Flame: Creative Children's Ministry

Here's a way to use up some loom bands in a reflective Advent activity. You will need: Loom bands (at least 50 per star), 5 lolly sticks. Make 5 lolly sticks into a star shape and secure each point ot the star with a loom band (see picture).  Now make chains of 10-12 loom bands each and use the first and last band of each chain to join it to one of the sticks.  Now you have a colourful star decoration! Making loom band chains is likely to take quite a while, so it's a great opportunity to talk to the children about the long journey of the wise men to find Jesus.  Here are some ideas for talking and praying.. Talk about: Why was the journey so important to the wise men? Have you ever been on a long journey? What was it like? What do you use to show you the way?  Who helps you to know where you are going? How does it feel when you reach what you have been waiting for? Would you like to have been one of the wise men? Why? What does hope mean? Pray: ...

So I've caved in to Christmas and it's still November! Here's the first play dough mat in a series looking at the Nativity story: Advent Journey. This focuses on the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and helps children to think about journeying with God and the prospect of the wait for Christmas taking time! As usual, laminate the play dough mats for more long lasting use.   Click here to print out the mat.

This is an easy, inexpensive way to pray very visually. You will need: Chalkboards of any size, cups of water, paintbrushes. Encourage the children to paint their written or drawn prayers onto the chalkboard with water. This is particularly good for sorry prayers as the water will dry up and the sorry prayer will fade away as a sign of how God forgives us when we are sorry.  For the same reason, it's a good way of helping children to release their prayers to God and visualise them being handed over.

This is a really easy and effective way to pray for God's care and protection using an item that gives us protection! You will need : A clear plastic umbrella (I got mine from the pound shop!), dry wipe marker pens. Put the umbrella up and sit it down on the floor so that it is easy for the children to access.  Talk about how we use umbrellas to protect ourselves from the rain and share stories of when you have asked God to protect you.  I do it all the time when I'm driving! On the umbrella, simply write the names or draw pictures of people you would like to ask God to care for and protect.   When you have finished with the prayer station, the names will rub off really easily so you will be able to use the umbrella for other things...