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)

Biblical retelling of Wanting a King (1 Samuel 8) for youngsters.

 

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.

Nicodemus spinning scene craft

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.

Nicodemus spinning scene craft setup

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.

Nicodemus spinning scene craft characters

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.

Nicodemus spinning scene craft tabs

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.

Nicodemus spinning scene craft backdrop

Start by making the standing structure. Add glue to the end of the backdrops (above the end tabs) and glue them together.

Nicodemus spinning scene craft base

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.

Nicodemus spinning scene craft construct

Taking each character, or object, make sure the tab is folded cleanly and apply glue.

Nicodemus spinning scene craft nighttime

The pebbles accompany the nighttime image.

Nicodemus spinning scene craft tomb

The tombstone and grass go with the tomb picture.

Nicodemus spinning scene craft temple

The extra people go inside the temple.

the Milosevic Family

Help keep the free items on this site free by donating. This site supports my family as we live by God's great economy.

A4 size
(210 x 297 mm)

Download colour Download no colour
Pentecost spinner craft

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!

Pentecost spinner craft setup

To make this craft, you will need the 1-page template printout and scissors.

Pentecost spinner craft step 1

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.)

Pentecost spinner craft step 2

Fold each strip along the solid black line so the print remains on the outside.

Pentecost spinner craft step 3

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.

Pentecost spinner craft step 4

Open out the yellow strip completely.

Pentecost spinner craft step 5


Wrap the orange strip around the yellow strip.

Pentecost spinner craft step 6

Wrap the red strip around the orange strip in the same way.

Pentecost spinner craft step 7

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.

Pentecost spinner craft step 8

Wrap the yellow strip around, threading the end with no flame through the loop formed by the orange strip.

Pentecost spinner craft complete

Your spinner is complete. Drop it from any height to watch it spin to the floor – the higher, the better!

the Milosevic Family

Help keep the free items on this site free by donating. This site supports my family as we live by God's great economy.

A4 size
(210 x 297 mm)

Download colour

US letter size
(8.5″ x 11″)

Download colour

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.

Rebuilding the Flames

Age group recommendation icon

Under 7’s

Any sized group icon

Any size group

Setup time required icon

Requires setup time

Noisy game icon

Quiet game

Space needed icon

Space needed

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?

Age group recommendation icon

All Ages

Any sized group icon

Any size group

Setup time required icon

Requires setup time

Noisy game icon

Noisy game

Suitable for seated groups icon

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

Age group recommendation icon

Under 7’s

Any sized group icon

Any size group

No setup-time required icon

No Setup time

Noisy game icon

Noisy game

Suitable for seated groups icon

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

Age group recommendation icon

Ages 7+

Any sized group icon

Any size group

Setup time required icon

Requires setup time

Noisy game icon

Noisy game

Suitable for seated groups icon

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.

 

Pent (Acts 1)

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.)

 

123-Pentecost-card123-Pentecost-card
123-colouring123-colouring
123-crowd123-crowd

 

Large image for illustrating the story or putting on a large screen.

123-background123-background

 

Grab the Phone background here.

JWL phone background

There are no shortage of sheep-based stories in the bible, and this little sheep craft could serve so many of them well.

Pentecost flames craft setup

To make this craft, you will need the 1-page template printout, a candle, glue, and scissors.
(ignore the stapler that sneaked into this image, it should have been a glue stick – oops!)

Pentecost flames craft cut

Print onto acetate, then cut out all the shapes. Make sure to remove the red edge on the stand piece.

Pentecost flames craft layer

At this point, you can choose to layer your flame pieces while they are flat and skip the next steps with the real flame.

Pentecost flames craft curl

Light a candle. Holding the base of each flame firmly, hover the top edges around 5-10 cm above the lit flame. Move as soon as you see them moving. This is a very inexact science, and you can rewarm and straighten a little if needed.

Pentecost flames craft stacked

Repeat for all your flame pieces, then work out your stacking order.

Pentecost flames craft attach

To attach our flame, we are going to use small blobs of glue at the base of the flame pieces. The glue will show, so try to keep it stacked.

Pentecost flames craft connected

Once your flame is together, give it a moment to dry.

Pentecost flames craft stand

To make the stand, fold the strip along the two red dotted lines.

Pentecost flames craft final attachment

Add glue to the small semicircles at each end, then attach to either side of your flame

Pentecost flames craft in use example

To wear your hovering flame, either slide the sand onto a hairband or thread a ribbon through. You can also thread your fingers through the stand and hold on your head.

the Milosevic Family

Help keep the free items on this site free by donating. This site supports my family as we live by God's great economy.

A4 size
(210 x 297 mm)

Download colour

US letter size
(8.5″ x 11″)

Download colour

Advertisment

Donations this month: target - $ 50

$ 22