It is a natural human tendency to personify and the Buddha as a historical person becomes the target for buddhists. This is not to create the man or the image as an idol but there are several points of reference that can be used with children in this area - the life story and the image being two.

I always begin with the shrine - there is usually an image on it.

We started our class by learning the most common Theravada chant:
      namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
homage to the noble blessed and perfectly enlightened one.

We have practised the chant a few times through and here we are about to bow to the shrine and then we will do the chanting "for real".
After the chanting (which was delightfully melodic) we bowed again and then did the chanting again - this time as a mantra in preperation for a period of meditation. Close the eyes and chant. [mp3, hear 1 voice 28kb ::; download 420kb group version ::] Never mind if all the kids don't sit totally still as long as the general atmosphere is 'more quiet' - the chanting really does support this.
I chose for this class to focus on mudras - the hand gestures seen on different images. It is something that the kids can do, not just listen to. I explained the seven main gestures along with a couple of the associated stories [see the sheet I printed out for this ::; new window.] This sheet was not given out until the end as I feel such things are a distraction, they get in the way. This means you have to know what is on it by heart. We then did an action 'Simon Says' - Buddha says: varada.... bumispara... Then we went round the group and each child got to call a mudra for the others to do. We then did it in English: touching the earth.... turning the wheel... GREAT fun.
Craft is another easy thing to do. I really like making buddha images. There are some details here. For this group I used a quite small and very simple image - less to go wrong. We discussed the image and then started with the rubber latex. They took turns with the heat gun and (just in the beginning) splodge on a bit of latex. By this stage many of the adults had gathered and we were a group of about twenty; but the kids were in charge.
One advantage with this process is that it takes several sessions - there is incentive to return. "Stay tuned for the next exciting episode." I have promised them that when it is finished they can all take turns and make their very own buddha image - and paint it and make a shrine and make offerings.... there is a lot to be learnt using the shrine as a focal point.