Lazarus

Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead

John 11:1-44

For this craft, I wrapped a toilet paper roll with medical gauze and glued the end down.  I wrapped all around the toilet paper roll and covered the bottom of it.  I left the top part of the roll open with no gauze. This makes it possible to slide Lazarus in the tube without having him fall out the bottom.

I purchased a wooden clothespin from a local craft store to be Lazarus.  The kids put Lazarus in the "linen" clothing by placing him inside the toilet paper roll.  When he was raised from the dead and his "linen" removed, they took him out of the toilet paper roll.

Jacob's Ladder Kid's Meal Toy

Genesis 28:10 - 22

Jacob's Ladder

This teaching tool is one of the tools that I call "used-to-be".  The ladder on the right used to be a toy from a kids' meal lunch and looked like the ladder on the left. It used to be a Sponge Bob Square Pants toy.  The neat thing about this toy is that the ladder comes apart.  I spray painted the right one gold and added the gold angels by hanging them with fishing line and put the ladder back together. (The angels were purchased at a craft store at Christmas).

So every time you go out to eat, look at the kids' meal toy and see if you need to purchase one, turn it a "used-to-be" and make it into a neat Bible class teaching tool!

Ten Plagues Frogs

Exodus 8

I found these frogs at a dollar type store this weekend in the party favor section.  These frogs are as big as the palm of my hand.  I bought several packages.  I plan to give each child several frogs when we talk about the plague of frogs and they can send frogs hopping everywhere!  Just push down on the piece that looks like a tail and they hop.

Creation Chicken

Creation Story

Genesis 1

When we were learning about the animals God created, we let the kids help make one of these noisy chickens.  To make this you will need the following materials:

a plastic cup

red felt

yellow felt

cotton string

googly eyes

a small piece of a kitchen sponge

Get your cup and poke a small hole in the bottom.  Put one end of the string through the hole and tie a large knot on the end that is on the outside of the cup.  Pull the string until it is almost tight, but don't pull the knot through the hole.  Put a piece of duck tape or clear packing tape over the knot and  string on the outside of the bottom of the cup to hold it in place.

Turn the cup over to look like the top picture.  Cut out the red felt for the comb of the chicken and the yellow felt for the beak. (I just cut a diamond shape and folded it in half for the beak.) Glue those pieces on, then glue on the googly eyes.  Let it dry. 

When it is dry, get your tiny sponge piece wet and squeeze out any extra water.  Fold the sponge in half.  Place the string in the middle of the folded sponge. (If this were a sandwich, the sponge would be the bread and the string would be the meat.) Put the sponge as far inside the cup as you can reach while still holding onto the sponge and the string like the second picture.

Third picture - the noise!  Hold onto the top of the cup.  Squeeze the sponge while pulling it with a jerking motion down the string (Don't squeeze too hard or you will put the string out of the cup!).  If you do this right, it will sound like a chicken!  The kids had a blast making these work! 

Hint:  If you are not getting the right sound, check to make sure you are holding the sponge tightly enough around the string, and that the sponge is damp enough.  If the sponge is too dry, it won't work. 

Baptism of Jesus

Luke 3:21-22

For the story of the Baptism of Jesus, I painted this glow in the dark picture.

I purchased an off white flat twin sheet and cut it into fourths.  This picture is painted on one fourth.  I used a coloring book page as the pattern.  Then I painted the scene with acrylic paint.  I used fabric markers for the outline of Jesus' clothes and the water.  Above Jesus' head is a dove painted in glow in the dark acrylic paint.  I heat set the paint after it was dry by putting the finished sheet in the dryer.

I  turned off the lights and the dove glowed in the dark.  You could also use a blacklight to get a similar effect.

Samuel

I Samuel 3:10

We made these "serving rags" when we studied the story about Samuel being called by God.

We used permanent acrylic paint for the handprints (put a paint shirt on over the kids clothes) and permanent fabric markers for their name and scripture.

The children took the rags home to use them to serve people in their family however they could - dusting, washing, etc.

Ruth Gathers Wheat

Ruth

In Bible class today, we acted out the story of Ruth.  Before class, I had made a bunch of wheat bundles like in the bottom picture.  I got tan colored butcher paper and shredded it in a shredding machine.  Then I grabbed a handful, made a cluster, and tied it with a string.  Then I cut the tops and the bottoms to be semi equal.  These stand up pretty easily.

Before the kids came into class, I set out the bundles all over the carpet like in the top picture.  I made sure there were extra pieces tiny pieces of "wheat" by shaking the bundles and letting small pieces fall out.

When telling the story, some kids were harvesters and picked up the larger bushels of wheat.  Then some kids pretended to be Ruth and picked up the leftovers to take to Naomi.  I had little paper baskets for them to collect their grain in.  I let them give their grain to Naomi by emptying their baskets.

For a take home, I gave each child a large piece of Shredded Wheat cereal on a plate.  I made sure each child got plenty of crumbs.  I let the children pretend to be harvesters and put their large bundle of wheat in their paper basket.  Then they had to use their fingers to collect the rest of the grain to put in their basket for Ruth. That took some time and was not as easy as they thought it would be.  We discussed how gathering leftovers might have been difficult for Ruth too.

These four year olds really enjoyed this lesson.



Samuel Gets a New Coat

I Samuel 2:18-21

When I teach the story of Hannah bringing Samuel a new coat each year, I make one of these per child so the child can help tell the story.  I cut out the boy, the hair, and the clothes using a Sizzix die cut machine.  (Hint: if you put a piece of paper under the felt before cutting it out, it makes a cleaner and easier cut.) 

The child gets to put on a new coat each time Hannah brings one.  Then the children take theirs home and retell the story to others.   The preschoolers think this is incredibly fun!

David and Goliath Story Pieces

David the Shepherd with this sheep

The bear David killed.

The lion David killed.

King Saul

David wearing King Saul's armor that is way too big

David and Goliath (Goliath has a removable head)

I Samuel 17

To make this, a friend and I used the Cricut machine and various cartridges.  To add color and details to the animals, we used soft pastel chalks.  Most of the paper was scrapbook paper.  The silver armor and Goliath's gold armor were made from thin posterboard.  When I tell the story, I use a fabric slingshot and some small pom poms as rocks.

I just purchase the New Testament cartridge!  Can't wait to start creating more!

Fiery Furnace Blacklight

Daniel 3

For this blacklight scene, I used one flat twin bed sheet (off white). I used a simple coloring book page as a pattern.  I made it larger using a transparency and an overhead projector. I used acrylic paint to paint the men and the fire.  I used glow in the dark acrylic paint for the angel.

This visual works well as a glow in the dark visual or a blacklight visual.  If you want to use it as a glow in the dark visual, you need to open the sheet and lay it so that the paint gets charged by sitting under a light (sunlight or flourescent light) for several hours.  If you want the glow in the dark effect, only the angel will appear when you turn off the lights.

I prefer using a blacklight because then you can see the three friends and the angel as well.  If I were doing this again, I would draw turbans on the men since the Bible says they had turbans on.

Handwriting on the Wall Blacklight

Daniel 5

To make this type of scene, I purchased a cheap off white or cream colored flat bed sheet.  I cut the sheet into fourths.  This is painted on one of those fourths.  I found a simple coloring book picture of the scene that I wanted and made it larger using a transparency and overhead projector.  (The more detailed the picture, the more challenging this type of project will be.  Keep it simple!)

Top picture: 

My daughter and I painted the scene with acrylic paints.  We painted the handwriting with glow in the dark acrylic paint.  When complete, we heat set the picture in the dryer. In person, it's very hard to see the yellow in the middle but the camera picked up more than I thought it would.

Bottom picture: 

At the appropriate part of the story, we turned off the lights and turned on a blacklight.  (Blacklights are easier to find at Halloween but several home improvement stores carry them year round.)  To do this without a blacklight, set the picture out in the open so it can get light - sunlight or flourescent light.  This will allow the glow in the dark paint to "charge".  When ready to use, just turn off the lights and it will glow! 



Daniel and Lions KIds Meal Toys

Daniel 6

I made this scene to tell the story of Daniel and the Lions Den.  To make the background, I bought a small, tabletop trifold (similar to those people use for science fair projects but smaller).  I then laminated scrapbook paper which looks like rocks and taped the paper to the trifold.  (I taped it because I use that same trifold for several different scenes.)  I put one piece of laminated scrapbook paper on the table and set up the scene around it.  The smaller lions came from kids' meals.  The larger lions were toys from the Chronicles of Narnia movies.  The mouths open (top picture)  when Daniel is about to enter and close when the angel closes them(bottom picture).  For the angel, I use a Ken type doll covered in white fabric.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

Matthew 14:13 -21



Here's a cute necklace I made for the story of Jesus Feeding the Five Thousand.

Materials:



White lanyard (string)
7 blue pony beads
5 brown oblong beads
2 fun foam fish

The kids had a great time making these!  When they were finished, they wore them and were excited to tell the story to anyone who would look at their necklace and listen.

Armor of God

A sweet friend taught me how to make this Armor of God using a Cricut Machine!  This was fun.  Wait til you see what we made next!