The Star

Today's Sunday School lesson focused on the Star of Bethlehem. We began with four stories from Irene Johanson's book, Stories for the Festivals of the Year:

The Three Kings and the Star
King Balthazar Sees the Star
King Melchior Sees the Star
What the Star Tells King Caspar


I really like this set of stories because it goes through the reason each king brings his gift (especially useful since kids don't know what frankincense and myrrh are). After the storytelling each student made a tissue paper star using the directions in Rose Windows and How to Make Them: Coloured Tissue Paper Crafts. I made the star in figure 21 to show them; they each cut their wedges to their own design. There were only three children in class today which was great because it is a finicky craft.

Materials List:

• one manila file folder for each child


• pencil


• sharp craft scissors


• two templates for tracing the inside and outside of the circle frames (I used the lids from my sugar and coffee kitchen canisters)


• squares of art-quality tissue paper -- mine were 6¼" square, from Nova Natural


• Elmer's glue


• thread for hanging

I recommend cutting out the inner circle before the outer circle, to keep things from shifting around. If you keep the file folder closed when tracing and cutting you get two frames very easily. The stories and each child making one tissue paper craft took the full 45 minutes of class time.