DIY Nativity Story Spoons (print and colour in!)

I try to buy or make a new nativity scene every year and this year I decided to have go at making some story spoons. These can either be displayed or used to retell the story and are a good size to be held by little hands!

You will need: 10 wooden spoons (you can buy some quite cheaply for crafts), a copy of the print out, colouring pens and pencils, scissors, glue or sellotape.

Print out the story spoons sheet and get children to colour in the character pictures.

Cut the pictures out and glue or tape each of them to the back of a wooden spoon. I used sellotape so that I can remove the pictures easily and make a different story.

Tell the story using the spoons as props!

Chalkboard story spoons for Bible storytelling

Using wooden spoons painted as story characters is a great way of helping to tell stories to younger children. Unfortunately, it means that you need a lot of spoons if you want to tell lots of different stories! It struck me that a little bit of left over chalk board paint might solve that problem...

I painted some craft spoons with  couple of coats of paint on both sides. I then got the chalks out and drew on some pictures to help tell a Bible story.  The great thing about spoons is that they are double sided, so if you want to tell a story like Jesus calming the storm, you can put storm on one side and sun on the other.

Children could make their own drawings to retell a story and the best part is that, when you have finished, you can wipe them clean and use them again for a different story!  

Enjoy some story telling and do post any photos of your creations :-)

6 Easy and Creative ways to respond to Bible Stories

It can be really amazing when children have the opportunity to respond to Bible stories in completely their own way, without the structure of planned crafts and questions.  I have always been blown away by the depth of what even the youngest children come up with!  Here are some easy ways to help children tell you exactly what they think and feel about a story...

1. Speech and thought bubbles

Laminate A4 or A3 speech and thought bubbles and let children write or draw what their favourite characters from the story might be thinking or saying at given points.  Use dry wipe markers for continued use and sellotape a pencil on the back so that children can hold them up to their mouths or heads and pretend to be the character!

2. Feelings cards

Think about how characters in the story might feel about events and/ or what the events of the story make the children feel.  Click here to print off the cards.  I have cut, laminated and punched holes in them to make individual feelings fans!

3. Retell the story with figures

Use dolls, wooden pegs or print off and colour in your own.  Click here to print out some figures.

4. Play dough or play dough mats

Ask children to recreate scenes using play dough.  Click here to print off play dough mats that may also help with responses to certain Bible stories.

5. Loose parts

Read here about how to use loose parts to help children respond.  I love this!

6. Junk box models

Provide a box of collage/ recycling materials and get children to make a model or something from the story that stuck out for them the most.

Zacchaeus: Marshmallow and Spaghetti Tree building Challenge

If you want to offer an absorbing and challenging way for children to explore the story of Zacchaeus, then look no further.  This is a great way of helping them to think about the determination of Zacchaeus to see Jesus, because it will take some determination to complete the task!!

You will need: Dried spaghetti, mini marshmallows and a plastic Easter Egg

Challenge the children to build a 'tree' with the spaghetti and marshmallows, that will support and hold a plastic Easter egg (real eggs are way too heavy for what they are likely to build!)

Talk about:

How easy was it to build the tree?

What difficulties did you encounter?

What difficulties do you think Zacchaeus encountered in the story?

What lengths would you go to to see one of your heroes?

What lengths do others go to in order to be Christians?- think about the persecuted church

When do you sometimes have to be determined?

Do you ever have to use your determination in order to live as a Christian and to get to know Jesus better?

Pray:

Pray that weather people will have the determination to get to know Jesus better, even when it's hard. Draw or write prayers on a slip of paper and put them inside the plastic egg.  Put the egg back on top of the 'tree' and give your prayers to God

Open-ended Bible Story Response: Making Pictures

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Hand in Hand Conference in Eastbourne and really enjoyed helping to lead the 'Hands On' stream with Victoria from GodVenture.  We really wanted to give leaders lots of ideas to help children explore and experiment with their responses to Bible stories and in prayer.  What better way to do that then to get the leaders exploring and experimenting for themselves?!

This was one of my favourite activities set up by Victoria and is such an easy but effective way of helping children to respond to Bible stories with freedom.

You will need: Old picture frames, 'bits and pieces' e.g. lolly sticks, match sticks, leaves, glass pebbles, stones, pine cones, ribbons, an old sheet (optional)

Lay out the empty picture frames on the sheet and arrange your different objects and pieces into open containers.

Tell a Bible story and then ask the children to use the objects to make their own picture response either inside or outside a frame.  Leave time at the end for the children to explain their pictures and be ready to be amazed!

These pictures are examples by children's leaders at the conference as they explored the story of Jacob's ladder.

If you give this a go, please do post some of your pictures on our Facebook page!

Jacob's Ladder Hidden Picture Story and Painting.

One of the key themes in the story of Jacob's ladder is that of God's presence with us, even though we can't see Him.  Jacob lies down to dream and wakes to realise that where he was, God was all along.  This activity explores that theme.

I did this to tell the story to the children.  After you have told them the story, they can make their own hidden picture paintings, exploring where God is with them in their everyday lives.

You will need: White wax crayons, white paper, watered down paint, paintbrushes, 

I used a flipchart sized piece of paper for the story telling so that all the children could clearly see what was happening ( I did this in an assembly!).  Use whatever size of paper is most suitable for your group.

 Use the wax crayons to draw a ladder and some angels on the paper.  At the top of the paper write 'God is here!'

Tell the story to the children and gradually reveal the ladder and the angels by painting over the top with the coloured paint.  The wax will resist the paint and you will see the drawings!  Reveal the writing and talk about the fact that God was there with Jacob even though he didn't realise it until he had the dream, and God is with us all of the time too- even if we can't see him (just like the drawings were there even though we couldn't see them at first).  Use this to discuss times when God was there for us unexpectedly. 

Advent Journey Game: Print and Play

So now we are into November it officially time to start planning Advent: less than a  month to go before Advent Sunday!

Here is a game to get you in the mood and to help children to get involved in the Advent story.  Either play the game then tell the story and see which of the key events the children recognise, or vice versa.  

You will need: A print out of the game per group, counters or buttons to use as counters, dice.

Click here to print the game.

Happy playing!

Creative Storytelling: Freestanding Bible Characters to Colour and Make

Sometimes it's nice to have a few portable figures to tell a Bible story with and then to help the children to retell the story.  Here's an easy way to make some figures that stand up by themselves, can be a easily stored and can even be coloured by the children.

Click here to print out the colour in character sheet.

 Next bend some paperclips as shown below.  These will be your 'stands'

Get the children to colour in the characters and then cut them out.  Laminate them if you want repeated use without too much damage!

Sellotape a paperclip 'stand' to the back of each character as shown in the picture.

 Now stand your characters up and tell a story!

Joshua and the Walls of Jericho 4 Card Story

This is a storytelling idea that is easy, portable and flexible for many stories.

You will need: 4 Card strips (judge size depending on how close the children are going to be and how big the group is.  You will probably need bigger strips for a bigger group, but expriment with what works best for you!), paper fasteners (split pins), something to make a hole with.

Make a hole in the end of each piece of card and join the pieces with split pins so that it looks as shown.  You now have your storytelling equipment!

This is how you might use the strips to tell the story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho.

The walls of Jericho were closed to God's people.  No one could get in or get out.

The walls were very tall so no one could climb them either!

God told Joshua that there was no need to worry.  He would give the city to Joshua and the Israelites if they trusted Him and did what He said.  

God told Joshua and his army to walk around the walls once a day for six days.  

(Form the walls and then flatten them out 6 times)

On the seventh day, God told Joshua to march his army seven times round the walls,.. 

...to tell the priests to blow their trumpets and to get the people to shout as loud as they could.

So Joshua and his army did all of these things.  On the seventh day, after marching seven times around the walls the people shouted loudly and the trumpets blew.

The walls of Jericho tumbled down!

And Joshua's army knew that God was with them.

Try using the cards to tell other stories and let me know how you get on!

Easter Story Picture Card Games- Print out and Play

Playing a game is a great way to help children to familiarise themselves with the different parts of the Easter Story.  Here are some cards to print out to help you with that very purpose!

There are 8 cards, all showing a different part of the story: Entry into Jerusalem, The Last Supper and washing of feet, Gethsemane, Pilate, crucifixion, tomb and resurrection.  Use all or some of them depending on the elements you are exploring.  Tell the story and speak about the pictures, then play a game to help reinforce the key happenings.  Click here to print out the sheet.

There are loads of ways you could use the cards... 

• Pass the parcel with a different card in each layer
• Hidden around the room
• Print out a set of cards per child.  Use 6 of the cards (perhaps leave out foot-washing and Pilate) and number them 1-6 in order of happening.  Children throw a die until they get a 1 and can collect the first picture.  After they have the first card, they then need to throw a 2 to get the second card. The first person to collect all of the cards in the correct order wins.

Matching game (see below)

Print out 2 of the picture sheets and glue them to card so that the pictures don't show through the back of the paper.  Cut the individual cards out, mix them up and lay them face down.

Take it in turns to turn over two cards at a time.  The aim is to find matching pairs and the person with the most matching pairs when there are no more cards left to take is the winner!

Daniel in the Lions' Den Story Cards

I'm doing a storytelling workshop at the weekend and will be using the story of Daniel in the Lions' den.  I wanted to produce a set of cards that would tell the story in an easy way, without too many words and this is what I came up with.  Please feel free to print off, cut out and use!  Click here to download the sheet.

I think I'm going to use them in a pass-the-parcel. The story will be revealed layer by layer until the final card is found in the centre of the parcel with some sweets so that everyone can celebrate how great God is!

Click to see pass-the-parcel versions of the Easter and Nativity stories.

Jesus Calms the Storm Play Dough Mat

I'm in the zone at the moment, looking for ways of exploring the story of Jesus calming the storm- especially for under 5s!

Play dough mats always seem to go down well with this age group so hopefully this will be useful.

Click here to print off the mat and then laminate it if you intend repeated use!  The children can choose to show the storm or the calm and I'm sure it will be fascinating to see what they pick and why...

Let me know if you use it as I would love to see :-)

Jesus Calms the Storm: Sensory Bottles for Babies and Toddlers

I've been doing a little bit of experimenting with sensory bottles this week as I wanted to make some to help under 5s to explore the story of Jesus Calming the Storm.  Sensory bottles are great!  They're easy and cheap to make and provoke a lot of wonder-even in the adults who play with them!  Children can use them in a very reflective way, watching the shapes and colours and we've used them before in prayer activities for over 5s.

Here's what I've made so far...

1. Water, green glitter and blue seed beads
2. Rice and matchsticks (to make rain/ storm noises)
3.Water, blue and green sequins and blue and green mini Pom-poms 
4.Water, coloured with a little bit of blue food colouring  (filled to just over half way up the bottle), topped up to the top of the bottle with baby oil.
5. Baby oil, blue and green sequins and blue loom bands.

As you can see, the idea was to keep with a blue/green 'water' theme. The baby oil and water mix is great as there is a clear separation of the two after the shaken mixture comes to a rest.  Baby oil looks like water from the outside, but slightly slows down the sinking of the objects.

With slightly older children, it's interesting to see what sinks and what floats and the separation of the oil and water is a great way to think about Jesus bringing calm to the storm.  Can't wait to use them!

Nativity Story Bag

With only a few days to go before Christmas, here is the new Nativity Story Bag I've made up with lots of things to help to explore the characters and events...

• Nativity peg figures (see how to make them here)
• 3 boxes to represent the gifts of the wise men
• felt stars
• a variety of hearts to help think about God's love
• a crown
• a selection of Nativity themed Christmas cards
• A story book- here I've included the brilliant Touchy Feely Nativity by Fiona Watt
• A background cloth

Have fun!

Make Your Own Bible Story Stones: Pictures to Print and Use

Story Stones are a great way to help children to interact with the stories we tell them.  Symbols and pictures on the stones help us to tell the story and then children can use the stones to retell or interact with different elements of what they've heard. They have so much potential!

Making story stones can seem a bit of a chore, though, if painting is not your thing or if you just don't have a lot of time.

Here is a possible solution...

The end result might not be as pretty as hand-painted stones, but they do the job!

Print out the sheet of pictures (click here), cut out and stick onto stones (flat, polished stones work best).  Now you are good to go!  As you can see, the sheet has stones to help tell several Bible stories so there is plenty of opportunity to test them out.  Let me know how it goes if you decide to test them out!

Exploring Bible Stories: Foam Print Craft

Here's an interesting way to help children to explore Bible stories: print making!

Tell a Bible story and then encourage children to cut out foam shapes to retell a scene from the story or to express their feelings/ observations about it.

You will need: Jar lids, scissors, craft foam, glue, paint, paper

Draw round the base of the jar lid on a piece of craft foam.  Cut the circle out and glue to the lid so that your print has a firm base and the jar lid acts as a handle.

Cut out pieces of foam to form a picture of  a scene, character or aspect from the story and stick them on to your foam base.

Cover the foam pieces with paint and print!  Children might want to choose paper and paint colours they think are significant to what they are trying to convey about the story.

Talk about:

• What part of the story/ character does your print show?  
• Why did you choose to make that picture?  What was special to you about that part of the story/ character?
• Why did you choose particular colours?
• If you could make another print for this story, what would you make? Why?

Other ideas:

• Ask children to make a print for any Bible story they know.  Try to guess the story from the print.

Jacob's Ladder Ascending Angel Craft and Prayer Activity

The story of Jacob's ladder in Genesis 28 (vv 10-17) is one of my favourites and this is a creative way to pray about the story's themes using an easy but effective craft.

Tell the story of Jacob's ladder and think about the theme of God's closeness to Jacob, even when Jacob, himself, didn't at first realise it.  

Talk about: How do you think Jacob felt when he saw the ladder and the angels? How would you have felt?Have you ever felt or known that God is with you? Do you have anywhere where you feel close to God? How do you know that God is with you?  Do you know anyone who might like to know that God is with them, caring for them?

Craft- You will need: paper, scissors, pens, string, sellotape, straws and a coin

Get children to cut an angel shape out of the paper (or provide them with a pre-cut version).  Cut 2x 2cm pieces of straw and sellotape them to the angel shape as shown below.  Make sure they are parallel to each other. Sellotape a coin to the bottom of the angel to give it some weight (I used a 2p coin here).  Thread string through the straw as shown.

Anchor the string to a coat hook or a nail on the wall- something static, strong and above head height if possible!  Bring the angel to the bottom of the strings and hold each end in a separate hand.  Spread your hands out so that they are wider than the parallel straws and pull on the strings.  The angel should rise up towards the anchor point.  Release the tension on the strings and the angel should descend.  Have fun testing this out!

Prayer
Write the names of people who you would like to know that God is close to them- perhaps people who are having a hard time or who don't know about God yet.  As you pull the angel up and down the string, pray that God will bless them and they will know His closeness, just as Jacob did in the story!