This is a scented flower craft for 3 year olds to make. It’s ideal for young children and makes a lovely take home picture at toddler group. There is some preparation needed but it’s worth the effort!
Scented flower craft for 3 year olds
Materials needed for flower craft
Flower shapes printed onto coloured card or heavy paper (you want a weight of paper or card that will be easy for you to cut out and also heavy enough for the scent to be sprayed on to it and still keep it’s shape)
Step by step instructions for scented flower craft for 3 year olds
Do all your prep beforehand – print flower shapes, cut stems and leaves. Lightly spray a scent over the flower shapes and leave to dry.
On the day lay your craft table with a PVC cloth
Put the flowers, stalks and leaves in separate shallow containers (don’t put everything out at once, keep some back to top up for toddlers who come to the craft table later in the toddler group session)
Remove glue stick lids and put out of the reach of toddlers
Have an example made and display
Let the children choose the colours and number of flowers for their own craft creations.
Scented flower craft preparation
Spray card flowers with a scent
What children can learn in making a scented flower craft
Young children can learn about colour – encourage lots of chatting about naming the colours of the flowers, favourite colours, matching colours.
Fine motor skills are developed through the use of glue sticks and handling the craft materials
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I encourage a reluctant 3 year old to make craft?
This can be tricky. Model the behaviour you would like to see. Make a flower craft yourself, ask your 3 year old to help you choose the colours. Keep the activity short though and if you only stick one flower take it as a win and tell your 3 year old how pleased you are that you made something together.
This post all about Exploring Colour with Toddlers has lovely ideas for colour filled craft activities to help 3 year olds experience making with colour.
For more flower themed craft take a look at this post about Beautiful Flowers
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.
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.
Our feet craft and song ideas for toddlers to enjoy in your church toddler group. In our amazing body series at our Toddler Group we have been learning about our feet. Our focus Bible verse is Psalm 139:14.
Our feet are amazing story time for toddler group
In the story time we used our feet to jump, stand, run on the spot, walk and stand as tall as we could on tiptoe. It was a very active few minutes. Then we sat down and we counted our feet and wriggled our toes. You could count toes depending on whether you want everyone to take their shoes off!
How to tell the story
Always begin toddler group story time the same way – with the same rhyme or song to get everyone settled on the Bible story mat.
Begin with saying hello!
Your opening sentence, ‘ Today we are finding out more about our amazing bodies!’
Can you find your feet. Let’s count them – 1,2
Feet are amazing. Let’s see what they can do..
Let’s all stand up
Let’s jump
Can you stand on one leg? That’s quite difficult to do
Can you stand on tip toe and reach up high?
Let’s sit down and count our feet and our toes together
God made us – he has given us amazing bodies!
You can end your toddler story time with a simple toddler friendly prayer, ‘Thank you God for our feet. Thank you that we are wonderfully made. Amen’
An easy feet craft for toddlers
The craft is super easy and fun.
Materials needed
Feet printable (included below) – print as many as you need for your group
Collage materials – these can be paper scraps, fabric pieces, yarn. Provide a choice of colours, textures and shapes in different containers. Make it inviting.
Wax crayons
Step by step
Set up the craft table with a washable cover
Set out the collage materials in shallow bowls
Remove lids from the glue sticks and set aside (we do this at our group because they are small and we don’t want toddlers putting them in their mouths)
Put out the wax crayons in a shallow bowl. Remove any that are broken.
Make a proto-type craft – and display it near your craft table to give some inspiration.
Place some of your feet printables on the table (keep most nearby – but if you put them all out at one you run the risk of a few toddlers using them all and you’ll run out)
Encourage the toddler group adults to sit with their toddler as they make
Have a place where the finished craft can be placed to dry ready to be taken home.
our feet craft for toddler groupour feet craft for toddlersour feet craft for toddlers
Our feet Song time for toddler group
‘Head, shoulders, knees and toes’, – which is the theme song for this series about our amazing bodies.
Rhyme, ‘I wiggle my fingers, I wiggle my toes. I wiggle my shoulders, I wiggle my nose. There are no wiggles left in me, and I’m as still, as still can be.’
‘The Grand Old Duke of York’ has lots of marching on the spot.
A great rhyme for a parent/carer to with with their young child/baby is ‘This little piggy’. Here’s a link to the rhyme.
What children can learn from our feet toddler story
God made our amazing feet
Gratitude for their amazing body
Our feet craft printable for toddler groups and families
How do I keep toddlers engaged with the Bible Story in Toddler Group?
This story about our feet is very interactive rather than a straight forward narrative the toddlers have activities to do that make the most of learning through movement.
How do I encourage gratitude in a toddler?
By focusing on our bodies and what they can do this story encourages toddlers to be thankful for their body which is wonderfully made.
Have a look at our Thank you God Book post that is full of ideas about our bodies. This is a great series of stories for Church Toddler Group. The post is full of free prinables to make a large book that you add to over several weeks.
Bartimaeus – a Toddler Bible Story all about being able to see – this is one of my favourite Bible Stories that I tell in our Church Toddler Group. This post has a little video of me telling the story.
Links to toddler crafts and songs about our bodies
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 Bible characters that you can print onto card, cut out and make into lollipop stick puppets. Here’s a link – you will need to have a look at the different sections to find pictures suitable for Moses’ mum, sister and Pharoah’s daughter. The characters aren’t named, just have a look and see what you would like to use.
I also used a doll for the baby and an oval storage basket and some blue cloth for the Nile.
Three women and a baby – story idea
In our Bible story today there are three women. Let’s find out what they did.
A long time ago there was a really bad king. He was very cross that God’s people, who were living in his country, were having families with lots of children. ‘I’m not happy about this!’ he said to himself. Then he had a very bad and horrible plan. ‘Get rid of all the baby boys’, he said. That was a horrible plan. he was a very bad king.
There was a family that had just had a baby boy. They weren’t going to get rid of him. They loved him very much. So they kept him a secret. Every time he cried they said ‘Shush’ (can you say that?). But as he got bigger he cried louder. What could his mummy do? His mummy trusted God and she made a plan to keep her baby safe.
His mummy (take puppet from story bag) had a plan. She began to make something. Shall I show you what it was? It was a basket. She made it waterproof and very strong with a lid.
When it was finished she wrapped up her baby son and put him gently into the basket. Then she took the baby in the basket down to the river. The baby’s big sister came too. (Take her from the story bag) Now they weren’t going to just any part of the river. The mummy knew that someone important would be going to this part of the river too.
The mummy put the basket in the water and she went home. But big sister hid and watched and waited.
Sure enough down to the river came the third woman in our story. She was very important. She was the bad kings daughter! (Take her from the story bag) She looked at the basket. What’s inside? she thought. So she opened the lid! And there inside was the little baby boy and he was crying. The King’s daughter felt sorry for him. She knew that he was a baby belonging to God’s people.
Now the baby’s big sister did a very brave thing. She stopped hiding and called out, ‘Shall I go and find someone who can take care of the baby for you?’
‘Go, and get someone’, the Kings daughter said.
Who could she find to care for the baby? His mum!
These three women rescued the baby boy and he was called Moses, which means taken out of the water. Moses mummy trusted God to keep her little baby boy safe – and he did. God can always be trusted.
Maybe when you were a baby you were put in a Moses Basket? It’s called a Moses basket because of this true story from the Bible.
Moses in the basket craft idea
All you need to make a simple paper plate Moses in the basket craft
Paper plate
Cup cake liner
Blue and green tissue paper
Baby – see download (He is sad because he was crying)
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:
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!
Set out a variety of collage materials where children can reach them.
Have the children select their paper people shapes and glue them to the backing paper.
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.
Craft supplies you need for toddler group! – or would really like, come in all shapes and sizes (and price ranges!). Here are some ideas of what you need (or would really like) when doing crafts with young children in toddler group or at home.
Some craft supplies can be bought especially for doing crafts at home or in toddler group but there are others that you possibly already have or friends and family can collect for you.
Craft supplies you might like to buy
Paint
No spill paint pots
Paint brushes
Aprons (you can go old school and use old men’s shirts – children wear them backwards – buttons at the back. Use them and then wash them.)
Glue (PVA can last ages)
Glue spreaders
Glue sticks
Paper plates – round, square, white/black or coloured.
Paper cups/pots
Doilies
Wax crayons
Petit four cases
Cup cake cases
Wreath shapes
Sugar paper
Lollipop sticks
Stickers – stars, themed stickers for example animals, sea creatures.
Pipe cleaners
Of course you don’t have to buy everything on this list. Prioritise items like wax crayons, paper and glue. See if there is a local scheme for sharing supplies.
Paper can be very expensive so save paper from packaging if you can. Card is great to use so try to reuse packaging.
Craft supplies you may already have (or know someone who does)
This is the list to get excited about! Craft items for toddler group that are free are a bonus. Once you start looking you will see opportunities for free craft supplies all over the place.
Greeting card pictures. Collect all year round and especially at Christmas. Just ask donors to tear the picture from the greeting section of the card if they can.
Wrapping paper (all sorts including shiny paper)
Tissue paper – often used for wrapping flowers/gifts/breakables
Yarn/wool – Lots of knitters and crocheters will have yarn in small lengths in a variety of colours. Ask for donations.
Fabric – sewers will have scraps you can use for collage.
Ribbon (this is often used as handles on gift bags)
Magazine pictures
Garden catalogue photos of plants/vegetables
Paint colour sample cards from DIY stores
Egg cartons (these should be clean, i.e no sign of any egg!) Children can be allergic to egg so take care.
It’s good to be on the look out for materials you can use – charity shops are great for finding bits and bobs!
Some supplies you need only buy once – non spill paint pots and good paint brushes. Glue spreaders will last and a good quality PVC cloth to cover the craft table will last years. (You can use newspaper but just check the content first!)
Here are some crafts that use a variety of the items listed
Here’s a link to a craft video post that goes through the steps of how to make a tree topper angel (or an angel ornament).
Have a look at this post for some more craft ideas!
X is for Xerxes is part of our Bible Alphabet. The following is a much shortened telling of the story of Esther, King Xerxes and Haman. When you are telling a story in a toddler group you have to shorten the narrative and find a way to tell the story simply. To read the full story see Esther
X is for Xerxes story idea
Our story happened a long time again in a country called Persia. There was a powerful king called King Xerxes. He was in charge of a huge kingdom and in his kingdom lots of God’s people lived. They were a long way from home.
Now one of God’s people had married the King (he didn’t know that she was one of God’s people – he had married her because she was very beautiful) Her name was Esther.
And there was another man whose name was Haman. The king liked him very much but he was a very bad and horrible man.
Haman didn’t like God’s people at all. He wanted to get rid of all of them. And so he asked the king, ‘Can we get rid of all these people?’ And the King said, ….. ‘yes!’
Now Esther was very sad and worried. She had to find a way to keep God’s people safe. She knew that she needed help. But who could help her? She sent a message to her family – Pray to God. Ask him to help me. And I will pray too.
Esther asked God to help her. She went to see King Xerxes. She told him what was going to happen to God’s people and how she was one of them. The King was horrified. He was angry with Haman and he protected God’s people. They were kept safe.
King Xerxes was very powerful – but not as powerful as God who is able to keep his people safe and hears them when they ask for his help.
X is for Xerxes props for story telling
King Xerxes and Queen Esther are made from Pringle Containers. Xerxes is a regular Pringle container and Esther is a whole wheat Pringle tube which is slightly smaller (perfect for making storytelling people of different heights!)
To make you just cover the tube in coloured paper (I used a glue gun to stick this) and then add a face , hair and some clothes. Pipe cleaners are very useful for holding everything together. As they are royalty I added crowns but often it’s just a piece of material held in place with a pipe cleaner as in the case of Haman. There are instructions here
Easy to make finger paint that uses three ingredients (and one of them is water!)
I spent quite a while searching on line for ready made finger paints but was put off by some of the reviews. I really don’t want children breaking out in a rash because of allergies. The best thing about making something yourself is that you know what’s in the end product.
I found several recipes for home made finger paint and decided to try out the one from Rainy Day Mum partly because I had quite a lot of Corn flour (cornstarch) left over from making crown shapes.
It’s a fantastic recipe. Really quick to make and if you use a mug for the measurements there is a lot. I cooked my finger paints without any food colouring. Once I was happy with the consistency I split it between four bowls and added different colours.
Finger paint can be used on paper or card or on a plastic mat. You can encourage children to paint with it, make marks on paper and/or just enjoy the texture by mixing the colours on a plastic mat.
A fairly sturdy paper plate makes a good canvas.
You can also use these paints to add decoration to shapes and pictures. Here’s a crown made from Bicarbonate of Soda and Corn Flour dough with some finger paint decoration. You can see in the picture that home made finger paints add texture too!
You just need to be careful that the paint doesn’t get onto furniture or favourite clothes. If using in a toddler group let parents know beforehand so they can dress themselves and their toddler appropriately. Have some aprons for the children to wear and some baby wipes handy.
To store the finger paints use an air tight container. It will keep for a couple of weeks.
The People of God were in the wilderness. They had escaped from Egypt but were thirsty. They moaned! God told Moses to strike the rock and out came water. The story is from Exodus 17:1-7
W is for Water from the Rock – story idea
Have you ever felt hungry? God’s people had been hungry and so God had given them food to eat.
Have you ever felt thirsty? God’s people felt thirsty. But instead of asking God to help them find water they moaned and groaned! Why isn’t God helping us? they said to Moses.
Why are you moaning and groaning? Moses said
Then Moses asked for God’s help. What shall I do with all these moany and groany people?
God heard Moses. God helped Moses. God said, ‘Moses, take your staff and hit the rock’.
Moses did what God said. He lifted up his staff and struck the rock and out came water!
God gave the people water to drink. He looked after them.
God is able to look after you and me too.
Water from the Rock Craft Idea
A simple collage to make. Beforehand prepare the rock from brown paper, a sun, some blue paper strips for water and Moses (Pdf below). The children can build the scene.
The Wheels on the Bus is a well known and often sung song at Toddler Group so we made a fun craft to go with the song. The Bus can be decorated with collage materials and crayons. We added some fun face stickers too.
Some ideas for collage materials
Tissue paper squares (lots of colours)
Wool
Sugar paper cut up into different shapes
Bits of wrapping paper
Fabric (Cut into squares using pinking shears – it won’t fray)
Felt
Card shapes – often designed for card making, you might find some in charity shops
Petit four cases/Cup cake cases
You can decide if you want to use lots of different materials or just a few. It’s good for children to have some choice.
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
In the storybag – disciples, a boat, a cushion and the emoji face. There are lots of actions you could do during this story. Encourage everyone to join in.
To begin – I wonder if you have ever felt scared or frightened? – show the emoji face. One day Jesus’ friends were very scared. Let’s find out what happened…
Jesus and his friends got into the boat. ‘Lets go across the lake’, Jesus said.
They began to row. But Jesus wasn’t rowing. He was doing something else. He was sleeping.
Jesus’ friends kept rowing.
And then something started. Drip, drip, splash, splash. It was raining! Whoosh, whoosh! The wind was blowing! The boat was rocking. The boat was fillng up with water!! Oh no! They were in danger. And they were scared.
‘Wake up, Jesus!’ they said, ‘We are in danger and we are scared.’
Jesus knew they were scared. He cared about his friends.
‘Stop!’ Jesus said to the wind, the rain and the stormy waves. And they stopped. And everything was calm.
Jesus cares when we are scared. We can ask for his help.
Jesus calms the storm craft idea
All you need for the craft..
Background paper – Grey or white
Selection of blue paper waves
Boat shape
Lollipop stick for the mast
Triangles for sails
Crayons to colour rain
Glue
‘God knows when I am scared’ printed out
The labels are available for download. Either print on paper and cut out or print onto a sheet of labels.
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 feeding of the 5,000
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.
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 for Toddlers is ‘Jesus can forgive the wrong that people do’.
Man with four friends story bag ideas
To tell the story you need 5 puppets/dolls, a bed/mat and a model or picture of the house and a storybag.
The four friendsThe man on his matBible time house
The Man with Four Friends – story idea
Can you do some counting with me? Let’s see – use your fingers to count – 1,2,3,4! Today our Bible Story is all about the number 4. Listen to find out when to join in with some counting.
Our story begins in a house with a flat roof and some steps up the side. It had windows and a door. I wonder what could be happening in this house? We are not told who lived in this home, (show the house) but when Jesus arrived lots of people went to the house to meet him. They squashed themselves inside. There was hardly any room. The house was full!
In another part of town there was a man who couldn’t walk. He lay on his bed. (show the man on his bed) He needed the help of his friends everyday. Let’s count the friends together as they come out of the story bag – 1,2,3,4
His friends wanted him to see Jesus.
So, they picked him up and carried him to the house where Jesus was – carefully, carefully they carried their friend through the town to the house where Jesus was…
…they believed Jesus could help their friend.
When they arrived at the house they could not get in the front door because of the crowd. They didn’t give up!
They carried him up the outside stairs and onto the roof – slowly, slowly – carefully, carefully…
…they made a hole in the roof, then – slowly, slowly, carefully, carefully they lowered him down in front of Jesus!
When Jesus saw that they really believed he could help the man he said, “Your sins are forgiven.”
Some people in the house didn’t believe that Jesus could forgive the wrong people do. So, Jesus said to the man, “So that you can be sure that I can forgive sin, get up, pick up your mat and go home.” Straight away and really quickly he got up and walked home!
All the people in the house were amazed!!
We never saw anything like this! They said to one another.
Craft Idea – free download to colour and/or decorate with tissue paper
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 method
Put all the dry ingredients in a large microwavable bowl
Add oil
Add your food colouring to the cold water and mix till dissolved
Add the now coloured water to the mix and stir well
Microwave on high in two minute bursts – stir well after each two minutes.
Your playdough is ready when everything has come together to form a dough. Watch it closely as you cook it in the microwave and reduce the two minutes to one if necessary. Once out of the microwave kneed it for a minute or two – be careful as it will be hot!
Once cool wrap in cling film or put in a plastic container and store in a cool place.
Some ideas of what to do with playdough
Use toddler friendly cookie cutters to make shapes
Make multiple colours at once.
Use playdough in an Easter Garden. Take a look at this post all about Easter with toddlers.
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.
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 it. Young children like the familiar.
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 too.
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 to see if they really are makeable. Process is important but having a finished product that is a keepsake for parents is good too. Collect things that will come in useful – christmas cards, wrapping paper, leaves, cereal boxes, cardboard tubes, yarn, material, pictues for gardening catalogues. All sorts of lovely crafty stuff!
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 – Creation, animals in the Bible, people Jesus met. Note down a story (use the Bible reference) for each week. Add a craft idea and some songs. You can always adjust your plan but having an outline for the year relieves a lot of stress .
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 to put a simple story together. You don’t have to buy loads – just slowly start collecting resources that you find helpful.
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!
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 to..(name of puppet/doll taken from a storybag)’ or ‘One day there was…’
It’s better to get straight on with story rather than spend time on an ice breaker style question. Toddlers need a short, to the point story. So, just jump right in with the narrative.
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 shows us God’s care for his people.
Elisha and the widow’s oil Bible Story
Bible Truth for Toddlers – God cares about us
To tell the story to young children – you need a bottle of oil.
‘There was once a woman who had two sons. Sadly, her husband had died and she was in trouble. She owed some bad people money and she had no way of paying them back.
She went to see Elisha. He was God’s prophet. ‘I am in trouble. Can you help me?!’ she asked
What do you have at home? Elisha asked
I have one jar of oil. (Show the oil)
Elisha told her what she must do. ‘Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your neighbours. Then go home. Shut the door and start to pour the oil into the empty jars and then sell the oil and pay your debts’
What would the woman do? She started to borrow empty jars. She went to one home and then another and then another. Soon she had lots of empty jars.
Then she went home and closed the door.
Her sons helped her start to pour the oil into an empty jar. And something amazing happened. As they filled the empty jar the oil that they had started with didn’t run out. They filled another jar and still it didn’t run out. Soon all the jars were full of oil. And once they were all full the oil that they had started with stopped flowing.
Now oil is expensive and the woman was able to sell all this extra oil. She had enough money to pay her debts and money left over for her and her sons to live on.
Elisha was able to help because he was God’s prophet. God cared about this woman and her sons. God cares about you and me too.’
Craft ideas – free downloads
One idea is to colour/decorate jars of oil. The other is to add more jars of oil to the picture and then colour or decorate.
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
‘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
Yesterday I posted a Christmas Card Star idea. Today another idea using the same star wreath. This time you can paint the star or decorate with stickers and then use tissue paper for a stained glass effect.
I used paint markers to create the dots. As with all paint check that what you use is washable and have aprons or warn parents/carers that there will be paint! I bought Washable Dab and Dot Markers. They are for 3plus years but if you put the lids out of reach and keep a watchful eye they are ok. If you don’t feel 100% comfortable with using something in your group then don’t use it.
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….
God makes the worldAdam and Eve eat the fruitGod’s promise to Abraham
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 encouraged us to be confident about being church based and to share Bible Stories. In the afternoon there was a music workshop that everyone was able to attend.
Very importantly tea and coffee and great pastries kept me so well fed during the breaks that I didn’t really need my packed lunch!
The day was really well organised and I came away enthused about running a Toddler Group and encouraged.
Here’s a picture of the Christmas craft we made
Sunrise – best time of day to drive on the north circular!
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, some double sided tape, string and cellotape. The basic idea is that you gradually take pictures out of the book/envelope by pulling on the string that has pictures attached.
To make – print out pictures of the things you are thankful for. On one of the A3 sheets of paper secure the string. Then attach your printed pictures onto the length of string – make sure you space them well. Better to have loads of string rather than very small gaps between pictures. Leave a length of string to hang outside the book/envelope. Decorate your front cover. Then using double sided tape stick the A3 sheets of paper together on three sides only. I also used cellotape around three sides.
The person is meant to be me! I used large people shapes from Baker Ross. These are OK but a bit tricky to colour with crayons as they are shiny. The pictures were from the internet – food, a home and a family.
If I was doing this with over three’s I would get enough supplies for each child to make their own and then use the ‘book’ as a prayer help. Older children could select their own pictures or write. If doing the latter an A4 or A5 sized book would be fine.
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. In John 6 Philip is also mentioned by name but we kept to just Andrew as he bought the young boy with the lunch to Jesus. Sometimes too much detail can make a toddler group story too long. The paper plate lunch was also our crafty make – we did the craft before the story. The loaves and fish were cut from sugar paper. We weren’t strict about how much ‘lunch’ everyone had on their plate.
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 car boot enthusiast and found some great card making shapes just last week and some green tinsel. The latter is going to be cut up (it’ll be messy!!). These will also be used in the card making 🙂 Before toddler group I’ll spray the flower shapes with perfume. This makes for a lovely scratch n sniff card.
This year I have bought blank cards with envelopes from hobbycraft – they are pre-folded and colourful and I just fancied having an envelope too. A chance meeting with a friend, who was also in hobbycraft, and she agreed that paying extra for the envelopes was worth it!
Our bible story will be about Jochebed – Moses mum.
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.
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 🙂
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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.
perfume bottle craft
make a template
all you need for perfume bottle craft
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.
lavender, sage, thyme, lemon balm
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!
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 tent was a little too square – but you have to use what you have! Jonah is made from a Pringles carton – I saw that idea on Pinterest. It’s originally from this blog Preachmanswife.blogspot.co.uk
Story
Say hello to Jonah! Jonah was given a job to do. God told him to go and tell the people living in Ninevah that God loved them.
‘No, I won’t’ said jonah. ‘I don’t like the people who live in Ninevah’
so Jonah packed his bag and went the other way. He walked to the boat (make walking sounds by tapping hands on knees) and he bought a ticket and off he went.
Jonah was tired (yawn) so he went inside the boat and settled down for a sleep. (put hands on side of head as if sleeping)
Do you think God knew where Jonah was? God knows everything. He knew that Jonah was on the boat.
God sent a storm. the waves got bigger, the wind blew, the rain came down. The sailors were worried. ‘Someone has done something wrong’, they said ‘and God is angry.’
They went to wake Jonah up. ‘Wake up Jonah!’ (ask children to repeat this)
Jonah opened his eyes. ‘Oh dear’, he said ‘this is my fault. You must throw me into the sea.’
‘No!’ the sailors said.
But the storm got worse and in the end they had to throw Jonah into the sea. Splash!
The storm stopped.
Jonah sank down,down, down into the water. But God loved Jonah and he had somthing there to save him. A great big fish swam up and swallowed Jonah. He was safe. (Place Jonah inside the big fish)
Jonah knew he had done the wrong thing and he talked to God. ‘I am sorry’ he said.
Could God hear Jonah? Yes, God hears when we say sorry to him.
God sent the great big fish to the beach and it gave a big hiccup and out came Jonah. (take Jonah out of the big fish)
God said,’Jonah go and tell the people of Ninevah that I love them.’ This time Jonah did what God said.
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 with large leaves stapled around the top. It’s important that the brown construction paper is taller than the Pringles container by about 4cm so you have space to staple on the leaves. Also leave the lid on so that Zacchaeus doesn’t fall inside while you are telling the story! The leaves were made from construction paper and lightweight card in two contrasting greens.
You can slide Zacchaeus up the tree trunk by blue tacking him to a piece of brown construction paper that has been folded and wound round the tree trunk and stapled to make a circular collar for the tree. This should be tight enough to stay in place but slide smoothly. When Zacchaeus has climbed the tree take him off the brown slider/collar and blue tac him in the leaves.
The well known children’s song ‘Zacchaeus was a very little man (or very wee man) is great to sing. There are lots of versions on the web; some have music to sing along to and others also have animation.
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. Before you begin hide a sheep but unless you have a small group give the task of looking for it to a helper (who knows where to look!). If you have a very small group you could look together.
You could dress as a shepherd or take have a picture of a shepherd to show (we had a shepherd’s crook to show too). Ask the children what sort of animal a shepherd looks after and if they don’t know after one or two tries tell them – a shepherd looks after sheep. Ask them to make the sound a sheep makes. Explain that Jesus told a story about a shepherd who had 10 (100) sheep. He looked after them. At the end of the day he counted them. Have some sheep to count and count them altogether 1,2,,3,4,5,6,7,8,9…..Oh no one is missing! Where can he be? At this point pretend to look for the sheep and find him.
Explain that Jesus told the story to tell everyone that he has come to look for people – to help them to know and love God.
Sheep Craft Ideas
Pegs for legs sheep – print the sheep on to card and cut out for young children. They can decorate their sheep with yarn or cotton wool.Make sure an adult adds the legs.
Sheep collage – print on to paper and decorate with cotton wool or yarn and wax crayons.
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 – Moses’ who ‘climbed’ the mountain, a cloud and the fire and smoke were added during the story using marker pens. There was also some actions for the children and parents to join in with. Actions are a great way of involving everyone in the story in a manageable way. As you do the actions say the phrase you are acting out.
Telling the story
Just before the story we practiced the actions we would need during the story. Once the group is settled I explain that during the story there will be something for them to do. We practice the action about twice and then we begin the story. I encourage the parents to join in too.
As the children are very young don’t include all the details – for example I don’t mention the Israelites at the foot of the mountain. The basics are focused on – Moses, Mount Horeb (everyone repeats the name. It’s included because we are doing the letter ‘h’), the cloud, smoke and fire and the ‘Ten good rules to live by’.
Main teaching point – God speaks to us – through the Bible.
The actions referred to the Ten Commandments which I referred to as ‘Ten good rules to live by.’
Ten
good
rules (shaped like a book because they were written down)
to live by (Walk your fingers over your hand to illustrate people walking/living)
Moses on Mount Horeb
To finish the story explain that today God doesn’t speak to us on mountains but from the Bible (have a Bible to show)
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 tell the story – I had a small treasure chest hidden under a green cloth and a spade. I went digging in someone’s field (it is important to mention that it belonged to someone else) and found the treasure – was anyone looking? No! So I hid the treasure and went and got all my stuff to sell. For this I had a bag of my stuff – a picture of a house, a toy car, my phone, a laptop, chocolate biscuits, a shirt – all sorts of things – to show that everything was sold. Then I went back and bought the field and dug up the treasure which now belonged to me.
Main teaching – knowing God is more important than anything else.
Note – the story is a parable so I felt quite happy to add a few anachronisms.
Simple craft – A4 brown sugar paper folded in half. From the folded join draw a treasure chest shape and cut so you have a treasure chest that opens on the join. Write ‘Can you find the treasure? on the outside. Children glue ‘treasure’ inside. Make sure they are left to dry open or they will stick closed.
I used some small glittery shapes that could be sprinkled over the wet glue. Very effective, lots of fun and messy!
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 story series with lots of flexibility.
A long time ago there was just God. Then God began to make everything. And one of the things he made was the very first man. Let’s say hello to Adam (take a doll or similar that represents Adam from the story bag) . Adam’s name begins with ‘a’ the first letter of the alphabet.
Now Adam was given a special job to do by God – he was to care for the animals that God had made. What an important job!
Let’s meet some of the animals that he had to look after – take different toy animals from the story bag and name them and make their sounds (if possible!).
Just like Adam we should take care of the animal that God made.
craft idea
This craft concentrates on things beginning with ‘a’. Children can stick, colour and add tissue paper decoration.
Play Idea
Collect lots of items that begin with the letter a and place them on a play mat or table for the children to play with. Encourage lots of chat about what the items are called – a small prompt written on card can help for example ‘can you name all the different things?’
Note – if acorns are too small use a picture of acorns instead of the real thing.
Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.comPhoto by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.comPhoto by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.comPhoto by Jethro C. on Pexels.comPhoto by mali maeder on Pexels.comlettheirlightshine.com
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.
The story below is written for three’s and under. If you use it then you can add counting to three on your fingers and of course use a made up lion paper plate at the right time in the story.
Lion Craft
You will need –
1. Paper plates – turned over and resting on the rim
2. Yellow and orange tissue paper/ crepe paper squares
3. Yellow wool cut into 5cm lengths ( or thereabouts!)
4. Glue sticks
5. Black paper triangles
6. Black crayons (for the children to draw on the lion’s mouth and whiskers – or you may want to do this in advance)
7. Googly eyes – if working with under fives an adult MUST supervise the use of these. Don’t leave them on the table for children to use as they are a chocking hazard. Of course you don’t have to use them at all!
Daniel in the Lion’s Den Story
Bible reference Daniel 6
‘Daniel lived a long time ago. Every day he would talk to God, On Sunday he talked to God and on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Every day he went into his room and knelt down and talked to God. He talked to God in the morning, and at lunchtime and at night time. One , two , three times a day he talked to God. God loved to listen to Daniel talk to him. He heard everything that Daniel said.
But some people made trouble for Daniel. They went to the king and they got him to make a new rule that no one should pray to God.
Well, Daniel loved God and so that day he went home and he did what he always did – he knelt down to talk to God.
He was in BIG trouble. He was taken away from his house and put in a big pit in the ground and a stone was put over the top. It was dark. Daniel wasn’t on his own. Inside the pit there were lions! but God had sent an angel to keep the mouths of the lions shut. They could see Daniel and they could smell Daniel but they couldn’t hurt him.
God is very powerful. He is in charge. He kept Daniel safe.’
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 objects help to explain words and concepts.
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 picture are provided to add/match to the right part of the picture. for little children this is quite a tricky thing to do but mums/dads/carers usually help. Children can also colour the picture.
For the story? Come back later and find out!
Obviously this is the English alphabet – but as an idea you could adapt it to any language.
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 (I showed a picture of this) but he grew up and became a man. He visited lots of peoples homes but they were quite different to our homes today.
The model of a Bible Times house was hidden in a bag – I explained that we were going to hear lots of stories of the homes Jesus visited – and showed the model. I explained about the flat roof and the steps at the side.
Next week we begin the stories. With older children I would have gone on to tell a story right away.
To make the house – and I’m sure you could do better – I used a shoe box with a lid and covered it with brown paper. The steps were a bit tricky – I used corrugated card from some packaging and folded it concertina style.
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 verse 14
Hands can .. clap, wave, touch, catch
Thank you God for my hands
Tabitha used her hands to help others
Feet can … run, jump, walk, tip toe
Thank you God for my feet
Zacchaeus used his feet to run to see Jesus
Noses can.. rub, smell, breathe
Thank you God for my nose
Mary gave the special perfume to Jesus. It smelt beautiful.
Mouths can … shout, eat and drink, sing, speak
Thank you God for my mouth
Ears can listen to … whispers, shouts, songs
Thank you God for my ears
The children shouted ‘Hosanna’. Everyone heard.
Eyes can.. blink, see colours, close, open
Thank you God for my eyes
Jesus died. Then he came alive again. Lots of people saw him.
For the first 6 weeks we went through the parts of the body – so we just did hands can .. thank you God for my hands etc. The children were able to do the different actions.
Then for the next 5 weeks we reviewed/repeated what we had done but added a short bible story. We combined ears and mouths for a week as they fitted so well with the story of palm sunday. The children were able to shout Hosanna and everyone could hear them!
The pictures are just to give you an idea of what we did – they were more of a visul aid for the adults as we had actions for the children to do. I find it really helpful to have something visual to refer to just in case i forget what I’m meant to say!
Easter decorations – eggs and more eggs, some to decorate and some to eat!
It’s very straightforward to make salt dough eggs but you do need to do this ahead as the dough shapes need to dry out.
To make them you need to start with a salt dough. This is very easy. You need
2 cups plain flour,
I cup of salt
I cup of water (add this gradually as you may not need it all).
Kneed the dough on a floured surface and roll out to about 4mm thick. As you do this keep making sure it isn’t sticking to the work top. To make an egg shape I used a template and cut around it. You could also use an egg shaped biscuit cutter.
If you are making hanging decorations you need to make a hole for the thread about 1cm away from the edge. Then leave the shapes to dry. They will air dry, but it will take a long time (48 hours plus)
Alternatively, put them in a low oven, not more than 100C, for up to 4 hours. (They can burn so keep an eye on them). Once dry you can paint them as I did or leave them plain for children to decorate.
Roll out the salt dough
Use a template or cutter to make egg shapes
Cut out
Pierce a hole about 1cm away from the edge
Leave to dry out – the shapes should be solid after 48 hours.
Paint using poster paint
Decorate and add yarn to make a loop
Children of almost any age can decorate these simple egg shapes. We used them at toddler group with pre-schoolers, but they would be great for older children who would be able to do more intricate designs or pictures.
We used felt tips to decorate but you could also glue coloured paper on to them and add glitter! A covering of PVA glue at the end will add a shine – but as you can see in the pictures the colours may run a bit.
I loved this craft and my own children had a really good time using up the left over eggs later on at home.
Lots of chocolate eggs to give as Easter gifts
Our Easter Story in toddler group focused on the people who saw Jesus alive again. We reviewed what we had learnt about our eyes first and then the story was told about Jesus dying but coming back to life again.
Links to these stories and other ideas for celebrating Easter –
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 Luke 19:29-40, Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-10, John 12:12-15. In these accounts people shouted ‘Hosanna!’ and everyone heard. The story will be told simply and the children will be encouraged to shout ‘Hosanna’ in the appropiate places!
The above craft is palm leaf shapes for the children to decorate using chalk, felt tip and wax crayons. I prefer wax crayons rather than the plastic variety as they blend and make a better mark on the paper.
The word Hosanna means ‘Save please’ and also ‘Salvation has come.’ Take a look at what John Piper has to say about Hosanna!
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