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!
Help keep the free items on this site free by donating. This site supports my family as we live by God's great economy.
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.
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.
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.
Cornelius learned that all people are God’s people, not just the ones who had a certain heritage. This little face making activity lets your youngsters make up a myriad of characters all of whom are God’s people because they are people!
To make this craft, you will need the 1-page template printout and scissors.
Cut out all the pieces. It works best if you remove the outer cut out lines. Small pieces like the eyes have skin colour around them that can be cut into.
Select the pieces you want to use to make your face. Layer the pieces to create your character (keep the scissors handy to trim off any extra surround you don’t need)
Either stick the pieces in place on your final face design or place all the pieces in a small bag to take your craft home.
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 easy to exclude people, and it’s natural to have thought that the Jewish messiah came to just save the Jewish people, but God had a much bigger plan. For people on the edges, like Cornelius, that was huge. The party they had always been excluded from had flung wide the doors, and they could finally enter. This little craft uses the idea of a door as the barrier that is now open.
The story of Philip and the Ethiopian has one big obvious craft, a chariot. While some groups will “junk model” this concept, if you want something more sedate and contained, this craft fits the bill.
