12 Spies Bible Crafts
What Did They See?

by Karen & Grace Morris

Help observe the land with these 12 spies Bible crafts. What did the children of Israel see?

Moses sent out a spy from each tribe to look over the land of Canaan. (Numbers 13)

The pictures are links to the individual 12 spies Bible crafts of the page. Just click the one you want to do first!

Moses sent out 12 men
one from each tribe
to look over the land.

Want to make the crafts another day? Pin it for later.

The Men

The spies needed to look over the land to see what the land was like. What food did the land produce? They also wanted to know what the people and cities were like. (Numbers 13:17-20)

The names of the 12 spies were: Shammua from the tribe of Reuben. Shaphat from the tribe of Simeon. Caleb from the tribe of Judah. Igal from the tribe of Issachar. Hoshea (who Moses later called Joshua) from the tribe of Ephraim. Palti from the tribe of Benjamin. Gaddiel from the tribe of Zebulun. Gaddi from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh). Ammiel from the tribe of Dan. Sethur from the tribe of Asher. Nahbi from the tribe of Naphtali. Geuel from the tribe of Gad. (Number 13:3-16)

For this 12 Spies Bible craft you will need;

The PDF of spies
Tape
Markers, pencils, or crayons

cut of one side of paper chain then fold

Download and print out the PDF. Cut 1/8 inch from the edge of the paper near the person's hand.

Fold each paper back and forth like a paper fan on the dashed lines.

Each piece will make a people chain of six people.

Cut around the solid lines.

Unfold each piece of paper. Tape the two chains together, so that you have one long chain. Now they are all together!

Color and decorate your people. Color the triangles between the spies so that it looks like grapes on a pole. Color the rounded shapes to look like baskets.

Spyglass

The men probably did not use spy equipment. But the next two 12 spies Bible crafts are fun to make and use in pretend play.

You will need;

Toilet paper roll
Paper towel cardboard roll
Decorations such as Duct and Washi tape

find two cardboard rolls that will slip inside the other

To make a spyglass, find two cardboard rolls that will fit inside each other. One also need to be shorter than the other.

Decorate the outside of the rolls. You can use decorative tape, markers, stickers, or anything else you can think of. Don't put decorations, especially Duct tape above 4 inches, on the longer one.

Slip the two rolls together.

Binoculars

Supplies;

Two toilet rolls
Yarn
Hole punch
Decorations
Tape

Use makers, paint, and or stickers to decorate the toilet rolls. Reinforcement labels make cute grape clusters. Color the outside with a light purple. Color the inside hole with a darker purple.

Tape the toilet paper rolls so that they sit side by side.

With the hole punch, make a hole in each roll across from each other. This will be the binocular's strap.

12 Spies Bible Crafts - Grapes

The men cut down a branch with a cluster of grapes. The cluster was so large that it took two men to carry it. (Numbers 13:23) Here are several grape crafts.

Grape Prints

You will need;

Purple paint
A small piece of bubble wrap
Lid or paper plate to hold paint
A small piece of pipe cleaner
Duct tape
White paper

From a small sheet of bubble wrap cut a triangle. One corner will have one bubble. Try not to pop the bubble when you are cutting.

Bend a small piece of pipe cleaner into a “c” shape. Duct tape the ends of the pipe cleaner to the backside of the bubble wrap for a handle. (This is an optional step)

Pour a small amount of paint on a plastic lid or paper plate.

Place the bubble side down in the paint. Move around some so that all the bubbles are covered with paint.

Put the paint side down on a piece of white paper. Lift the triangle off the paper. See the cluster of grapes?

Make more grape clusters on the paper if you want. Let your picture dry. Another idea is to add green stems and leaves with colored pencils.

Finger Paint Grape Clusters

You will need;

Purple paint
Lid or paper plate to hold paint
White paper

Put a small amount of paint on a plastic lid or paper plate.

Dip the tip of your finger in the paint. Make one dot on the paper.

Above the first dot, place two more dots.

The next row will have four dots. Do one more row with six dots. Let your picture dry.

When the dots are dry, add green stems and leaves.

Grapes on a Pole

One of the 12 spies Bible crafts that does not use paint.

Supplies;

Purple paper
White copy paper
Bottle cap
Scissors
Glue stick
Hole punch
Yarn
Paper towel roll

Fold one sheet of purple paper in fourths.

Cut strips that big enough to fit the bottle cap on. Place the bottle cap on the paper and draw round it. Move the cap some and draw another circle.

Cut out the circles. If the paper was folded, you can cut out more than one circle at a time. Continue until all the paper is used. Try to get as many circles as you can.

Take one circle and place it near the bottom of the white paper. With a glue stick, glue two circles to each side of the first circle.

On the next row, glue three circles. Overlap the circles some so that you make a cluster.

Continue to add circles in rows overlapping until you have a grape cluster and all the circles are used. Forty-four circles make a nice grape cluster.

cut off as much of the white paper as you can add a hole near the top of the paper

Cut off as much of the back piece as you can.

At the top, punch a hole in the white paper.

with yarn tie the cluster to the cardboard roll

Thread a small piece of yarn through the hole.

Tie the yarn onto a paper towel roll.

The people of Israel also picked some figs and pomegranates. Most of our children have not seen fresh figs or pomegranates. Pomegranates are sometimes available in stores in December. If you are doing this in December, you could buy a pomegranate or two so that the children can taste the seeds. They could also draw a pomegranate on paper.

A cookie called Fig Newtons uses dried figs, so you could have the cookie for a snack after your Bible story.

Giants and Walls

The men brought back a report of seeing giants and walled cities.

Some 12 spies Bible crafts takes some planning so that you have the supplies that you need.

Supplies;

18 count egg carton
12 count egg carton
Paper plates
Popsicle sticks
Yarn or markers
Wiggly eyes
White glue
Glue stick
Strip of green construction paper

For the wall, cut off the lid on the 12 count egg carton.

On 12 count egg carton, cut two small holes on the side that still has the flap on. The holes are between two egg cells.

Place the side of the 18 count egg carton in the lid. It will now stand on its side.

Place the 12 count egg carton on top of the 18 count egg carton for the top of the wall. It will sit at an angle. The walls will stand up without glue.

Cut a strip of green construction paper 11 by 1 /2 inches. Make some zigzag cuts on one long side to represent grass.

Glue the construction paper to the base piece on the wall with a glue stick.

use yarn or markers to make a face on a paper plate

Cut the rim off a paper plate. To make the two people, you will need two paper plates.

Glue on wiggly eyes with white glue, draw on a nose and mouth.

With yarn, add hair and a beard. Getting the yarn to stick to the glue is a little hard and is messy. Having baby wipes to wipe sticky fingers is helpful. If you don't want to get messy, draw hair with markers.

stick Popsicle stick in hole in egg carton

Glue the face to a Popsicle stick.

Poke the Popsicle sticks in the holes that you made in the 12 count egg carton.

Caleb and Joshua believed what God said about the land of Canaan. (Numbers 14:6-9) Even though there were giants and walls, they looked past that and saw God's promise. They believed with God's help they could overcome what was in the land. With 12 spies Bible crafts, you can make what the men saw.