by Karen & Grace Morris
Show your excitement for the Lord with joy crafts for Sunday school! Why? Because the word joy appears 165 times in the King James Version of the Bible. There are different ways of showing it, such as singing and shouting. So you will find some handmade noisemakers because joy is noisy.
Some Bible verses used in the joy crafts for Sunday school are John 16:22, 1 Chronicles 15:16, and Hebrews 12:2.
You might want to sing the song “I've Got Joy, Joy, Joy Down in My Heart” when you make this craft. In John 16:22, Jesus promised his disciples that in their heart they would rejoice and no man could take away their joy.
Fold the paper plate in half. Cut a “v” approximately 3 inches from the top for the top of the plate and round the edges. From the bottom, cut 4 1/2 inches so that the bottom comes to a point.
Use the paper plate heart as a pattern. Draw around the heart on a piece of construction paper.
Cut the paper out. If you cut near the bottom of the paper, you will have some excess. Save this piece.
Take the piece that you saved from cutting out your heart, fold it in half. Draw a 3 1/2 inch circle. When you cut out the circles, you will have two.
Hold the two circles together and punch a hole about 1 inch from the edge. Write “Joy” on one of the circles.
Hold both the paper plate and paper heart together. Starting at the bottom point, punch nine holes in each side, ending approximately 3 inches from the top point.
Thread one of the pipe cleaners through the top hole, leaving a 3-inch tail at the top of the heart. Continue to thread the pipe cleaner through the remaining holes. Thread the other pipe cleaner through holes on the other side.
Thread the end of the pipe cleaner through the hole in the circle. Twist to secure.
Now, place the circle in the heart.
Also, if you do not have pipe cleaners you can use yarn, but it is harder to thread through the holes.
1 Chronicles 15:16 David asked the leaders of the Levites to appoint some of their brothers to be singers, and to be accompanied by instruments of music such as stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals. Also, in several of the Psalms, we are told to make a joyful noise.
Cut a strip of card stock or thin cardboard 2 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches. Fold the strip in half.
Glue a Popsicle stick on each end of the strip. You can use white (school) glue or tacky. The tacky is a little thicker and maybe a little less messy.
Decorate the outside of the strip with markers, gel pens, stickers, or what ever you want.
Pinch the strip together to make a noise.
The stars on the tambourines can remind us of Job 38:7 (when the morning stars sang) or Matthew 2:10 (the Magi saw the star).
First place some beans in your container (You don’t want to have too many beans, but enough for a good sound when you shake it).
Tie the yarn to the hole that is in the box and place the lid on the container. (You might need to hole punch a hole if yours doesn’t have one).
Cut a blue (or your favorite color) piece of paper 3/4 by 11 3/4 inches. You will need another piece of blue paper 3/4 by 5 3/4 inches to finish the side.
Cut two circles out of paper to cover the top and bottom of the box.
Glue the paper to the side and top and bottom of the box.
Cut out stars to decorate the top, bottom, and sides. You can use a small star cookie cutter to help you make the shape.
Here is another way to make a tambourine.
If you cannot find the round box, you could use two paper plates. Put some beans on one of your plates.
Top with the second plate. Staple the two plates together. But try not to flatten it!
Now decorate your paper plates by cutting out stars from red and blue construction paper.
If you want to decorate with string, you could make small holes in the rim of the plate. Then thread some string through the holes.
Besides using round boxes or paper plates, you can use other containers such as plastic coffee creamer containers or potato chip tubes. Place beans, pasta, or rice in the container. Then tape the container with lots of duct tape. Make sure the lid is secure. You don't want the contents to fly all over the room.
Another idea is to twist four or five jingle bells to a pipe cleaner.
Warning: Beans and jingle bells can be a choking hazard for young children.
… for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross … Hebrews 12:2
From one color of construction paper, cut a rectangle 3 by 9 inches. Also cut a rectangle 2 by 5 1/2 inches. From another color cut a 3 by 3 1/2 inch heart.
Fold the longer rectangle in half. At the fold, measure 1 inch from the top and make a dot. Do the same at the bottom of the rectangle. From the corners, draw an angle line to the dot on the fold.
Cut on your lines and unfold. Measure 1 1/2 inches from the top of the cross.
Cut off the top.
Fold the shorter rectangle and measure 1/2 inch from the top and bottom. Draw an angle line from the corners to the dot.
Glue the shorter rectangle to the center of the longer rectangle.
On the heart write “Joy”.
Glue the heart to the center of the cross.
Nehemiah 8:10
Cut a 4 by 5 inch rectangle from construction paper. From one end, measure about 1/2 inch. Then write, “Joy of the Lord”.
Cut a 4 by 9 inch rectangle. Fold in half. Draw a 3 1/2 inch circle.
Cut the circles out.
Find the center by folding in fourths. Poke the pipe cleaner through the center point. Fold the end into a circle so that the paper does not fall off the pipe cleaner.