Cross-Beaded Necklaces

Cross-Beaded Necklaces                                                     Anytime


Materials: 

• Cross-shaped beads (found at Hobby Lobby) 
• A large tub of assorted beads 
• Cord or string 

What I Did:

This is a very simple, and sometimes last-minute, craft you can do anytime of the year and the kids understand how it is supposed to work. All you need to do is tie a knot at one of the ends of the string so the beads don't fall off as you place them on. Then start the beading process. Let the kids use their imaginations. Some will make patterns and some will do random assortments. Make sure you make the necklaces loose enough they can easily take them off over their heads. The teacher should probably be the one to tie them so that the child doesn't make it too tight on accident. 

Flowers in Flower Pots

Flowers in Flower Pots                                                    Springtime

Materials:

• Flower pots
• Seeds (different kinds for more creativity)
• A safe place to put them for a few weeks
• Water
• Potting soil

What I Did:

This will be a long term project.

It's pretty simple. Put the potting soil in the flower pots, burying the seeds before covering the top of the seeds with the rest of the soil. Water the seeds, then put the flower pots in a windowsill that will get plenty of sunshine throughout the week. Continually water once or twice a week (be sure to buy the type of flowers/plants that don't require daily watering!)

Tissue Paper Trees

Tissue Paper Trees                                                           Springtime

Materials:

• Assorted colors of tissue paper
• Copy paper
• Markers
• Elmer's glue (*recommended) or glue sticks

What I Did:

Crinkle some little pieces of tissue paper (always switching between colors) and gluing them on a paper that I had already drawn a tree trunk and branches on with markers. Simple and takes up time. They can draw all over the paper and draw a picture around the tree as well.

"You Were Bought at a Price..."

"You Were Bought at a Price..."                                           Easter

Materials:

• LOTS of pennies
• Large-sized popsicle sticks
• Hot glue gun/sticks
• Marker/sharpie (for verse on back)

What I Did:

WARNING: This craft takes up a lot of time! Make sure you have enough!

Before presenting the class with instructions, I had personally taken two popsicle sticks and wrote "1 Corinthians 6:20a" on one and "You were bought at a price..." on the other, then glued them together (so you could legibly read the verse). 

During class, it took up so much time, that I pulled kids during lesson time. Having 2 teachers work with 2 glue guns/children at one time is best. 

I used the glue gun the entire time and had the child pick out one penny at a time and place it on top of the glob of glue. **Explain to be careful and follow instructions or the child will get burned. Use lots of glue or they'll all pop off if dropped.

Jelly Bean Prayer

Jelly Bean Prayer                                              Week before Easter

Materials:

• Jelly Beans
• Red
• Green 
• Yellow
• Orange
• Black
• White
• Purple 
• Pink 
• Make sure to buy a bag or bags with colors such as black and white or purple and pink!
• Snack-size sandwich bags (to put jelly beans and prayer poem in)
• Paper to print prayer off on

Prayer Poem:

• Red is for the blood He gave
• Green is for the grass He made
• Yellow is for the sun so bright
• Orange is for the edge of night
• Black is for the sin we made
• White is for the grace He gave
• Purple is for the hour of sorrow
• Pink is for our new tomorrow

What I Did:

I printed out the poem and cut them into rectangles long enough to fit into the sandwich bags. I made the colors in the poem blank lines for the children to fill in (to take up some time; not necessary). They may need help with where purple and pink go because they are a little vague, but if you tell them the answer, explain why purple is sorrow and pink is the new tomorrow. 

After they filled in the blanks, I dumped a bag of jelly beans into a shoe box (any kind of box or bowl would work as well) and had the children find the colors in order and place the beans into their bags. Then we discussed what each jelly bean represented, so they might be able to tell the story of Easter to someone else using just jelly beans. Don't let them eat the jelly beans!