Perfect for encouraging your students to reenact the parable for their parents, Popsicle stick figures are very affordable and fun to make. You will need one Popsicle stick per “shepherd” figure and two Popsicle sticks for each sheep. Use cardboard to create small cutout figures of both the shepherd and his sheep. Decorate the shepherd figure with a nice patch of yarn hair and cloth “robe” made from old fabric scraps. Glue on cotton balls and googly eyes onto the sheep. Attach the Popsicle sticks onto the back of each figure, with enough room for a child to hold the stick as a puppet when telling the story.
Have a few old (but clean) white tube socks that lack partners in your sock drawer? Recycle them to make lamb sock puppets. Besides the tube socks, you will also need a black sharpie (to color on the nose), googly eyes and white cotton balls (for the ears). Use hot glue or Tacky glue to attach the eyes and ears onto the socks, once you have determined proper placement of these features on each tube sock. If desired, cover the whole body of the tube sock with cotton balls also.
Another easy sheep-related craft to illustrate the Parable of the Lost Lamb, make sheep masks out of readily available craft materials. Use white paper plates to form the face of the mask, cutting out holes for a child’s eyes and mouth. (Do not cut these holes when the mask is on the child.) Draw on small black noses with a marker and add ears, using small half-circle cutouts made of cardboard. Glue cotton balls onto the ears (once they are attached to the face/plate mask) to add fun texture to this craft project.
An appropriate craft project for a slightly older age group, yarn sheep can be made by making yarn “pom-poms” for the bodies of the sheep. The “faces” of these sheep can then be made by gluing on felt pieces or simply attaching construction paper, if felt is not available.