Your Own Giant Fish

My friend, Kim, and I made this GIANT fish when teaching the Kindergarten class about Jonah being swallowed by the great fish.  We made it out of a lot of bulletin board paper and just free handed it (a gift I am NOT blessed with!).  The kids loved being in the fish.  We would pretend that they were Jonah in the fish.  Then when the fish would "spit" them out, they would go to Ninevah and tell them God's news!

Healing of the Lame Man

I don't teach below Kindergarten often, but, when I do, I try to do a lot of activities to keep the kids up and moving!!!!  When I was teaching the three year olds about Paul, these are some of the activities we used for the lesson.  This gate had been made for a VBS lesson.  We try to save as many of these things as possible so we can reuse them year after year.  I found the mat from Oriental Trading - in their beach section!!!  The kids loved that part of it!  We let each child that wanted to be the lame man on the mat.  The rest of the class would sing the song that went with the lesson while the child who was lame became well.  We did this COUNTLESS times!!!

One of the things we did when they came into class was to begin coloring their story telling figures. I took these same figures to teach the lesson later.  They worked on coloring them and we would talk about what we thought the lesson would be about.  It is always fun to hear their thoughts!

This is how I used them in the lesson.  The kids love the sand box.  I usually let them touch the sand after the lesson if they sit still through it.

This was one of my favorite lessons to teach and there are so many lame man stories you can use these ideas with - Jesus, Peter and Paul!!!!

Paper Bag Sheep

We used a white lunch sack to make this cute little sheep for a lesson on David being a shepherd.  It was so easy to make and the kids LOVED them!!!!  Take a lunch sack. Stuff it with anything you have.  We used newspaper.  Fold over the ends and staple.  You may even want to tape the end to the bag.  Attach the head (We used a lamb mask pattern.) to the bag with glue or masking tape.  Cut four legs from white paper and tape to the bottom of the bag.  You can add cotton balls all over the sheep or one for the tail.  We made one for each child.  They were able to take one home at the end of the lesson.  We used them in the drama center.  The kids would collect all the sheep from all over the room and put them in the sheep corral.

You can also use these sheep for the parable of the lost sheep, as well as turning it into any animal you may need.

Hezekiah's Sun Dial

My mother made these with her second graders when they studied Hezekiah.  It was so simple to do - using only 1 1/4 of a paper plate.  You see that one paper plate is laid flat and the times are drawn like our clocks.  Then, the student used a little bigger than 1/4 of another plate to make the dial.  They folded a flap down (see the first picture) and glued it down to help the dial stand.  How simple but perfect for these kids to see what the Bible was really talking about!  Good idea, Mom!!!

Day or Night Activity

Again, not my idea or my creation.  A lady named Mrs. Betty made this when talking with her toddlers about the first day of creation and other stories that have to do with night and day.  She used a magnetic burner cover, painted one side blue; the other, black.  Then she found pictures of things that go along with both sides, colored, laminated and place a magnet on the back of them.  Talk about which pictures go where and you have a great application for little ones!

Creation Blocks

I did not make these, but have wanted to!!! So, when I saw them made, I took a picture of them to share with you because who knows when I will have them made!  One reason I love these is because you can do so many things with them!  Save the square boxes of Kleenexes and cover them with bulletin board paper.  Find numbers and pictures of the different things made on each day (as seen in the picture).  You can place one number on each box or 6 numbers on one box (one on each face).  Possibilities are numerous now!!!  If you use one number for each box, have your students place them in the correct order and review what was made on each day.  If you use one box for all 6 days, have each student roll the box and whatever number comes up have them tell you what was made on that day!

Creation Review/God Made People

This quarter the 2,s have been learning about creation. This week they learned about Day 6 and that God made people. They did animals last week! I found some review/center ideas online that I could just print off, cut out and use. No coloring was required (with a color printer) so it took very little time to prepare. I did laminate everything for durability.

Used this as a whole group review. I found this activity at www.christianpreschoolprintables.com It could be used with older kids by letting them match pictures to the correct day all by themselves. With the 2,s I let them hold the pictures and then as I talked about each day we looked to see who was holding the correct picture. They would then come add it to the correct spot. They like having something hold! They did very well with this activity and were so cute studying their pictures to see who was holding what I was describing!



Used this next game as a center for the kids to match the pictures. Found this at www.sundayschoolresources.com.




For our snack/take home we made these marshmallow people. I put them in a bag labeled "Day 6- God Made People" The kids enjoyed eating the parts while making one to take home! I found this idea here! The internet really is a great resource for teaching the bible to children!!

Trash-Filled Thursdays - Square Kleenex Box

A square Kleenex box was used to help with this review activity. We needed two for this one. Each is covered with bulletin board paper and, then, covered with clear contact paper. Notice we did leave the opening open so we could place items down into the box. We found pictures to represent Elijah and Elisha. We colored them, laminated them and placed them on the boxes with tape. See the previous post to see how these boxes were used in our class.

Elijah and Elisha Review

Elijah and Elisha are tough to keep straight - even for adults. In the 4 year old class, they end their time there learning about these two men but there is still some confusion. So, for our new Kindergartners, we use this to help us ALL keep these two important men straight.

We use two square Kleenex boxes one for each man (see this post). Then we made a poster board for each man as well (see pictures below).

In each Kleenex box, we placed pictures that represented each story that was taught on each man. We would pull the picture out of Elijah's box and review the story. Then, we would place the picture on the Elijah board. We would do the same thing for Elisha.

To do a complete review, we would place all the pictures in one box and as we would take the pictures out, the students would tell us which man it belonged to and we would let them place it on the appropriate poster.

Later, it would be a center game for the students to play as they came into class.

Mural Drawings

Any age of kids love to draw. This is an easy way to keep your kids busy as they come into your classroom as well as review past lessons. Put a big piece of bulletin board paper on your wall. As the students come in, give each one a different part of the lesson. They are in charge of drawing any aspect of that lesson they choose. They work on it until the bell rings. Then each student gets to talk about their part of the mural they drew to review our past lessons. This would be great to hang out in the hall afterwards for all to see!

A Fun Way to Review

One fun way to review several lessons is to make a game board where the students are the "playing pieces". We did this in class this morning and the kids thought it was really cool. As you can tell in the picture the game board was made from different color pieces of construction paper. Our game board wrapped around the room but you could make it whatever size you wanted. I took an empty square tissue box and covered the sides with different color paper to create a "big" die to go with our "big" game board. We have been doing the ABC's of Acts in our kindergarten class. Today we reviewed letters A-H. Because of this I put letters A-H on the game board, along with a few "go back and move ahead" pieces. You could put anything you wanted on the game board (or nothing at all) to make it go with what you are teaching. Today the children rolled the die, moved that many places on the board, and were asked questions depending on what letter they landed on. If you have several students in your class (we had 8) it might be a good idea to pair them up. They will be more likely to make it to the end of game board (if it's big) in the short amount of class time allotted.

How to Use Old Bible School Visuals

I found these old visual pictures while going through some Bible school materials. They were smaller in size but the color was still good. I decided to make a copy of each picture on the copy machine. I laminated each picture - the color and the black and white copy. Then I took the black and white laminated copies and cut parts I wanted to highlight or review. I put these pieces in a ziploc bag along with the color pictures.
When I used it in class, I gave each child a couple of the black and white pieces. I laid out the color pictures in front of them. Each child took a turn finding their item in the color pictures. When it was found, they placed the black and white picture over the color part. We talked about that part of the story to review.

This was a very quick and easy activity to make and a great quick way to review any lesson.

Puppet Theatre

My students have loved this puppet stage for years. It is made from a science fair tri fold board. You can find them at Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby (they will run these 1/2 off, so be on the look out!). I simply cut a window from the middle panel with an exacto knife. Using remenants of fabric, I added curtains. All done! We are ready to go.

Oriental Trading carries sets of religous puppets that will fit on a small child's hand and then easily stores in a rubbermaid container.

I use this as a center at the beginning of class time. The students are told to use the puppets to recreate the Bible stories we have learned. This is a very popular center with my kids and can be a great reteaching tool. When a child can put a Bible story in their own words, they have got it!

Memory Box

One of my children's teachers began a wonderful way to review each week’s lesson when they began teaching the two year old class. Seeing how the children vividly remembered the lessons and even the details of the lesson, others have begun to use this technique even up into the elementary age classes.
The teachers purchased shoe box Rubbermaid boxes and wrote each child’s name on the top of the box. Inside the box, the memories from each lesson were kept. At the end of the quarter, each child took home his or her box with the memory objects inside. When the students moved to the 3 and 4 year old class the teachers attached a list of questions to the memory so the parents know exactly what to ask in helping their child review at home.
In the lower elementary classes, we use a class box to hold our memories instead of individual ones. However, questions are sent home at the end of each class. We also tell the parents on that same sheet what the memory item was that we put into our memory box.
Whichever way you choose to operate your memory box, the rewards are the same – a classroom full of students who remember the lesson and parents who are extremely thankful for the thought that went into their child’s lesson that day. Do use your memory box at the beginning of each class to review. Even if it is only just a few lessons for which you have time. This just continues to reinforce the lessons throughout the quarter.

Jacob's Ladder

When teaching the story of Jacob's Ladder, you can use this visual aid 3 different ways (depending on the age you teach). Here is what you need to start your project:

A picture of Jacob sleeping on a rock enlarged to fit on half a sheet of poster board.

Color and laminate it.

Make (or find a picture of) a ladder to fit in Jacob's dream as seen in picture.

Laminate it.

Find angels (whether a die cut or a notepad or clip art) that you can write on.

Here are the 3 ways you can use this visual:
1. To teach the story, write different parts of the story on different angels. As you tell the story, add the angels to the ladder. This is great for older students to see the story progress.
2. To review the story as a class, you can give each student or groups of students an angel. As a class they put the story in order on the ladder. You can also make an angel that says "Team 1" and an angel that says "Team 2." Place the angels at the bottom of the ladder and, as you ask the teams questions, move their angel up the ladder.
3. To use as a center, place the angels from teaching the story in a bag by the ladder. When the students come to the center, they take the angels out and place the angels in order on the ladder.

Creation Memories

One of my children had a teacher who sent "memories" home with each lesson. This memory was used to help remember the story and the questions that went along with that story. I plan on doing a post about memories very soon, but wanted to get these up. Each picture just shows different things you could send home to help remember what God made on each day. Day One (On the opposite side of the yellow attached to the Popsicle stick is black paper to represent the darkness.)
Day Two - Skies and Seas
Day Three - Flowers, plants and trees ( The big flower was a magnet found at a dollar store in groups. The little flowers were just cut off of an artificial flower branch.)
Day 4 - Sun, Moon and Stars (The two little stars laying down are the glow in the dark kind you can find most anywhere now. The larger star laying down is a wooden star spray painted silver.)
Day Five - Birds and Fish (The artificial bird can be found at most any craft store,)

Day Six - Animals and Man (The animals can be found in Wal-Mart's 88 cent toy aisle in big packs. The baby can be found at Wal-Mart of craft stores in the shower/party section.)

Creation Book

My son's teacher made this book with them as they were studying creation. Each night they made a page to go in the book. You could do this as you learned the different days or to review. I love things that can go home and help the parents reinforce what is being taught in the Bible class and this does it!! You don't have to be creative or have a workroom full of special things to make this book. Older kids could design their own pages. You can cut pictures out of magazines. The possiblities are endless!!! Check it out!!

Building Bible Vocabulary

While the Bible is written in simple terms, there are some words that we all have trouble understanding the meaning. This is true especially for children. Again, I have adapted this idea from another lady who taught me so much about teaching. Her idea was basically this: Before the lesson begins, talk to the children about one or two words that they will hear or see in the story. Talk about these words - what they mean, who they are, where they are, etc. Then, when the word is used in the story, they will have an idea of what it is and can grasp the story better. To do this, I use Bear from Bear in the Big Blue House in my 5 year old class. On the Disney show, Bear lived in a big blue house and each show he highlighted a word for the children to learn. Laura Beth had a Bear stuffed animal that she had out grown, and so I borrowed it for my classroom. I made a big blue house out of a science fair project board. I made windows and a door to attach to the board and used the white header the project board came with as the roof.
Bear sits in the house and at the beginning of the lesson, students will find Bear holding the words for that lesson in his mouth. I usually write the words on sentence strips and add a piece of tape to hold it in Bear's mouth. We look at the words in Bear's mouth, spell them, say them and talk about them to open our lesson each Sunday/Wednesday. Once we learn the words, we add them to the house. This serves as an easy review later on because I can point to a word and we can talk about its meaning as well as what story it came from. I also use these words in a center game as seen here.
Of course, not everyone has a bear. You may have a bird and a nest. You could place words on eggs in the nest. You could have bees and a hive. The thoughts are endless.
For older children, you could just have a special word wall where we place the words we need to know. You could even put them at a center with a Bible dictionary and have them find the words and their meanings.
May this idea help you and your students dig into the Word a little bit more.

Balaam Acrostic

Balaam Visual
Numbers 22-24

In teaching the lesson of Balaam, I made an acrostic. As I told the story, I use the letters to help them remember the key parts of the lesson. At the end of the lesson, I had made blank block letters for each child and had them draw pictures that represented what each letter stood for. Then, they used their letters to review the story with a friend.

B – Balak, King of Moab is scared of Israel. (22:1-4a)

A – Balak asks Balaam to put a curse of Israel. (22:4b-7)

L – Balaam asks the Lord to give him direction. (22:8-13)

A – Balak asks Balaam again to help him. (22:14-20)

A – An angel appears to get Balaam on the right way. (22:21-35)

M – Balaam shares the messages from God with Balak. (22:36-24)

Trash-Filled Thursdays - An Old Cigar Box

For this activity, you will need to have an old cigar box or a box with a hinged lid. For a true trash-filled day I was going to use a Schwan's cookie dough box, but someone threw it away!! As you see in the picture, I also used a tin lunch box for this same activity.

Personal Size Flannel and Magnet Boards

As I taught the younger primary grades I kept seeing a desire – especially from the little girls – to play Bible school teacher at the beginning to class. I started using a flannel graph board as a center in my classroom, but wanted to develop this idea to go beyond center time.
I remembered as a young child having a wooden pencil box with felt glued to the top. In the box part where the pencils would be stored were leftover flannel graph figures where I could tell my own Bible stories. I have adapted that idea to some extent because it is difficult to find those boxes anymore. Looking through Oriental Trading magazine I found plain cigar box purses and tin lunchboxes and realized this is what you could use as well as discarded boxes.
To create the flannel board, I cut a piece of felt to fit the inside lid of the box and then glued it in. This leaves the deeper part of the box to hold the flannel graph pieces. You do have to choose some of the medium to small size flannel graph pieces to use for this.
To create the magnet board, I found old pictures from Bible stories, had them laminated (or covered with clear contact paper), and attached a magnet to the back of the picture. The pictures can be stored in the deepest part of the box and then the inside lid or the outside of the box can be used to tell the Bible stories.
Each of these is very inexpensive to make and can be used with even some toddler classes. My two and four year old love to get them out while we are working in my classroom. You can make one for each child to have when they get to class or make some for them to share and take turns being the teacher. This can also be used to review Bible stories as each child can pull out a picture to the answer of a question. You can also make the flannel board box for your child to take to church for an activity during the worship service. (The magnet board may be too loud!) The possibilities are endless!!!