Three women and a baby is the story of Moses' birth, his mothers' plan to keep him safe and his rescue. Three women make sure that Moses is safe. You can read the story in Exodus 2:1-10. To tell the story I used some pictures from Free Bible Images. They have a great selection of… Continue reading Three women and a baby – women in the Bible 3
Tag: toddlers
Let’s say hello to Eve! – women in the Bible 1
Let's say hello to Eve! is our first bible story in a new series all about women in the Bible . Eve was the first woman in the Bible so we are beginning with her. It's a good place to start! In this story we focus on a few things God made Adam God made… Continue reading Let’s say hello to Eve! – women in the Bible 1
Craft supplies you need!
Craft supplies you need! - or would really like come in all shapes and sizes (and price ranges!). Here are some ideas of what you need (or would really like) when doing crafts with young children. Some craft supplies can be bought especially for doing crafts at home or in toddler group but there are… Continue reading Craft supplies you need!
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… Continue reading X is for Xerxes
Easy to make finger paint
Easy to make finger paint that uses three ingredients (and one of them is water!) I spent quite a while searching on line for ready made finger paints but was put off by some of the reviews. I really don't want children breaking out in a rash because of allergies. The best thing about making… Continue reading Easy to make finger paint
W is for Water from the Rock
The People of God were in the wilderness. They had escaped from Egypt but were thirsty. They moaned! God told Moses to strike the rock and out came water. The story is from Exodus 17:1-7 W is for Water from the Rock - story idea Have you ever felt hungry? God's people had been hungry… Continue reading W is for Water from the Rock
Getting Started in Bible Storytelling!
Getting started in Bible Storytelling in a Toddler Group is sometimes daunting! It isn't just that there are toddlers that we want to keep engaged but their adults are there too. This short course is to help you feel more confident and be well prepared. It can work as a refresher course too. There are… Continue reading Getting Started in Bible Storytelling!
The Wheels on the Bus Craft
The Wheels on the Bus is a well known and often sung song at Toddler Group so we made a fun craft to go with the song. The Bus can be decorated with collage materials and crayons. We added some fun face stickers too. Some ideas for collage materials Tissue paper squares (lots of colours)… Continue reading The Wheels on the Bus Craft
God knows when I feel….scared
God knows when I feel scared. God really does know how we feel. This week's story is from Luke 8:22-25 when the disciples were scared. Even though Jesus was sleeping during the storm he is the Son of God, and he still knew how the disciples felt. God knows when I feel scared story idea… Continue reading God knows when I feel….scared
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… Continue reading The Boy with 2 Fish and 5 Loaves – A Bible Number Story
The Man with Four Friends – A Bible Number Story
The Man with Four Friends is our next Bible number story in the series. We are up to the number four! For the other numbers we have told stories about have a look at these links - Number One, Number Two, Number Three This week the Bible Story is from Mark 2:1-22. The Bible Truth… Continue reading The Man with Four Friends – A Bible Number Story
Playdough Recipe
Playdough recipe to make in the microwave. Don't be tempted to leave out the cream of tartar, you need it to stop the dough going off. Ingredients 2 Cups plain flour 2 Cups water 1 Cup salt 2 Tablespoons Cream of Tartar 2 Tablespoons oil (not nut oil or olive oil) Food colouring Playdough recipe… Continue reading Playdough Recipe
Storytelling tip #17
Share the load If you can, share the telling of Bible stories with others. We can learn from each other. Be supportive of one another and offer encouragement. It's sometimes really helpful to have an extra pair of hands to hold a storytelling prop; ask for help from others in the team.
Storytelling tip #16
Begin storytime with a song Instead of announcing storytime with, 'It's storytime', start with a song. It will become your theme song that tells everyone that it's time for a story. Choose something simple and easy to join in with. Familiar tunes with your own words are great. Once you have your song stick with… Continue reading Storytelling tip #16
Storytelling tip #15
Involve others Ask for help in collecting items for storytelling props and craft resources. Involve people in your church. Explain what you need and give people the opportunity to join in by collecting cardboard tubes, christmas cards etc. Use your churches' notice sheet to make the needs known and share pictures of the made crafts… Continue reading Storytelling tip #15
Storytelling tip #14
Collect craft ideas for your planned Bible stories Keep your eyes open for craft ideas that fit in with the Bible Stories you are planning to tell. Pinterest is full of ideas that can be used or adapted. There are even some on this blog 🙂 Ideas can come from anywhere! Try out any ideas… Continue reading Storytelling tip #14
Storytelling tip #13
Plan your stories for the year Plan ahead. Look at term dates (use your local school dates) and work out your timetable. Note down any special dates you want to celebrate - Harvest, Christmas, Easter, summer party. Plan your stories for the year ahead. Start with a theme for each half term. Some ideas -… Continue reading Storytelling tip #13
Storytelling tip #12
Collect together resources that can help you Go Teach and Scripture Union have some great resources that will help you tell Bible Stories in Toddler Group. Children's Story Bibles and Bible Story books written for young children can be a big help too. They will give you ideas of how to phrase things and how… Continue reading Storytelling tip #12
Storytelling tip #7
Buy or make a story bag that you will love using Taking items out of a storybag during a story builds interest. Use a bag that's large enough and attractive for the children and easy for you to use. No plastic bags!
Storytelling tip #3
Know how you are going to begin Facing an audience can be nerve wracking. To avoid going blank be really sure of your opening sentence. Learn it. Write it down and have a last minute look at it just before you begin. Some ideas - 'There was once a...' 'A long time ago...' Say hello… Continue reading Storytelling tip #3
Elisha and the Widow’s Oil craft ideas
Elisha and the widow's oil is a story from 2 Kings 4:1-7 where we read about Elisha helping a widow who needed to pay her debts. He told her to borrow as many empty jars of oil as she could from neighbours and then go inside her home and close the door. What happened next… Continue reading Elisha and the Widow’s Oil craft ideas
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… Continue reading Journey to Bethlehem – week 6 – The Shepherds
Another Christmas star idea!
Christmas star craft
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… Continue reading Journey to Bethlehem – week 3 – God’s promise to Abraham
Rhythms of Grace conference
On Saturday we drove to Wembley nice and early to go to a Toddler Group leaders conference. I was leading a couple of workshops about Crafts. It was a really good day. The Keynote speaker, Mary Hawes drew our attention to how toddler groups should be places of generosity, relationships, accessibility, community and encouragement. She… Continue reading Rhythms of Grace conference
‘Thank you God’ big book
This past week I needed a large -ish visual aid to use at Toddler Group that was a change from a story bag. So I made a big book. Well, it's nearer to an envelope really. Very simple to make. All you need is A3 cartridge paper (it does need to be strong paper) x2,… Continue reading ‘Thank you God’ big book
Jesus feeds five thousand people
This story is from John 6 ( and the other gospels too). In the story basket we had Jesus, Andrew, the young boy, a paper chain of people to represent the crowd and the lunch of two fish and five loaves. Â In John 6 Philip is also mentioned by name but we kept to just… Continue reading Jesus feeds five thousand people
Mother’s day card
Sometimes I manage to find something when I need it! Today I managed to locate a bag of petals and flower pots that were left over from a summer themed craft last year. They are now going to be used to make mother's day cards. One of the helpers at toddler group is a committed… Continue reading Mother’s day card
Journey to Bethlehem – week 1 – God made everything good
[wpedon id="8084"] This half term at toddler group we are going to take a Journey to Bethlehem. Each week the Bible story will be a simple retelling of a key event on that journey for the children. The plan is to put the stories in the context of The Big Story for the adults. So… Continue reading Journey to Bethlehem – week 1 – God made everything good
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… Continue reading all about me – I can smell!
Jonah and the big fish
This half term we are thinking about animal's in the Bible. So we made a start with the story of Jonah. I had seen a tent made into the big fish on Handsonbibleteacher.blogspot.co.uk so thought I would have a go at making one - my attempt doesn't look as neat - I think my pop up… Continue reading Jonah and the big fish
Z is for Zacchaeus
I made this to use with under fives to tell the story of Zacchaeus. He moves up the tree which is great for keeping the young children interested. We are doing the story as part of our Bible Alphabet series. It's from Luke 19:1-10. The tree is a Pringles container covered in brown construction paper… Continue reading Z is for Zacchaeus
L is for lost sheep
L is for lost sheep - a parable that Jesus told (Luke 15:1-7) To tell the story to young children Very young children will probably benefit from using smaller numbers - maybe just up to ten with the number ten sheep missing. Â Before you begin hide a sheep but unless you have a small group… Continue reading L is for lost sheep
H is for Horeb – Bible Alphabet
In Deuteronomy 5 Moses refers to the mountain  where he received the ten commandments as mount Horeb. (In Exodus it is called Mount Sinai - same place; different name) To tell the story I used a simple picture of a mountain drawn on to a large roll of paper (from Ikea). There was a 'mini… Continue reading H is for Horeb – Bible Alphabet
Bible Alphabet – f is for field where treasure was found.
In the Bible Alphabet at Toddler group we are on to 'f'. I decided to go with field - the story that Jesus told about the man who found treasure buried in a field, sold all he had, bought the field and then owned the treasure. You can find the story in Matthew 13:44. To… Continue reading Bible Alphabet – f is for field where treasure was found.
a is for Adam
A is for Adam! This is the start of our Bible Alphabet. We'll have a Bible Story connected to each letter of the alphabet each story time for 26 weeks. There will be lots of variety as some letters will stand for people, others for places and some for jobs! This is a really fun… Continue reading a is for Adam
Lion craft – Daniel
This lion craft is great when telling the story of Daniel praying to God and being thrown into the lion's den. We've been going through a Bible alphabet and have used Daniel for the letter d. You could also tell this story to teach children about prayer as Daniel prayed each day and didn't stop.… Continue reading Lion craft – Daniel
Bible alphabet – C is for carpenter
Following on from where Jesus was born - Bethlehem - who took care of him? Mary and Joseph. In this story we concentrated on Joseph and the job he did. With young children I sometimes like to have some objects in a bag - it keeps them interested and watching what is going on and… Continue reading Bible alphabet – C is for carpenter
Bible Alphabet – Bethlehem
B is for Bethlehem where Jesus was born. Although it isn't Christmas it seemed a good idea to do the story of Jesus' birth for B. In our craft we made pictures of Bethlehem and for the story we used visuals from a book called 'A Saviour for you'. The pictures are fantastic. Available here http://cefresources.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=95_97_101&products_id=423… Continue reading Bible Alphabet – Bethlehem
Bible Alphabet – B
Last week we started a new term at Toddler Group. For the Bible stories we will take a letter of the alphabet each week and tell a story based on something or someone whose name begins with that letter. A- Adam B- Bethlehem. For B the craft is a picture of Bethlehem. Parts of the… Continue reading Bible Alphabet – B
Homes Jesus visited
At toddler group this half term each bible story will be about a house that Jesus visited. Today I talked about the homes where we live. The craft was a collage of different types of homes and the collage I had made was my introduction. I talked about how Jesus didn't stay a baby in a manger… Continue reading Homes Jesus visited
Thank you God book – for toddler group
Over the past term at our Toddler Group we have made a 'thank you God book' - this is an overview of what we did Title page 'our thank you God book' Then the following pages - with pictures added from google images. Each page was A3 and was laminated. 'I am wonderfully made' Psalm 139… Continue reading Thank you God book – for toddler group
Easter decorations – eggs and more eggs
Children of almost any age can decorate these simple egg shapes. We used them at toddler group today, but they would be great for older children who would be able to do more intricate designs or pictures. To make them you need to start with a salt dough. This is very easy. You need 2… Continue reading Easter decorations – eggs and more eggs
Palm Sunday – Palm leaf craft
Easter is nearly here! In toddler group we have been learning about being 'Wonderfully made' and have already talkied about our mouths that shout, whisper and taste' and our ears that can 'hear shouts and whispers'. The Bible story that we are using to develop this is the Palm Sunday story that we read in… Continue reading Palm Sunday – Palm leaf craft
Jar of perfume craft – mary anoints Jesus
There are Bible stories that tell us what happened just prior to Jesus' death and ressurection. One of these stories tells us about mary annointing Jesus' feet with expensive perfume. As the children had been learning that we are 'Wonderfully Made' we started with the familiar - we thanked God for our noses and how they help… Continue reading Jar of perfume craft – mary anoints Jesus