Handwriting on the Wall Craft

Handwriting on the Wall

Daniel 5

For this craft, I printed the page with the picture of the king and the wall. Then I put a page (which contains the words Mene Mene Tekel Parsin) under the first page so I can use it as a pattern.  Using a white crayon, write the words "MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN" in the box.  Make sure you press really hard. 

I tell the story until I get to verse 5.  Before reading verse 5 (the hand appears and writes on the wall), I tell the children that I forgot to put color on their pages and I need help finishing that part.  I tell the children that they need to first paint the wall (the rectangle) and that we will paint the king later.  As they watercolor paint the wall, letters and words begin to appear! After they have finished, we finish reading and telling the rest of the Bible story. 

For the younger preschool children, I used Elmer's White Glue and traced the letters using glue on the page that has MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN on it. I let it dry. I make one page like that for every child.  

I give the children a page with the words and then lay the picture on top. They use crayons to color the wall.  As they color the wall, the words will magically appear.  (Like a penny rubbing.)

Click on photo to get the pattern.

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Spoon Lion

Daniel and the Lion's Den

Daniel 6

The children made these lions from plastic spoons.  I had pre-cut the yarn. The children drew a lion face on the back of their spoons with permanent markers. (Obviously, my teen helper drew this face as a sample.)  The children then turned the spoons over and put a lot of glue on the spoon.  Then they put the yarn in the glue.  We made these at the beginning of class so they would be mostly dry by the end of class.

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Telling Lies - Ananias and Sapphira

Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5:1-11

As an application story for Ananias and Sapphira, we spent time discussing telling the truth and telling lies. Sometimes we tell "little white lies" to cover up something so we won't get into trouble.  But then we find we have to tell another lie to cover up that one, then a bigger lie to cover up that one, then a bigger lie, and so on.

When we were discussing this, I had a large tan paper (card stock) pocket in my hand.  When I told them about the little white lies, I pulled out the little bitty snake. (They could not see the other snakes.) I told them that when they tell lies, it's like this little snake was in their own pants pocket.  It might bite but it wouldn't hurt much.  Then as the lies got bigger, so did the snakes. Each time the snakes got bigger, the children got more and more worried. I told them that if the larger snake bites, it hurts worse and worse.  When we got to the largest snake, their eyes opened wide.  

Telling little lies often grows into bigger and bigger lies.  Even telling a little lie is bad.  It's like having a little snake in your pocket.  The best thing to do is to tell the truth even if it means you will get into trouble.  God always wants us to tell the truth.

The snakes are all connected with fishing line.  The fishing line is taped to the back of each snake.  There is about 6-8 inches between each snake so when one snake is pulled out of the pocket, the next larger snake cannot be seen.

I let each of the children make one of these to take home.  Instead of fishing line for them, I let them use a thin string. (Fishing line curls up too much and made it too difficult for the children to make by themselves.) 

For my snakes, I did not find a pattern nor did I have a die cut; but since I had 30 children in the class, I had to find a machine to cut them all out.  I actually used a pattern of a lion's tail on a Cricut die cut cartridge (Paper Doll Dress Up).  I cut 5 different sizes of the tail.  I cut the snakes out of creme colored card stock. The children colored each one to look like a snake and then taped them to the string.  They created the pocket for the snakes out of two half pieces of construction paper. 

When this step was complete, the children glued the application story on the pocket so they could retell the application story at home.

Feel free to print the snake pattern. 

The story to glue on the pocket can be printed as well.

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Ananias and Sapphira - God Knows What's in Your Heart

Ananias and Sapphira

Acts 5:1-11

When teaching the story of Ananias and Sapphira, I depended on assistance from my teenage daughter.  We acted out a small application story.  I would ask her questions.  Her answers would not be in line with her actual feelings. For example, while I was pretending not to listen, she told the kids how mad she was with her friend because the friend.  I came over to her and asked how things were going.  She would say they were going well.  I told her that God knows what is really in her heart.  I told her there was anger in her heart. She would open up the Valentine heart and a picture of an angry face with the word "anger" was inside.  We then discussed how she could forgive her friend and change what is inside her heart.

While I was talking with the kids a little about forgiveness, my daughter changed the picture and words inside the heart.  We performed several scenarios like this one.  One of them was a lie, one was sad, one was love.

God always knows what is inside our hearts even if our words spoken to people do not match what is actually inside our hearts.  Ananias and Sapphira said one thing to the people but God knew exactly what was in their hearts.

I was given this Dove Candy Valentine container (with candy inside!) for Valentine's from a child.  I saved the container hoping to use it for something like this.  It worked very well. Any Valentine's candy box would work.

I put tape on the back of the pictures ahead of time so my daughter could change the pictures out quickly.

Grab a copy of the script.

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Zechariah and the Angel Magic Window

 This picture is of Zechariah in the temple.

When you pull on the right edge of the top picture, Zechariah slides out of the frame and an angel "magically" appears.

Zechariah and the Angel
Luke 1:5 - 25

I use the black light sheet in the section below when telling the Bible story.  The children make one of these to take home so they can retell the story. 

Instructions for making a magic window

Pattern for Zechariah and the Angel magic window

Video on how a magic window works

Other Magic Windows

Fiery Furnace Magic Window
Abraham Offers Isaac Magic Window
Jesus' Resurrection Magic Window
Daniel and the Lion's Den Magic Window
Large Aaron's Rod Magic Window
Ten Bridesmaids Magic Window
Aaron's Rod Magic Window

The magic window pattern was made with clip art from the book Bible Story Clip and Copy Patterns by Corbin Hillam.  This is one of my favorite books to use as patterns for many, many things!  This precious book is no longer in print, so Mr. Hillam has graciously allowed me to give you the pattern for free.  He is producing a CD with the art from this book.  The drawings are fantastic!  If you would like to purchase a CD for $15, you can contact him at corbinhillam@yahoo.com.  It is well worth the money!  Other items by him can be seen at www.corbinhillamdesign.weebly.com.

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Zechariah and the Angel Glow in the Dark Sheet

 (lights on)

(lights off)

Zechariah and the Angel

Luke 1:5-25

I found a coloring page for the pattern for this project.  I purchased a creme colored bed sheet and cut it into fourths.  This is painted on one fourth of that sheet.

I drew Zechariah with a permanent marker.  I painted the angel with Glow in the Dark paint.  It shows up in the top picture because of the way I took the picture.  When it is hanging up on the wall, the children cannot see the angel.

When I turn on the blacklight or turn off the lights, the angel suddenly appears.

After telling the story, I let the children make a magic window where at first you see only Zacharias and then, after pulling a tab, the angel magically appears.  They can take it home and retell the story.

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Repentance Activity

Repentance Activity

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

Matthew 3:1-12

Finding activities to go along with the story of John the Baptist can be rather tricky.  When creating this activity, I had in mind children who like to move around and not sit still or children who have been sitting all day in school.  

For this activity, you will need one set of the red, purple, orange, blue or yellow cards per team and one copy of the green cards.  The green cards have words that would show behavior of a person who has repented. The other colored cards show negative behaviors.

Tape or pin the green cards to the wall in different places around the room in a random order.  Give each team a set of colored cards (red, orange, etc.).  Have each team go around the room and find the repentant behavior card to match their card.  (I paired my struggling readers with my strong readers so they could help each other.)  

Have the children use an erasable marker to write the number of the green card on the back of their card.  For example, if their first card is “lies”, then they must find the green card that says “tells the truth”.  Because there is a number 3 on the card that says "tells the truth", the children would write the number 3 on their card that says “lies”.  (This way the other groups don’t see what they have chosen.)

When the groups have finished, come back together and discuss their findings.

The children have enjoyed moving around the room and working in partners on this activity.  

For instructions and printable cards, click on photo.

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