There is something that draws you into pictures that pop, and this picture with its 3D crown really does just that. Saul’s head and a crown, both plain enough to let your budding artists go to town.
To make this craft, you will need the 1-page template printout, a glue stick and scissors. I’ve also listed coloured pens, though any decorative materials would work, from crayons, to stamps, to sequins.
Decorate first, those letters are deliberately empty on the template and the crown could use some jazzing up! Then cut out the crown and the head by following the dotted line.
Concertina fold the crown along the dotted lines. TIP: If you are in a rush, fold every other line!
Glue the crown into place, angling the ends slightly so it curves. Talk about how he might feel being the first King of Israel?
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The need to be just like those around you is strong and even though the Israelite’s had a prophet leader they wanted a king. Poor Samuel needs reassuring by God as the request leaves him feeling outright rejected. God knows that creating a King of Israel is going to spell trouble, and he’s right, so he makes the pitfalls of having a monarch known and yet, the people are stubborn.
This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.
Main Passage : 1 Samuel 8 (does reference other passages)
I wonder – have you ever felt a bit lost on what to do and wished somebody would come and give you some instructions? God’s people started like that in this story.
They saw other people who had kings, and all they had was a prophet called Samuel. Now, having a prophet was awesome. God told the prophet what to do, and the prophet told the people. But sometimes God didn’t seem to say anything, or sometimes the people wished they could hear God’s instructions themselves, and sometimes, sometimes it felt like nobody was leading them. Mostly they missed having a king when they had to fight. Samuel was really good at giving them advice about God, but he wouldn’t lead them into battle like a king would when people attacked.
They went to Samuel and asked if he could choose a king for them. Samuel thought it was a bad idea, a really bad idea.
Samuel thought they were saying he wasn’t enough, that he wasn’t good enough. So, he talked to God about it. God told Samuel that the people weren’t rejecting Samuel as a prophet but rejecting God as their king. Then Samuel went back to the people and told them what God had said.
“You don’t want a king!” said Samuel. “A king will take your sons for his army. He’ll take your daughters for his palace. He’ll take your grain and your wine for his household. Do you really, really want a king?”
But no matter what Samuel said, the people still asked for a king. So Samuel agreed. Who would you choose as a king? What would they be like?
God promised He would send a man to Samuel to be king. When Samuel saw the man God had chosen, all became clear. Saul looked like a king. Saul was big and strong and brave. Saul was a good fighter and good at giving instructions.
Samuel told Saul that he would be king and that God had chosen him. Some days later, all the people gathered and Saul was chosen. He put on his new robe and new crown, and everybody cheered. Saul gathered the army and went out to battle the bad guys, and Saul won the battle. God’s people were very happy.
They may have a new king, but they still had a prophet. Soon, the two would fall out as Saul started to listen less and less to God’s instructions. That kingly robe would be torn, and Saul would not get to choose who wore the crown next.
This craft is another alternative to the traditional butterfly idea that often accompanies this lesson. It looks at the life of Nicodemus, as displayed in John’s Gospel. The composition is simple for this craft, though the cutting is not too forgiving and if you have younger children you may want to pre-cut in part.
This style of craft is also available for the story of the woman at the well and the events of Easter.
You will also need the 2-page template, a glue stick, and scissors. You may want a sheet of card or paper plate to secure the base. The printout contains condensed instructions and illustrations to help you.
It is recommended you print in greyscale if you cannot print in colour.
Cut around all the shapes, and fold the supporting tabs. You may want to leave a border for the characters as they can be fiddly – alternatively print on plastic or acetate. As you can see, the tabs don’t need to be flush with the end of the characters.
The tabs for the backdrops go in opposite directions, the middle ones fold backwards and the edge ones forward. These tabs support the structure and, though only one set is needed, both make it sturdy.
Start by making the standing structure. Add glue to the end of the backdrops (above the end tabs) and glue them together.
Apply glue to the supporting tabs and, using the preprinted lines as a rough guide, stick the backdrops in place. It is easier to stick the outside tabs first. Use a pen or scissors handle to smooth down and secure the central tabs.
Taking each character, or object, make sure the tab is folded cleanly and apply glue.
The pebbles accompany the nighttime image.
The tombstone and grass go with the tomb picture.
The extra people go inside the temple.
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These little Pentecost spinner crafts are super fun to play with, they require no glue and spin in a beautiful whirl of flames from whatever height. It’s also one of those things that once you’ve made them once, it’s super quick and easy to make again and again!
To make this craft, you will need the 1-page template printout and scissors.
Cut out all three shapes.
(Younger groups: those sides do need to be pretty straight when threading the pieces together, so keep an extra pair of scissors handy for later or pre-cut.)
Fold each strip along the solid black line so the print remains on the outside.
Without opening up, fold again. This time along the dotted black line so the print remains on the outside. It may help later if you fold this fold both ways.
Open out the yellow strip completely.
Wrap the orange strip around the yellow strip.
Wrap the red strip around the orange strip in the same way.
The yellow strip is going to wrap round the red one. To accomplish this, sit up your red and orange strips so you form what looks like the corner of a cube.
Wrap the yellow strip around, threading the end with no flame through the loop formed by the orange strip.
Your spinner is complete. Drop it from any height to watch it spin to the floor – the higher, the better!
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Pentecost is a day of movement, the elements of the story are dynamic, rushing wind, flickering flames, counting days and speaking tongues. These games tie into some of those ideas and are suitable for a variety of set-ups and groups.
Print the picture provided and cut apart. Hide the pieces of the jigsaw around the room. Find all the pieces and reassemble the picture. (click on the image for PDF) Link: Holy Spirit separated over each person’s head.
Who Has The Fire?
All Ages
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Can be seated
Choose a child or adult to cover their eyes. Pass around a picture of a flame. When the person with the covered eyes says “STOP!”, the child holding the flame must hide it on their person. Can the person who covered their eyes find it? What clues can we give them? Link: The Holy Spirit stays with us today even if we can’t see it.
10 Hallelujah
Under 7’s
Any size group
No Setup time
Noisy game
Can be seated
This building memory game has each person say a number, then an action. Eg. First person “1 clap,” second person “1 clap, 2 jump,” third person “1 clap, 2 jump, 3 spin,” and so on until you get to 10 and shout “hallelujah” and reset Link: Waiting for the Holy Spirit.
Take aim
Ages 7+
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Can be seated
For this game, you’ll need some small pieces of paper, a fan, and a tub of some kind. The challenge is to get the small pieces of paper across a gap into the tub. Once the child works out a way of doing this, introduce the fan. Talk about the effect the fan, and the wind it produced, had on the outcome. Link : the Holy Spirit came as a wind as well as a flame.
Here are the images you need for the hero’s attributes linked to ‘Pentecost (Acts 2)’- where the Holy Spirit first descends on the church.
Each hero set contains a high quality graphic of the character, a take home bible card and a colouring page.
The images are displayed small here, click on the image you wish to have, then save the image that loads. (These images are not copyright free, they are for personal/classroom use only.)
Large image for illustrating the story or putting on a large screen.
