Celebrated 50 days after Easter Sunday, Pentecost celebrates the birth of the Christian church. The Holy Spirit appeared to the Apostles 10 days after Jesus ascended into heaven as a rushing wind and tongues of fire, allowing the Apostles to begin proclaiming the gospel to the public. Celebrate Pentecost with your preschoolers with art projects using wind, fire and the dove to symbolise Pentecost and the Holy Spirit.
Remind your preschooler that the Holy Spirit appeared as wind, unseen but clearly felt, by creating a twirler that will move in the breeze every day. Have your preschooler trace a circle onto a piece of craft foam. Help them draw a spiral onto the circle. The larger the circle and thinner the spiral, the longer our wind twirler will be. Let your child cut along the spiral lines you drew together from the outside in. Punch a hole in the top of the spiral, the piece that was in the centre. You can cut out other Pentecostal shapes from foam to glue onto the spiral, such as a dove, heart or cross, or use markers or stickers to decorate your spiral. Hang outside or near an open window.
Tissue Paper Flames
If you need a quick, simple art project that is easy to do with multiple children, try creating a simple Pentecost scene for children to decorate. Print or draw a scene featuring the apostles on a piece of paper. Have preschoolers cut out squares of red, orange, and yellow tissue paper. Let them glue the tissue paper "flames" onto the paper above the apostle's heads to symbolise the Holy Spirit appearing.
Stained Glass Window
While this craft is simple, preschoolers will enjoy practicing their cutting skills while using symbols that echo the lesson of Pentecost they just learnt. Assist preschoolers in cutting out an archway shape like an upside down U from a sheet of blue construction paper. Let them cut small rectangle and square shapes from multicoloured construction or tissue paper and glue the small shapes all over the archway to create a stained glass window. Let children choose a dove or flame shape pre-cut by an adult from black construction paper to glue over top of the stained glass in the centre of the archway.
Toilet Paper Roll Apostles
Let preschoolers bring home the idea of Pentecost by creating miniature apostles with the Holy Spirit symbolised by cellophane flames to display at home. Start by wrapping a toilet paper roll in white cotton fabric or felt, crossing the ends across the front for a robe look. Wrap a piece of yarn around the middle for a belt. Trim a 1-inch white pom-pom to form a face, hair and beard by just trimming one side of the pop-pom flat and gluing googly eyes on above the beard area. This may take some practice for preschoolers, so have extra pom-poms on hand or just trim them yourself and have the kids glue on the eyes. Glue the head onto the toilet paper roll above the crossed ends of the fabric. Cut 2-inch squares out of red, orange, and yellow cellophane or tissue paper and insert into the open top of the toilet paper roll, gluing or taping into place inside the roll.