Jesus Without Language

This is a more traditional craft for John the Baptist, it gives the wonderful illusion of water by using baking parchment to give the semi transparent quality of the river. It’s a really simple craft for any age and there are templates with and without the words showing for groups using different translations.

 
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If you want the teachers page then please click on the image for the pdf.

Today’s hero is John the Baptist because he shows us the gift of a humility
Essential Teachers notes:
The story of John the Baptist has many elements that be be drawn out. There is the survivalist, wearing skins and eating honey, the prophet, a new Elijah, the rabbi, whose disciples join Jesus, the transformer, baptising people in repentance, and the humble, who recognises Jesus before many the others. This story focuses on the last though any of the themes could easily be given more emphasis.

Main passage: Matthew 3
Additional Passages: Mark 1, John 1

This is the new version of the story – for the old one click HERE
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Here are the images you need for the hero’s attributes linked to John the Baptist (Matthew 3).
(English, Serbian, German & Spanish)
 
The images are displayed small here, click on the image you wish to have, then save the image that loads.
 

English

Extra’s

 
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There are two main versions of this craft, and the one you choose should depend on your target age group, time and resources –  but as they both work so similarly so they have been posted together.

Version 1a (print-cut-thread)
This is a modification of a Roman sandal craft I saw in a shop, I snuck a quick photo of the concept and then had a long play with prototypes before settling on this! It comes out about the size of my hand and looks really convincing. PDF is here

The basic instructions are:
– print out the pattern,
– cut it out as one piece,
– hole punch the end of each bit that sticks out,
– thread a thin 1/4 cm ribbon through as a lace.

This version comes out a touch small to wear but despite the complex looking pattern is actually simpler than the version 2 and needs less supervision.

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If you have older children and you’re not so much of a storyteller this is a perfect John the Baptist worksheet. It tells the same story as the teachers notes but gets the children to look up the scripture passages to fill in the blanks. It’s then followed by three discussion questions and a little maze.

If you wish you can use this worksheet as a group instead of telling the story, or you could use it as a leaders sheet.

The PDF can be downloaded by clicking on the image.

Pin It

This lesson is all about 3 things, shoes, water and humility. The first two are games idea gifts, if you have a favourite game that in some ways involves either then do use that.

The big shoe dash – this is great if you have a big enough group. Throw a third of the left shoes into a huge pile under a large sheet or parachute. Lift the cover a couple of times and then hold it at waist height and those missing a shoe race to get back to their places with the missing shoe replaced.

*Broken Man – a character recognition tool, basically a simple puzzle game for any age but perfect for small groups and younger children. Find a bold cartoon picture of the character depicted in the lesson (you can use the image that I’ll provide with the lesson) and cut it out along the black lines. You’ll be left with lots of odd shapes of colour which you pin round the room and reassemble as a group.
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