We’re on letter “B” for our ABCs of the Bible crafts, a great series of Bible School Craft Ideas. There are so many options for letter B crafts, but we decided to go with a basket for baby Moses as we have recently been fascinated with his story.
The story of Moses being put into a basket is from Exodus 2:
Initially, this was a bit of a scary idea for my daughter — that a mama had to give up her baby and send him floating in a dangerous river to save him from an even more dangerous man (the Pharoah).
While sometimes it is a good thing to avoid things that upset our children, Miss G was still fascinated by this story so I thought the best thing to do would be to explore the idea and have a conversation about how God was protecting baby Moses against all odds — just how He protects us all, no matter what situations we may find ourselves in.
Materials Needed for Basket Craft:
- Two sheets of construction paper
- Small box, shoebox lid, or top of an egg carton
- Glue
- Scissors
- Laundry clips or paper clips
- Cotton balls or paper shreds
- Pipe cleaners, optional – can use pieces of cardboard or ribbon instead
This craft starts off with a “basket weave.” Cut one of the sheets of paper into vertical strips and cut the other sheet into horizontal strips, leaving part of the paper uncut (as shown in the picture below).
Have your child weave the vertical strips of paper into the horizontal piece of paper, practicing the concepts of “behind” and “infront.”
Glue the ends of each strip after successfully weaving, so that the paper strips stay in place.
The concepts of “behind” and “in front” are early math concepts, as is the patterning that the basket weave creates.
Next, glue your weaved paper onto your egg carton lid or box. We used paper clips to hold the paper in place as the glue dried — laundry clips could be used instead, and both provide great fine motor strength building opportunities.
Next, glue cotton balls or shredded paper (perhaps left over from an Easter basket) along the bottom to make the basket nice and soft for the baby Moses. This provides a great sensory experience as well as fine motor practice.
If using pipe cleaners or ribbon, poke a hole in each side of the box and have your child thread their pipe cleaner or ribbon through the holes and help them tie a knot to keep the “basket handle” in place.
(If using cardboard, have your child decorate the strips before attaching them to the basket — I recommend stapling if your child will actually be playing with the basket to pretend the handle from becoming separated.)
If you have a baby small enough, place them gently in the basket and read Exodus 2 while your child pretends to place the baby Moses in the Nile — create a temporary “river” by placing some blue construction paper or a blue scarf on the ground. (Feel free to add in some miniature animal figures to add to the drama of the Nile.)
If you don’t have a small baby, you can always make one out of a peg doll.
What do you think? What “B” Bible Craft would you make with your child?
This is such a sweet craft! I love that a little baby doll can fit into the basket made out of an egg carton lid. Very creative idea!