From Crafts to Creativity
Many church programs use crafts as a primary tool for teaching but, but art offers a deeper way to connect with God’s story in Sunday School and church. I define crafts as an activity that has specific steps to follow to create a predictable end product. Children cut, paste, or assemble something that looks nearly the same as everyone else’s in the room (perhaps with slight variations in colour or detail). There are countless Sunday School craft ideas available. Crafts can be fun, and many are adorable, clever, or even practical, creating items that kids enjoy.
But relying too heavily on crafts that simply recreate or loosely connect to characters or scenes from a Bible story can mean missing out on deeper engagement with both the story and the God who speaks through it. That’s why, while I do use crafts in ministry, I often choose art instead.
Art in Sunday School Welcomes us as Participants in God’s Story
When we use art in Sunday School, Bible stories shift from rote lessons to living experiences children can claim as their own. Sunday School art projects don’t just help kids learn about God, it invites them to engage with His story on a personal level, using imagination and curiosity (skills that remain essential as we continue reading scripture as adults). Through art, children can:
- Imagine the scenes of a story.
- Explore the emotions of the characters.
- Wrestle with questions that arise.
- Express their personal connection to God’s truth.
Creative projects can become a spiritual practice, letting children step inside God’s story and discover their place within it.
Illustrated Bible Story Books
One of my favourite Sunday School art projects is creating illustrated Bible Story Books. You can read more about this activity here, but the quick summary is that a group of kids work together to illustrate and retell a bible story as a book.
I love this project it because it allows children to express their understanding and connection to a story instead of just repeating what I’ve taught. The storybooks also become a tool to revisit what we’ve heard in church. I send copies home, and families read them again and again.
The process of making books is pretty simple. We review parts of the story, pick our favourite scenes to include in our book and then hand out paper to get started. Children draw their illustrations with pencil and markers. Art doesn’t have to be complicated. Every time we tackle this project I’m amazed at what kids notice.
Once, while teaching the Good Samaritan, a child added a name tag to the priest’s outfit that said, “I Help People.” This was the same priest who had walked right past the hurting Samaritan. No one had prompted this, the child added the name tag all on their own, and it was such a sharp, simple way to make the irony clear. I never would have thought of something so clever! When we read the finished book as a class, other kids noticed the detail too and the room was filled with laughter and conversation. That moment of insight came straight from a child’s learning and in turn, deepened the whole class’s understanding. Art gave space for a child to both learn and teach, making the story come alive in a whole new way.
When we move away from formulaic crafts and embrace open-ended art, we give kids the freedom to engage deeply, think critically, and express their faith in ways that matter to them. Art doesn’t just illustrate the story, it invites them into it. Faith isn’t just something to memorize, it’s something to experience, wrestle with, and make their own.
Exploring Creation and our Creator Through Sunday School Art Projects
Another favourite example comes from a lesson on the creation story where we explored God’s creativity through animals, looking at anatomy, habitats, survival strategies, and the sounds they make. We looked closely at feathers and footprints, conducted science experiments to understand more about how each animal was created and went on nature walks to see God’s creation all around us. It was a fun and worshipful experience, and many kids walked away with a newfound appreciation for animals and how they display God’s intricate design.
To make the lesson even more personal, we decided it was time for an art project and we used one of my favourite mediums: plasticine. I love plasticine because it is colourful, tactile and very versatile in what you can do with it. I asked the kids:
- If you were God, what kind of creature would you design?
- How would it look, move, and communicate?
- What special abilities would it have?
Children created fantastical creatures: polka-dotted unicorn-giraffes, flying elephants, rainbow-squirting turtles, and more. As they worked they took great joy in all of the details they were inventing, showing off each new feature they added. And then came the wonder, as they began to realize that God had done this over and over again for every living thing.
Their questions filled the room:
- How did God create so many different animals? How many do you think there are?
- How did he make them all just perfectly for their own places on this earth?
- Did he ever run out of ideas?
Through art, they weren’t just learning about God; they were connecting with Him in a personal, worshipful way. How great is our God!
We also paused to reflect on what it means to be made in the image of God. Children recognized that their creativity reflected God’s nature, that they are His handiwork, filled with His imagination. It was a holy moment. Their creature-creations weren’t filling lines in a coloring page, they were reflecting something much greater.
Faith as a Creative Journey
The process of making art mirrors our own faith journeys. Art invites children into discovery. Unlike crafts, which follow steps to achieve a set outcome, art encourages experimentation, risk-taking, and personal expression. In both faith and art, the process matters just as much as the destination. By shifting the focus from a fixed final product to an open-ended experience, we show kids an essential truth: faith isn’t about getting everything “right”, it’s about exploring, growing, trusting, and journeying.
Of course, just like faith, the process isn’t always smooth and that’s where some of the most important lessons emerge. Sometimes what we envision for our artistic masterpiece doesn’t come together as planned. I’ve seen slumped shoulders, ripped papers, and even tears when a child’s perceived mistake sends their fun into a tailspin. Art brings out real emotions with frustration, determination, disappointment, and joy all with a pencil or paintbrush in motion. Our gentle encouragement to embrace the unexpected, to see mistakes as part of the creative process, becomes a model for how we handle life’s bumps and detours. And when a piece turns out even better than imagined, we share in the delight of discovery, much like those moments in life when we gain new insight or recognize something deeply meaningful. How we respond to a child’s art is, in many ways, how we also respond to their unfolding story.
I often talk about wanting children to truly own their faith, to feel welcomed exactly as they are at whatever stage they are in, and to have the freedom to explore, question, and grow. I want them to develop confidence in who they understand God to be and to see that faith is not about having all the answers. It is about discovering, wondering, and sometimes even changing your mind. Faith, like art, is deeply personal. I love seeing a child hold up their work with pride and say, “Look at what I made! This is mine.” That is exactly how I want faith to feel. It is not just a set of instructions or a checklist to follow, but something they experience, wrestle with, and claim as their own.
Simple Ways to Start Swapping Crafts for Art
For teachers wanting to move beyond crafts and looking for ideas, you can start small:
- Swap coloring pages of Bible scenes for “draw what stands out to you in the story”.
- Replace glue-and-go crafts with collaborative murals, sculpting, or free painting inspired by scripture.
- Instead of focusing on how something looks, ask “How does this story feel?” and let them create from that place.
- Use poetry (a literary form of art) to formulate a prayer or response to a story
When teachers and children embrace the freedom art offers over a craft, it fosters deeper self-expression, authentic exploration, and a faith that becomes their own to question, grow with, and carry throughout their lives.
Have you shifted away from crafts? What art projects have you explored in Sunday School? Do you have a favourite medium or project that you think others should tr?
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