Why Sunday School Crafts Matter: Helping Children Encounter God Through Participation
- Eljoh Hartzer, MTh
- Jul 22
- 14 min read
How creativity, play, and participation help children encounter God - not just learn about Him.
My whole approach to doing kids ministry changed when I was about seven years in... I suddenly realized the importance of allowing kids to enjoy God and not just learn about Him. Something clicked when I saw my job as guiding them on how to make the lesson their own -not just teaching them about the Bible.
Many leaders of children's ministries wrestle with which elements to include in their programs. Given the limited time they have with the kids, they opt for lengthy Bible lessons and overlook the value of Sunday school crafts and activities. The more serious things are prioritized, but creativity and fun are thrown out the door.
This article will illustrate how children learn through play - emphasizing the experiential side of faith formation through both theology and child development theory. It's not merely a theoretical discussion on the value of Sunday school crafts, but also concludes with practical examples (with pictures and tons of ideas for everybody from beginners to professionals).
It's not really about crafts—it's about how children encounter God through active participation.
Throughout this article, I'll describe the ways children actively participate in a Bible lesson through many response activities. These may include crafts, games, sensory experiences, discussion prompts, worship, drama, or prayer activities.
May you find space here to pause, reflect, and abide.
Why many leaders skip response activities
A challenge you're probably familiar with:
It can be really challenging to find the right crafts and other response activities for Sunday school. Most of the things out there have been done a million times before, or they just do not really work well for the real-life group you're working with. Trust me, I've been there...
Many ministry leaders know in their head that experiential activities might be a good idea but when it comes to Sunday, there's just no way it can be prioritized. "You mean on top of everything else I have to juggle, I now have to do an arts and crafts session as well? You've got to be kidding me?"
From all the elements in your kids church program, the craft is probably the one where the kids are involved the most (hands-on). That's also why it's seen as the most challenging area for facilitators.
We often expect them to sit still, listen, and watch us do stuff - but we don't often encourage their participation in the program. Instead of promoting agency and ownership, we often pull kids along to the next thing without thinking much about how they are moving through the program.
Response activities like crafts are also challenging because they:
cost money
need preparation
take up big chunks of program space
are often messy (or chaotic)
Yet, in my experience, the benefits of doing Bible crafts with kids far outweigh the negative aspects.
Why crafts matter
Early Child Development & the Role of Play
Understanding how children learn changes the way we teach the Bible to them.
"For children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood." - Fred Rogers
It has been proven time and time again that children learn through practice and play. In the same way that there's a difference between looking at food and taking a bite, we need to allow children to truly engage with the Bible message - chew on it, digest it, use it for energy.
When a child is playing, they are actively learning about the world around them and their role in it. Have you noticed how children will copy their parents in how they play? They might pick up baskets and pretend to go to the shop, or use a calculator as a cellphone. They see something and copy it.
In the setting of your Sunday school lesson, play might be present in a game, worship, skits, activities, and crafts. These elements of the program are where children get to find their role in the story. Doing a response activity should not distract from the discipleship - it is where it gets real.
There are also various kinds of play that have specific benefits to a child's development:
Sensory Play
Constructive Play
Imaginative (Pretend) Play
Active/Physical Play
Social Play
You can keep these in mind when considering how your time together is spent. The role of you, as educator or discipler, also comes in as facilitator. It's generally suggested that you:
Model and encourage play
Provide open-ended toys
Ask open-ended questions
You are not only downloading information to them - you are helping them connect to it.
Play is the language of childhood. Adults often process new ideas by reading, discussing, or reflecting, but children naturally make sense of the world through exploration and repetition. They ask questions, experiment, build, imagine, and create.
That means that reading from the Bible and talking to them about it is not offering them the Word in a way they can digest. Our desire should be that children can access God, understand Him, and get to know Him personally. Utilizing play in kids ministry offers the opportunity to invite the children into the Bible - in ways that make sense to them.
When we teach the Bible in ways that engage these natural learning patterns, we aren't watering down Scripture; we're communicating it in a way children are uniquely designed to understand.
An example: I recently learned that the human body struggles to absorb much-needed iron from spinach. But when you add a little bit of citrus to it, the vitamin C unlocks that iron so that our bodies can access it. In the same way, crafts and other response activities act like vitamin C - enhancing the flavor and unlocking the potential of the spinach (the Bible); not replacing it. They help kids to absorb the lesson.
If kids learn primarily through play, these elements of a Sunday school program should not be kept as optional add-ons if the extra time allows; these things should come first. The creative tools activate the Bible lessons they support.
It's clear that a case can be made for the importance of crafts from a secular perspective (how kids learn, how we teach), but what does the Bible say about it?
The theology of participation
The Benefits of doing a response activity
On the first page of the Bible, we meet God, not as a Father or a King or a Shepherd but as a ... Maker.
God is the author of creativity. Creativity begins with Him.
I want to encourage you to take a moment to remember that children’s ministry is more than entertainment or games. Even though there are beautiful and fun ways that we can teach kids, we need to always make sure our hearts are in the right place.
Are you going into Sunday with the expectation that kids will encounter God?
How are you preparing yourself (and your volunteers) to be discerning what the Holy Spirit wants to do in your time with the kids?
Can you pray over the classroom or meeting space beforehand?
He knows the name of each child you are working with and He cares about what you are going to teach them. Could your time with the kids capture something of His beauty and majesty? All of this is basically the extreme opposite of how children have been taught about the Bible, right?
Many youth resources are either fun but water down the Word or solid but painfully dry—but that’s not how Jesus taught. He chose to teach in parables because He wanted people to understand the message. Matthew 13:13 (ESV): "This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand."
Children don't simply learn about God by listening. They encounter Him by participating. Crafts are one way we create opportunities for such encounters.
The child needs to practice their faith, not just repeat it word-for-word. They need to see themselves as an active participant in the relationship (their relationship with God). They need to be empowered.
They need to get agency.
It's about helping children respond to God for themselves:
faith becoming their own
responding instead of receiving
practicing discipleship
learning obedience
making decisions
Creativity makes Sunday school way more engaging and fun, but with that being said...
Kids need tools that help them connect with God, not just entertainment. This does not mean that the kids spend all the time painting without a Bible in sight. The craft activities and creative tools should be specifically designed to lead them into the Bible, not away from it.
This article is not saying response activities save children.
Crafts don't change hearts; the Holy Spirit does.
We've explored why creative response matters - both through the lens of child development and the theology of participation. But agreeing that creativity is important is only the beginning. The next question is a practical one: What does meaningful participation actually look like in a Sunday school lesson? Let's look at how to choose crafts and activities that don't simply fill time, but genuinely help children engage with God's Word.
Practical things to consider:
planning interactive elements, kids ages, parents involvement, volunteer availability, etc.
💡How to choose meaningful interactive elements
Now that the table has been set, let's dig in.
We've covered why this matters; let's consider now the praxis.
What does it practically look like to include Sunday school crafts?
What do you need to keep in mind when planning for ministry craft activities?
The responsive elements of Sunday school - like craft, activity, game - need to contribute to a child's discipleship, not distract from it. Before choosing a Sunday school craft or activity, ask:
Does it reinforce the Bible truth?
Does it invite children to respond?
Does it suit their age?
Can children explain what they're making?
Will they remember the lesson because of it?
Could this work without expensive supplies?
💡Considering different age groups
When choosing crafts, you need to be aware of learning milestones like when kids can generally use scissors, write, or read. I generally work with three age groups:
⭐ Preschool (3–5)
⭐ Elementary (6–10)
⭐ Preteens (10–12)
Often in smaller churches, you will have one group where all these ages are present. I've facilitated kids church a lot with a group of various ages. I understand the struggle of trying to connect with the tween while not leaving the toddler behind all too well!
It really helps if you do something where the SAME activity has different levels of challenge / intensity for the various ages in your group. Your chosen crafts need to be scalable. We're not just doing A, we're doing A with the options of B and C laid out as well.
The one who wants to go deeper has the opportunity to do so. (Examples follow)
💡The role of parents
When it comes to creative activities, parents are often the ones to consider.
They desire a "take-home element"
They want to see something that the kids learned
They don't want to get dirty kids back (full of paint, glitter in hair, etc)
They care the most about their child's discipleship
They have lots of ideas of how you should be doing things...
A parent is a kids ministry leader's worst nightmare or best friend - depending on how you look at it.
Here's an example:
If you are limited with regard to prep time for crafts and budget for expensive supplies, the parents can be a great resource for you to utilize. Create a group with all the parents of kids in your ministry and request annual donations of craft supplies and stationery they no longer use. Gather their household junk - bottle caps, egg cartons, boxes, etc - and use these as craft supplies.
You can read more about partnering with parents in Sunday school here.
💡The Value of Volunteers
One of the big challenges of going all-in with activities and experiential learning is the chaos that ensues. As mentioned above, this is one of those challenges that can make a youth worker decide that crafts will not ever be part of their program again.
Yet, I've found that there is one simple solution for this problem:
Volunteers.
Below are two examples of how volunteers can assist with activities that might get out of hand:
Painting can be messy... but also lots of fun! I'd suggest pulling in an extra volunteer or two on a day where you attempt this kind of craft. I've also found it helpful to not pack out things like paint beforehand. It helps to do 1 color at a time. "OK, everyone let's start by painting the grass under our family portrait."
Some kids will be able to do this kind of activity unassisted, but most will need some hand-holding. Perhaps you can have volunteers 'floating' in the room (I mean, walking around) and if they notice someone is stuck they can give a prompt to everyone out loud: "If you're stuck, that's okay. You're experiencing doubt, just like Thomas did. How would you describe what you're feeling right now? Write that down."
For more on how to recruit, train, and keep volunteers in kids ministry, read this post.
Older kids also thrive when they're given responsibility. It tells them that you don't see them like the toddlers, which is often their biggest frustration. "I'm not a little kid anymore!!!" So, you can let them help the younger ones or hand out supplies. Small acts like that make the older kids feel a sense of leadership and belonging.
Real examples:
Doubting Thomas as Example - Let's find reponse activities that lead to encoutners
The best way I know to make this super tangible for you is to give real-life examples. Below are some craft and activity responses based on the Doubtful Thomas Bible Story - the full list with fifteen craft ideas is linked here.
You can think of Kids Ministry with no crafts or activities as auditory. Children hear the Word. They are expected to sit still and listen to it (or talk about it), but there is no further application. That's how it's typically done with perhaps a song thrown in for good measure.
Yet children have many other senses. My preferred approach when it comes to choosing crafts and activities that go with Bible lessons is a sensory approach. You can read more about the sensory approach to Sunday school here.
For the purpose of this post, let's walk through examples of what works and what doesn't when it comes to choosing Sunday school crafts that engage more than just their ears.
💡Make it visual
The Bible is full of difficult concepts. It's speaking a language that kids often don't understand. I see my job as their leader to teach them that language. (Note: I don't only speak to God on their behalf; I teach them how to speak to Him)
When I read from the Bible and talk to them - even the kids who manage to listen really well still only hear sounds. Doing a craft or activity offers you the opportunity to make it visible for them.
Here's an example of a simple picture kids can draw after hearing the Doubting Thomas story:
You might have tried something like this but found that children did not engage or enjoy the assignment. Maybe you said: 'Draw Doubting Thomas' and they drew Spiderman or the dog from Paw Patrol. I've been there...
I've found that most often, kids need to see a visual example when they're tasked to draw something by themselves. You can either print the AI-generated picture above or you can draw your own one before class. If you have a chalkboard or white board, draw it on there. That way the less-confident ones when it comes to art can copy your picture.
For a further visual element to the lesson on Thomas' doubt, you can buy some red dot stickers and stick it on their hands (on both sides). Do you see how a simple activity like this suddenly makes the story jump out from the Bible book and into their real lives?
💡Show them what the scene looks like
When children hear a story, they can imagine it, but often - the world of the Bible is difficult to imagine. The risk is that it never becomes real for them, as if it were all made up. We need to help them connect to the scene.
One way to show the scene to them is to play videos on the topic in your time together. Another way is to utilize simple Bible coloring pictures that depict the story you just shared. Like this one of Doubting Thomas and Jesus:
Draw the kids’ attention to certain details in the picture by asking them questions, like: What is Thomas doing?
Older children can be challenged to take a Bible and copy the text of the story onto their page.
This coloring activity encourages independent work and might introduce a great window of opportunity for volunteers to move through the kids and pray with individuals as they color in.
💡Let them make something
Instead of just telling them about it, or seeing it in pictures - if we take it up a notch, the kids engage by making something. This is a real craft activity, but it does not have to mean the whole room gets hit by a glitter bomb...
Often, real craft activities like this are where ministries draw the line because they don't have the funds for lots of craft supplies. They don't have the time or the patience... But look at the example below where a boy makes a blindfold using a leaf...
Here the message of Doubtful Thomas is made more practical in the child's own life by doing a blindfold activity - They might make a blindfold from material, paper, or cardboard. Or leaves.
Try Saying: "We live by faith and not by sight."
OR try actually showing them how to do things while they cannot see. It could be fun to do a scavenger hunt, trust fall, or other blindfolded activity too!
They move beyond merely looking at something toward practically touching it - cutting with scissors, wearing it on their bodies, and playing with it. This child will remember that the lesson was something to do with seeing is believing.
💡Engaging other senses: Taste
Below is an example of how the sense of taste can be applied to the Doubting Thomas story to turn it from a boring story that we hear into something we can experience and feel.
Supplies Needed: Circular snacks (think O-shaped gummy rings, cereal, or even donuts)
Approximate Time Needed: 8+ minutes
Try Saying: "Can you place the circles on your hands and feet?"
🪴 Instructions
Hand out the snack and tell the kids where to place it to resemble the wounds of Jesus. Then, they can physically poke their fingers through the holes like Thomas did.
Meaning of this craft re: Doubting Thomas
This activity helps kids imagine what Jesus' wounds looked like and understand Thomas' response better.
Bonus lesson opportunity: Taste and See God's Goodness
Read Psalm 34:8 "Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him." Talk to them about how they can truly experience (encounter) God in real ways.
💡 Crafts with real-life application & long-term discipleship
Let's apply everything we've covered in this article together and come up with one final activity for the Doubting Thomas example. Here are guiding questions:
What if the kids did not only hear the message but applied it?
What does this look like in their own lives? How does this apply to them?
What if I cannot afford lots of craft supplies but I want to teach the kids something important?
What is the long-term effect of the craft or activity? Is there follow-up?
Notice how this activity is a craft and a response woven into one? It is where the seeds take root in their own lives to grow into trees that bear much fruit.
Supplies Needed: Chalk, Bible
Approximate Time Needed: 8+ minutes
Try Saying: "God wants to answer your questions and doubts."
⭐ Elementary (6–10)
⭐ Preteens (10–12)
🪴 Instructions
Draw a huge question mark on the ground or pavement using chalk. Then hand out a piece of chalk to each individual and have them write their doubts and questions inside the question mark. During that week, go through each thing they wrote and write a Bible verse that answers it underneath. The following Sunday, the kids need to look up their Bible verse and talk with a friend / volunteer about how it addresses their doubt.
Meaning of this craft re: Doubting Thomas
Jesus allowed Thomas to touch His wounds - He welcomes your questions as well.
Closing Thoughts on the value of crafts in Sunday school
If we can teach kids about the Bible in these ways, they can come to know a God who's close to them, tangible, and real. A God who welcomes them, has fun with them, and likes to hear their voice.
Doing Sunday school is not about shining the light on yourself. It's not even about shining the light on God. It's about teaching children how to hold a torch and how to shine it on Him themselves.
You won't always be there. He will.
Children don't need more information. They need opportunities to respond.
Incorporating reponse elements in your teaching style is not just about art and creativity; it's about agency. Moments of creative response to Bible lessons can introduce fun and play into your Sunday school program without compromising Scriptural truth.
Even More Free Craft Ideas with Bible Lessons
Follow the links below for examples of Bible lessons where crafts contribute to learning about God and encountering Him:
The Centurion's Faith (coloring picture)
Ezekiel's Heart of Stone or Flesh (crafts)
David and Goliath (sensory ideas)
Baptism (crafts & activities)
Mother's Day (crafts)
Unsure which one to choose?
Whether you choose a simple coloring page or a hands-on planting activity, remember that the goal isn't creating perfect crafts—it's helping children see Jesus more clearly. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, lean on others who have walked this journey before you...
If you're planning an entire Bible program, be sure to explore my printable Bible resources designed to help children engage deeply with Scripture through creativity and hands-on learning.
May the children you journey with know that they can approach God's throne with boldness and confidence. He is the author of creativity & He connects with them in ways that are not only transformative but also... enjoyable.
P.S.
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