The light shines in the darkness: John 1 light craft and activities

This is a simple but effective craft to help children think about Jesus coming as the light of the world, especially relevant for Advent when we use lights and candles a lot to think about bringing light to the dark places of the world

You will need: An A5 sheet of black paper or thin black card

 Fold the sheet into quarters.

 Cut shapes across the folds (as if making snowflakes!)

 Open the sheet out.

 Roll the sheet and secure to make a tube.  Tape up the top of the tube.  You should now have a kind of 'hat'.

Place a battery operated tea light under the 'hat'.  Let the light shine through the darkness!  This is not a terribly good photo, but the effect is lovely as the candle shines through all of the patterned slits in the black paper.

• Use this craft to talk to children about John 1:1-5
• Think about the 'darkness' in the world e.g. sadness, illness, poverty.  Light the candle and pray that God will break through and bring hope, just like the light is shining through the holes in the paper
• Think about how we can be light breaking through the darkness and helping people.

Advent Wreath Craft

It's coming up to Advent Wreath Season and I was thinking of how families could use the tradition at home in a craft and prayer activity.  Of course it's great to have the real candles to light, but here's an alternative to make and do!

Here's a great site that explains really simply the possible focus for each candle on the wreath (see below where I have used their explanations to think about prayer ideas).

To make a wreath, you will need: A paper plate, green felt or card, 5 rectangles of card (all one colour or the more traditional 3 purple, 1 pink and 1 white), 5 gold card circles and 5 orange 'flames'

Take each piece of card and fold over at the bottom.  Cut this bottom section into slits so that the 'candle' will be easier to stick to the plate.  Roll the card round into a cylinder 'candle' and secure with sellotape.

 Using the slits, stick the candle to the plate and make a flame using the gold and orange card.  Stick this to the front of the candle.

 Stick all of the candles on, with the white candle in the middle.  Place strips of green felt or card over the plate to cover the candle bases and to create the greenery!

If you are doing this as a family, it might be interesting to put the candles on the plate week by week during Advent and to draw or write prayers on the card used for the candle before you roll it and stick it on!  A prayer focus for each week might be:

• Week 1: Hope- pray for people who are sad and unwell
• Week 2: Peace- pray for people who are in war torn areas of the world
• Week 3: Joy (pink candle if you are being traditional!)- Thank God for the good things you have
• Week 4: Love- pray for family and friends
• Christmas Day: Jesus the light of the world- pray that God will help us to be like 'light' to others and that we will be able to help people find out who Jesus is.

Nativity Star Craft and Prayers

As we're now half way through November, I've given in to Christmas!  Here is a prayer craft to help children think about finding Jesus at Christmas...

Cut some star shapes out of card.

 Choose two stars.  On Star 1, make a cut from the bottom of the star to the middle and on Star 2, make a cut from the top of the star to the middle (as shown above).  Punch a hole in the top of the star 1.

 Colour or decorate the stars and tie a loop of string through the hole in star 1.

 Fit both stars together (using the slits) to make a 3D effect star.

Talk to the children about the star in the Nativity story and how its brightness helped the wise men to find Jesus, God's special gift to us.  Pray for anyone you would like God to bless over Christmas.  Pray that they will have a special time and that they will really know that God loves them.  Write their names on the star or stick their initials on stickers to put on the star.  Older children might like to think of people who don't know who Jesus is and pray that they will be able to find out more about him over Christmas.  Put their initials on too!

Hang the star and remember to keep praying!

God's Love Prayer Envelopes

I found a lovely idea on Pinterest for making envelopes out of hearts and began thinking how the idea could be used in prayer.  Click here for the original idea!

Here's a take on it that will help children to pray for friends and family...

Cut a heart shape out of patterned paper.

Turn the heart shape over so that the pattern is facing downwards.  Fold the sides of the heart inwards like so.

Now fold over the top of the heart to make the bottom of the envelope.  The point at the bottom of the heart shape now becomes the top part of the envelope.

On small pieces of card, write the names (or draw pictures!) of people you love and care about.  Talk about the fact that God loves everyone and wants the best for their lives.  Ask the children to think of the heart they used to make their envelope as being like God's heart.  Put the pieces of card inside as a prayer to God that He will look after those people and that they will see that He loves them.