Sunday School Crafts for Peter & Cornelius

The story of Peter and Cornelius, the first Gentile convert mentioned in the Bible, can be inspiring for a Sunday school class. When teaching the story to children, a craft will help with the learning process, keeping little hands busy. From coloring to soap sculpting, there are many creative ways to help teach the story of these two godly men.

You can find Peter and Cornelius pages online that can be printed out ready to be colored. Combine several of these and staple them together with blank pieces of colored construction paper for front and back covers. Give each child one of these homemade coloring books and allow them to color the pages, and to decorate the covers however they'd like with crayons, markers, glitter, and other embellishments.

Purchase some sheets of foam paper plus some small mirrors, about the size of a compact mirror in a purse. Help students glue a mirror into the center of a foam sheet, and then have them use art supplies to draw a mural of their favorite things around the mirror. In the story of Peter and Cornelius, Peter comes into fellowship with someone very different from himself, and he realizes that they are one and the same to God. Encourage the students to keep these personalized mirrors in their bedrooms or backpacks to remind them to show kindness to those different from them -- and how we are all actually one and the same, a reflection of God.

Print out images of various clean and unclean animals -- a few copies of each animal. Divide the students into teams, and provide each group with a large piece of poster board with a line drawn down the center. Have the children cut out the animals and glue the clean animals on one side, and the unclean on the other. Online (see Resources section) can help you with the sorting. If students know of other animals that can be categorized that are not on the printouts, invite them to draw them on the poster board. Discuss the prejudice Peter had against Cornelius for eating unclean animals, and apply it to situations of unfair judgment found in the world today.

In the Bible, the Holy Spirit comes to spiritually baptize people and to give them a fresh start with Christ. Provide each student with a bar of soap, craft sticks, various sizes of paper clips, and a Bible. Encourage each child to use the soap (to signify the Holy Spirit cleaning us) and to sculpt it into what that student believes the Holy Spirit might look like. They can use the Bible to find verses about the Holy Spirit and to get a strong grasp of what they perceive the Holy Spirit to be like. Give them time to carve their thoughts into the soap, and play some worship music to help with thought and reflection.