Sunday School Crafts and Activities for Kids - Abraham

How to Make Crafts and Activities Relating to Abraham and His Descendants and the Story Joseph

Scripture Reference: Genesis 15:5 and the story of Joseph

Teach children that God always keeps His promises with this engaging Joseph Bible lesson! In this lesson, children learn how God used Joseph’s difficult circumstances to care for his family and keep His promise to Abraham—that his family would grow as numerous as the stars.

Designed for kindergarten through 5th grade, this lesson includes simple adaptations so both younger and older children can participate at their level.

Perfect for Sunday School, homeschool, or Christian classrooms, this lesson combines Bible storytelling, counting practice, and creative crafts to help children remember that even when life is hard, God is always faithful and keeps His promises.

A complete lesson is available on The Resource Room and as an instant digital download.

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The following activities are included in the lesson.

Through this fun, interactive game, children learn and become more familiar with the names of Joseph’s brothers.

Children take turns asking the leader yes-or-no questions, such as, "Does the brother have brown hair?” or “Does the brother have green eyes?” The leader answers the questions, and the child who asked gets to guess which brother is on the leader’s card.

If the guess is correct, the child gets to take a turn picking a card and answering questions.

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Quick and Easy - In Genesis 26:4, God promised Abraham that he would give him as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. Children color the star activity sheet and count the stars.

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Older students are challenged to decode the Bible verse from Joel 2:13b using the star graph and a code paper. This sheet is available in both KJV and NIV.

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Make a Star Picture

Remind the children that Jacob brought over 70 family members with him to Egypt during the famine. Hand out black construction paper and star stickers. Ask the children to place the stars on their paper, counting each one as they go. Help younger children count if needed.

Before class, you can also punch star shapes (Fiskars Star Punch) into the paper so the children won’t need to use as many stickers. In class, tell them how many stars are already on the paper and ask them to add enough to make 70 so they can see how large Jacob’s family was. (To save time, punch more than one sheet at a time) Write the Bible verse on the paper with a white chalk marker. Make a sample craft to hang in a window so the children can see how the picture glows.

You can also give each child a limited number of star stickers and have them draw the remaining stars using white chalk markers or white colored pencils.

Give each child a piece of black construction paper and a small number of paper stars. Have them stick the stars onto the paper, leaving space between each one.

Next, give each child a piece of chalk (any color) and have them connect the stars while counting them.

Glue the memory verse to the bottom of the page:
“Look up into the heavens and count the stars—if you can. Your descendants will be like that—too many to count!” Genesis 15:5

This idea comes from Belinda Boardman.

Here’s a fun way for children to learn the names of Joseph’s brothers.

Children draw faces onto the characters representing Joseph’s brothers.

Play a Review Game

Use the activity sheet to play a memory game. Cut out the faces and cover the names next to them. Hold up each face and tell the children the name of the brother, then tape the picture to the board. Ask the children how they might remember which name goes with each face. For example, they might say, “Benjamin’s two front teeth look like the letter ‘B,’” or “Zebulon looks like a bully, and his name sounds like bully.”

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The craft sticks are taped together so that when they are pushed together from the sides they fan fold up into a compact stack of sticks for storage. Unfold the stack and the disciples appear standing next to each. Children will enjoy drawing each of Jacob's sons and then writing their names on the back of the sticks.

What you will need:

Mini Jumbo Craft Sticks 4.5"X.625" 50/Pkg (6-Pack) - Use good quality craft sticks that lay flat. The 5/8" work perfect with the one-inch tape. *You can use the Woodsies Jumbo Craft Sticks with the 1.5 Inch - 3M Scotch Masking Tape for a bigger Canvas.

3M Scotch Masking Tape, 1-Inch - Other brands will work, but this tape works great! It is the exact color of the craft sticks. (Staple's Tape works better with the washable markers, but it is lighter than the stick and more transparent and doesn't cover the stick as well.)

Permanent Markers, Crayons, or Colored Pencils - (The washable markers don't work well because they smear on the tape.) I used Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils. These are very soft colored pencils that cover very well. The draw back is that they don't last as long as the harder colored pencils and they aren't cheap.

Watch a video on how to make the folding craft stick canvas.

How to Make the Disciple's Folding Craft Stick Display:

1. Cut the mini-jumbo craft sticks into two pieces. Vary the lengths so you don't have all the disciples the same height.

2. Place two sticks together, side by side, and tape them together covering both the sticks with the tape. You don't have cover the rounded ends of the sticks.

3. Turn the two sticks over so that they are diagonal to you.

4. Place another craft stick next to and below the two sticks that you taped together. Use another piece of tape to tape the bottom two sticks together.

5. Turn all three sticks over diagonally and place another stick at the bottom of the row and tape the last two sticks together. Keep going until you have a whole row of sticks.

6. You can also cover the first and last stick in the row by placing tape over the stick and then folding it back over the stick. It is easier to write on the tape than the craft stick. The ink soaks into the sticks and blurs.

Children can use permanent markers, pens, or colored pencils to draw the disciples faces, hair, and clothes on the sticks. Have them write the disciples' names on the back of the sticks.

If a child messes up while working on his canvas, you can pull off the tape where he messed up and replace it with new tape.

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What you will need:

White Typing Paper

Shades of Green Paper

Glue

Markers

Crayons

How to Make the Family Tree Picture:

1. Before class print out the family tree pattern and cut out small leaf shapes about 2" long from green paper. (Available to members on The Resource room with and without the Bible verse, and as an instant digital download.)

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2. In class have your children color the tree trunks and write their family member's names on the leaves. Younger children will not know very many of their relatives, but they can just glue the leaves on the tree and have their parents help them write the names on the leaves later. Don't worry about putting the names in any kind of order like a real family tree. The idea is to just help the children think about how many people are related to them.

3. Talk about Jacob's family and how Joseph was used to fulfill God's promise to Abraham who was the father of Isaac and Jacob. Genesis 26:4 "And I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven . . ."

4. Talk to the children about Jacob's 70 family members who where in Egypt during the famine. Genesis 46:8-22 tells how many children each of his sons had. Challenge the children to come up with 70 relatives.

5. I challenged the children to take their trees home with them and have their parents help them write in the names of their relatives. I offered a prize to the child that brings back the tree with the most names.

Pick one child to be Jacob. Jacob sits in front of the room with his back to the other children and closes his eyes. Place "Joseph" (a doll, bean bag, or paper doll) behind Jacob. Pick one child to sneak up and take "Joseph" and then go back and sit down hiding Joseph behind their back. All the children then say, "Jacob, Jacob, where's your son? Somebody took him, but who's the one?"Jacob tries to guess who took Joseph. If he is right, he takes another turn. If he is wrong, he takes the place of the child who took Joseph.

Cut out star shapes and write the memory verse on the stars using one word per star. I used "He keeps his promises." Joel 2:13, five stars per child. Spread out the stars on the floor. Have the children sit on the floor around the stars. Take turns going around the circle letting each child pick a star. He must pick up the stars in order starting with "He". If a child doesn't pick up "He" the first time, he turns the star back over and tries again next time. Once he picks up the word "He", he will then try to find the word "keeps" and so on.

The child that picks up all the stars in order first wins. You can then have the child glue the stars onto a strip of paper to take home and study. To make this game longer, you can ask questions about the story and then have the children pick up a star.

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Older Children figure out the words to the Bible Verse by studying the pictures that depict the words to the Bible verse.

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Go to the Abram and Lot Bible Crafts Page for Bible crafts, games and activities for this lesson.

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