John the Baptist Bible Crafts for Sunday School
by Karen & Grace Morris
Here are some easy and fun John the Baptist Bible crafts to go along with your Sunday school lesson. Your students will be introduced to the baby named John, what he ate in the wilderness, and the baptism of Jesus. Learn the important facts about this biblical character's life.
Click the pictures to make the individual John the Baptist Bible crafts.
You will not need to buy a lot of extra materials to make the John the Baptist Bible crafts. Maybe just some paper plates, small cups, or yarn if they are not in your supply cabinet. But if you do need to buy something, they are usually inexpensive. The complete list of supplies are in the description of each craft.
His name is John Craft
The story of John starts before he was born. Zachariah and Elisabeth were old and had no children. Zachariah was a priest. One day he was in the temple doing his duty when an angel appeared and told him that he would have a son. Zachariah was struck mute until the birth of the child. After the birth, the people asked the name of the child. Elisabeth said John, but the people said that no one in the family was name that. So they asked Zachariah. He asked for a table and wrote, “his name is John.” You can read the story in Luke 1 :5-25 and Luke 1:57-66.
You will need;
- Air dry clay or homemade salt dough
- Craft stick
Roll a glob a clay into a flat rectangle. It should be approximately 5 by 2 inches and 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. With a craft stick, write “John” in the clay. Let the clay dry.
If you don't want to buy air dry clay, you can use salt dough. Here is a recipe.
What Did John the Baptist Eat?
In Matthew 3:1-5 and Mark 1:3-6 you can read that John lived in the wilderness and ate locust and honey. Remind your class that locusts are similar to grasshoppers.
Locust Craft
Supplies;
- Green construction paper
- Card stock or 3 by 5 inch cards
- Standard hole punch
- Three 6 inch pipe cleaners
- One 12 inch pipe cleaner
- Wiggly eyes
- Red marker
Cut a 2-inch circle from green paper for the head and a 4 1/2 inch circle for the body.
Fold the larger circle in half and then place on a 3 by 5 inch card. Draw the half circle. Place the half circle on the larger circle.
Also cut a 2-inch circle from a 3 by 5 inch card or card stock.
Stack the three 2-inch circles together, with the card stock in the center. Punch two holes in the head 1/2 inch apart near one edge.
Thread one of the 6-inch pipe cleaners through the holes. Loop under the center. Fold the ends to make antennas.
Add two wiggly eyes. With a red marker, draw a mouth.
Place the half circle of card stock inside the body of the locust. On the curved edge, punch a hole 1 inch from one side. Punch another hole 1/4 inch from the first. Punch another hole.
Fold two 6-inch pipe cleaners in half. Thread the pipe cleaners through the first two holes in the body. Bend the ends so that they look like legs.
Thread the 12-inch pipe cleaner in the last hole. Bend each side of the pipe cleaner up towards the top of the body, making a small curve. Bend the ends to make the feet.
Glue the head to the end of the body above the first smaller leg.
Honey Craft
Let's make a bee hive to show that John ate wild honey.
You will need;
- Small paper cup
- Yellow yarn
- White glue
- Yellow construction paper
- Black construction paper
A small paper bathroom cup works great for this project. Cut approximately 10 feet of yellow yarn. Put a line of glue from the top to the bottom of the cup. Wind the yarn around the cup, starting at the rim. Press the yarn into the glue.
You may need to add more glue along the line. You will want the yarn to go all the way to the bottom of the cup. Keep pushing the yarn toward the rim.
When you have reach almost to the bottom of the cup, add a thin line of glue. Wrap the yarn into the glue. When you have made it all the way around the cup, cut the yarn.
Cut a 1 1/2 inch square from yellow paper.
Cut a 1-inch square from black paper.
Fold the black paper in half and round one side.
Fold the yellow square in half and then in half again. Cut off the corners to make a circle. Glue the circle to the bottom of the cup.
Add the black paper to the side of the hive. Add the yellow circle to the bottom of the cup.
Jesus Baptism Craft
People came to John to be baptized in the Jordan. Jesus also came to John to be baptized. All the Gospels tell of Jesus being baptized. You can read about John's ministry in Matthew 3:1-17, Mark 1:2-11, Luke 3:1-23, and John 1:19-23.
Supplies;
- Paper Plate
- PDF of John, Jesus, and Dove it's FREE
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Brad
- Blue construction paper
Fold the paper plate and cut in half.
On one of the halves, cut off the rim. Cut the rim in half.
Download and print the FREE PDF. Cut out the dove, John, and Jesus.
Glue John the Baptism to one of the rims. Glue Jesus to the other rim. Make a hole for the brad 3 inches from the paper person.
Glue the dove to the corner of the rimless paper plate piece. Make a hole 3 1/2 inches from the corner with the dove.
Use the half of the paper plate to cut out a piece of blue construction paper.
Poke the brad through the hole in the paper plate half, then John the Baptist, then Jesus, and lastly the half with the dove in the corner.
Glue the blue half circle over the paper plate. But don't get glue on the brad. You want to be able to move the pieces.
To show Jesus being baptized, grab the half circle and the end of the Jesus puppet and move the items down. Then bring them up. You should see Jesus and the dove.
The John the Baptist Bible crafts will help your students remember a story from the Gospels.
