For each passage, there is a collectable card alongside high-quality character images and a colouring page. All other graphics are extra’s!
Click on the images below to see a larger version. Save the images by right click + ‘save image as’ (computers) OR long press + ‘save image’ (mobile).
These images are NOT copyright free.
These resources are provided for personal/classroom use only. Use can use them for teaching, games, publicity, decorations, big screen presentations, flannelgraphs, stickers, or any other non-commercial activity in your church, school, home, or organised group. You may not use them in products you are going to sell (both printed and digital). Nor may you upload the original images online, on websites, social media or in YouTube videos. Any questions, please reach out to me using the contact page link at the end of the page.
There are no shortage of sheep-based stories in the bible, and this little sheep craft could serve so many of them well.
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!)
Print onto acetate, then cut out all the shapes. Make sure to remove the red edge on the stand piece.
At this point, you can choose to layer your flame pieces while they are flat and skip the next steps with the real flame.
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.
Repeat for all your flame pieces, then work out your stacking order.
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.
Once your flame is together, give it a moment to dry.
To make the stand, fold the strip along the two red dotted lines.
Add glue to the small semicircles at each end, then attach to either side of your flame
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.
Help keep the free items on this site free by donating. This site supports my family as we live by God's great economy.
It’s the churches birthday! It can be tempting to rush to the good bit of this story where there are tongues of fire and the gift of tongues. However, we must start with Jesus’s words to his disciples; otherwise the events would have made no sense to the believers.
This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.
Jesus had left. The apostles gathered every day in Jerusalem, waiting. Jesus had told them to wait.
Day one: They were stunned, sitting around excited and confused.
Day two: They started whispering, wondering, what was the Father’s promise, what was the Holy Spirit, that Jesus had said would come.
Day three, then day four: People returned to work. Meals were cooked. Life continued, but the disciples waited. They knew it would be something special.
Day five, then day six: People started to prepare for the upcoming feast.
The Shavuot feast was a chance to celebrate the harvest. It happened seven weeks after Passover, 50 days, and so it was sometimes called Pentecost.
Day ten: Pentecost came. Slowly, the rooms the disciples were in grew fuller and fuller as everyone came to spend the celebration with the apostles. Outside, people rushed back and forth. Many had stayed in Jerusalem since Passover for this day.
It was nine in the morning when the talk in the rooms was silenced by a loud noise. It was the sound of a rushing wind filling the house. The disciples looked around confused. Was this what they had been waiting for? Alongside the wind came flames that seemed to float in the air around them. The flames slowly rested above each of the disciples’ heads, and someone at the edge of the room breathed a quiet “Hallelujah!”
Suddenly everyone realised what was happening. This was God. This was God gifting them, each and every one of them, from Peter the Rock to the forgotten faces. This was what Jesus had told them to wait for, and they couldn’t hold back the praise any longer. They opened their mouths, and the noise was amazing; words of praise to God filled the air. Words they knew well and words in languages they didn’t know they could speak as God gifted them.
The doors flung open, and those passing by were astounded to see a crowd and hear their own languages spoken. “How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?” they asked. “What does this mean?”
Peter stood up and quietened the crowd. He told them about Jesus. He told them about the gift God had given them of the Holy Spirit. Many joined the believers that day, and the church was born.
The decision to add Matthias to the apostles was determined by lot. This could mean so many things, drawing straws, flipping coins or rolling dice to name a few. This choosing dice craft for the younger ones makes dice that determine actions too.
To make this craft, you will need the 1-page template printout, glue and scissors.
Cut out the large shape.
Fold every line as a mountain fold (ink on the outside). By using this layout, you are folding the squares against themselves, which I found simpler.
Add glue to all the tabs and then, starting at one end, begin to glue the cube together. The six sides of the dice read : pray, listen, jump, run, hop, and shush!
Help keep the free items on this site free by donating. This site supports my family as we live by God's great economy.
There are multiple things going on in this story of replacing the twelfth apostle, and it’s easy to get lost in the mechanism rather than see why this completion was important. These games look at the idea of completion and the act of choosing.
A team game where you’re challenged to complete ‘sets’. Write out some sets of four connected things to get the started. Teams are given the set title or, for younger kids, all but one of the set, and asked to guess what the set consists of. Examples of set types: compass points, gospels, band members, bedroom furniture. Link: The Apostles felt incomplete.
Apostles dominoes
All Ages
Small group
Requires setup time
Quiet game
Can be seated
The classic game of dominoes is a fabulous teaching tool because while you play, it’s easy to talk about what you are seeing. These dominoes feature the 11 apostles and one with a question mark on his face: who will be the new 12th? There is an image of who is who on the post too. ((Link to post)) Link: The Apostles were linked.
Dice symphony
All Ages
Small group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Can be seated
Label the keys of a keyboard or xylophone with the numbers 1-6. Have the child compose a tune by rolling a dice to choose each note. Works on any instrument or even pots and pans! Link: Casting lots stops us from changing the decision
Replace the missing piece
All Ages
Any size group
Requires setup time
Noisy game
Space needed
Print some photo images. Remove one or more small sections from each image and stick it onto a piece of card. Write a letter on the cards with sections, and number each large image. The object of the game is to match the letters and numbers. Link : Completing the twelve
These are the Character resources provided for: Incomplete: A New Apostle (Acts 1)
For each passage, there is a collectable card alongside high-quality character images and a colouring page. All other graphics are extra’s!
Click on the images below to see a larger version. Save the images by right click + ‘save image as’ (computers) OR long press + ‘save image’ (mobile).
These images are NOT copyright free.
These resources are provided for personal/classroom use only. Use can use them for teaching, games, publicity, decorations, big screen presentations, flannelgraphs, stickers, or any other non-commercial activity in your church, school, home, or organised group. You may not use them in products you are going to sell (both printed and digital). Nor may you upload the original images online, on websites, social media or in YouTube videos. Any questions, please reach out to me using the contact page link at the end of the page.
When we talk about replacing the 12th apostle, it’s a great time to review the other 11. This little domino game is a perfect way to do that. This is a mini domino set, it has small cards and a reduced number so it can be printed on one page. It’s best suited to younger kids.
Numbers are of such massive significance to the scriptures that it’s not surprising the apostles felt unsettled by being 11 and not 12. Clearly they decided to do something about it, though later passages will show their number would soon be persecuted and replacements no longer were an option to choose. It is noted that although Matthias is selected, Justus went on to become a prominent bishop, and so his story does not end with not being picked.
This retold version of the Bible passage is supplied for inspiration, feel free to omit or embellish to give it your personal voice.
Why did Jesus choose twelve apostles? Do you know? I wonder if you have a favourite number? In many cultures around the world, seven is considered a lucky number; some people think thirteen is unlucky. The Bible has lots of numbers that appear many times.
The number three is often used to mean complete. Many things are in sets of three. I wonder if you can think of an example? Numbers became special to the people who studied scripture. The numbers three, seven, twelve and forty appear in stories again and again.
So when Jesus chose apostles, it wasn’t surprising that he chose twelve. That number had often been used to represent everyone. There were twelve tribes of Israel, and so twelve was often used to represent a fair government. Even today, you often have twelve people on a jury in court. The problem was that there weren’t twelve apostles anymore. Judas had betrayed Jesus, and now there were only eleven. The twelve were incomplete.
We often think of Jesus travelling with just twelve men, but that’s only part of the picture. Jesus travelled with a whole crowd of people. Men and women who didn’t get chosen to be apostles, all people who had met Jesus and whose lives had changed forever. Around 120 people were in the crowd after Jesus left the disciples and went up to Heaven to be with his father.
Peter stood up and talked to everyone. They had all heard what had happened to Judas, how he had died. Peter asked if there was anyone there who had been with the group since John baptised Jesus, anyone who had travelled all the places Jesus had travelled, heard all the teaching he had shared, and seen Jesus after he came back from the dead. Peter asked if someone could complete the number by being the new twelfth apostle.
Slowly the people started to whisper; “When did you join the crowd?” “How about you?” “I think I missed that bit!” Eventually they found just two men: Justus and Matthias. The disciples prayed; then they decided they would cast lots.
Casting lots could mean a lot of things. Sometimes it meant rolling a dice or flipping a coin or drawing sticks to see who gets the shortest. It may seem like a strange way to decide something, but they believed God would make sure of the right outcome.
The lot fell to Matthias; he was named the new apostle. The twelve were complete again and ready for the next stage of their great Jesus adventure.