Coloring with your children is something that engages the mind and also fills time. Most children enjoy coloring, particularly younger ones, and spending time coloring an image that relates to the lesson plan helps reinforce the teaching. To make the most of coloring sheets, walk among the children while they are coloring, noticing their hard work and pointing out parts of the picture that relate to the lesson. Use coloring time to ask questions about the lesson. You can also use it to get to know your children better.

Some teachers find it helpful to give each child their own container of crayons, particularly if you are working with very small children. This way if a child breaks a crayon, it is his own container that is damaged, not everyone else’s crayons. Consider buying a box for each student and labeling it with his or her name. Remember to have several spare boxes for the occasional visitor. Stock up on crayon boxes during back-to-school sales when you can buy them for less than a dollar.

Here are some links to coloring pages you can print if you need extras for your Sunday School classroom:

Free Sunday School Printables
First School
DLTK Bible
Teacher Help

Materials:

• Dinner-sized paper plates
• Snack-sized paper plates
• Construction paper
• Pen/Markers
• Glue
• Paint/Brushes
• Scissors

Glue two of the larger paper plates together. Repeat the process with two of the smaller plates. These should be glued top side to top side. Glue the two plates together so that the small pair is the turkey’s head and the large pair is the turkey’s body (glue just the side of one pair of plates to the side of the other).

Take two more small paper plates and cut them in half. Glue the halves to the turkey’s body to be the wings. Cut one more small paper plate into sixths. One of these sixths will be the turkey’s beak.

Paint the body and wings brown and the beak orange. Once they are dry, glue the beak to the turkey’s head, point side down. Use markers or pens to draw eyes on the head, and cut a waddle from red construction paper, gluing it to the beak.

Use black construction paper to cut a pilgrim’s hat shape and glue it to the turkey’s head. Cut feet out of yellow construction paper and glue to the bottom of the turkey’s body.

Cut several feathers out of colorful construction paper. Let the child write something he or she is thankful for on each feather. Glue them to the back of the turkey to finish the design.

Idea from Danielle’s Place.

Children love to color. It is an almost universal love, although there are a few who would prefer to do something else. Coloring can be a great tool in the Sunday School classroom. Instead of viewing it as a time filler, which it can be as well, learn to use it to your advantage.

Some students will be too wiggly to listen to an entire lesson. If you are teaching very young children, consider giving them a coloring sheet to work on while you teach. This will keep them quiet, and it is an ideal situation for a multi-age classroom. The older children can listen without interference, and the younger children will still be learning.

Choose coloring sheets that match your story. Then, talk to the children about the picture as they color. Have them review the story using the picture.

Coloring sheets also help the children recap the lesson for their parents. When they take the picture home, the parents are likely to ask them about what they learned. This will reinforce the lesson.

You can find free coloring sheets easily online. Try Kids Sunday School or DLTK Sunday School to get free pages you can print and copy for your class.