Soap Scoop Chariot

This soap scoop chariot was used to tell the story of Moses and Crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 13:17:22).  This was Pharaoh's chariot. A brown one could be used to tell the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40).  I made one for each of the children to use to retell the story.  I used clothespin people to put inside.

Materials:
Laundry soap scoop
Gold poster board
Two brads
Gold spray paint

Instructions:

1. Spray paint the soap scoop gold.  Let dry.
2. Cut circles out of the poster board.
3. Poke a hole through the wheel and the soap scoop.
4. Insert the brad through the hole and open the ends so it will stick.
5. Add your own people to ride inside!

Flipchart from Border

I found this border at a local teacher supply place.  It makes a great little flipchart.  I just cut the pieces apart, glued them in groups on different pages, and used my label machine to make the words.  (You could just as easily type up the words, cut them out, and glue them on.)  It's a simple flipchart I use when teaching creation.  I like it because the people are of many different cultures and nationalities.

The same concept could be used if you find a border with animals on it.  You could make a small flipchart about Noah's ark and the animals that went on the ark.



Parking Your Car

Right before I tell the Bible story, I like to help the youngest children get focused by doing a few activities that I call "Pre-Class" activities.  These are generally the same every week because young children like routine.  This activity is one of their favorites.

This project was made from a shoe box. 

The inside of the shoebox is shown.

(See instructions below.)

 

When we are using this, I have a plastic bag full of small metal cars.  I let each child pick out a car they will drive to the church building that day. 

When each child has a car, we sing some songs such as the following:

The wheels on the car go round and round

Round and round, round and round

The wheels on the car go round and round

On the way to Bible class.

We sing many verses such as

The horn on the car goes beep, beep, beep...

The lights on the car go blink, blink, blink...

The people in the car go up and down...

The wipers on the car go swish, swish, swish,

and much more.

While we sing, the children "drive" their cars on the table.

After singing a few songs like that, each child is asked to "park" his/her car in the church parking lot so we can go in and learn about God.  Each child drives their car into a parking space, we put it away, and begin telling our Bible story for the day.  This is great for setting the mood!

Instructions for making the project:
1. Get any shoe box that has the lid attached.
2.  Open the shoe box and cut the edges off the lid but keep the lid attached.  See picture below.

3.  Turn the box around to where the open flap is sitting on the table like the top picture above (that has the cars on it). 
4.  Get scrapbook paper that looks like the outside of your church building.  The church building where I worship has bricks so I chose bricks. 
5.  Laminating the scrapbook paper will make your project last longer.
6.  Cover the outside of the shoe box with the scrapbook paper. I hotglued mine.
7.  Take a good picture of the outside of your church building.  Print in large enough to take up as much space inside the shoebox as possible.  (See 1st photo above.)  Laminate if possible.  Cover the empty space around the photo with leftover brick scrapbook paper.
8.  For the parking lot, I found a clipart that looked like a parking lot, blew it up printed out two pages, laminated them, and taped them together.  I typically just set the parking lot page on the lid of the shoe box while using it without attaching it.  I found it easier to store that way. (I store the bag of metal cars in the box as well.)
9.  Purchase some metal cars. 
10.  Enjoy!

Plexiglass Picture Frame Storytelling

This is a fun and creative way to tell a Bible story.  The story I was telling when I used this was the story about Jesus pulling the tax money from the fish.  Matthew 17:24-27

1.  Get a plexiglass picture fame (8 1/2 x 11 or larger).  I just happened to have this 11 x 14 one in the garage.
2.  Find a very simple coloring page that illustrates part of the story you are telling.  I found a picture of a hand holding a fish for this story.
3.  Trace that picture lightly with a pencil onto a white piece of printer paper.

This is a picture of the pencil drawing on the back of the page and the back of the photo frame.

4. Set that paper in the frame with the white page facing where you would normally see a photo. The picture you traced should be seen on the back only. (You can barely see the outline of mine except the tail of the fish which I will explain in a moment.) I had a small white mat that I added to the paper to tape my picture to so it would stay in place but you could just tape the top and the bottom to the frame as it is.

This is a picture of what you are drawing on the back while telling the story.

5.  Turn the frame so that the children only see the white side of the page.  As you tell the story, use a heavy, dark marker and trace over the outlines you have on the back of the page.  Hold it so that you can see the pencil lines but the children can't.  They should only see the white page. 

This is a picture of what the children are seeing.

6.  As you are drawing, the dark lines you are drawing begin to show up on the side that the children can see.  It's as if the picture is magically appearing.  Draw slowly while you are telling the story.  By the time the story is finished, the picture should be finished as well.

Ten Plagues

Ten Plagues

Exodus 7-12

I found this large bag of flies at one of those stores where all items cost $1.  When telling the story of the Ten Plagues, I put the plastic flies on the plate of snacks.  When it became snack time, I went to get the snacks and was dramatically grossed out and showed the children what happened! They were horrified at the sight.  We discussed how the Egyptians felt about the flies everywhere.  Then we pulled out another plate of snacks to eat without the flies all over it.  The first thing they told their parents when the parents picked them up was about the flies all over their food!  Made an impression on them.

Pharaoh from Party Blower

Pharoah

Exodus

This is a fun and easy way to make a Pharaoh.  Just let the kids draw a face on it with a marker.  When Pharaoh gets mad at Moses and "blows his top," have the children yell "No, I will not let your people go!" and blow on the party blower.

Jesus Changes Water to Wine

Jesus Changes Water to Wine

John 2:1-11

I found these neat color changing cups.  They come in white, blue, and orange at the place I saw them.  The neat thing about these cups is that they change colors with a change in temperature.  For example, the cup is white but when you add ice cold water, the cup changes to red. (Blue changes to purple and orange changes to red.)  If you pour the water out, the cup returns to room temperature and turns white again.  You can use this cup over and over!

When telling this Bible story, I show them that I have a container of plain water (must be very cold - you could have ice in it to keept it cold) and that there is nothing in the cup.  In the part of the story where Jesus turns the water to wine, I pour the ice cold water into the cup and the cup immediately begins to turn red.  The kids are amazed!  They always ask, "How did you do that?"  I never tell them the secret because they may have siblings who come to my class the next year.  I want to keep it a surprise for them as well.

Donkey/Horse from a Box

Balaam's Donkey or

Jesus' Triumphant Entry

I made this donkey from a regular cardboard box because I wanted one that the kids could ride.  Each child wanted more than one turn.  They wanted to do this story over and over!

• Get a rectangular cardboard box.
• Tape it shut all the way around.
• Cut a square in the top and the bottom of the box big enough for your age child to fit in.
• Make the head from one of the squares you cut out.
• Cut a slit in the front of the box and slide the head it.  (If you don't tape it or make it stick, you can take the head off for easy storage.)
• Put two pieces of string criss cross over the top hole.  Make it long enough to go over the child's shoulder.  Tie a knot on each end of the string inside the box.

I didn't have time to paint it or doll it up but the kids' didn't care.  They loved using their imaginations with it.  I used it first for Balaam's Donkey and then pulled it out again when we taught Jesus' Triumphant Entry.  We even made more for VBS for the teens to use in their skits.

10 Commandments on Your Hands

Ten Commandments

Exodus 20

To help the children memorize the ten commandments, we do them on our hands.  If you want to print out this page, click on the link below:

Ten Commandments on Your Fingers

Fun Foam Ravens

Elijah Fed by Ravens

I Kings 17:1-6

Fun Foam Raven Craft Instructions

Fun Foam Raven Craft

Instructions:

Cut out a raven from black fun foam.

Cut circles out where the fingers will go.

Let the kids glue or draw the eyes on.

When telling this story, I like to use oyster crackers.  I set up a cave using a table and some butcher paper folded up around it to look like rocks or a table with a blanket over it.  One of the children pretends to be Elijah and goes in the cave.  The other children are ravens. They pick up an oyster cracker in their "beak" and take it to Elijah who then gets to eat it!  This is repeated so that everyone has a turn to be Elijah.

Below is another way to make a fun foam raven used in telling the story the same way. This raven is made from 2 circles that are the same size cut out of fun foam. 

To make the wings and the tail, cut the circle like this.

After gluing on the wings and tail, cut one hole for the fingers to go in to be the beak and glue on eyes.

Abraham's Three Visitors

Abraham's Three Visitors

A friend and I have made several PowerPoints to use when telling different Bible stories.  The PowerPoints have only pictures and no words.  The words for the story come from the NIV translation of the Bible.  The scripture reference will be on the opening slide of each show.

When using these, I like to hook my laptop up to a projector and show the PowerPoint as lifesize figures on the wall.

Each time I post a PowerPoint for you to use, I will post a few sample pictures.  Click on the link below to find the actual PowerPoint as well as many other resources for you to download.

Abraham's Three Visitors PowerPoint

Jesus Calms the Storm Bathtub Toy

Jesus Calms the Storm

Mark 4:35 - 41

We made this craft for Bible class many months ago and the children are still playing with it and retelling this story at home.  It was a huge hit! 
The boats were made from Pringles Singles containers. The people and waves were made from fun foam.  I die cut the people using a Sizzix die but this could be done on a Cricut machine. I hot glued the waves on the boat ahead of time so it would be dry and they could put it in the water during class.  I let the children draw the faces. Then each child was able to use their set to help tell the story in a large tub of water.

On one side, the fun foam water is stormy and Peter is panicking.  His face is full of fear with his mouth open wide.  When you show this side of the "boat", Jesus is sleeping calmly. We blew on the water some and splashed a little water.  See picture above. 
When telling the part of the story where Jesus calmed the storm, turn the boat to the other side where the fun foam water is calm.  Turn Jesus over. He is awake and calming the storm. Turn Peter over and show his happy, smiling face. There is no more blowing on the water and no more splashing.  See picture below:



Jesus Calms the Storm Bathtub Toy Instructions

Paper Plate Puppet with Moveable Mouth

This is what the finished puppet looks like.  His mouth will open and close.

Materials:
Very sturdy paper plate
Fun foam (any color for hair and nose)
           Note:  When I let the older children make their own, they used construction paper for the hair, etc.  Some cut pieces, come tore the paper to make hair, etc.)

Googly eyes
2 paper brads
One medium sized rubber band
Empty paper towel roll (cover it with colored construction paper, fabric, or scrapbook paper to make clothes)
Glue
String or yarn (about 18 inches long)
Scissors

Directions:

• From fun foam, cut out hair, beard, eye brows, mustache, and nose.  I free handed it because I didn't have a pattern.
• Glue the hair, eyebrows, etc. on the bottom side of the plate (the side of the plate you do NOT eat from).  When gluing on the beard, do not glue the very middle part.  Leave that unglued so you can stick the white pull string through that area.
• Glue on googly eyes.
• To make the mouth, put one brad through the plate on each side under the mustache where the corners of the mouth would be.  Tie a string to one edge of the rubber band.  Stretch the rubber band around each of the brads to look like the top photo.  The string should be facing down.
• Place the string between the open area of the beard and the plate so that the string hangs out the bottom under the beard.
• Cut two small slits at the top of the paper towel roll (long enough that the plate will slide into them and not fall off too easily).  See below:

• Slide the string through the paper towel roll so that it hangs out the bottom so that it looks like the picture below.

• When you pull the string, the mouth with open like the picture below.  When you let go, the mouth will close.

Manna and Quail

Manna and Quail

Exodus 16

Numbers 11

I made these fun quail to help tell the story of the manna and quail God provided the Israelites while they were in the wilderness.  In Exodus the Bible says, "That evening quail came and covered the camp.."  In Numbers, the Bible says, "Now a wind went from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea.  It brought them down all around the camp to three feet above the ground, as far as a day's walk in any direction.  All that day and night and all the next day people went out and gathered quail."  Now that's a lot of quail!

When telling these stories, I give each child several quail.  They lay on the floor or crouch down low in a line at the edge of our carpet.  When I get to the part where the quail come running in, all the kids blow on their straws and lots of quail come flying in!  It is very exciting!  I give all the kids some more quail and they do it again.  When it comes to the part in the story where the people gather the quail, the children go and gather a few quail for their "family". 

Materials:

Paper for quail

A pattern or diecut for cutting out quail

Small piece of white paper

Scotch tape

Straw

Directions for Making the Quail:

• Cut out several quail for each person (I used an Ellison die cut but you can use a Cricut.) 
• Wrap the small piece of white paper loosely around the straw and tape the cylinder you just made.  (This is the most crucial part.  You want it to be loose enough that the straw will slide easily out of the paper but tight enough to keep some air in it.)  Fold over one end of the white paper and tape it shut.
• Tape the white piece of paper to the back of the straw with the closed end of the white piece of paper at the front of the quail (otherwise your quail will fly backward!).
• Insert the straw about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way into the white paper holder.  (If you push it too far, the quail will not fly.)
• Blow!  Watch the quail fly across the room!

Manna and Quail Instructions

I use the Ellison die cut for the quail.  However, the following website with clipart would also work as a pattern.

http://www.clker.com/clipart-quail-outline.html