Bible story for toddlers Archives - Let their light shine!

The Boy with 2 Fish and 5 Loaves – A Bible Number Story

This Bible Story had lots of numbers! 2 fish, 5 loaves, 12 baskets of leftovers and 5,000 people! But we are using it to count to five. The Story is from John 6. It is, of course, ‘The feeding of the 5,000’. The Bible Truth for Toddlers is ‘Jesus is amazing!’. There is also something for the adults to think about at the end of the story.

To tell the story you need – Philip and Andrew, a boy, loaves, fish and some extra people for the crowd. (I’ve used concertina people shapes)

The boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish story idea

Ask everyone to be ready to rub their tummy every time they hear the word ‘hungry‘ during the story

It was getting late. There were so many people in the crowd – lots and lots of people (Take them out of the storybag as you say this) And all the people were hungry.

Jesus was there, he had been talking to the people but now they needed something to eat. ‘I’m so hungry‘, they said to each other.

Jesus spoke to Philip (take him out of the storybag). ‘Go and buy everyone something to eat. They are all very hungry!’ But Philip looked in his pockets and he didn’t have any money. He was never going to have enough money to buy food for all the hungry people.

Andrew (take out of storybag) had found someone who had some food to share. Shall we find out who it is? It was just one small boy (take out of storybag). I wonder what he had? Let’s see (take out of storybag) He had two fish – let’s count them – 1,2 – and five loaves of bread – let’s count them – 1,2,3,4,5.

It’s not enough to feed all the hungry people!

But Jesus is very different to us. Jesus is amazing and can do amazing things. He said ‘thank you’ to God for the small packed lunch and then he began to share it out.

This is yummy! the people said. We’re not hungry anymore!

Jesus isn’t going to give us lots of food – but he can give us life. If you want to know more – come and ask me or take home part of the Bible to read about Jesus for yourself.

Craft Idea – colouring and collage

number-5-loaves Download

Take a look at another craft idea for this story (with printable) here

Bartimaeus meets Jesus Bible Story

Houses Jesus visited – the home he never visited! (video)

Jesus heals the Centurions Servant video. This is the last short story in the Homes Jesus Visited series. The house that Jesus never visited! The story is from Luke 7:1-10. The pictures used in the video are from Free Bible Images

Here are the links to the other stories in the series

It’s a lovely series of Bible Stories for toddler group and pre-school. Young children know what home is and so we are starting with something familiar and building the story around that.

Jesus heals a Centurions Servant Story

Homes Jesus visited – Simon’s Mother in law (video)

This is my third video story for younger children. The pictures are from Free Bible Images and the words are my own. Feel free to share.

Homes Jesus visited – Mary and Martha (video)

I’ve had a go at making a short video to share with our toddler group parents. If you like it and want to use it feel free! I’m still learning how to do this so any hints and tips welcome 🙂

The pictures are from Free Bible Images. The words are my own.

Jesus stops the Storm

‘Jesus stops the Storm’ was another of our weather themed stories at toddler group. It’s from Luke 8. It’s a great story to tell – lots of drama with the wind blowing and waves crashing, frightened disciples, dark skies and Jesus sleeping!

Craft Idea

This craft is in two parts; the lake made from a paper plate – square paper plates with two shades of blue tissue paper – and mini boats. Round plates would be just as good but they need to be a bit sturdy. The boat is cut from card (done beforehand) and has a tab so it can be glued in place but still stand up. The label says ‘Jesus stopped the storm’.

It’s a very effective craft that’s quite easy to make.

Make the boat first and attach to the paper plate. Then add the waves and the label.

Jesus stopped the Storm Bible Story Idea

Introduce actions for the children to do during the story. It’s helpful to explain these actions before you start. Include them as you tell the story.

1. Move arms to represent waves (vary the size of the waves in the story)

2 Blow into closed hands for the wind

3 Pretend to be sleeping

4 Say, ‘shush’ – ‘be still’

You could play some sound effects during the story – thunder and rain recordings are available on MP3 downloads (usually used for relaxation). Make sure you listen to anything you plan to use beforehand.

‘ One day Jesus asked his friends to get in a boat and go to the other side of the lake. It was very calm and the water was gently moving the boat. Jesus was very tired. He laid down in the boat and rested his head on a pillow and went fast asleep. The boat moved slowly out across the lake. Some of Jesus’ friends were fishermen and they knew all about rowing boats.

Suddenly a the wind began to blow. the waves got bigger and bigger and bigger! Water was starting to come inside the boat! It was so scary. But Jesus was fast asleep.

Jesus’ friends felt the wind blowing, saw the waves getting bigger and bigger and they were frightened. ‘We are going to die!,’ they said.

Jesus was still fast asleep. So his friends woke him up. ‘Don’t you care about us? they said.

Jesus cares very much.

He got up and stood up in the boat. And then he did something that no one else could ever do. He told the wind and the waves to ‘STOP! Shush – be still.’

It was suddenly all quiet and still. No more wind blowing and waves crashing.

Jesus’ friends were afraid and shocked. ‘Who is this?’ they said to each other, ‘that even the wind and waves obey him!’

Jesus is God. He is the only one who can stop the storm’.

Downloads for the craft

Jesus-stopped-the-storm-Sheet-of-labels-3-x-8 Download

Journey to Bethlehem – week 6 – The Shepherds

So far we have had stories about Creation, the Fall, Abraham, the angel visiting Mary and the birth of Jesus. Our last story in our journey to Bethlehem series is all about the shepherds. Luke 2:8-20

Bible Story from Luke 2:8-20

Bible truth for toddlers – Jesus is the Saviour

‘The baby sent from God was tucked up in the manger. Mary and Joseph were there to look after him. Do you remember his name? He was called Jesus. There they were that night – just the three of them.

Meanwhile, out of the town, in the hills, there were shepherds. Shepherds look after sheep. What sound does a sheep make?

It was dark – the shepherds were making sure that all the sheep were safe.

Then suddenly something happened that made the shepherds really scared! There was an angel – and the angel was surrounded by bright light.

‘Don’t be afraid’, the angel said, ‘I bring you good news of great joy that is for everyone, everywhere. Today, a Saviour has been born. You will find him lying in a manger.’

Then lots of angels were there singing. And then they were gone and it was dark again.

The shepherds looked at each other, ‘Let’s go and see this thing that’s happened that God has told us about.’

So off they went – down the hill, through the town, looking here, looking there – until they found Jesus. They found the Saviour.

We can find Jesus too. He is still the Saviour sent from God for everyone, everywhere. We won’t find him in a manger – but we can know him as our Saviour.‘

Another paper plate…to add

All the paper plates from our Journey to Bethlehem

Days of creation paper plates — Week One – Creation https://lettheirlightshine.com/2015/11/04/journey-to-bethlehem/

Week Two – The Fall https://lettheirlightshine.com/2018/11/14/journey-to-bethlehem-week-2/

Week Three – Abraham https://lettheirlightshine.com/2018/11/23/journey-to-bethlehem-week-3/

Week Four – The Angel visits Mary https://lettheirlightshine.com/2018/11/28/journey-to-bethlehem-week-4/

Jesus is born paper plate picture — Week Five – Jesus is born https://lettheirlightshine.com/2018/12/05/journey-to-bethlehem-week-5/

The Shepherds and the angels paper plate picture — Week Six – The Shepherds find Jesus

Journey to Bethlehem – week 4 – The Angel visits Mary

This week we get very near to Bethlehem! The story is the Angel’s visit to Mary from Luke 1:26-38.

Bible story – from Luke 1:26-38.

(Include actions in the story if you can – ask the children and adults to join in)

‘One day Mary was at home. 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). 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.’

Who was this baby? This baby, that the angel talked about, was Jesus.

Mary listened. (everyone touch their ears). She knew that this promised baby would be very, very special and important.’

All the paper plates so far will be on display…

New plate to add……

And an angel craft idea…

All you need is paper plates cut into wedges, doilies cut into quarters, circles, wool, shiny paper and wool. You can either draw on the eyes and smile beforehand or let the children do it.

Journey to Bethlehem – week 3 – God’s promise to Abraham

This week the Bible story was all about God’s promise to Abraham to give him a huge family and to bless all the people on earth through that family. During the story I use the names Abraham and Sarah for simplicity. (At this point in the Bible they are still using the names Abram and Sara – and you can use these names if you prefer)

Bible Story – God’s Promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3 and 15:5)

Bible truth for toddlers – Jesus was born into Abraham’s family

‘Say hello to Abraham! (take a puppet or doll from the story bag). Abraham lived a long, long, long time ago.

One day God spoke to Abraham, ‘Pack up your things and leave the place where you are living. Go to a place that I will show you. I will make you a great nation and all the families on the earth will be blessed through you’. God was making a promise to Abraham.

Abraham listened to God and he did what God said. He and his wife Sarah (take another doll or puppet from the story bag) packed their things and off they went.

God showed them where to go.

Now after Abraham and Sarah had been living in their new home for quite a while God spoke to Abraham again.

Abraham was outside at night time. It was dark. God said to him, ‘Look up at the sky and all the stars. So many stars that you can’t count them. This is how large your family will be.’

Abraham listened to God and he believed God.

And Abraham did have a large family .. and from that large family came Jesus. He is the one that blesses the whole world.’

When we had finished the story we added another paper plate to all the others ..

So, altogether the story so far….

To make your own paper plates you need –

Tissue paper

Stars

Cotton wool

A picture of Abraham

Spiral for the snake

Craft paper to decorate the snake

Cardboard tube for the tree

Feathers

Flower shapes

Pictures of animals

Two faces – for Adam and Eve

Be creative!

Journey to Bethlehem – Adam and Eve disobey

Adam and Eve break God’s law

Journey to Bethlehem – Adam and Eve disobey. We are travelling to Bethlehem for Christmas starting at the very beginning…

Week one was creation – God made everything good and Adam and Eve were friends with God and each other.

The idea for the creation paper plates came from here – https://ithappensinablink.com/paper-plate-the-days-of-creation/

This week the story is all about how things went from being ‘very good’ (thumbs up) to very bad (thumbs down). The creation plates will be part of the large picture board and the next story will be added.

The story from Genesis 3

Bible truth for toddlers – Adam and Eve broke God’s one rule

‘God gave Adam and Eve one rule. ‘Don’t eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden’. They could eat from every other tree but not that one.

Then one day a serpent began to talk to Eve! ‘ Just look at the fruit on that lovely tree in the middle of the garden! It looks so deliciousssss. I’m sure God won’t mind if you take a bite. Nothing bad will happen!’

Eve looked at the tree. It did look lovely. Eve looked at the fruit. It did look yummy. She reached out her hand…. and she took the fruit. She could smell how delicious it was and then…… she took a bite. Then Adam took a bite too!

They had broken God’s one rule and everything changed. They weren’t friends with God anymore and they tried to hide.

But God found them. He still loved them and he promised to send a Saviour so that people could be friends with God again.’

In the storybag

Journey to Bethlehem – Adam and Eve disobey craft

Paper plate spiral snake for Journey to Bethlehem Adam and Eve disobey

Use a paper plate to make a spiral. Make sure the spiral is fairly wide. Decorate with squares of tissue paper. Add some string to the snakes head, an eye and a tongue.

Tower of Babel

There is a really good video clip about this Bible story on The Answers in Genesis site – click here to go straight there.

In one of our toddler groups we’ve been learning about how everything began. We started with creation, then how things went wrong for Adam and Eve when they sinned against God. We’ve learnt about Noah and now we are finding out about how people groups and languages began.

In Genesis 11 we find out that Noah’s descendants were still living in one big group and that they were very capable and able to make bricks. When Noah and his family had come out of the Ark God had told them to ‘fill the earth’ (Genesis 9:1). But they had not spread out but stuck together. So God separates them by confusing their language. Then they really have no choice but to go their separate ways and ‘fill the earth’.

Story for children (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 tall tower that reaches up and up into the sky’ they said. everyone understood.

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 tall tower 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.

Craft Idea – build a tower

Journey to Bethlehem – week 1 – God made everything good

Journey To Bethlehem is a series of Bible Stories that take us from the very beginning of the Bible up to the first Christmas. There are six stories in the series with ideas for visual aids and crafts. We have used these stories several times in the half term leading up to Christmas in our Toddler Group.

The stories are

Creation Genesis 1
The Fall Genesis 3
Noah Genesis 6 & 7
Abraham Genesis 15
Angel Gabriel visiting Mary Luke 1:26-38
The birth of Jesus Luke 2:1-7
Visit of the Shepherds Luke 2:8-20

We start with creation and everything being made good. Next week the fall and things no longer being good and then onwards to Jesus being born. God’s Saviour sent for us.

The Creation story is going to be told using an idea that I found here – It Happens in a Blink.

Creation paper plates

Here’s some of the paper plates in close up. I had a lot of fun making them. You need sturdy paper plates! I decided not to have a blank plate for day seven. I did see an idea that included lots of zzzz for resting but God didn’t go to sleep, he just stopped making because everything was complete and perfect. He doesn’t need to rest in the way that we do. He never slumbers or sleeps 🙂

Week 1 story

We are going on a journey – all the way to Bethlehem!

Let’s begin. Everything was very quiet and then God began to make things form nothing! He just spoke and things began to happen..

As I tell the story we will count the days together and name what we can see on the plates. After each day we will say ‘it was all very good’ and do a thumbs up. This will be our action for this weeks story.

We have started our journey to Bethlehem!

How to tell the series over 6 weeks

You can find all the stories in this series here on the blog with a different paper plate for each story. (You will see that the snake is not a paper plate – but if you don’t have a pre-cut spiral a paper plate would be fine. Just decorate and then cut into a spiral shape) The links to each story are with each picture.

As you go through the weeks display the paper plates until in week 6 they are all displayed 🙂

Creation paper plates — Week One – Creation

Abraham and stars picure — Week Three – Abraham

Journey to Bethlehem the angel visits Mary picture — Week Four – The Angel visits Mary

Journey to Bethlehem birth of Jesus — Week Five – Jesus is born

Angels visit the shepherds picture — Week Six – The Shepherds find Jesus

Everything you need to make the paper plates in the story series

Sturdy paper plates
Glue
Tissue paper
Pipe cleaners
Beads
Crepe paper
Cardboard tubes
Face shapes
Yarn
Cotton wool
Googly eyes

Note – this post includes affiliate links – if you click and purchase we receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps fund the blog. Thank you!

all about me – I can smell!

Young children have lots of discoveries to make. It’s fun to help them discover their senses. There are different activities that can show them that they can smell. Of course they already knew that! We can help them know what the smells are that they like or dislike. Sometimes a smell gives us a warning – the toast is burning! Sometimes a smell can make us hungry.

There is a bible Story that you can tell to illustrate that we can smell here. There is a different retelling in the Go Teach Toddler book that we are using this half term.

For a craft for this Bible Story make a perfume bottle

You need – paper plate cut into a simple bottle shape (we are going to use the reverse side so the bottle looks more 3D)

Coloured paper that has been sprayed with perfume. I used tissue paper circles that I bought from Tiger.

Glue stick

Crayons to add decoration. (optional)

Beforehand cut out the bottles, spray the paper and make an example.

I have been cutting some herbs from my garden for the children to smell – these herbs are child friendly – sage, lemon balm, thyme and lavender. The lemon balm is a strong scent in particular. If you don’t have herbs in your garden you could use the fresh herb pots that supermarkets sell. Just a few would be fine.

Playdough can be given a scent. I’ve used vanilla extract (expensive) in one dough and mixed spice in another. Take a look at my pinterest playdough board for some really good ideas. I like the sound of lemon dough. 🙂 there is a recipe for that on the board.

My favourite smell is fresh coffee but sadly at our group we only serve instant!

God is everywhere craft and story

The Bible Story illustrates that God is everywhere! He is the God that sees us. Do you ever feel overlooked or unnoticed? God sees us all of the time. He knows what is happening in our lives. Have a read of this blog post full of encouragement for us when we feel unseen.

The craft idea reminds children that God is everywhere. This is obviously different to god seeing but slightly easier for young children to comprehend I think.

We told the story about Hagar (Genesis 16) to teach children that God is everywhere. There is a simple craft to accompany the story.

Who was Hagar?

Hagar was Sarah’s slave and Ishmael’s mother. When we meet her in Genesis 16 she is expecting a baby (Abraham’s son) and is showing contempt for Sarai, Abraham’s wife who has been promised a son but has taken matters into her own hands and given Hagar, her servant to Abraham as a surrogate. Sadly, things were difficult for Hagar and she ran away. But God knew where she was and spoke to her. Things changed for Hagar when God made her a promise about the son she would give birth to. She responds with the acknowledgement that ‘You are a God of seeing. Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.’

We can never be somewhere that is away from God. Wherever we go, God is there. God is everywhere!

God is Everywhere Story Idea

To tell the story to young children you will need

A story bag with a doll to represent Hagar.

Begin by taking ‘Hagar’ from the bag and introducing her to the children (say hello to Hagar – children wave)

Hagar was very sad. Can you pretend to be sad?

She decided to run away. Pretend to run by tapping hands on knees or run on the spot. Get the children to join in.

Then she sat down. No other people were there.

But, God knew where Hagar was. God is everywhere. Wherever we go God is there. God sees us!

He talked to her. Hagar, where have you come from and where are you going?

‘I’m running away’, Hagar replied.

‘It will all be alright Hagar.The baby you will have will one day have a large family. Go back home’.

Hagar listened. She knew God could see where she was. She knew that God is everywhere.

‘You are the God who sees me. You are the God who looks after me.’ she said.

Now Hagar was happy again. She went back home. A little while later her baby son was born and he was called Ishmael. God saw Hagar, he cared about her.

God sees you too, and cares for you wherever you go. Wherever you go God is there.

God is Everywhere Craft Idea

The following is a simple craft to go with the story – ‘Wherever I go, God is there’. It is a reminder that God is everywhere. Print as many as you need. The children can add colour and people. I used some stickers for the people on the bus.