Give each child a paper plate and a ribbon. Place remaining supplies on tables. Have children take turns mixing 1 cup of salt, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of warm water, and ½ teaspoon of food coloring (optional). Once mixed, divide the dough so that each child has enough to shape the dough into a heart, using a paper plate as a work surface. Use a pencil to poke a hole in the top of the heart and add a ribbon for hanging. Remind children that when we have soft hearts toward God, we are quick to repent and make choices that please him.

Give each child a butterfly paper and a pencil. Set remaining supplies on tables. Have children color both butterflies and cut them out. Have them glue the butterflies together tightly around their pencil eraser so they won’t slip. Remind children that just as butterflies go through transformations, Jesus changes us when we repent and come to him.

Give each child a piece of paper and a cotton swab. Set bowls of glue and sand on the tables. Have children make a design or picture on the paper by dipping the cotton swab into the glue and “drawing” with the swab. Have them sprinkle sand on their glue design. Shake off excess sand onto paper plates. Remind the children that John the Baptist lived in the sandy desert and prepared the way for Jesus.

Give each child a piece of cardstock and have them trace around their shoe with a pencil. Set remaining supplies on tables. Have children cut out their “sandal” and punch three holes in a triangular shape (like a flip flop). Have them insert and secure a pipe cleaner from the top hole to each of the other two holes, adding beads to the pipe cleaners to decorate (optional). Have children write “Jesus > me” on the sandal. Remind children that Jesus is so wonderful that John the Baptist said he was unworthy even to untie Jesus’s sandals.