String Cross Prayers

Here's an idea for a prayer station that is cheap, easy and very kinesthetic for those children who like to use their hands when praying.

You will need: A pinboard (at the moment, Wilkinsons are selling A3 size boards for £2!), push pins, wool, paper, pens.

Push the pins into the board in a cross shape.

Ask children to write or draw on a piece of paper something they want to bring to God- a please, sorry or thank you prayer.

When they have done this, encourage the children to tie a length of wool around one of the pins and use it to weave in and out of the pins within the cross shape.  As they weave the wool, ask them to be thinking about the thing they have written/ drawn on their paper.

 When the length of wool has been used up, get the child to fold up their paper and put it under one of the pins as a symbol of giving that prayer to God for Him to take care of.

Weaving a cross shape helps the children to think about bringing their prayers to Jesus and laying them at the cross.  It also helps us to think about the fact that, sometimes, God works in a confusing, weaving way that we can't quite work out, but He always wants good for us.  Other shapes would work just as well.  A heart would be good to help children visualize God's love for them or could be used to help children to pray, in a similar way for people that they love, bringing them to God's heart.

Prayer dominoes to print and play!

Children really seem to enjoy games as a way of entering into prayer, so here's an idea you can print off and use!  Click here to print off the dominoes.

The dominoes contain combinations of the following pictures, looking at please, thank you, blessing and healing prayers.  I printed off a couple of sets, 2 pages to a sheet so that the dominoes came out at a more handy half the original size.  I then laminated them so they would last longer!

To play the game deal each player 5 dominoes and leave the rest in a pick up pile.  Player 1 sets down a domino and prays according to one of the pictures on it e.g. 'God please bless...'  Player 2 then finds a domino with a picture that matches one from the first domino and sets it down with the pictures joining.  Player 2 then has to pray a prayer according to the pictures that are now touching.  Carry on!  If a player can't go, they need to pick up another domino.  The first player with no dominoes left is the winner.

I am the true Vine (John 15:1-11): Balloon vine prayers!

My friend Mary did her first all age service this week and came up with a great ideas for responding to John 15:1-11 in prayer!

You will need: Lots of balloons, stickers, pens, string, a very long ribbon, grapes still in the bunch.

Show the children the bunch of grapes and link this to the teaching that Jesus is the true vine and we are like the branches growing off the vine.  If we keep his commandments and love others then we will grow much fruit (have God's love and joy!).  Taste the grapes and talk about how sweet they are.  This sweetness reflects the sweetness and joy of what growing in Jesus' vine is like.

Speak about how it can sometimes be hard to do what we know God would want and that some people don't even know who Jesus is or that they can be part of the vine too.

Encourage the children to pray for help when they are finding it hard to do what God wants and for people to find out about Jesus.  Get them to write or draw their prayers on a sticker and then stick the sticker to a balloon.  Depending on how many people you have, people might want to do more than one balloon- you will need lots!

Gather a few balloons together into a bunch and tie them with string.  Tie this bunch onto the longer ribbon.  Eventually you will have a ribbon (vine) with lots of balloon (grape) bunches growing from it.  We chose a gold ribbon to be our vine to represent how special Jesus is.

Hold the ribbon up and give the prayers to God, thanking Him that He is the gardener who loves us and helps us to produce fruit.  We then tied the 'vine' to the organ loft so that it could stay as a symbol of what we'd been learning!

Growing as disciples: Salt crystals!

This week we've been looking again at being the salt of the earth and talking about how, as disciples, we can lead 'salty' lives of compassion for others and love of God.  I wanted to get across the idea of having to grow as disciples and that this will take time, so I had a little bit of an experiment with growing salt crystals!

Here's what you do...

Put some salt in the bottom of a jar (probably a bit less than shown in the picture!)

 Pour in some water to fill about 1/4 of the jar and mix with the salt.  Not all of the salt will dissolve and you will be left with a thick salt layer at the bottom of the jar.  This is fine!

Tie a string to a pen or pencil (as in the picture) and dangle the string in the water.  Let the pen rest over the top.  Put the jar/pen/string somewhere warm and wait!

 Over time, evaporation will happen and salt crystals will start to form on the strings.  The picture below shows a few days growth only.

Use the salt crystal strings to talk about the fact that, to grow as salty disciples, we need to cling to Jesus like the crystals are clinging to the string.  We can do this by Bible reading, praying and being with other Christians (look at all the crystals growing together on the string!)  The saltier the water, the more the crystals will eventually grow, but it takes time and being a disciple is something we grow into over time.  

Have fun!

God knows us wax resist painting

I've always loved this verse from the story where Samuel chooses and anoints David to be king.  God says to Samuel:

The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)

On outward appearances, David is not the obvious choice.  But God sees what is inside him- something that others can't necessarily see!

This is a great conversation starter for children because we are all living in a world where we make judgements on appearances.  How many people do they choose not to be friends with based on what they see, rather than taking the time to get to know them on the inside?  

Here's a craft to help talk about God not worrying about what's on the outside of someone because he sees and loves what's on the inside!

You will need: White card or paper, white wax crayon, watercolour paints and brush

 1.  Write a message on the card with a white wax crayon.  It could be something like 'God knows me', 'I love you' or a picture of a heart- anything that communicates the idea of God knowing the real us!

Talk to the children about the fact that no-one can see what they have written.  Only they really know what is there.  This is like judging people by appearances.  We don't really know what they are like.

 2. Now get your water colour paints and paint over the card.  Encourage the children to use their favourite colours so their picture will show something about who they are.  The wax writing will be revealed!

 3.  Talk to the children about how God sees the beautiful people we really are on the inside, even if other people can't.  Who do we make judgements about?  Who could we try to get to know better?  Thank God for knowing and loving us!