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Wheat and the Tares Craft for Kids

An easy Wheat and the Tares craft for kids in three levels, a field card where wheat and tares grow together and barn doors open on the harvest. Free template.

Preschool–Grade 5

Wheat and the Tares Craft for Kids
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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
Matthew 13:24–30
Bible story
The Wheat and the Tares

What you need

  • The printed template (page 2), one per child (cardstock is sturdiest)
  • Crayons or markers in light blue, yellow, brown, dark green and tan
  • Scissors and a glue stick
  • The printed harder page (page 3), one per child, plus a piece of brown yarn about 8 inches long (harder level)

Steps

  1. Color the sky light blue, the sun yellow and the ground brown.Color the sky light blue, the sun yellow and the ground brown.
  2. Color the wheat yellow: the stalks, the leaves and the full heads of grain. Color the tares dark green: the stalks, the leaves and the drooping heads.
  3. Color the barn walls tan and the flat roof brown. Color the two sheaves of wheat inside the doorway yellow. Leave the dotted box empty.
  4. Color both sides of the two doors brown, so they look like doors when they open.
  5. Cut out the card, the left door, the right door and the verse strip on the dashed lines.
  6. Fold each door's tab back on the dotted line. Glue the left door's tab on the barn wall just left of the doorway, and the right door's tab just right of it, so the doors close over the doorway and open.
  7. Glue the verse strip on the back of the card. Read it together.
  8. Tell it: point to the field. "Let both grow together until the harvest." Then open the barn doors: "but gather the wheat into my barn" (Matthew 13:30).Tell it: point to the field. "Let both grow together until the harvest." Then open the barn doors: "but gather the wheat into my barn" (Matthew 13:30).

This Wheat and the Tares craft turns one printed page into a field and a barn. In Jesus' parable an enemy sowed tares among the wheat, but the master said, "Let both grow together until the harvest: ... but gather the wheat into my barn" (Matthew 13:30). Kids color the wheat and the tares growing side by side, then open the barn doors to find the wheat gathered safe inside.

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, a glue stick, crayons and scissors.
  • The whole verse in one picture: the wheat and tares growing together for "Let both grow together until the harvest," and the barn doors that open for "gather the wheat into my barn" (Matthew 13:30).
  • Kids can tell them apart: yellow wheat with full heads of grain, and dark green tares with drooping heads. No person is printed, and Jesus is never drawn.
  • It carries the verse home: Matthew 13:30 (KJV), the memory verse for the whole Wheat and the Tares set, is glued on the back of the card.

Three ways to make it

  • Easy (preschool, ages 3–5): you cut out the pieces and glue the doors on. Kids color the field and the barn. No scissors.
  • Medium (grades K–2): the craft in the first photo. Kids color, cut out the pieces and glue the two barn doors by their tabs.
  • Harder (grades 3–5): the craft in the second photo. Kids add a bundle of tares from page 3, tied around the middle with real yarn, because the reapers would "bind them in bundles" (Matthew 13:30).

Questions to ask

While kids work, ask what the man sowed (Matthew 13:24), when the enemy came (13:25), when the tares appeared (13:26), what the servants wanted to do (13:28), why the master said "Nay" (13:29) and where the wheat went at harvest (13:30). Then read Matthew 13:30 together.

Tips for the classroom

For preschoolers, cut out the pieces and glue the doors on ahead of time, so all they do is color and open the doors. Cardstock makes the doors last longest.

Teaching the story first? Use the free Wheat and the Tares lesson and the word search.

Frequently asked questions

How do you make a simple Wheat and the Tares craft for preschoolers?

Cut out each child's card, two doors and verse strip ahead of time. Preschoolers color the wheat yellow and the tares green, then you glue the two barn doors on by their tabs so they open. It takes about 15 minutes with no cutting by the kids.

How much does this Wheat and the Tares craft cost?

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

What Bible verse goes with this craft?

Matthew 13:30 (KJV), "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." It is the memory verse for the whole Wheat and the Tares set, printed on the verse strip that kids glue on the back.

How can older kids make this craft harder?

Use the harder level for grades 3–5. Kids cut out a bundle of tares from page 3, wrap real yarn around its middle and tie it, and glue it in the dotted box beside the field, because the reapers would "bind them in bundles" (Matthew 13:30).

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