This is the old version – New Version can be found here. The moment of a Jairus’ daughter waking is definably the most dramatic visually of the story. This paper model craft is a nice way of capturing that moment, and even has moving parts so the girl can indeed ‘wake up’ as Jesus commanded her to do. This is quite a long tutorial, but the craft is mostly self-explanatory.The craft is not made to fold flat but to be a standing piece. Please note I have not included a Jesus figure.

 
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The story of Anna does not hold any obvious craft elements, however, the the idea of contemplation, spending time with God, journeying to a known goal and prayer are wrapped up in the use of labyrinths. There are many ways to make a labyrinth, and while the most memorable are often large scale, finger labyrinths are often used as a way of calming children and those in times of stress. Here are 3 ways to make your own finger labyrinth. Once you have finished your creations try them out using the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. Use the titles below to jump directly to the method you wish to use or read on for all the ideas.   Stitches, Scores or Scrapes / Snakes

 
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The story of Stephen lends itself particularly well to crafts involving stone. This craft is a responsive craft – that means that the pile of stones should be left out as a visual reminder to the children and referred to during the story, perhaps by the storyteller picking one up and examining it during the relevant part, or by leaving them in a pile in the middle of the children’s story circle.

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This craft is another character recognition task. The Stephen ornament is a very quick craft for groups with limited time. The composition is simple. just print the template and assemble. See below the animated image for ideas on how to use this craft.

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This craft is linked to the hero character of Hannah. It has 2 parts to it, you can either just make the character or you can make a simplified version into a picture frame. Both these crafts use fine motor skills, involving a lot of scissor work. If you have younger children then you may want to do this as a group activity and pre-prepare the cut-outs, if not then see the other craft linked to this lesson which is designed for younger children – Hannah’s simple robe.

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This craft looks great, and really is very very simple. Use any fabric you have on hand, as long as it’s a light colour, and decorate with felt tip pens or fabric pens if you have them. You can make them full size as I did, scale them down, or even just make them out of paper.

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This was designed to hold the biscuits that the children had decorated, but could be used to hold any little token representing the time the children spend with God. I would recommend printing the PDF on thin card rather than paper. If you wish you can use a long ribbon to tie the box, leaving room to have a handle for the children to slip round their wrists. The PDF contains 2 pages, one with the graphic printed on and another one which is blank for your own design.

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When I think of Martha I always imagine her in the kitchen, so I chose to make cookies for this lesson. If you wish you can make these simple cookies with your class (and leave them cooking), or you can cook them in advance for decorating. When teaching this lesson we decided to share the cookies with the congregation after. I’m not a great cook, and I like recipes with few ingredients so you always know if your kids can or can’t eat them! In the images I make drop cookies, but this recipe is suitable for rolling and using cookie cutters. Do check if your kids have any allergies before you plan this lesson.

 
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