Heroes of the Bible Crafts

If you are looking for ways to teach Bible stories to children, or you are just looking for activities to keep children occupied, the following Bible crafts activities will help you in your endeavor.

Children are always looking for someone to call their personal hero, why not turn to Bible characters? From these heroes, children can learn a variety of character building traits they can use in their daily lives. They can learn about endurance, charity, compassion, faith, and sacrifice as they work on these activities and subsequent creations.

Bible Heroes Stick Puppets

This is a very simple craft project that transforms heroes of the Bible into fun puppet figurines.

You will need:
pictures of different Bible characters,
large Popsicle sticks,
glue,
coloring tools
extra sheets of white paper
scissors
writing utensils

Clip art of your favorite heroes of the Bible can be found on the Microsoft website. You can also purchase coloring books that depict Bible stories or find them on line. These pictures will need to be colored before cutting them and assembling the puppets.

Once the children have chosen the Bible character(s) they want to prepare, let them color and cut the pictures. If the children are too young to handle scissors, you may want to consider enlisting the help of adults or older children to help with the task.

When all figures have been cut, the children will be ready to glue them to the large Popsicle sticks. After the glue has dried, the children will be able to play with their puppets.

Add the background

You may want to let the children create a background for their heroes. This background needs to be big enough to fit the whole figure, but not too big to overwhelm the hero.

When the background is finished, the children will glue it, facing forward, on the back of the already glued figurine. This way, the Popsicle stick will completely disappear, except for the part the children will use to hold the puppet, and the hero will have a background to complement him/her.

Add the story of the character

If the child is too young to write, you may want to create a summary of the story about the hero and then have the child glue it on the back of the background.

If the child is old enough to write, allow him/her to write a short summary about their hero. When they are finished, they can glue it on the back of the background they created for their puppet figure.

Recreate a Bible Story

This activity is for older children as it will require a dexterity and creativity not quite developed in younger ones. It is also an activity that will need several hours to complete.

Have the children choose their favorite hero of the Bible and the story attached to him/her. Based on their choices you will need:
play-dough or some other type of clay
Popsicle sticks and/or sticks gathered outside
glue
sculpting tools
paints and brushes
fabric to create the clothing
needles and threads
scissors

You and the children are now ready to start on this craft project.
Use the dough to create the character(s). As the clay figure dries, create the supporting items (the ark, or tower, home, animals, etc.) with Popsicle sticks, sticks collected outside, and other clay. Make sure that the setting will be placed on a piece of cardboard or a cardboard box top. This will make it easier to transport the finished product.

As these items dry, have the children create clothing for their figurine and write the summary of their favorite story about the hero. When the summary has been created, the children will glue it to a Popsicle stick they will attach to their three dimensional creation.

After the figurines and supporting items are completely dry, the children will be able to paint them. Once the paint is dry, they will clothe their heroes and place them in their setting (ark, tower, home, etc.).

Complete the project by placing/attaching the summary of the story to their masterpiece.
This project will require a lot of work, but the finished product will be worth the effort.