If you are looking at the story of Jesus calling the disciples, here is a short stop motion video to help. Click here to go to the Youtube link for the video.
Here are some other ideas for exploring the story:
Tag: Stories
Easter Story Play Dough Faces
Here is a really easy but very hands on craft to help children to explore the various characters and events of the Easter story (though you can, of course, use it for any Bible story!)
You will need: Bowls (I used plastic Ikea ones), play dough
After reading the story, get children to talk about the characters and events they liked and didn’t like. Which people and events struck them the most?
Give each child a bowl and some play dough. Using the bowl as a head, ask them to make the face of one of the characters from the story. Try to make expressions such as anger, sadness joy.
When everyone has made a face, ask children to try and guess who each one is!
The Parable of the Pearl Lesson
When you have a range of ages in a children’s group, it’s great to provide a range of activities that are more open-ended that children can choose from. This means that children are more likely to find something they can get on and do independently and to their own level! Here is a session we used this month with a group of children ranging in age from 2-12.
First we organised a hunt for coloured paper squares which we had hidden around the room. Children worked in small teams to find specific colours.
Next, we told the parable of the pearl. I used my Godly play set, but a version from a children’s Bible or a video of the story would work just as well.
Children could then choose from a range of related activities that helped them to explore the story themes of ‘treasure’, searching for something precious and what the kingdom of God would be like…
- Making pearl ‘treasure’ biscuits. Click here for the link to show you how.
- Drawing a picture of the story
- Using play dough to make a scene from the story or to make a ‘treasure’
- Using a range of collage materials to make ‘treasure’
- searching in moon sand for ‘treasure’ (glittery foam shapes, buttons, pom poms)
As the children created, we used the time to talk to them about heaven, treasure, what it must be like to give up everything for something incredibly precious and what they would have done if they had been in the story. We had some fascinating conversations!
Using Bible Stories in Toddler Groups
Running toddler groups in church can be a great way of building relationships with the local community as well as providing a place of support, care and fun for families. It’s also a great opportunity to gently let the story of Jesus be known in what we do, who we are and the hospitality we provide. You are likely to have some books for the children to read with their parents and it’s a good idea to include amongst them some really good quality Bible stories. Here are some recommendations:
Christmas and Easter are wonderful opportunities to tell the stories themselves and this is a great version for reading aloud:
Who knows what conversations might arise from the questions children ask their parents! Happy reading 🙂
The Well Creative Children's ministry 