Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

We go into a local primary school every Thursday to do a lunchtime club and this week we're going to think about praying.  I've read a bit about creating prayer spaces in schools (see  Prayer Spaces in Schools ), but when you don't really have a room to do it in, you need something a bit more mobile! We're going to take some of the basic prayer stations we use on a Sunday, adapt them to fit in a box and carry it with us so we can set up on the go. Here are the contents: 4 laminated sheets of white paper, wet wipes and dry wipe pens for  Sorry whiteboards Play dough pots for  Play dough prayers A Globe (from the pound shop!) and sticky dots for  World prayers A tube of dissolving vitamin tablets and a pot to put water in for forgiveness fizz 6 sheets of card sellotaped together for easy folding, sticky pads and small pieces of card for an adapted version of  the Prayer Board 4 sheets of card, again easily foldable, and plasters for th...

This week we tried something new when it came to responding to a story.  This is by no means an original idea, but it certainly worked and provoked some interesting discussion! After the story we took some coloured pieces of paper- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, black and white and asked the children to choose a colour that reflected their response.  After an initial thinking period they chose and it was fascinating.  Some chose the same colour but for different reasons and nobody really copied someone else, which showed that they were really thinking for themselves. Our story was about Abraham taking Isaac up the mountain in order to sacrifice him.  This, on it's own, is a very thought provoking story!  here are some of the choices as examples- Black- because Abraham must have felt like there was a black hole inside him Black and white- because there are two sides to the story, Abraham was having to do a hard thing, but he also trusted...

When it comes to learning memory verses, anything that keeps the children actively involved is best!  One of the methods we use is to print out the verse, cut the paper into pieces and mix the pieces up.  The children then reassemble the jigsaw and read the verse.  If you want to keep the jigsaws long term, laminate them before cutting up!

Thinking about the approach of Easter, I thought I'd post this prayer that we used last year.  The only fiddly bit is making up little packets so that each child has one smartie of each colour.  The children loved it, but make sure the younger ones remember to eat the colours as you say them or they'll have nothing left within 5 seconds! Say each line and eat a Smartie of the appropriate colour: Pink for the people who came and praised, Green for the palm leaves that they raised; Purple for the robe that Jesus wore, Brown for the cross that Jesus bore; Red for the blood that Jesus shed, Blue for the tears when he was dead; orange for the stone that was rolled away, Yellow for joy- He's alive today!

I am always aware of the Lord's presence; he is near and nothing can shake me. Psalm 16:8 Here's an idea to help emphasise God's closeness to us, wherever we are and whatever we're doing. Talk about times we face during the day that can be difficult and when we'd really like to know God is with us, or even times when we are on our own and feel lonely.  God is always there, but sometimes it's hard to remember that when we can't see him! Take a safety pin and pin it somewhere on your clothes as a reminder that God is always with you and keeps you safe.  You might prefer to put it somewhere where no-one can see or you might have it on show as a potential talking point!  You might even want to personalise the safety pin with a couple of beads or a small strip of ribbon!

This is an idea for the whole family to get involved in! Take a jam or coffee jar and decorate it (I used sparkly paper because I like that type of thing!) Cut up some bits of paper and put them by the jar with some pens or pencils.  Put the jar somewhere accessible to everybody at any time e.g kitchen table.  When something good happens or someone has been kind to you, write it on a slip of paper and put it in the jar. Make a routine of opening the jar once a day or once a week when everyone is together, reading the slips and saying thank you to God for His blessings!  Maybe you could even glue them all into a book to look back at in the future to see how God has blessed you!

By Catherine Ward How about giving your under-fives some organic fruit or vegetables to investigate? There’s lots of evidence that different smells and textures can be a great source of interest, and for older children, a real talking point to, particularly if you are able to get hold of some really unusual looking squashes or something else they might not have come across before . This idea comes up in Penny Tissoni’s ‘Early Years Foundation Stage Practical Handbook’ and also in Elisabeth Jarman’s ‘A Place to Talk in Pack-Away Settings’ both of which are really good for practical ideas if you’re working with under-fives. We’ll be using some citrus fruit and some squashes and pumpkins next term alongside some other natural materials when our theme is ‘Great Big God’ and then again in the autumn when we celebrate harvest. 

As part of holiday club we told the story of the transfiguration and then talked about Jesus wanting to help us change our lives to be more like him. The children really loved the effect of this object lesson! You will need : old, dirty coins (preferably one each per child), a plastic container with a lid, 1 heaped tablespoon of salt and half a cup of vinegar (mixed and put into the lidded container), a container holding water, a container to hold the used salt/ vinegar mix. What we did We gave everyone a dirty 1p coin and talked about our lives sometimes being a bit like the coin, dirtied up by the wrong things we do that we wish we hadn't.  We said that, if we asked Jesus to help us, he could help us to become more like him and take away the dirt.  He could change our lives. We then asked the children to put all of their coins into the vinegar and salt mixture, closed the lid and shook the box.  Even as the children put the coins into the mix they started to ...

After hearing the story of Bartimaus, we discussed the fact that Jesus wanted to help us and that, like Bartimaus did, we could reach out and ask him. We asked the children to think of an area in their lives where they felt they needed some help.  They then drew around their hand to symbolise reaching out and, if they wanted to, wrote or drew inside what they wanted Jesus to help them with.  It was actually quite powerful and the children could have spent much longer on it!   Here are some examples:

This week we've had a fantastic holiday club! We have been using the 'On Your Marks' Scripture Union material and it was brilliant.  The children really understood the concept of being able to join Jesus' team and it made the whole message much easier to convey.  There was much sporting activity and running around, plus challenges and several bowls of rice pudding in leaders faces! On the last day, we abandoned the planned craft activity (making a boat) in order to experiment, as we have been doing at church, with letting the children explore their own response to what they'd heard.  Bearing in mind that 4/5 of the children were not from either of our churches, we were a bit worried about how it might go, but, as usual, the children really rose to the challenge of open ended response and it was fascinating to see what had stuck out to them. We had covered the stories of the calling of the disciples, Bartimaus, the transfiguration and Jesus walking on the water...

By Catherine Ward I'm afraid I don't know who's idea this was originally but these discovery bottles are turning up in more and more day nurseries and preschools and they're really interesting. Sealing things up in bottles means that you can give babies and toddlers things which would otherwise be unsafe or impractical. They're really cheep and easy to make just make sure you superglue the lids down. There's lots of ideas on the web for things that could go in them (just google discovery bottles) but because I run creche, I've chosen to start with six that look really great for under threes.  Water and blue food colouring Water, purple food colouring and sunflower oil Water, glycine, glitter and just the tiniest bit of blue food colouring Water and clear washing up liquid Small wooden beads Pipe cleaners and rice We're introducing them this Sunday to go with our wise and foolish builders theme. The water, and the rain ...

I know that this is a bit early for Christmas, but I've been thinking about ideas for Easter and was wondering how I could adapt this idea that worked well in Advent! We do a lunch time club in one of the local schools on a Thursday and, when we were making recycled Christmas cards, we discovered that the children were absolutely fascinated with the Nativity scenes and wanted to take the spare cards home with them! I wanted an interactive way of telling the Nativity story, as the group can be a bit lively so I decided that we would use some of the left over cards. You will need: Christmas cards showing 1) the shepherds, 2) the Wise Men, 3)The angels, 4) a Bethlehem scene, 5) a scene where Mary and Joseph and Jesus or a combination of characters are in the stable, 6) possibly a 'peace on Earth' card A chocolate bar Newspaper or wrapping paper and sellotape CD player and music In the centre parcel wrap the stable scene and the chocolate.  In the oth...

Last night was Light Night in Nottingham and, as part of the city council's official programme of events, we had hundreds of people through the church.  Although we had an acoustic cafe as our main attraction, we wanted to also have a prayer element to what we offered.  The vast majority of people who come to Light Night are not Christians and some have never been to church before, so what we did had to be easy, interactive and something that introduced God in a positive way. We had light inspired crafts- scratch art book marks, where the dark is scratched away to reveal the colours beneath and tea light holders made of decorated blank Cds and we also had a few light based prayer stations The children really engaged with the prayer stations more than the adults did, which surprised me at first, but because their children wanted to do something hands on, sometimes their parents got involved in order to help them.  It was great to see the children really entering i...

Here is our third bag that we are preparing for parents to borrow.  As before, it's most suitable for 3-5s, but younger children might like some of the things too! There is a story book, a green cloth, some plastic sheep and a plastic fence and gate (found amongst the church toys!), some cotton wool, pictures of shepherds and sheep from Christmas cards, heart post its, sad and happy face plates, party horns and a cuddly sheep to play hide and seek with.  As with the other two bags, once everything is labelled it will be ready.  Please feed back!

We used the Jonah story bag today at Tots and it was great!  The Children especially loved the inflatable dolphin and the feel of the shells and the sand!  They really enjoyed playing with the items after the story and the baby we had with us made off with the shiny fabric! The Next bag we are getting ready to go is the 'Prodigal Son' bag. Into the gift bag, we have put happy and sad face paper plates, a red/ brown cloth, 3 play mobil men, 3 toy pigs, some gold and silver card coins, some money bags (made at Messy Church!), a toy tractor, some party horns, heart post it notes so we can talk about God's love and the story book.  Once we've labelled everything, it should be good to go!

Many thanks to Laura and Jo who ran the 5-11s group at our weekend away this weekend.  We had a great time!  When Laura sent the pictures through, I really loved this idea they'd used when talking about loving God with your whole heart.  We spend a lot of time talking about God loving us, but not too much time speaking about why we love Him! They blew up some heart shaped balloons and children were able to write on them the things they really loved about God.  It was so interesting to see the different things they'd written.

Just before the summer holiday we wanted the children to think about praying for other people so we made a chart like this: Prayer Chart Challenge Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday The idea was that the children would write the name of a person beneath each day and then each time, over the course of six weeks, they asked God to help or bless that person, they could put a tick in the box.   As We live in a culture of 'What's In It For Me?' we put an incentive of team points out there for anyone who completed and returned the sheet!  Sometimes I wonder about the ethics of giving children points to pray, but the idea was to get them to think abou...

I'm quite a kinaesthetic person and I know that a lot of our children, especially the boys are too!  Having something to hold onto when I pray has been really helpful as it gives a physical focus for what might be a silent activity. When we explored talking to God about our difficulties and listening to God with the children, we found that giving them a stone to hold made them less distracted and it also became something that was a physical reminder of God's presence with them- something physical to hold on to as a symbol of God being the spiritual rock we hold on to. When we first tried this, we got the children to decorate their stones with a reminder of who they were praying to. Some wrote 'God' or 'Jesus' or drew a cross and then the children took them home so that they could use them there.  We have a pot of undecorated stones at church that we use on Sundays.  Some children choose to use them, while others prefer not to.  Several parents have reported ...

This is something we have used with our 3-5s and they've really loved it! We have a silver treasure chest (seen by chance on sale at Dunelm Mill!) but this would work equally well with a box covered with shiny paper. Into the box we put ordinary household items or foods such as cups, soap, crayons, raisins (if we are telling a story we try to link the items to the story e.g. for Moses crossing the Red sea, we might put in a bottle of water, a shoe, a piece of stick.) When it comes to a time for prayer, we let the children take the items one by one out of the box, discuss what they are and why we need them (and how they link to the story) and then together we say 'Thank you God for...'  They especially love being chosen to open the chest and choose an item!

Tanya and I have been really inspired by the idea of story bags to help tell Bible stories, but we knew that buying some in would be out of our price range.   So, as well as the prayer bag (see previous post), we are putting together some story bags for parents of our under 5s to take home and use as a way of helping the children to engage with a story. This is our first attempt and, when it's been labelled up, it will be ready to go!  Again, a lot of the stuff inside has come from the pound shop (we love it there!!) or from the toys and books we already have at church so it's not expensive! Inside this particular gift bag we have put: A story book, shiny blue fabric (sea) a playmobil man,  plastic fish, shells, instruments (to make the storm noises!), smiley and happy faces to help discuss the sad and happy times in the story, a plastic box for a boat (we couldn't find a toy boat that wasn't an ark, but I've put some parents on the case to find one!), an...

Here is the first 'pray at home' bag we've put together for the Under 5s and their parents.  Within the next week or so it will be available for families to borrow for a week before returning it to church. Into a large gold gift bag we have put: Smiley and sad faces on paper plates, duplo bricks, playdough pots, bubbles, balloons, prayer grab bag, birthday cake candles,  God Venture cards  and a Lion storyteller Bible.  Most of these things were found at the pound shop, so putting it together was not expensive! Inside the bag will also be instructions on how to use each item to pray with children. Prayer Grab Bag Shake the tin, close your eyes and pull a card out. Homes- say thank you for your house School- ask God to bless a teacher or thank Him for your favourite thing at school Friends- thank God for a friend Thank You- Say thank you for something of your choice! Family- ask God to bless someone in your family Food- thank God for your Fa...

Thanks to Tanya for these ideas!  This will be one of the activities inside our Prayer bag for under 5s. Candle Prayers.  Stick the birthday candles into something firm such as an orange.  Light the candles.  Give a blow.  Count how many candles are still burning.  Thank God for that many things! Or Light a candle for each person in your family.  Say their names and ask God to bless them.   Blow out the candles!