Here are three quick-and-easy snacks that take a passage from the Bible and bring it to life using food!

Good Sunday school snack times incorporate the day’s lesson into the snack. Not just an extra reward for being good, snack time becomes an integral part of the experience. If you’re looking for quick and easy ways to give your snack time a boost, here are three ideas to get you started. They each take a passage from the Bible and bring it to life using food!

1. Snack: Faith Food

Based on: Matthew 14:22-33

Point: Jesus helps us believe.

Best for: Preschool

What you’ll need:

• graham crackers (1 per child)
• elf-shaped cookies (1 per child)
• paper plates
• vanilla yogurt
• blue food coloring
• plastic knives
• antibacterial gel (optional)

Preparation: Color a large container of yogurt with blue food coloring.

Here’s What to Do

Read Matthew 14:22-33. Have children clean their hands. Then set out a bowl with blue yogurt and several plastic knives in the center of the table. Give each child a plate with a graham cracker and an elf-shaped cookie. Then show the children how to spread the yogurt on the cracker to make the sea. Have children each place the cookie on the yogurt to represent Peter walking on the water. Then encourage one child to pray and thank God for the snack.

Afterward, ask: Why do you think Peter wanted to walk on water? Why do you think Jesus let him sink? What helps you believe in Jesus?

Then say: Jesus helps us believe. We can do important things for Jesus. But first, we need to have faith in Jesus.

2. Snack: Tall and Short Snacks

Based on: Luke 19:1-10

Point: Jesus loves everyone.

Best for: Pre-K & K

What you’ll need:

• pretzel sticks
• softened cream cheese
• fresh parsley
• paper plates
• plastic knives
• antibacterial gel (optional)

Preparation: None

Here’s What to Do

Read Luke 19:1-10. Have children clean their hands. Then give kids plates with one to two tablespoons of softened cream cheese in the center and pretzel sticks and a sprig of parsley on the side. Pray and thank God for loving the children and for providing the snacks. Encourage kids to use the snack items to retell what happened in the Bible. Kids can stand up the parsley sprig in the cream cheese to represent the tree Zacchaeus climbed, break a pretzel in half to represent Zacchaeus, and use the other, taller pretzel sticks for Jesus and the people.

Afterward, ask: Tell about a time you were too small to see something. Why do you think Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus so much?

Remind kids that Jesus loves everyone, whether a person is tall or short. Then have a child pray and then let kids enjoy playing and eating their snacks.

3. Snack: The Loaves and the Fishes

Based on: John 6:1-15

Point: God meets our needs.

Best for: 1st and 2nd Grade

What you’ll need:

• Bible
• large basket
• 2 cloth napkins
• pretzel sticks
• Goldfish crackers
• paper napkins

Preparation: Place a cloth napkin in a large basket, and pour a large portion of pretzel sticks and Goldfish crackers into the basket. Then place another cloth napkin over the snack. On top of the second napkin place five pretzel sticks and two fish crackers.

Here’s What to Do

Gather the children in a circle around the basket you prepared beforehand. Then open your Bible, and show them the Bible passage in John 6:1-15. Ask one child to play the part of Jesus, another one to play Andrew, and another one to play the young boy. Everyone else can be either a disciple or a part of the crowd. Then hand the basket to the child portraying the boy. As you tell what happened in the Bible, prompt children to do the motions described in the passage.

Say: Jesus was with his disciples, climbing up a mountainside.

Have Jesus and the disciples make climbing motions and move across the room.

Say: A large crowd of people began to come toward them.

Then have everyone else make climbing motions and move across the room.

Say: Jesus was training his disciples and asked them how they would feed all of these people. One disciple, Philip, said, “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” But another of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, brought to Jesus a boy who had a basket of five small loaves of bread and two fish.

Then have Andrew find the boy with the basket and bring him to Jesus.

Say: Andrew said, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” Jesus had all the people sit down—all 5,000 of them!

Then have everyone in the crowd sit down.

Say: Then Jesus gave thanks and distributed the food.

Then have Jesus begin to pass out the five pretzel sticks and two crackers from the top of the basket. Ask another disciple to hand out paper napkins to everyone.

Jesus Meets Our Needs

Say: Even though there were only five loaves and two fishes, (remove the top napkin from the basket) all the people ate as much as they wanted!

Have Jesus continue to pass out the snack. While everyone eats the snack, continue reading.

Say: When all 5,000 people finished eating, Jesus told the disciples to gather the leftover food—and there were 12 baskets of food left! After the people had realized the miracle Jesus had performed, they said, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

Afterward, ask: What did Jesus do to show the people that they could count on him? What does our Bible passage show us about how God meets our needs? Tell about a time God answered your prayer in a way that was bigger than you thought possible.

Say: Jesus’ miracle helps us know that God meets our needs, always! In this passage, Jesus even saw the need before anyone said they were hungry. And God knows your needs, too. He can help in bigger ways than you can imagine! God sent Jesus to meet all of our needs. Let’s think about how he does that.

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If you liked these snack ideas, you’ll love where they came from—FaithWeaver NOW. FaithWeaver NOW is perfect for today’s families, great for today’s kids, and easy for today’s teachers. And don’t worry if your church has stopped doing snack time-FaithWeaver NOW is customizable and you get a free, editable digital version.

How do you handle snack time? What steps do you take to make sure you have options of kids with special diets or allergies? Let us know in the comment section below!

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