bag).

The Bible tells us something special about David – it tells us that the LORD was with him. The LORD is a way of speaking about the God who made everything and rules over everything.

David wrote a song all about how God knew him, God was with him and God had made him –

God knows me!

He knows what I think

He knows what I say,

He knows when I sit down and when I stand up.

Everywhere I go God is there. He is always with me.

God knew all about me even before I was born because he made me!

David was sure that God knew all about him, that God was always with him and God had made him. Being sure of these things helped David to be a good shepherd looking after the sheep and a good King looking after God’s people.

Craft ideas

Make a sheep – David was a shepherd

A sheep picture decorated with yarn
sheep-2Download

Decorate people shapes using tissue paper and fabric

People shape cut outs decorated with tissue paper and fabric

I found this blog post really helpful when thinking about this Psalm – https://jemwwg.wordpress.com/bible-study-notes/old-testament/psalms/psalm-139/

Daniel in the Lions’ Den

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)

Storytelling props for Daniel in the Lions' Den

Daniel in the Lions’ Den craft idea

Lion paper plate craft for Daniel in the Lions' Den

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

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.

Wise and Foolish Builders – free Bible Images have pictures and a lesson outline.

Here’s a Pinterest Board with lots of ideas for crafts and activities for your Biblezone Build Club.

This is a link to a post all about one of our BibleZone Build Clubs.

In the beginning God made light!

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)

Black and white fabric to represent day and night

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.
  • Glue
Craft for In the beginning God made light using black paper and gold and silver paper.
Label-3×8-In-the-begining-God-made-light-Genesis-chapter1Download

Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer

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.

Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer Bible story prop
Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer Bible story prop of a chariot made from a cardboard box

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.

Step by step photos showing how to make a scroll craft for children to use when telling the Bible story Philip and the Ethiopian Treasurer

On the way to Easter…paper plate pictures

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..

Pictures on paper plates showing the people Jesus met in the run up to the first Easter

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!

woman-smile-x4Download

man-smile-x4Download

man-small-smile-x4Download

man-sad-x4Download

children-x21Download

The pictures of trees and buildings are available in this post https://lettheirlightshine.com/2015/03/20/jesus-enters-jerusalem-palm-sunday/

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!

God’s promise to Abraham

God's promise to Abraham picture with lots of stars on a dark background

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

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

God’s promise to Abraham story idea

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Genesis 15 craft idea

Abraham outside his tent looking at the stars
Abraham inside his tent
Abraham outside his tent looking at the stars

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

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

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

Abram leaves home

Abram leaves home big visual aid for telling Bible Story

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

The story is from Genesis 12

In the story bag have Abram and Sarah.

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

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

Abram leaves home story idea

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

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

Wow! That was a big promise.

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

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

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

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

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

Abram in his tent craft idea

Abram in his tent craft made with sugar paper.
Abraham-1Download

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

The Big Tower up to Heaven

The Big Tower up to Heaven story comes from Genesis 11. This is part of our Story Series ‘What’s in God’s Big Book?’ We started by making a Big Book and then each week we take out a page for our story. So far we have done God made everything , First sad day, and Noah built the Ark

Big Tower up to Heaven story idea

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

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

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

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

They started work.

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

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

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

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

Big Tower up to Heaven building activities

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

a girl in a white dress and eyeglasses playing with cardboard boxes
Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com
boy building with toy blocks
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com
person holding yellow and pink lego blocks
Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com
Empty cereal boxes stacked to make a tower
baby in white onesie holding wooden blocks
Photo by Tatiana Syrikova on Pexels.com
child playing wooden blocks
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com
green and brown wooden blocks
Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com
boy in yellow t shirt playing with wooden blocks
Photo by Ksenia Chernaya on Pexels.com
selective focus photo of a kid stacking building blocks
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com
boy in yellow t shirt and blue denim jeans playing with plastic toys
Photo by Vika Glitter on Pexels.com

Noah built the Ark

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

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

Noah built an Ark Story

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

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

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

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

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

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

It took a long time.

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

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

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

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

Noah built an Ark craft ideas

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

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

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

Celebrate Epiphany

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

Celebrate Epiphany Bible Story

Celebrate Epiphany story Wise Men knitted dolls

To tell the story you need – some Wise Men, toy camels and a star. You can add some actions too – stars with hands (like in twinkle, twinkle little star), running, looking, kneeling.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Celebrate Epiphany Craft Ideas

Crown craft for toddlers

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)

Celebrate Epiphany stained glass effect paper plate craft

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

Enjoy celebrating Epiphany!

First Sad Day Story and Craft

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

To tell the story

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

First sad day story

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First sad day craft idea

First sad day craft idea using a paper plate cut into a spiral and made into a snake.

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.)

God made everything story and craft.

God made everything story and craft for toddler group and preschoolers. This is the first page of our Big Book that we made here.

The Story is based on Genesis 1

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.

A big book to use as a visual aid when telling Bible Stories. God made everything story.

Some Creation paper plates that are great to use to tell the story – link to instructions

Paper plates decorated as the days of creation from Genesis 1. God made everything story.

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!

Make a big book!

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.

Making a big book to use as a prop when story telling
A big book storytelling prop

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

  • Creation
  • Adam and Eve eat the fruit
  • Noah built a great big Ark
  • The Big Tower
  • Abram leaves home
  • God makes Abraham a promise

Easy Story Bag Ideas

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
  • Paper plate angels/shepherds – How to make a paper plate shepherd instructions and paper plate angel instructions
  • Oil
  • A Bible

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.

Ideas for items to have in a story bag to use when telling Bible Stories to young children.
A basket with items to use when telling a Bible Story to young children

My Story Basket!

Story bags with knitted dolls and animals to use when telling Bible Stories to young children.

My Story Bags!

Here’s a Bible Story using props –

Here’s a collection of Story bag Prop Ideas on Pinterest

Hannah Prays Story and Craft

Hannah Prays story and craft for young children. A Bible Story all about talking to God and how God hears us when we talk to him.

The Story is from 1 Samuel 1:1-20

Hannah Prays – Story

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.

a gallery of craft ideas for Hannah and baby Samuel with examples of skin colour crayons
Hannah prays craft of a mother holding a baby
Hannah prays craft showing mother holding baby

Downloads for the craft

Baby-SamuelDownload
HannahDownload

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

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.

David defeats Goliath craft Idea

Picture of David and Goliath
Goliath-x-2Download
David-x-6Download

Josiah reads God’s Book

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!

Story bag props for Josiah Reads God's Book

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.

X is for Xerxes

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

People characters made from cardboard tubes

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

People characters made from cardboard tubes
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