sunday school craft Archives - Let their light shine!

Jesus calls the First Disciples

In Mark 1:16-20 we read about Jesus calling his first disciples.

Jesus calls his first disciples – Bible Story Idea

To tell the Story you will need the different characters, a boat, a net and a fish in the Story Bag. Take them out as you need them.

One day Jesus was walking along near the Sea of Galilee. It’s a big lake that has lots of fish. Most days there were people there who were fishing. They had boats and big fishing nets to catch the fish in.

On this particular day Jesus saw two men who were throwing their big fishing net into the water – their names were Simon and Andrew. Jesus called over to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’

Simon and Andrew heard Jesus. They looked up from what they were doing and then they left their net and their boat and they followed Jesus!

A little further along Jesus saw two brothers, James and John. They were sitting in their boat mending the fishing net. Jesus called to them, ‘Follow me’. They heard Jesus and they left their boat and their net and they followed Jesus!

Craft Idea

To make this craft you need

Paper plate folded in half (Cut a small slit to slot the lollipop stick through to make a mast)
Lollipop stick
Card or sugar paper to make the sail
Corrugated card to make water (optional)
Tissue paper or similar to decorate the boat
A net (I used the net that is packaging for oranges/lemons)

Let’s make a clay boat!

Let’s make a clay boat with air-hardening modelling clay. This craft is suitable for older children and gives them the opportunity to work with clay even if you have no access to a kiln.

Air-hardening clay is easy to use and will dry out and keep it’s shape. We used Das. It is great to use when you want to make a finished product for the children to keep.

We are using it to make small boats as our Bible Story in our 5-11year olds after school club is Jesus Calming the Storm on the Lake. from Mark 4:35-41. There’s a fun and interactive idea for telling the story using a parachute here.

Let’s make a clay boat instructions

Start by making a ball of clay. Then make a pinch pot. Gradually shape this into an oblong. Add a small ball of clay to the inside of the shape, You will use this to attach the sail while the clay is still fairly soft. Them make a sail. Take a lollipop stick and a glue on a triangle of card. Push this gently into the small ball of clay that’s been added to the inside of the boat shape – make sure it is attached.

Hints and tips

Cover your work surface with a plastic, wipeable cloth and dust the surface with cornflour to prevent sticking.

Add some decoration using some clay tools or the ends of paint brushes

If you need to change something adding some water will make the clay workable. But don’t add too much at once.

Leave to dry out (24 hours per centimetre). There may be some shrinkage and if necessary use PVA glue to reattach the sail.

You can then paint the boat.

Once dry see if the boats float!

If you would rather not use clay then plasticine or modelling dough would work too.

Ascension Day Craft (5-11 year olds)

All you need –

A3 paper x2
Cloud shape cut from A4 card
Green and blue paper to make sky and hill
Glue
Cotton wool to add to cloud
Verse from Acts 1:11 (see download below) Cut into a size to fit into the cloud

men-of-galilee-acts-1v11 Download

To make the eleven disciples make a paper chain of eleven men. To do this cut a long narrow strip from the A3 paper. Fold like a concertina into eleven sections. Draw a man outline on the first one. It’s important that the arms and legs go to the edges as these connect the men. Cut out carefully, making sure that the arms and legs stay connected. Then make the cloud from the A4 card. Stick on the Bible verse. Then on the A4 paper make a sky and a hill and then carefully add the eleven disciples and the cloud.

5 loaves and 2 fish craft

A 5 loaves and 2 fish craft to go with the Story of The Feeding of the 5,000 from John 15. There is an idea for telling the story here.

To make this easy craft all you need is

Construction paper or light card
loaves and fish – printed on paper and cut out. I cut all the loaves as a group which saved a lot of time. Children who are able/old enough to use scissors could cut out their own. Here is a PDF file of the loaves and fish.5-loaves-and-2-fish-2
orange/yellow tissue paper in small squares
crayons
PVA glue and glue sticks
sequins (I love using sequins!)
paper plates cut in half
a sticky label that explains what Jesus did with the loaves and fish

Preparation – attach half a paper plate to the construction paper/card beforehand. I used a stapler.

5 loaves and 2 fish craft using a paper plate basket

Jesus is baptised

We are planning on telling Bible stories from Mark’s gospel at toddler group from now till Easter. The idea is to link the stories about Christmas with Easter. For the children each story will be complete on it’s own but the adults will be able to follow the chronology.

The first story will be from mark 1:9 – the baptism of Jesus. To tell this I am using a simple visual aid that I found on Pinterest (link in the text below)

The following stories will be –

The calling of the first disciples (Mark 1:16-20)

Man through the roof (Mark 2:1-12)

Calming the storm (Mark 4:35-41)

Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:21-43)

Feeding of 5,000 (Mark 6:30-44)

The rich young man (Mark 10:17-22)

Bartimaeus (Mark 10:46-52)

Triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:1-11)

Easter (Mark 15-16:8)

For the baptism of Jesus I will be using a very simple visual aid that I found here. I have altered it a little. It could also be made as a craft. The figures for Jesus and John were taken from this book. (I would definitely recommend that you get a copy if you teach young children in sunday school)

To make the craft/visual aid you will need

Two paper plates

Colouring pencils and felt tips (I used Sharpies)

Cellotape and blue tac

One popsicle stick or wood skewer

Two figures to represent Jesus and John – both cut out and coloured in. Attach ‘John’ to paper plate and ‘Jesus’ to the popsicle stick

Stapler to attach plates together

Scissors to cut one plate into sky and water – making a gap between.

Once you have all the different materials this is very quick to make – just leave enough space for the popsicle stick/skewer to move so that you can demonstrate the baptism.