How to Make a Fruit of the Spirit Craft

This edible activity will be very fun for children, while simple enough to put together. It will emphasize the different fruits of the Spirit in a tangible way. It can also serve as a snack to save you time when teaching a lesson on this theme.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic bowls
• Bananas, cut into slices
• Grapes
• Apples, cut into small pieces
• Peaches, cut into small pieces
• Raisins
• Pears, cut into small pieces
• Strawberries, cut in halves
• Orange slices
• Cherries
• Plastic spoons

Instructions

1. Give each child a spoon and bowl. Explain that this edible craft will help them remember the spiritual fruits of the Spirit, while providing them with a tasty snack.

2. Hold up each type of fruit one at a time. Talk about one of the fruits of the Spirit. Say, "One of the fruits of the Spirit is love. We are going to put a cherry into our bowls so we will have love. We love cherries because they are sweet." Let each child spoon a few slices of banana into the bowl.

3. Repeat Step 2 for each of the fruits listed here. Here is how to relate the actual fruits to the Fruit of the Spirit: cherries = love because they are sweet; pears = joy because they are pleasing; apples = peace because they are cut in pieces; raisins = patience because they take time to turn into raisins; grapes = kindness because it is kind to share a bunch of them; strawberries = goodness because they taste so good; bananas = faithfulness because they grow together; peaches = gentleness because they are soft to the touch; oranges = self-control because eating them to fast can make quite a mess.

4. When you have all nine fruits in the bowls, say: "Now we have all nine fruits of the Spirit in our bowls: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. So let's eat our fruit and talk about how we can show these fruits of the Spirit to our friends and family this week. Remember that God gave us fruits to eat because they are good for our body, and the fruits of the Spirit are good for our soul."

Tips & Warnings

• Cut up the fruit before class begins.

• Make sure to ask parents about food allergies, so you can substitute something different, if needed.

Resources

• Fruit of the Spirit Lesson Plan
• Fruit of the Spirit Children's Church Bulletin
• Fruit of the Spirit Flip Chart & Power Point Presentation
• Fruit of the Spirit Cut & Paste Activity