Colored Sand in a Bottle

Friday:	Colored Sand in a Bottle
Bible Lesson:	The Finish Line: Heaven (John on Patmos)
Memory Verse:	2nd Timothy 4:7-8

Age Groups:

• elementary
• preschool
• teens

Supplies Needed:

• small (clear) glass containers with lids or corks
• colored sand

Preparation:

You can actually dye sand, but the colors come out fairly muted in my experience. Brighter colors can be achieved by rubbing colored chalk into the sand so that chalk dust mixes with the grains. You can also use salt instead of sand.

Instructions:

Give each teen one glass container (skinny jar, cork-lidded vase, etc). Allow them to pour in different colors of the colored sand, in layers, to make a design. Tilting the container when inserting some of the layers may result in a more interesting design. When the design is complete, fill the remainder of the container with plain sand and attach the lid.

Posterboard Crowns

Friday:	Crowns
Bible Lesson:	Fishing All Night
Shape Lesson:	The Crown: Heaven

Age Groups:

• preschool

Supplies Needed:

• yellow posterboard
• gold glitter
• gemstones (can be construction paper)

Preparation:

Pre-cut the posterboard into bands (strips) with decorative protrusions along one edge, so that when the ends are brought together a crown shape results.

Instructions:

Give each child one of the posterboard crown shapes. Allow them to decorate the crown by glueing gemstones and stuff on it it, maybe beads or gold glitter. When they finish, fit the crown to their head and staple it together. Let the teacher hold onto the crowns until time to go upstairs.

Potato Painting

Friday:	Potato Painting
Bible Lesson:	The Finish Line: Heaven (John on Patmos)
Memory Verse:	2nd Timothy 4:7-8

Age Groups:

• elementary

Supplies Needed:

• raw potatoes, cut in pieces
• paint, paper, damp paper towels

Instructions:

Each child gets a hunk of paper. Put several pieces of potato with each color of paint – each piece should stay in the same color. Children dip the potato pieces in the paint and stamp it onto the paper, picking it up and down like a stamp, to create a scene depicting heaven.

You should provide them with a list of things the Bible says about heaven. For example:

• pure gold as pure as glass
• streets of gold
• river flowing from the throne through the middle of the city
• tree of life on the banks of the river
• many homes (John 14)
• great, high wall
• twelve gates, three on each side, always open
• each gate is a giant pearl
• the city is a square, as long as it is wide
• the foundations are decorated with gemstones (rubies, emeralds, and so on)
• no night, the glory of God gives it light

Felt Pennant (Elementary and Teen Version)

Thursday:	Felt Pennant
Bible Lesson (elementary and teen):	The Rich Young Man: throw off things that entangle.
Memory Verse (elementary and teen):	Matthew 19:29
Bible Lesson (preschool):	The Paralytic Man

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Supplies Needed:

• felt

Preparation:

Depending on age group and time considerations, you may want to pre-cut the felt into pennant shapes. Leave scraps for them to cut out the shapes for on the pennant.

Instructions:

Make pennants out of felt, by cutting out shapes and gluing them on. Each child or teen gets an oblong isosceles triangle of the stuff (solid color), plus little bits to cut out letters and shapes and stuff, to glue on. The pennant should display a Christian battle cry (such as “Jesus”, “Victory”) or symbol (e.g., a cross or ΙΧΘΥΣ) or a runner or something from the Bible lesson. Once it is decorated, attach it to a length of dowel rod, and they can take it home afterward and hang it on a wall.

Lion Faces

Wednesday:	Lion Faces
Bible Lesson:	Josiah and the Bible

Age Groups:

• preschool

Supplies Needed:

• paper plates
• construction paper
• yarn (yellow, orange, or brown)
• glue and cotton swabs

Preparation:

Cut out the needed pieces (see image) from the construction paper ahead of time. Cut short pieces (2-4 inches each) of yarn for the manes.

Instructions:

Give each child a large paper plate and construction paper eye, nose, and mouth pieces. Let them glue these in place. (Put some glue on a small paper plate and let the children use cotton swabs to brush the glue on – no bottles of glue.) Show them where to glue them. Give them pieces of yarn about three inches long to glue around the edge for a mane.

Painted Silhouette

Wednesday:	Painted Silhouette
Bible Lesson:	Josiah and the Book: we should study God's word and apply it to our lives.
Memory Verse:	John 3:14-15

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Supplies Needed:

• squares of white cloth
• black paint, brushes, and pencils
• stencil of a boy reading the Bible
• stencil of a girl reading the Bible
• lengths of dowel rod

Preparation:

Find silhouettes of a boy reading and of a girl reading. (It should be possible to find these with an image search on the web.) Trace each silhouette onto posterboard and cut them out, creating the stencils. Depending on the number of children you have, you may need multiple copies of each stencil, so that several children can trace them at once.

Instructions:

Children place the stencil on their cloth and trace around the edge with a pencil, mount a dowel across the top (for hanging), and paint inside the lines.

Watercolor Painting

Tuesday:	Watercolor Painting
Bible Lesson:	Daniel and the Lions

Age Groups:

• preschool

Supplies Needed:

• Paper suitable for painting on, with a coloring page copied onto it (depicting a scene from the Bible lesson).
• Watercolor paints and brushes

Instructions:

Give each child a copy of the picture from the lesson, on a somewhat heavier grade of paper. Let them paint it.

Suncatchers

Tuesday:	Suncatchers
Bible Lesson:	Daniel and the Satraps: God Expects Faithfulness
Memory Verse:	1st Thessalonians 2:13

Age Groups:

• elementary
• teens

Supplies Needed:

• overhead transparencies OR transparent report covers
• photocopied scenes (from the lesson, or runners)
• permanent markers, various colors
• yarn or decorative string
• posterboard (for frames)
• transparent tape

Preparation:

Cut out posterboard frames ahead of time. Each frame consists of a matching pair (front and back) of posterboard rectangles, larger than the transparent sheets by a couple of inches in each dimension, with a hole in the middle just smaller than the transparent sheets. Pair them up and punch the holes for the yarn through both the front and the back together.

Instructions:

Each child or teen gets a transparency sheet and chooses a photocopied scene, such as a runner, Daniel praying, or cetera. Have them each tape their transparency to the photocopied scene paper (to hold them still) and color the scene onto the transparency with the permanent markers. They should use a black marker last to trace the outlines, then remove the paper and tape, and use the yarn to weave through the pre-punched holes to attach the frame to the front and back of the suncatcher in a decorative fashion. A length of yarn can be left at the top for hanging in a window. The front and back parts of the posterboard frames may be glued together where they hang out beyond the transparency.

Baked Rock

Monday:	Baked Rock
Bible Lesson:	Daniel and the Satraps: God Expects Faithfulness
Memory Verse:	1st Corinthians 15:58

Age Groups:

• teens

Supplies Needed:

• rocks (at least as large as a fist)
• old crayons
• aluminum foil
• you also need the use of an oven

Instructions:

Preheat oven. Each teen gets a two-pound rock (approximately). They color the rock (except the underside) with crayons; they color designs on it (depicting something from the Bible lesson, ideally) and also fill in the background, so it's all colored, except the underside. Then place the rocks on a foil-covered cookie sheet or pan, and bake them just until the crayon melts together into a smooth design. Let it cool, and afterward they can take it home and use it as a doorstop, paper weight, or conversation piece.