Teaching Children Through Crafts and Activities
Welcome to Danielle's Place where you will find thousands of crafts and activities designed to make learning fun.
Many of the crafts and activities are Bible-based and are great for use in Sunday school, preschool, home school, and on special occasions.
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Bible
Crafts and Activities For
Crafts
Cover - Print out the cover onto yellow card stock. Have the children use 3D glue or glitter glue to trace around the lines. Hands - Have the children place their hands in paint and then press them on the paper. Or trace their hands and have them draw in the fingernails. Friends - Cut out simple people shapes from different colors of construction paper (or buy them at your local teacher supply store). Have the children pick out some and glue them to the page. Help them write names of their friends on or near the people. Mouth - Use bright red lip gloss that you apply with your fingers. Have the children put some lip gloss on their lips after they have washed their hands and then kiss the paper on the face shape. Have them finish drawing in their face and hair. If you know someone who sells Avon, you could try and get the tiny little sample lipsticks. Make sure the children know not to share them. If you don't have either of these, you can get some really red suckers and have the children get them wet and then slide them all over their lips and then kiss the paper. Home - Have the children glue on the larger toothpicks (they come in different colors too) to outline the house shape and then fill in with toothpicks or other objects. Clouds - Have the children glue cotton balls or cotton onto the cloud shape. Family - Have the children draw a picture of their family. I am also doing a booklet for my preschool class (ages 2-4). For the "family" page , I had sent home a note to the parents asking for a snapshot of their family. I am going to take it to Kinkos and photocopy all the family photos with a color copier. I will have the children glue the original photo in their booklets and with the copies we will cut out each individual family member and make a family tree craft. Kim Brown earned a free week added to her subscription for sending in this idea. We would love to hear your ideas too. Rainbows - Children can color, paint, or use dotters to make a rainbow. Church - Before class use the shape patterns at the bottom of the page to cut shapes from different colors of construction paper. Have the children glue the shapes to the church in the correct place. Food - Have the children cut food pictures from magazines and glue them to the page. Or have them glue dry food such as cereal, rice, beans, noodles, etc. to the page. I would love to hear how this crafts works in your class and what you used for the different pages. Please email me if you would like to share with others subscribers what you have used or plan to use. We made the I thank God for all these things booklet in my Kindergarten Class. On the " I thank God for rainbows" page we used Koolaid powder to make the rainbow-- cherry for red, lime for green, lemonade for yellow etc... you can also use Jello mix. The kids love it and it smells GREAT! Amy We made the I am Thankful for booklet at Thanksgiving in our Sunday school this year. The children liked the idea of making a book. On the page "I am Thankful for my hands" we traced one of the children's hands, and on the "I am thankful for food" we had cut out pictures of food to glue on. These ideas added a bit of variety to the booklet rather than just drawing and coloring each page. Pamela
3. Work on a Thanksgiving Mystery Message Activity Sheet
4. "I Made a Little Turkey" Thanksgiving Activity Sheet
Have your children write things they are thankful for on the turkey's feathers or around the turkey.
Print out the pattern onto printer paper, have your children color the picture and then glue it to a piece of construction paper. If possible, laminate the pictures so they can use it as a place mat. (Patterns for this craft are available to members only.)
6. Make the boy and girl pilgrim decorations. (Patterns for this craft are available to members only.)
Activities 1. Play a Pilgrim Game - Tell the children that pilgrim children couldn't take many toys on the Mayflower with them because there wasn't room for them, but they learned how to make their own games and toys. Here is a game that the pilgrims might have played. You will need 5 peach, plum, or apricot pits. I used the plum pits because they are smoother. On two of the pits draw a crescent moon on one side and a star on the other. Color around the moon and stars with a black marker. On the other three pits color one side black. Place the game pieces in a basket. Each child takes a turn shaking the basket and emptying it out on the floor or table. Children get points as listed below: I gave out Teddy Grahams for each point. 5 Points or Teddy Grahams: 3 Points or Teddy Grahams: I also gave each child a cookie every turn. I drew a chart with the different combinations on it and the number of points earned for each combination. Make more than one set of pits if you have more than five children in your class. If you have younger children, you can make the game much simpler by using 3 moon and star pits. Give 3 points for 3 moons or 3 stars facing up. Give 2 points for 2 moons or 2 stars facing up. Other games pilgrims played: horseshoe pitching, three legged sack
race, stilts, Londan Bridges, jump rope, and marbles. 2.
You can make collar shapes out of paper or material. To make buckles just cut squares of yellow construction paper and color in a black square in the middle. Put tape on the back and just have the children tape the buckle to the child's shoe. 3. Make pilgrim hats out of marshmallows, chocolate, and cookies - Family Fun has a cute snack that goes well with the "Going to American" lesson. They are little pilgrim hats made by dipping a marshmallow into melted chocolate and placing it on top of a chocolate cookie and them piping a yellow frosting buckle. Comments and Ideas about this lesson: The suitcase craft is wonderful. I've been on the Internet and couldn't find any "Pilgrim things" The one thing we did was make a picture of a pilgrim hat using paper. We cut out the hat shape from black paper, added band cut from tan or gray paper, and a yellow buckle. We glued these on and then covered both sides with contact paper. We attached elastic to fit around the children's heads. They loved wearing them. Thanks for all your good help. "What Would You Take?" Game - Divide the kids into teams. Chose the oldest person on each team to be the writer, and give the teams one minute to write down what they would take with them if they moved. (They wrote: clothes, toys, water, food, etc.) Have the teams share what they wrote on their papers. Make a Thanksgiving Horn of Plenty - Make a horn of plenty out of sugar ice cream cones. Use the following ingredients:
Thankful Mayflower Picture -The kids colored the picture of the Mayflower after enlarging it, and wrote things they were thankful for on the Mayflower. I did the "Going to America" lesson with my children's church 3 & 4 year old class. I used the "God is always with You" Pilgrim suitcase during my lesson along with the pictures of items. They really enjoyed trying to decide what the pilgrims took with them on their trip, but they had a hard time understanding that this took place a long time ago and that they did not have electricity for the power tools. After the lesson I let them make their own suitcases. To help them remember what items the pilgrims would have taken with them on their trip I used green and red poster board and they glued the items they would take to the green paper and the items not to take on the red paper (This way they knew green was for yes and red was for no.). And instead of gluing the pictures to the inside of the suitcase the poster board made the pictures very sturdy and allowed them to be able to take them in and out of the suitcase without tearing them. I use your lessons a lot in my class and the children have always enjoyed them. Thank you for sharing your creative ideas. Rebecca Hi, I am a Sunday School teacher of the 3 - 5 year olds. I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed this particular lesson - "Going to America". It was so packed with ideas; I could not do them all. Basically, we did prayer, song time, and then I went into the lesson, using the visuals. For the craft I had the children make paper pilgrims from the DLTK's Printable craft web site. Due to time I chose the colored templates for the children to glue together. They did a good job, but I was glad that I had help in this project. (I would recommend help for this craft if you are teaching small ones, like myself.) Next, we did the pilgrim suitcase that was suggested. We used only the middle file folders, so that we could fold down the middle tab on the top and make it snap close like a suitcase. We did this by using velcro sticky tabs (little circles). I used pipe cleaners and stapled them for handles to the folders. We also used the velcro tabs to attach the precut items that the children picked out for their suitcase. My plan was for the children to leave with a paper doll and a re-useable suitcase so they could retell the story and pretend to be packing over and over again. The children enjoyed their paper doll and were thrilled with how their items could be taken on and off. Some of the students were able to retell the story using their crafts. This lesson helped reinforce that God will be with them in any situation. They also learned more about thankfulness to God and others. Thanks for all your work on this web site. Carolyn Hi Carolyn, I did the Pilgrims lesson last week. We changed the pilgrim suitcase a little. I precut, not exactly, but around the shape of each item on the three printable pages. I made sure there was enough for each child to have one of each if they chose. I had each item divided into its own stack. I gave each child a 'suitcase'. I sat in front of them and pulled out one stack of items at a time. We discussed if the pilgrims would have taken each item. If not, why, and if so, what would they have used it for. I emphasized how much they had to leave behind through discussion of these items, including their families. It helped the children realize how much the pilgrims didn't have that we do have now. I also explained how important candles were and how they made them from wax. We lit one candle and turned out the lights to let them see how dark it was in a home with just candles. We discussed the dirt floors and how women in years past would sweep the floor smooth then mark designs on it kind of like carpet to make it pretty. We discussed how they started fires with no matches and how the bread and cheese molded on their way there. We discussed why they could not drink the water in the ocean. And, of course, we discussed the Bible and why they gave up so much to leave their family and country to go to such a hard life. These are just a few. Then I allowed them to pick from the pictures what they would take and glue them in their suitcases. Some took one of each and some were very selective. The older children seemed to really grasp the sacrifices they made, and the little ones just enjoyed gluing. Thanks for another great lesson! Narita Good morning! I just wanted to let you know that I did the Going
to America Lesson last night with 5 kids ages 2 - 5 and they had lots
of fun.
I made girl pilgrim hats out of blue print paper cut into 24"
wide x 18" long pcs. I folded back approximately 3" of the width
to make the edge of the hat. I then hole punched each side and inserted
a piece of string to tie them on the girls. In the back I folded
the top down and crossed each side over and taped together. These
turned out really cute. I made boys pilgrim hats out of
a piece of black construction paper cut into a large square and
I stapled on strips of black construction paper on each side to
make a band to go around each boy's head. I cut out a yellow buckle
and glued it on the front center to look like a buckle. I stapled these
to fit the kid's heads. I let the kids chose which one they wanted
to wear. We made the I am Thankful for booklet at Thanksgiving in our Sunday school this year. The children like the idea of making a book. On the page I am Thankful for my hands we traced one of the children's hands, and on the I am thankful for food we had cut out pictures of food to glue on. These ideas added a bit of variety to the booklet rather than just drawing and coloring each page. Pamela I did the lesson last week Going to America with my 3 year old Children's Church class and they loved the story about Will. Thanks for all the great ideas. Stacey did the Lesson on the Pilgrims for the past two weeks in my 6 & 7 year old Sunday School Class. We compared the Pilgrims of that time to us as Christian Pilgrims. The lesson was wonderful. For the craft, we made a Mayflower that sailed from England to Plymouth Rock on a piece of yarn. Then on the sails of the boat we glued our memory verses on. I love all of the lessons that I have used for my class. Jamie Today I did the lesson Going to America with my class of 4 to 7 year olds. We colored and glued the Teepee's but didn't use the toothpicks because I was afraid someone might get hurt. I printed each child a copy of the Mayflower to take home. I made treat bags with Marshmallows, Runts, Life Savers, Pretzels, Teddy Grahams, Candy Corn and Goldfish. (I even put a half sheet of paper in each bag explaining what everything represented so the parent's could reinforce the lesson.) I explained how each of them represented things we need to be thankful for. I also made the suitcase from a colored file folder and cut out the pictures. I stopped during the lesson and let each child pick something that the Pilgrim's would have taken on their trip. We discussed how hard it would have been to leave lots of things behind especially grandparents. I think the older children learned something new and all of them learned the true meaning of what Thanksgiving was all about. Thank You for the wonderful lesson. My preschool Sunday school class recently did the "Going To America" lesson. After the lesson, the children were eager to talk about what kinds of foods the Indians taught the Pilgrims to plant and harvest......one response was "A Happy Meal", which of course got a laugh. The children then colored a turkey coloring sheet. The children made a cornucopia place card to sit at their Thanksgiving dinner table with their names on it as well as Indian and Pilgrim finger puppets. Ella Last week we did the Coming to America lesson with our 4-8 year olds. We cut out pictures for the lesson and made a felt board which helps to keep the little ones attention better. They enjoyed the lesson and we talked about the different foods and items that they brought over. We have found that using the felt board with the lessons is a GREAT teaching tool!! Stacy
Crafts and Activities for this Lesson: 1. Make a "Thankful Book" - Make up some blank books before class. Cut typing paper in half lengthwise. Fold together 14 pages and staple down the edge to make a book. On the front cover write or have the older children write the memory verse. Write a letter of the alphabet on each page (have the older children write the letters themselves.) Provide magazines, newspapers, crayons, glue, markers, etc. Have the children draw or glue pictures on each page of the book to represent each letter. Encourage the children to finish their books at home. 2. Make a Thanksgiving Quilt - Give each child at least one sheet of paper with one of the letters of the alphabet printed on it. Have them draw a picture of something that starts with that letter that they are thankful for. Place all the pictures on your bulletin board so that they are touching each other. Staple strips of paper around the edge of all the drawings to make it look like a quilt. Write the memory verse along the edges of the quilt.
What you will need: Brown paper lunch bags, newspapers, paint, markers or crayons, red, orange, brown, and yellow construction paper, glue, rubber bands, and tape. What to do: 1. Before class print out the pattern for the wings, feet, wattle and beak and cut the shapes from construction paper. 2. In class hand out the paper bags and have the children color or paint their bags on the top 2/3s of the bag. 3. Have the children crinkle up one page of newspaper and stuff it in their bags. Close up the bag by crinkling the sides together about 2/3 of the way down from the top of the bag. Help the children wind a rubber band around the bag 2/3s of the way down.. Cut from the top of the bag down to the rubber band at the place where there is an indent in the bag. Spread out the bag at the top to form the turkey's tail feathers. 4. Have the children glue on or tape on the turkey's body parts. 5. Write the days Bible verse across the top. Comments: I teach 3-5 year olds in my Sunday school class. We did the craft that you use a paper bag and stuff it with newspaper. Before class I printed Bible verses on paper and cut them out and I let my kids stuff their turkey with Bible verses and wrote a poem letting the parents know that this wasn't an ordinary turkey it was stuffed with a special message inside. The children loved this craft. Carrie Stewart
6. Play a Memory Game - Each child takes turns naming one thing he or she is thankful for. The children must first name all the other things that were named before him and then add to the list something he is thankful for. You can also use the alphabet and have the children name things that start with a letter of the alphabet going around the circle in order. Comments About This Lesson: I teach Junior Church, Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd graders. For the month of November I decided to do lessons on Thankfulness. The first week we learned about the ten lepers. This past Sunday I taught the lesson on "Beat the Greedies." At first the children were a little concerned that this was a real disease, something like leprosy - the past Sunday's lesson. After we got past that, the children really seemed to get involved in things we should be thankful for. One little boy mentioned that we should be thankful for our food because many people don't have food. I was able to talk about homeless people, people who go to bed hungry, children who don't have books and toys, and how thankful we should be because God truly has blessed us abundantly! For our craft, I had cut out 12 inch Greedy guys from poster board, just like the one I used for the lesson. The children colored them with crayons adding clothes and hair. We had labels with our memory verse that fit right in the middle of the body and just to remind us not to be greedy, but to be thankful, we added a few dabs of poster paint dots on the body. It was just enough to make the kids think they were painting but not enough to be messy! The kids enjoyed this and I believe the lesson got us all thinking about how good God is to us! Thank you for the great lessons. Kelly Garner I have a 1st and 2nd grade youth group (I also have a few Kindergartners). I taught this lesson last Sunday and incorporated a project where we decorated banks for Share-A-Christmas. We discussed thinking about all that has been given to us, that we all have things that we should be thankful for 24/7. I made a poster boy name Greedy Petie and told the story. At the end I asked how many of them go to the store with their Moms or Dads and ask for something: pop, candy or a toy. For the next month, they are to think about putting that money, change that their parents would have given them to buy the above-mentioned items, in their banks. This was a great lesson for my little ones. Even though the story was based on material things, we discussed things that they have that are not materialistic, that money can not buy, and how thankful they should be: A loving family, good health, caring parents, etc. Thank you for all the great lesson ideas and crafts. I do try to have a craft project of some sort every week to keep them busy and hands-on. It helps this age learn and remember. Thank you and God bless, Cindy Vickers, Ohio I am just thrilled with the lessons and crafts offered in your Resource Room. I currently am leading the school's Bible club and have already used several of your lessons. However, the most memorable lesson was the lesson on "Greedy Pete". I had to do a chapel for the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students two weeks before Thanksgiving. I used this lesson, but instead of using the pattern or the puppet with the dots all over his face, I used one of my students. I sat the boy on the chair and painted a black dot on his face and arms every time he got the greedies. The children laughed and we all had a great time in that chapel. Thanks and God bless, Laura I just wanted to let you know that I used your Thanksgiving Prayer Book craft with my class of 2-4 year olds and they really enjoyed it. Thanks so much for the wonderful craft ideas and stories. We also made the felt pompom Turkeys. I have really enjoyed the web site. Hill Country Evangelical Free Church, Fredericksburg, TX, Kim Remlinger
I have an active bunch of kids ages 5-8 so we also played a game which I called “Thankful Musical Chairs” I put the letters from A – Z on our black board. I played a song about being thankful which was actually a Bible verse to music. We set up chairs as for musical chairs. Each time the music stopped and a child would miss out on a chair, he or she would have to say something he or she was thankful for that began with the next letter on the board. I would then write it on the board next to that letter. They loved it; and it really reinforced the lesson. It got to the point that when the music stopped children would not run to chairs; they would stay standing so they could say thank you to God. The children are still talking about it. What an achievement, praise the Lord. Rosi
Last week in Sunday school (ages 0 to 6), I taught the lesson "Beat the Greedies". The lesson went very well and the children really enjoyed it. During the lesson, I allowed each child to tell something that makes them feel greedy at this time of year and as they did, they added a green sticker to our "greedy guy". Later in the lesson, "greedy guy" was passed around the table and when he was passed, the person who got him told something that they were thankful for, teaching "greedy guy" how to be thankful and less greedy and then they removed one of the green "greedies". For easier "greedy" removal, when I made my "greedy guy", I covered him with contact paper. It helped the stickers to come off, otherwise, they stick to the paper. Thank you for such a wonderful lesson. Theresa Bostick
This month we did the lesson Beet the Greedies with our 4 - 9 year olds. We again used the little man and attached him to our felt board. Since our church is part of the Chi-Ka-Sha Baptist Association (Indian) and it being close to Thanksgiving, for our craft we made "Indian corn". We bought the craft from Oriental Trading Company (Type in 48/426 in the search box at the top of this web site to find this craft.) . It turned out so cute. I encourage anyone who teaches the younger children to use a felt board because they are wonderful and it helps the younger ones to grasp the concepts better when they can visualize the stories. Stacy
I called them all back to the classroom after Sunday School and gave each of them a cup of cocoa with marshmallows to take home. THEY DID NOT KNOW THIS WOULD HAPPEN. Manners Matter - In this lesson children learn that manners are important. Using manners show others that we love and respect them. Rules of etiquette are important but change according to the circumstances and times, but God's rules never change. Crafts and Activities Early Arrivals Activity
2. Setting the Table Activity What you will need: Large sheets of construction paper (Or tape two pieces of regular-sized sheets together on the long sides.), colored paper, glue, pictures of food from magazines, and dried food such as cereal, noodles, and beans, and napkins.
3. Manners Matter Color Sheet - Have your children color or draw a picture about manners. Talk about good manners. Ask your children to think of other manners they should use at the table. (A Pattern for this craft is available to members only.)
4. Practice Table Manners - After talking about good table manners have your children practice their table manners. Show them a table-setting diagram, and have each student set his place at the table using paper plates, napkins, spoons, forks, knives, and a glass. Check each student's place setting to make sure he or she set it properly. (A Pattern for this craft is available to members only.) Set some goodies on the table and have your children practice passing them from left to right, taking their share, saying thank you, and then passing it on. Make sure they don't start eating before everyone has been served. Tell them that when you place your napkin on your lap, they should do the same thing. They should also wait for you to say the blessing and start eating before they start. As they continue eating point out good and bad manners so they learn what is appropriate. Remind your children that they should never point out someone else's bad manners at dinner. You can even pretend that they are coming to your house for Thanksgiving dinner. Practice introducing your guests, washing their hands before they eat, not interrupting others when they are talking, etc. 5. Draw Pictures of Good or Bad Manners - Assign each child a different manner listed on the "Manners Matter" Activity Sheet and have them draw a picture depicting that manner. When they are done collect all the pictures and see if the other children can guess which manner is depicted in each picture. |
Bible Themes: Thanksgiving - Thankfulness
1. Make a "God is with You" Pilgrim Suitcase. Children pick different items they think they 
would like to take on a trip to America if they were pilgrims. Some of the items on the sheet , such as vacuum cleaners and microwaves, didn't exist then so the children have to decide which ones the pilgrims would have taken and which ones they wouldn't have.
2. Make a "I Thank God For . . ." Book -
(Older Children) You can print it in color or black and white. To discover the message children circle the letters above every item that the pilgrims might have had, and cross out all the items that they wouldn't have had. The mystery message is: "God is with you", which is part of the Bible verse.
Trace your children's hands in the middle of a piece of paper. Have them color them to look like turkeys. Write the following verse at the bottom of the page. "I made a little turkey so everyone can see that I am very thankful that God's been so good to me." ©2007, Carolyn Warvel. Please include the copyright.
5. Make a Thanksgiving Prayer Place mat
Play
"Dress the Pilgrim" game. Before class prepare a boy and girl
pilgrim outfit. A hat, a collar, two shoe buckles and a belt for
the boys. A bonnet, collar, apron, two shoe buckles or two
white cuffs for the girls. Divided the children in to teams, girls
against boys. Pick one boy and one girl to be the pilgrims. Prepares
some questions from this lesson and previous lessons you have taught.
Take turns asking each team the questions. If a team get the question
right they get to dress their pilgrim. Let the child who answered
the question pick an item and put it on the pilgrim. Keep
playing until one of the pilgrims is completely dresses.
To
make the boy pilgrim hat I used black poster board. Cut out a long
strip of poster board long enough to fit around a child's head and
about 7" tall. Staple the piece into a tube shape. Make sure
it is big enough. Now place the tube in the middle of a piece of
poster board so that one of the open ends is resting on the poster
board. Trace around the outside edge. You should have drawn a circle.
Don't worry about it being perfect. Actually it would be better
if it is a little oblong since that it the shape of a child's head.
Draw a bigger circle around that circle to make a brim. Now take
your scissors and poke a hole in the middle of both circles. Cut
wedge shapes starting from the center out to the first circle line.
Do not cut the wedges off. It should look like you are cutting a
pie except that the pieces are still attached to the smaller circle.
Now fold up all the wedges and place the tube part of the hat in
the center of the rim so that the wedges are on the outside of the
tube all the way around. Cut the points off the wedges and
glue of tape them to the hat. To cover the wedges make a brown band
and glue it around the hat. Add a buckle.
I
made the girl pilgrim hat out of material, but you can easily make
a hat from a paper grocery bag. Cut the bottom off the grocery
bag so that it is about 8" high. Cut one of the short sides out.
(A side that folds. Fold back the edges of the side that you just
cut about two inches. Do it two times. Now paint the hat white and
staple or glue on some ties. If you don't have time to make a hat
you can just tie a white scarf on the pilgrim.
4. Play a "Complete the Turkey Game - This activity can
go with the 
5.
Make a Paper Bag Turkey
6. Play a Turkey Beanbag Game - Make a turkey using a child's
plastic bowling pin. Fan fold two pieces of construction paper
and tape them together. Tape one end to make a fan. Tape the fan
onto the plastic bowling pin for the turkey's tail feathers.
Cut out a wattle and beak, and glue them to the front of the bowling
pin. Use a permanent marker to draw the eyes. Cut feet from
orange construction paper and tape them to the bottom of the pin.
Have the children take turns trying to knock over the turkey by
throwing a beanbag at it.
Thank you so much for all your great ideas.
1. Thanksgiving Place Setting Activity Sheet - Have your children color a picture of a table setting and tell them they can use it to help them remember how to set the table on Thanksgiving Day. 
Before class cut out large plate-size circles and silerware shapes from construction paper. In class have your children glue the place settings in the correct place and then glue pictures of food on the plate. You can also use dried food such as cereal or pasta noodles. If you don't have time to cut out a bunch of silverware, you can use plastic silverware, or just have your children draw pictures of food on the plate. 
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