Crafts and Activities About Jesus
for
Sunday School
How to Make Crafts and Activities Relating to Jesus Including: Posters, Christmas Scroll, Baby Jesus Crafts, Nativity Crafts, Church Craft, "King of Kings" Jesus Banner, Bible Puppets, Bingo Song, Clock Craft, Games,
"Monkey See, Monkey Do, Jesus Wept and So Should You" Sunday School Lessons
These crafts and activity ideas come from the Sunday School Lesson Series "Monkey See, Monkey Do" and are available to members on The Resource Room.
Through this lesson children learn that it can be fun to copy others especially when they are doing something fun or exciting, but we have to be careful who we copy because not everything people do is appropriate. When it comes to copying what we see, Jesus gives us the best example. Children learn that Jesus wept for people who were sad, and that they should also feel empathy for others.
Scripture References: Ephesians 5:1, Luke 19:41, and John 11:33-35
1. Rejoice and Weep/Mourn Monkey Puppet
 Use the weeping and rejoicing stick monkeys to review the Bible verse. Have your children repeat the Bible verse several times while holding their Monkey Stick Puppets. When they say "rejoice" or "weep" they should turn their stick puppets to the appropriate side. See how fast they can say the verse. See if they can come up with a tune to sing the verse. (Patterns available to members.)
2. Monkey See, Monkey Do! Color Sheet
Children color a picture showing monkeys rejoicing together and weeping together. (Printable Pattern Available to members only)
3.  Bible Verse Review Game
Ask your children the following questions and then have them come up with their own questions using the phrase "Monkey see, monkey do". Or have them reply to your answer using the phrase and then the answer. For example, a child would reply to the first question, "Monkey see, monkey do, you shouldn't hit when someone hits you."
1. Monkey see, monkey do, should you hit because someone hit you? No
2. Monkey see, monkey do, should you bully because someone bullies you? No
3. Monkey see, monkey do, should you laugh when someone’s laughing too? Depends what their laughing about.
4. Monkey see, monkey do, should you cry when someone’s crying because they are blue? Yes
5. Monkey see, monkey do, should you be talking when the teaching is talking to you? No.
6. Monkey see, monkey do, should you shout when someone’s shouting at you? No
7. Monkey see, monkey do, should you hug when someone’s hugging you? Yes
8. Monkey see, monkey do, should you . . .
3. Color a Bible Verse Color Sheet for Younger Children
Children color the monkeys and then practice reading the Bible verse. A happy monkey is in the place of the word "rejoice" and a sad monkey is in the place of "weep" or "mourn". (Printable pattern available to members.)
4. Monkey Around
Play a concentration game to see who is the best little monkey. Tell your children that they should watch you and then do what you did. Start with two movements and then have your children do the same thing. Add more and more movements and see who can copy the sequence without making a mistake. You can use some of the following movements: Salute, jump, shake your head from side to side, wave, touch your toes, swim, jump from side to side, chicken dance, jumping jacks, tiptoe, say “Jesus wept”, march, run in place, pat your head, cup your ears like you are trying to hear better, sing a tune, say “Excuse me.”
5. Play “Monkey See, Monkey Do!”
Have your children sit in a circle and pick one child to be the guesser. Send the guesser outside or have him close his or her eyes while you pick another child in the circle to be the lead “monkey”.
Decide which player will be the guesser. That player leaves the room. The lead monkey than does things and the other monkeys follow along. The lead monkey must do them when the monkey in the middle is not looking so that the monkey in the middle cannot tell who is the lead monkey. Tell the other children to try not to look directly at the lead monkey because they want to fool the monkey in the middle as long as possible. If the lead monkey gets caught, he then becomes the monkey in the middle.
A complete lesson is available to members of Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities on The Resource Room.
Monkey See, Monkey Do Jesus Knew the Scripture and So Should You (Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness)
The following crafts and activities come from the Sunday School Lesson "Monkey See, Monkey Do, Jesus Knew the Scripture and so Should You" and is available to members on The Resource Room. This lesson teaches that it can be fun to copy others especially when they are doing something fun or exciting, but we have to be careful who we copy because not everything people do is appropriate. When it comes to copying what we see, Jesus gives us the best example. In this lesson Jesus gives us an example of how he used the scriptures to fight against the devil's temptations. In this lesson children learn it is important to memorize scriptures because they will help them fight against temptation.
Scripture References: Matthew 4:1-11
Included in this lesson:
 1. Bible Verse Review Game - (A Pattern for this game is available to members.)
To play this game hide the bananas around the room before class or while the children are out of the class. Instruct your children to each find one banana and then go back to their seats. There are 16 bananas in all so if you have more children than bananas, make extra. Read the verse and write it on the board. Point to each word one at a time and ask your children to look at their bananas to see if they have that word. If a child has the word he or she gets to "feed the monkey" by placing it in the monkey's mouth. Keep playing until all the children have had a chance to "feed the monkey".
2. Play “Monkey See, Monkey Do!” - Have your children sit in a circle and pick one child to be the guesser. Send the guesser outside or have him cose his or her eyes while you pick another child in the circle to be the lead “monkey”.
Decide which player will be the guesser. That player leaves the room. The lead monkey then does things and the other monkeys follow along. The lead monkey must do them when the monkey in the middle is not looking so that the monkey in the middle cannot tell who is the lead monkey. Tell the other children to try not to look directly at the lead monkey because they want to fool the monkey in the middle as long as possible. If the lead monkey gets caught, he then becomes the monkey in the middle.
3. Monkey Around - Play a concentration game. Tell your children that they should watch you and then do what you did. Start with two movements and then have your children do the same thing. Add more and more movements and see who can copy the sequence without making a mistake. You can use some of the following movements: Salute, jump, shake your head from side to side, wave, touch your toes, swim, jump from side to side, chicken dance, jumping jacks, tiptoe, say “Jesus wept”, march, run in place, pat your head, cup your ears like you are trying to hear better, sing a tune, say “Excuse me.”
A complete lesson is available to members of Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities on The Resource Room.
Monkey See, Monkey Do, Jesus Prayed and So Should You
The following crafts and activities come from the Sunday School Lesson Monkey See, Monkey Do, Jesus Prayed and So Should You and is available to members on The Resource Room. This lesson teaches that while it can be fun to copy others especially when they are doing something fun or exciting, we have to be careful who we copy because not everything people do is appropriate. When it comes to copying what we see, Jesus gives us the best example. When it comes to copying what we see, Jesus gives us the best example. In this lesson children learn Jesus prayed and they should pray too.
1. ABC, Where Can I Pray Game - (Older Children) Write the ABCs on your board and have your children help you think of places where they can pray. Each place should start with a different letter of the alphabet. Examples - A - attic, B - baseball field, C - car, D - downstairs, E - entry way or estuary, etc.
2. What is the Monkey Doing? - Before class write down things that Jesus would want us to do such as: pray, feed the poor, heal the sick, talk to someone, tell someone about Jesus, etc. In class pick two children to act out each senario and have the other children in the class try to guess what they are acting out.
3. Play “Monkey See, Monkey Do!” - Have your children sit in a circle and pick one child to be the guesser. Send the guesser outside or have him close his or her eyes while you pick another child in the circle to be the lead “monkey”.
Decide which player will be the guesser. That player leaves the room. The lead monkey then does things and the other monkeys follow along. The lead monkey must do them when the monkey in the middle is not looking so that the monkey in the middle cannot tell who is the lead monkey. Tell the other children to try not to look directly at the lead monkey because they want to fool the monkey in the middle as long as possible. If the lead monkey gets caught, he then becomes the monkey in the middle.
4. Monkey Around - Play a concentration game to see who is the best little monkey – Tell your children that they should watch you and then do what you did. Start with two movements and then have your children do the same thing. Add more and more movements and see who can copy the sequence without making a mistake. You can use some of the following movements: Salute, jump, shake your head from side to side, wave, touch your toes, swim, jump from side to side, chicken dance, jumping jacks, tiptoe, say “Jesus wept”, march, run in place, pat your head, cup your ears like you are trying to hear better, sing a tune, say “Excuse me.”
A complete lesson is available to members of Danielle's Place of Crafts and Activities on The Resource Room.
Names for Jesus Posters
What you will need: Printer Paper, construction paper, religious foam shapes, and glue sticks.
How to make:
1. Print out names for Jesus using colorful letters and interesting fonts. Patterns for the following names are available to members on The Resource Room: Mighty God, Lord, Savior, Son of Man, Prince of Peace, Messiah, Mighty God, Christ, and Son of God. (Some are pictured above and to the right.
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 2. In class have your children glue the letters to a piece of construction paper. Give them stickers or fun foam shapes to decorate the rest of the page.
3. If you have younger children, don't cut the letters apart. Just have them glue the whole name the construction paper and then decorate. If you have older children, cut the letters apart and mix them up. Have them try to put the letters together to figure out what they spell and then glue them to the paper and decorate.
You can buy religious shaped stickers from Amazon.com
Foam Stickers 240/Pkg - Mini Church
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Isaiah
Predicts Jesus' Birth
 Scripture
Reference: Isaiah 7:14
I teach 4 - 6 year olds and they are so much fun. Two
weeks before Christmas, I gave a Sunday school lesson incorporating
Isaiah 7:14 and how Isaiah had predicted so many years before about
Jesus' birth. I tried to get them to predict what they thought would
happen on earth 100 years from now. I got so many responses like:
living in glass bubbles in the air, living on the moon, thinking of
where you want to be and then appearing there, no more hunger anywhere,
no sickness, etc.
We made the scroll (Go to Christmas
Crafts Page 2 for directions and a pattern) and it was so
easy for them to do. They were astounded on how a clean white sheet
turned into an old-time scroll. Using the concentrated tea was easy
and not too messy for cleanup. I heard a few parents' comments on
how genuine they looked. The kids got to put them up on their Christmas
trees. Sent in by Anita
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Jesus
was a Special Baby
Scripture
Reference: Matthew 2:1-12
Concepts - Jesus was a special baby
1.
See Moses
lesson for activities about babies.
2. Make a Baby Covered with a Blanket Picture - Before class
cut out pictures of babies and baby things from magazines. Cut out
small squares of fabric for blankets. In class have the children
glue the baby picture and baby things onto construction paper.
Give them each a scrap of material to glue on top of the baby for
a blanket. Write on the top of the paper: "Jesus was a Special Baby."
3. Scribble Like a Baby - Have the children scribble like a
baby all over a piece of construction paper. When they are finished
scribbling, let them use water color paint to paint over the scribbles.
The paint will not stick to the crayons and will make a very pretty
picture.
4. Taste Baby Food - Bring in several bottles of baby food
and let the children taste them.
5. Also see Christmas
Crafts Page 1 and Page 2
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Baby
Jesus in an Envelope Manger
 This pattern is available to Members
Only.
What you will
need: Letter-sized envelope, yarn or straw, crayons, pencil, and
glue.
How to make: Use the pattern available to members only or cut out a manger shape as shown from
an envelope. Color the envelope to look like a manger. Draw a picture of baby Jesus,
cut him out and place him in the manger with cut up pieces of straw
or yarn.
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Poem
about Jesus - Look on the Christmas
Page for poems about Jesus
Mary
Tells Her Good News
Scripture
Reference: Luke 1:26-56
Concepts: Mary was happy and shared her good news about
Baby Jesus. We can tell people about Baby Jesus too.
Crafts
and Activities
1. Make
a whispering tube out of a paper towel roll. Cover the roll
with pretty paper and have the children decorate them with stickers,
crayons, or markers. Instead of using paper towel rolls,
you can cut pretty colors of poster board and roll it up to form
a tube. Glue it together using a hot melt glue gun. Tell the story
about how Mary told her good news. Discuss how we can tell
people about Jesus.
2. Whisper
Bible verses or short sentences through the tube and have the children
repeat what you said.
3. Bring
in baby items and discuss what each item is used for. Play
a guessing game by removing one item when the children aren't looking
and have them guess which one is missing.
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Jesus Grew
and I am Growing Too
Scripture
Reference: Matthew 2:19-23, 13:55-56 and Luke 2:4-7, 40, 51-52
Concepts: Jesus grew and learned many things; you are growing
and learning to do many things. God made me special.
Outline each child's body on a big piece of paper (butcher paper used
to cover bulletin boards) and then let them color it. Write
the scripture verse Luke 2:40, "And the Child continued
to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of
God was upon Him," on each sheet or paper before class.
This idea comes from Cindi VanWingerden
of Cincinnati, Ohio. She says, " I had one parent tell me that
they were happy to have a new one to replace one they had for a year
or so that the child would not get rid of until they got a new one!"
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Comments:
We
used this project for a lesson about Jesus' love for us.
We tapped two-feet pieces of butcher paper to the wall all around the
room one right next to the other. On the top of the paper we
wrote, "Jesus loves ______" whomever we happened to
be tracing. We traced the child's body and had them use crayons
to draw in the face and clothes. Most of the children seemed
to enjoy the project. Some of the children spent at least 20 minutes
on the project others were more interested in the play dough.
We probably should have put up the play dough first.
Jesus
Goes to Church - Honor
Your Parents
3D Church Craft
Go to the Church Crafts Page for a pattern and directions.
Make a Church and Play with Finger Puppets
 Draw
a simple church outline with a mirror image of the outline above
the roof line of the church. You are going to fold the outline
on what would be the peak of the roof so that the church stands
up on it's own.;
Have
children color the church, then fold. Attach it
to a piece of cardboard for the floor. If you make each outline
large enough you can make simple stick figure puppets out of craft
sticks and card stock people shape cutouts for Jesus, Mary and Joseph
for the children to play with in the church. Sent in by Bethany Davis
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Pipe Cleaner People Puppets
Make 3 taller pipe cleaner
people and 1 shorter pipe cleaner person. The shorter one would
represent Jesus, of course. Cut out a circle for the face from construction
paper. The children will draw a smiley face on it and then glue
it to the pipe cleaner head on each figure. Also, cut out robes
for each figure out of construction paper. The children will glue
these to the pipe cleaner bodies. Tape each of the pipe cleaner
people to a Popsicle stick. Purchase a small block of Styrofoam.
Cut out a "wall" from construction paper and draw columns
on it to represent the temple. You could even surround the Styrofoam
on 3 sides with the walls. Glue the walls to the back and sides
of the Styrofoam leaving the front open. The children can then stick
the Popsicle stick people into the foam to represent the temple.
Sent in by Susan Schultz
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Sticker Fun
 Oriental Trading Company has "Build a Church Stickers" (12 sheets for $2.95) that would work great for this theme. Type in 36/451 or "church stickers" in the search box on the left to find them.
Jesus
Tempted in the Wilderness
 I
used the "King of Kings" banner. I copied it to my paint program and erased the "King of Kings" and replaced it with "Always Do Right". I am going to have the children make the banner out of fun foam or felt and have them glue the words onto
it and then decorate with glitter glue and other sequins and cording.
Go
to Crafts Page 6 for a pattern and directions on how to make this craft.
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Jesus Bingo Song
Using the tune from BINGO try this song. Have one letter each on
a sheet of cardboard or construction paper to spell the name Jesus. Five children are chosen, each child holds one letter from the name Jesus. The following song is sung through once before any letter is removed.
We start with the final S as the first letter to be removed so that
the capital J is always in the children's mind and sight until the
end of the song. When a letter is removed a clap is substituted for
the missing letter. All letters are returned when the final line of
the song is sung to spell out the name of Jesus. To keep the letters
turned correctly a * is placed on the top of the paper to show the
child which way the letter stands. (Stars are above us, our star points
up to heaven).
"I have a friend who's always there,
And Jesus is his name-o
J-E-S-U-S, J-E-S-U-S, J-E-S-U-S
And Jesus is his name-o"
(Remove a letter and sing again, clap for missing letter/s)
After all letters have been removed five claps are given for the letters
then slow down and help children return all letters to finish the
song and sing "And Jesus is his name-o" (Sent in by Dian Dodson)
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Jesus and Children - Jesus Always Has Time for Me
Scripture Reference: Mark 10:13-16, Matthew 19:1-15, Luke 18:15-17, and Matthew 18:1-4
Concepts: Jesus has time for children.
Make a Clock with Day and Night Fun Foam Shapes
 What you will need: Blue and black construction paper, yellow printer paper, brads, celestial fun foam shapes from Oriental Trading Company, (Type in 48/21030 in the search box at the top of the page.) or star, moon, clouds and sun stickers. You can also cut these shapes from fun foam.
How to make:
1. Cut the black construction paper in half and glue the half sheets onto the blue construction.
 2. Punch holes through the middle of the clock and the background paper, and the clock hands. Stick a brad through the hands, the clock, and the background paper, and spread it out on the back of the paper.
3. In class have your children glue or stick celestial shapes onto the paper. They should glue the stars and moons to the black side representing night, and the sun and clouds to the blue side that represents day. Remind your children that Jesus has time for us any time of the day, night or day. (A pattern for this craft is available to members only.)
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Make a Bible Verse Review Clock Game
See the crafts and activities section below for directions and a pattern.
Make a Fun Foam Watch
 What you will need: Fun foam sheets, paper fastener, ruler, scissors, hole punch, markers, and small stapler
How to make:
1. Cut one circle about 2" in diameter or less for the watch face and draw numbers around the edge.
2. Cut one strip for the watch band about 1" x 7" or size to fit child, round off one end of the band. Have your children decorate the watch band with markers.
3. Cut two more strips about 1/4" x 2 1/2" for the straps to the hold the band together.
4. Punch a hole (just big enough to fit the fasteners in) through the middle of the watch face and through the watch band where you want to attach the face. Push the paper fastener through the back of the band and the watch face to attach. Open up the prongs. You can clip the prongs (the watch hands) shorter for younger children so they don't scratch themselves.
5. Wrap the 1/4" strips around the end of the watch band overlapping the ends around the back of the band. With the watch upside down and the overlapped part of the strips showing, insert the bottom half of the small stapler underneath the band and through the loop so that the overlapped part of the strips can be stapled together and to the band. (You can also glue them on with hot melt glue). Put the other strips about a half an inch to one inch above the first depending on the size of the child.
6. Write the Bible verse on the inside of the band.
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Make a Watch
Have your children color a chipboard watch and write "Jesus has time for me on the band.
Jesus Has Time for Me Hour Glass Craft
 What you will need: two small empty water bottles (we used the 1/2 pint size) per child, stickers, permanent marker, labels, bird seed, (beans or rice), and duck tape.
How to make:
1. Have your children decorate one of the water bottles with foam stickers and write "Jesus has time for me" on the other bottle.
2. Fill one water bottle 2/3 full with bird seed, rice, or beans, and place the empty water bottle upside down onto the filled water bottle.
3. Use duck tape to tape the bottles together.
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Clock Cookies
Have your children decorate round cookies to look like clocks.
These ideas were sent in by Patty Jackson
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