Bible Crafts and Activities for Kids
How to Make Crafts and Activities Relating to Jewish Customs, Job, John the Baptist, Jesus, Joseph, and Josiah
Jewish Customs
Jewish Customs - Life in the Times of Jesus
Crafts
Make Bible Scrolls - When the kids arrived, they decorated small scrolls. The scrolls were created from craft sticks stapled (with tape covering the sharp staple edges) to doubled-over paper from the bathroom paper towel roll. (It's a continuous roll and pretty sturdy paper) On each scroll I had used a Sharpie to write, "Baruch atah Adonai!" which means, "Go with the LORD's blessing." We asked the kids to draw things that reminded them of Jesus. (All very original!)
Learn Jewish Words
Teach your children to say, "Shalom" meaning peace. Explain to your children that they are speaking peace into the lives to whom they say Shalom. Play-act, knocking on the door and greeting visitors with "Shalom".
Talk About Jewish Items
Pull items from a box and tell your children about them.
1. Dreidel - A four-sided top played within the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Each side has a different letter. The letter together stand for "a great miracle happened there". Learn how to play this game on Billy Bear Web Site.
2. Mezuzah - Explaining that it was place on the doorpost of Jewish homes and held God's Word. The mezuzah is nailed to the door as a reminder that we are to keep God's Word in our thoughts in all our comings and goings. I also mentioned the Bible verse about how Jesus says He is the door (John 10:9), and how He was nailed on the cross. Jesus, the Word of God, nailed up to a cross that opened a doorway into salvation for us.
3. Yarmulke – Jewish head covering. Remind your children that we see other people wearing head coverings such as Mennonites. They're not being 'weird': they are honoring God. I wanted to plant this in their minds now due to one of my kids asking why there were so many “pilgrims” in Wal-Mart last fall
4. Prayer Shawl - My husband modeled the prayer shawl showing the children how he could enter into the 'closet' of prayer by pulling it down over his head to pray. We asked for prayer requests and praise reports, which we wrote on the dry erase board. We reminded the kids that where two or more are gathered in His Name, He promises to be there with us. And, if we ask anything according to His Word and believe He'll do it; He will answer our prayers. The kids came forward and laid their hands on the dry erase board and we said a prayer over everything written there.
5. Menorah - A seven branched light holder to be lit by olive oil.
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Job
Job's First Test - Test 1 - Manuel Dexterity
Job was tested by the devil to see if he would stay faithful to God.
In this lesson children take a series of tests to test their visual and manual dexterity skills. For the first test children draw a line from one picture of Job to the other without touching the lines on the picture. Before the lesson discuss with your students how well they did on the test and if they passed the test.
To make the test even harder see who can complete the test the fastest.
Find the Donkey that is Different Activity Sheet
With this activity sheet children test their visual acuity. Hand out the activity sheet and explain that Job had 500 donkeys.
Have your children try to find the donkey that is different on their activity sheet.
Before the lesson discuss with your students how well they did on the test and if they passed the test.
Animal Coloring Sheet
Divide your children up into teams and pick one child in each team to be Job. The "Jobs" stand on one side of the room and the other teammates stand on the opposite side. Place all the animal cards on the floor in the center of the room face down. On the word "go" one player from each team runs up and turns over one card and then gives it to their "Job" and says, "Job, all your donkey's, camels, oxen, or sheep (depending on what the picture is) have be taken away." Keep playing until a "Job" on one team has all four different animals.
A complete Lesson about Job's first test is available on The Resource Room
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Job's Second Test Bible Lesson - Test 1- Visual
Job Coloring Sheet
Younger children will enjoy coloring a picture of Job. Have them add dots all over his body for sores.
As your children work on the coloring sheet or activity sheet review last weeks lesson. Ask your children if they were ever sick, and how it felt. Ask them if any one helped them feel better while they were sick and what they did to help.
Get Well Cards
Before class find out who is on the prayer list or who is sick that week. Have your children make cards to let them know they care. They can also make and send miss-you cards to the children who missed class that week.
Bible Verse Review Game
1. Do not tell your children the verse before the game. Print out the two patterns and tape them together so they look like the picture to the right.
2. Glue the pictures to poster board or foam core board.
3. Cover the entire picture with sticky notes and number them in order. In class have your children take turns answering a question from the lesson and picking a sticky note they want removed.
Once you remove the sticky note, the child who answered the question gets to try to figure out the verse from the pictures and words that a revealed.
Keep playing until someone can say the whole verse, or all the pictures are revealed. This verse is from the KJV except that I switched "Job" and "did not" to make it sound correct.
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John the Baptist
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Jonah
Jonah and the Whale
See the Bible Themes Page for Jonah
Joseph
Go to the Joseph Bible Crafts and Activities.
Joshua
Joshua Crafts and Activities
Go to the Joshua Crafts and Activities Page.
Josiah
The Following Lessons are Available on The Resource Room a Subscription Site.
The Forgotten Promise
In this Lesson children learn that God wants us to obey his words. They learn that they must study God's words daily in order to remember and obey them. They also learn about King Josiah, a young king who loved God and wanted to follow his laws. The people of his time had forgotten God's words and worshipped other God's. King Josiah reminded the people of the promise their forefathers made years earlier.
They renewed their promise to God to obey his words.
King Josiah Holding a Scroll Craft
Crown Craft
3. Have your children glue gems and other decorative items on the crowns.
Exodus 24:7 - We will Obey Bible Verse Coloring Sheet
After your children color the Bible verse sheet remind them that the words "obey" and obedience" start with the letter "O". Have them count all the letter "O's" they can find on the sheet.
This Bible verse coloring sheet goes with the Bible Lesson "Josiah, The Forgotten Promise". It is available in both NIV and KJV.
"Things God Wants us to Remember" Game
1. Print out the picture cards.
2. Cut squares from sticky note paper to fit over the picture covering it entirely.
3. Take turns asking your students questions about the lesson. If a child gets a question correct, he gets to take off one sticky note square and guess what he thinks the picture is. Remember him that the picture is about something that God wants us to remember.
Alternate Game:
If you don't want to use sticky notes, you can use a grid pattern. Cut the pictures up into squares. Place the squares from one picture face down on a table and mix them up. Have your children take turns picking a square, and placing it in the corresponding place on the grid. Each time they place a square ask them if they can figure out what the picture is and what we should remember.