Lesson on Jesus Loves Children - Placemat and Recycled Bracelet Crafts

Bible Verse: "When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Mark 10:14

Message: Jesus loves children.


Message Time: To illustrate the bible verse, kids will watch a puppet show of the story of Mark 10:14. I got this story from Mission Arlington and will be bringing them to life through puppets.

        It was a normal day for the children in the village. They would be at home spending time with their family and friends. The children had been playing together when their mother came rushing into the house.
      “Hurry children, hurry! Jesus is here!” Mother said.
      The children jumped to their feet when they heard this. They had heard other people talk about Jesus. He sounded like a very special and important person.
      “I want Jesus to touch you and bless you. He has done many amazing things for the other children that have been sick.” She said.
     They rushed out the door. They saw many other children with their mothers rushing in the same di- rection. As they turned the corner they saw Him. Many people were all around Him. They started to make their way up to Jesus.
     Suddenly some of the men around Jesus started to turn people away. “Go away, Jesus is too busy to see the children. Go away!” They said.
     Jesus looked at those men and said, “Let the little children come to me and DO NOT stop them!” Then as if a door had been opened, all the children made their way up to Jesus. He wrapped His arms around them and prayed for them. It was a very exciting day for the children. They were able to see how much Jesus loved them. They got to see that Jesus wanted to spend time with them.
      Jesus loves you boys and girls, too. He loves everyone so much that He died and came back to life so that you could spend forever with Him. He really wants to be able to spend time with us. One way to spend time with Him is to talk to Him. Another is reading the Bible. And another way we are doing right now, going to Bible Study. 

Crafts Time: I wanted to make something with the kids that will be used again and again. Then I thought of place mats. Printed out this image which I designed. This will serve as place mats, which will be covered in plastic. Will be using colored scotch tape and ask the kids to put stickers or drawings as extra designs. Suitable for kids 4 below.

Mark 10:14 as place mat centerpiece

Extra Time - Recommended for kids 5 yo and above
A reserved craft activity just in case there was still time was bracelet making using recycled papers. Thanks to Family Fun for this craft.

Step 1
Cut out old paper - magazine pages did well for this activity - into strips. If you have paper cutter or shredder, this is a perfect tool for this craft.

Step 2
With any rounded tool, could be a pencil or pen, though in this case I used a balloon stick, roll a strip of paper with the end sealed by glue or paste. It could also be scotch tape.

Step 3
Make several paper beads for the kids to use and to prepare a sample for the kids to model.

Step 4
With a pre-cut string measured just about the size of the wearer's wrist - don't forget the allowance for the  knot, start stringing the beads.

Step 5 - Optional
This final part may be modified as you see fit. Once string is full of beads, tie the bracelet into a knot. In this case, I used a small print out 'Jesus Loves Me - I Love Jesus' to serve as the lock.