This Jonah and the whale craft teaches a lesson on obedience. I believe in teaching our kids about the importance of obedience. Here is why! Obedience is one of the 52 words in my character development series. Although I want my kids to fully understand God’s grace and mercy first and foremost, I want them to also know the value of living a life of integrity. Not only do I believe there are blessings that come from obedience, but I also know we bless the world around us as we live with strong character. It never means that we will live a life without struggle, but it does mean that we will be faithful to God amidst the challenges that come.
Disclaimer: I found this idea on Pinterest. I normally want to link to the original post and wouldn’t even have created my own version and tutorial for this if another blogger on the web had given instructions. However, I found that the idea on Pinterest only led to photo with no tutorial. I searched the web and couldn’t find a tutorial. Therefore, I wanted to create my own version with pictures and instructions for those who do better with step by step directions. I used some of the materials and concept from my DIY cup-and-ball toss but adapted it to use a blue cup.
Jonah and the Whale Craft Teaches a Lesson on Obedience
The story of Jonah in the whale (or big fish – the bible never clarifies which kind of fish it was) is a wonderful story of obedience. Part of obedience is trusting God’s plan more than our own. God is a God of grace. He wanted Jonah to reach out to a wayward people to teach them about God’s will and ways. Jonah had his own prejudices and pride. He had no desire to see these people receive God’s mercy. Deciding to disobey God led him down quite a difficult path, which eventually did lead him back to the direction God wanted for him and the people of Nineveh in the first place. I certainly am thankful for a God of second chances. Find the story here.
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Materials Needed
- Blue Solo Cup
- Medium Sized Craft Eyes 30mm
- Medium Sized Glue Dots
- Free Printable Whale Tale Outline
- Blue Stock Paper
or Blue Construction Paper
- String
- 5″ White Balloons
- Sharpie
Jonah and the Whale Craft Teaches a Lesson on Obedience – Directions
- You will definitely want to share with your kids or the kids in your care the story of Jonah. This can be done straight out of the Bible, or you can find a Jonah and the Whale book
to read to them.
- Poke a hole in the bottom of the blue Solo cup. If you are working with a number of kids in a school or Sunday school environment, you will want to prep this part for them.
- Cut a string to length. The string should be about a yard long.
- Thread the string through the hole and tie it to itself on the other side of the cup. Basically, you will have a string wrapped and tied around one edge of the cup.
- Print the whale tail printable. Cut out a tail piece. Depending upon the age of your kids, they might be able to do this on their own.
- Using glue dots, attach the eyes and tail. To attach tail, fold the end so you have a tab to attach to the cup. You may wonder if you can use white glue. I wouldn’t. It takes so long to dry, and it’s not very strong. Glue dots are perfect for this craft.
- Fill a white balloon with flour so that it is just filled. Tie it off.
- Have kids draw a person on the balloon with Sharpie.
- Tie your Jonah balloon to the end of the string.
At this point kids are going to be begging to play with their Jonah and the whale toss game.
Want More Lessons on Obedience?
Looking for More Bible Crafts?
100 of the Best Bible Crafts for Kids
Jonah and the Whale Craft Teaches a Lesson on Obedience – Video Tutorial
I want to share a video tutorial of the Jonah and the whale craft so that you can easily recreate the lesson with your own kids or Sunday School students.
THANK YOU meaningfulmamma for helping me as a Sunday school teacher who is willing to volunteer and is good with kids but is limited on time for creativity. Your instructions and free printable gave me exactly what I needed and I’m looking forward to teaching on Sunday. Thank you for listening to God’s voice and being Obeient;) when he asked you to post this clearly for us! God bless.
Yay! What an encouraging message. I am so glad this helped make things easy for you! That’s what I really want to accomplish. Some of my ideas are probably more involved and complicated, but I want to be a resource that makes it easy. I hope you have found some of my other Bible and character lessons. Just hover over my kids tab to find more. Let me know how I can help. If you have a particular lesson coming up, it would be fun to get my creative juices flowing to help in other ways also.
How do i download the free printable tails
Hello. Sorry it’s taken so long to get back to you. I’ve been in Israel with no access to my site. In the materials list there is a link to the “free printable with tail outline.” Here’s another link for your convenience: https://meaningfulmama.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Jonah-and-the-Whale-Tale-Printable.pdf – You should be able to print easily from there. Thanks! Enjoy!
This Jonah and the whale craft teaches a lesson on obedience. I believe teaching our kids is obedience
Yay! So glad you found it!
Instead of a balloon, what could you use. Since a child is not able to have it. Any Ideas
Thanks for writing. Sorry it has taken me a little to get back to you. I looked up idea online and found this alternative: https://kidsactivitiesblog.com/30003/diy-ball-and-cup-game/ – I was thinking of a ping pong ball or small ball when you asked, but couldn’t think of how to attach it. Looks like they came up with a good solution. Hope that helps!
instead of a balloon, what could i use byside it. Since child are algenet to them.
What could you used instead of balloon.