Craft

Solomon's Temple Craft for Kids

An easy Solomon's temple craft for kids in three levels, a stone house of the LORD with gold doors that open on cedar and gold inside. Free printable template.

Preschool–Grade 5

📌 Save to Pinterest

Download

⬇ Craft template + instructions (PDF) · 5 pages

Free to print and copy for your church, classroom, VBS and home. Please don't resell or re-post our files; link to the page instead.

Ages: Preschool (3–5), Early Elementary (K–2), Upper Elementary (3–5)
Time: 15 to 30 minutes
Scripture: 1 Kings 6; 8:1–11
Bible story: Solomon Builds the Temple

What you need

The printed template (page 2), one per child (cardstock is sturdiest)
Crayons or markers in light gray, brown and yellow
Scissors and a glue stick
The printed court wall page (page 3), one per child (harder level)

Steps

Color the house: the stone light gray, the cedar beams across the top brown and the two doors yellow, for gold. Leave the windows white. Color the house within yellow too.
Cut out the house, the house within and the verse strip on the dashed lines.
Cut the doorway: cut across the top of the doorway and down the middle on the dashed lines (a grown-up can start the cut). Fold the two doors open on the dotted lines.
Turn the house over. Glue the house within behind the doorway, picture side to the front, so it shows when the doors open. Glue the verse strip on the back above it.
Tell it: shut the doors. The stone was made ready before it was brought, so no hammer was heard (1 Kings 6:7): tap the house with one finger, quietly. Open the doors: inside, all was cedar, and no stone was seen (6:18), and Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold (6:21).
Read the verse strip together.

This Solomon's temple craft turns one printed page into the house of the LORD that King Solomon built. Outside it is stone, "made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house" (1 Kings 6:7). Kids open the two gold doors to see inside, where "all was cedar; there was no stone seen" (6:18) and Solomon "overlaid the house within with pure gold" (6:21). The memory verse, 1 Kings 6:13, is glued on the back. It costs under 50 cents a child.

The finished craft, easy and medium level

The finished craft, harder level

What it looks like finished: easy and medium (first photo) and harder (second photo).

Why this craft works

Cheap and simple: one printed page, three crayon colors, scissors and a glue stick.
Kids see the inside: shut the doors, and the house is stone; open them, and it is cedar and gold (1 Kings 6:18, 6:21).
It teaches the quiet building: older kids build the inner court wall from ready-made stones that each fit one place, so nothing needs a hammer (6:7, 6:36).
No people drawn, and never God: the craft shows only the house, its carvings of palm trees and open flowers, and the wall.
It carries the verse home: 1 Kings 6:13 (KJV), the memory verse for the whole set, is glued on the back.

Three ways to make it

Easy (preschool, ages 3–5): you cut out the pieces, cut the doorway and glue the inside on. Kids color and open the doors. No scissors.
Medium (grades K–2): the craft in the first photo. Kids color, cut out the pieces, open the doors and glue the house within behind them.
Harder (grades 3–5): the craft in the second photo. Kids also build the inner court wall from page 3: three rows of stone and a row of cedar beams (1 Kings 6:36).

Questions to ask

While kids work, ask who built the house of the LORD (1 Kings 6:1), how big it was (6:2), what was not heard while it was built (6:7), what the walls were inside (6:18), what covered the house within (6:21), how long Solomon built (6:38) and what filled the house at the end (8:10–11). Then read 1 Kings 6:13 together.

Tips for the classroom

For preschoolers, cut out the pieces, cut the doorways and glue the insides on ahead of time, so all they do is color and open the doors. Play a quiet game while kids work: everyone builds without a sound, like Solomon's builders.

Teaching the story first? Use the free Solomon's temple lesson and the word search.

Frequently asked questions

How do you make a simple Solomon's temple craft for preschoolers?

Cut out each child's house, house within and verse strip ahead of time, cut the doorway open, and glue the house within and the verse on the back. Preschoolers color the stone light gray and the doors and the inside yellow for gold, then open the doors to see inside. About 15 minutes, no cutting by the kids.

How much does this Solomon's temple craft cost?

Under 50 cents a child: one printed page, a little glue and crayons you already have. The template is free to print. The harder level adds a second page.

What Bible verse goes with this craft?

1 Kings 6:13 (KJV), "And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel." It is the memory verse for the whole set, and it is printed on the verse strip that kids glue on the back of the house.

How can older kids make this craft harder?

Use the harder level for grades 3–5. Kids also build the inner court wall from page 3: "three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams" (1 Kings 6:36). Each stone is cut out ready-made and fits only one place, so the wall goes together without a hammer, like the house (6:7).