Bible Crafts and Activities for Kids

Jonah and the Whale Bible Lesson, Crafts and Activities for Kids

How to Make Crafts and Activities Relating to Jonah Including: Bean Bag Toss Game, "Hide and Seek" Bible Lesson, "Find Jonah" Card Game, Sing a Song and Act It Out, Face Puppets, Emotions Booklet, Envelope Fish and Jonah Paper Doll , "What Did the Big Fish Eat?" Game

Scripture Reference: Jonah 1 - 4 Concepts - God knows where we are at all times. You can't hide from God.

Whale Puppet Bible Craft for Jonah and the Whale

Open the whale's mouth and insert Jonah, and close the mouth to have the big fish swallow him. Children will love playing with this whale puppet.

Not only does the mouth open and close, but the tail moves up and down to make the fish look like it is swimming.

A pattern for this craft is available to members on The Resource Room.

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"Pin Jonah in the Whale" Bible Craft and Game for Sunday School

What you willl need:

Card stock, crayons or markers, scissors, tape, and a bandana.

What to do:

1. Before class tape two pieces of cardstock together and draw a large whale shape covering the entire sheet. (See diagram to the left.) Also draw a picture of Jonah that will fit inside the shape of the whale and make copies or use clipart. (A pattern for this craft is available to members.)

2. In class have your children color the pictures of Jonah.

3. Tape the whale picture on a wall so that your children can reach it easily.

4. Blindfold the children and have them take turns trying to tape Jonah inside the whale. Once each child has taped up his or her Jonah, take off the blindfold and show that child where his or her Jonah picture ended up on the whale.

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"What Did the Big Fish Eat?" Jonah and the Whale Review Game

This activity comes from the lessons "Hide and Seek, The Story of Jonah and the Whale" on The Resource Room. A free sample lesson is available.

This big fish has swallowed many things including Jonah.

In this Bible lesson review game children answer review questions and then reach into the fishes mouth and pull out a piece of paper with a picture of something the fish has swallowed. They will be amazed and entertained by all the different things he has eaten. The child who pulls out the picture of Jonah wins.

What you will need: Dinner-sized paper plates, paint, googly eyes, hot melt glue or stapler, googly eyes, and scissors.

How to make:

1. Paint the top side of two paper plates pink (This will be the inside of the fish.).
2. Print out the fish fin patterns, and cut them out.
3. Place the tail fin patterns on a paper plate as shown in the diagram, trace the patterns, and cut them out.
4. Glue the tail to the top of one of the paper plates so that the fins are curving downwards. (This paper plate will be the top of the fish.)
5. Glue the two side fins to the same paper plate on the sides of the plates as shown in the diagram.
6. Cut a slit at the edge of the paper plate just behind both fins as shown in the diagram and then cut out a wedge shape.
7. Glue the paper plate with the fins on it to the other paper plate starting at the back of one side fin and ending at the back of the other side fin.
8. Bring the top paper plate over top of the bottom paper plate at the fins. Glue it together at the overlapping area. This will make the mouth open.
9. Fold the bottom part of the top fin over about a 1/4" from the bottom. Glue it to the top of the fish.
10. Stuff the fish with some crinkled up scrap paper and paint the outside. Let dry.
11. Glue on some googly eyes.
12. Print out the pattern for the things that go in the whales mouth. Cut them apart, and fold them up, and stick them in the mouth of the whale. Color Pattern 1, Color Pattern 2, Black and White Pattern 1 and Black and White Pattern 2 - (Printing Problems?)

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Play a Bean Bag Toss Game

Make bean bags that look like Jonah and toss them into the mouth a whale. Use the pattern and directions provided to make Jonah bean bag dolls. Make a whale out of a plastic milk jug. Let the children take turns throwing their dolls into the whale. Or make a whale for each child and let them try to catch the Jonah bean bag in the mouth of their whale.

"Hide and Seek" Bible Lesson for Older Children

In this lesson children learn about Jonah and how he tried to hide from God. They learn that they can't hide anything from God. When they do something wrong, instead of trying to forget about it, or hiding from it, God wants them to tell him about it, and to ask him for forgiveness. This lesson is available on The Resource Room a subscription site.

Free "Hide and Seek" Bible Lesson for Younger Children

"Find Jonah" Card Game

Play "Find Jonah" Card Game by turning over Jonah cards and seeing if Jonah is hiding behind the card. If he isn't, they act out part of the story defined on the card. Card pattern available on The Resource Room.

Sing a Song and Act It Out

Younger children will enjoy singing a song about Jonah while they act out the story. Prepare a large appliance box to look like a whale. Have a child enter the box while the other students sing the song. At the end of the song when it says Jonah was spit out, the child in the box should come out of the box pretending to be spit out. Keep singing the song until all the children have had a chance to act it out. This song is available on The Resource Room.

Face Puppets

Older children make face puppets on which different emotions are depicted. They use the puppets during the lessons by raising their puppet to indicate when they think Jonah may have experienced the emotion their puppet depicts.

Emotions Booklet

Younger children make a booklet with pictures of the different emotions Jonah may have experienced. They practice making the same faces during the lesson.