When my children made a 3-D Jerusalem model out of paper, they learned a lot about the layout of Jerusalem while constructing the city. I decided to use card stock paper instead of construction paper because it’s stiffer. I also decided to use hot glue instead of white school glue because the walls instantly stood up. You can also use white school glue like I did with my Bible class at the Christian school where I taught years ago. It will just take longer for the glue to dry, and meanwhile, the walls might fall down if you don’t hold them up for a few minutes. It’s definitely easier with hot glue.
Start with a piece of white card stock paper. Look up a map of Jerusalem, either from a book on your shelf, the back of your Bible, or the internet. Grab a pencil and sketch the outer outline of the city. Then fill in the major parts of the city, especially the wall that divides the city and the wall around the Temple.
You can cut out pieces of card stock paper to represent the Temple, Herod’s palace, and two pools of water. Then cut strips of card stock paper, making turrets for the walls.
Plug in your hot glue gun, and make a line of hot glue along the pencil line where the wall should be. Grab one of your walls and set it inside the hot glue. It instantly stands up. (I filmed this process, and you can watch it under the Lamentations Unit Study inside the Unit Study Treasure Vault.)
The leftover pieces from the wall were used for the buildings and houses inside the city of Jerusalem. Now your 3-D Jerusalem model is complete. You can use it to tell Bible stories from the time of David all the way through the ministry of Jesus. We constructed this city while studying the book of Lamentations, and we set fire to the city by using red, orange, and yellow tissue paper. We then lamented the fall of Jerusalem before going into exile to Babylon.
If you enjoyed this activity, you will love the Unit Study Treasure Vault. Why not join the Vault today and bring life to your Bible lessons?
Tags: Bible class, Jerusalem, paper craft, Sunday School
Oh wow! This is such a cool idea! I totally want to do this with my daughter… it would be informative for both of us!
Thanks for sharing.
Pinning to my Deliberate HOMESCHOOLING board.
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
We learned so much about Jerusalem while creating this model!
This is a great idea!! I pinned & will probably use this in the future! thanks!
It was a fun and relatively easy craft because the hot glue dried so quickly. Glad you like it!
Looks like a fun, easy project for kids to make – and a good education too!
Thank you! My kids had fun personalizing their map.