Jesus' Baptism

Baptism of Jesus

Matthew 3:13-17

Mark 1:9-13

Luke 3:21-23

This is a PowerPoint that tells the story of Jesus' Baptism.  There are no words on it because I like to have the Bible open to tell the story and use this for the pictures.

Jesus' Baptism PowerPoint

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Hubcap Shield

Hubcap Shield

A friend showed me how to make these.  Just find a hubcap on the side of the road.  (Be very careful about stopping to pick it up with traffic coming.) I actually found a set of four for $1 at a garage sale. On the back I attached a plastic strip with holes in it using screws.  I had to mark the spot on the front and drill holes before attaching it with screws.  I used short screws and nuts that would be level with the screws to avoid the children getting scratched.

This is really cute when telling the story of David and Goliath to little ones.  The shield can be way too big for them.   

The shield can also be used when telling the story of Moses and the Amalekites, Elisha's Army, the Armor of God, Gideon and many other battle stories. 

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Follow the Star

The Wise Men Followed the Star

Matthew 2:2-12

Materials:

Small Flashlight

Piece of black paper with a star cut out of the center (smaller than the diameter of the flashlight)

model of a Bible times house (or picture of one)

When telling this story, I like to turn off the lights and have this star shining on the wall.  I bring the children over to the wall to look up at it.  Then I have it move over and we move over.  Then I move it some more and they move some more.  Pretty soon we are following this star around the room.  Then I tell the story of Jesus birth as we slowly follow the star.  I tell them about the Wise Men.  When we get to verse 11 where the Wise Men arrived at the house, I have the star stop above a model of a Bible times house.  Then I shine the flashlight inside the house so they can see Jesus and his mother.

I have done this with children as young as 18 months old.  My helpers were afraid the children would be scared of the dark but instead they were very excited to see the star and even more excited to follow it.  To get them to sit back down, they had to follow the star again.  When it landed on their chair, I asked them to sit on the star which they did happily!

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Egyptian Costumes

This Egyptian headband and bracelet were used for VBS which focused on Moses and the Exodus.  The headband was made from a long strip of blue fun foam with strips of glitter gold sticky backed fun foam attached.  We punched a hole in each end of the blue fun foam and put a piece of yarn through the holes to tie it closed in the back.  This makes the headbands adjustable to whatever size you need.

The bracelets were made from the glitter gold fun foam.  A flat backed blue bead was hot glued onto the middle of the bracelet.Velcro was hot glued on each end (one piece glued on top on the right, the other piece glued on the bottom on the left).  That makes the bracelet easy to get on and off.
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What's in Your Heart?

Valentine's is a good time to look for gift sacks or other bags or boxes that are similar to this one.  I like this one because you can look through the heart and see what's inside.  

Application (Luke 6:45 - "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.")

Materials:

See through heart bag

Trash

Paper Hearts

Pretty items

 

Show the children this beautiful gift sack and talk about how pretty it is.  Then take the trash and put it inside the sack one piece at a time.  Talk about each piece of trash as if it were a specific sin.  "This coke can is like watching bad things on TV."  "This wadded up piece of paper is like listening to gossip."  "This piece of trash is like looking at bad things on the internet." "This piece of trash is like listening to music with bad words or bad messages." etc.  Fill up the bag with trash.  Now discuss how the bag looks.  It was beautiful but now it is full of trash.  When other people see this bag, what will they see?  What you store in your heart is what comes out of your heart (or your mouth).

Now give each child a paper heart.  Have them write a good action on it and put it inside the bag.  They could write "being nice to friends," "reading the Bible," "talking nice about others," "listening to Christian music," etc.Now look at the bag.  It was beautiful and now it is full of beautiful thoughts and looks really nice.  When other people see this bag, what do they see?  What you store in your heart is what comes out of your heart (or your mouth).

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Prayer Cards and Duck Tape Pocket

This is a set of prayer cards I made for children to use to help with their daily prayers.  Each day, pull out one card, read the scripture at the bottom of the page, and then pray for the item listed at the top of the page.  For example, the topic might be "Forgive Others".  The child would then pray for themselves to forgive someone who has hurt their feeling today or recently. They could extend that prayer to ask for forgiveness for hurting another child's feeling or for forgiveness for sins. After the child is finished praying, have him/her place the card in the back of the pocket so they can pick a new card tomorrow.

I recently printed these cards and had the children make the duck tape pockets when teaching the Bible story of the Persistent Widow (Luke 18:1-8). The girls made the purple and splatter paint pockets while the boys made the camo and silver pockets. The children absolutely loved making the duck tape pockets!  They have been using the prayer cards every night since we made them.

Printable Prayer Cards
For instructions to make the duck tape pockets, click on the links below:
Page 1
Page 2

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