Young children enjoy stories, especially when those stories have a hero and lots of action. Many Bible stories include such stories. While the toddlers through kindergarten students may not understand all of the aspects of a Bible story, they can identify heroes and action elements. You can tell the story in simple terms the children in the class can understand.
Picture Bibles include stories written simple enough for these young students with colorful pictures that engage the children. You can choose stories from the picture Bible or from a Bible storybook. Encourage the students to ask questions and point to picture elements as you tell the story.
Students may also enjoy singing songs about the Bible and Bible characters. They might use the music to act out the story or as a way to remember the story.
Some Sunday school curriculum providers include coloring and activity sheets with materials for Sunday school. While the students may be too young to use some of the activity sheets, they can color pages that include aspects of the topic they are studying. Provide the students with plenty of crayons and colored pencils. You may also provide them with stickers to decorate the pages they receive.
For students who like to draw, you can provide them paper, pencils, crayons and chalk to draw the Bible or character story. Encourage the student to tell you what she is drawing. Give the parents the drawing when they come to pick up their child with a short version of the story, if you can.
Some crafts are appropriate for young children. A story about Noah and the ark could include a boat made from construction paper where students can apply animal stickers to represent the animals that entered the ark. They might also enjoy making animal puppets and use them to dramatize the animals entering the ark.
Students can take the crafts home and tell parents about the story they learned in class. You might also provide a short synopsis of the lesson to the parent at the end of class so they can follow up with other activities, if they choose.
You can model Christian behavior when teaching lessons on character traits like love, sharing, joy and faith. Students can mimic your behaviors by sharing supplies or being kind to each other. The children can explain how to be gentle or loving. They can use the Sunday school experience to practice these traits each week.